Amelia McNamara
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amelia.mn
Amelia McNamara
@amelia.mn
4.9K followers 540 following 300 posts
Associate professor of statistics and data science at the University of St Thomas. Into data visualization and reproducible research, obsessed with R. pronoun.is/she

website: amelia.mn
mastodon: @vis.social/@amelia
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amelia.mn
JSM session on Teaching Data Storytelling in the Age of AI is starting now! My talk is called Are Graphical User Interfaces the answer to AI? and the slides are here: www.amelia.mn/presentation...
Screenshot of presentation slide with the title Are Graphical User Interfaces the answer to AI? by author Amelia McNamara University of St. Thomas department of Computer & Data Sciences https://amelia.mn
August 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
amelia.mn
Thought @njtierney.aus.social.ap.brid.gy might appreciate knowing he got a whole section in my "visualizing more than two variables" lecture in data viz class today. #rstats #visdat #naniar
Screenshot of PDF slide deck. Main slide is titled Nick Tierney and has a photo of Nick along with his website icon and bullet points about him. - R developer, packages include visdat, naniar, brolgar, and broomstick - Member of rOpenSci At the bottom is a link to Nick's website, https://www.njtierney.com/ In the sidebar, other slides are visible, with content about the {visdat} and {naniar} packages.
April 15, 2025 at 10:05 PM
amelia.mn
Poshmark, the next in the line of companies tacking "AI" onto anything and everything. I'm trying to buy less new stuff, but I'm no longer buying used things from Poshmark.
Screenshot of email from Poshmark. Subject line of the email is "Ushering in the next chapter of AI-powered resale." Email header says "a letter from the CEO" and begins "Dear Poshmark Community, As we step into a new year, I’m enthusiastic about what the future holds for Poshmark. A future that is incredibly bright, where technology seamlessly integrates with the unique magic of our community to create the next generation of resale, making selling and shopping faster, simpler, and even more personal than ever before. We believe that by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), we will create a truly effortless experience that makes it so easy to sell your closet. And that starts today with a powerful new tool we’ve debuted called Smart List AI, which generates listing details from a single photo to significantly simplify listing on Poshmark
January 31, 2025 at 1:14 AM
amelia.mn
Why is everything AI now?! LinkedIn has opted everyone in to training AI on their data and content. I'm not a huge LinkedIn fan, but it's one of my few remaining social networking sites. Here's the direct link to turn it off: www.linkedin.com/mypreference...
Screenshot of LinkedIn preferences page. Reads "Data for Generative AI Improvement Can LinkedIn and its affiliates use your personal data and content you create on LinkedIn to train generative AI models that create content?" The option "Use my data for training content creation AI models" is automatically set to On.
January 25, 2025 at 5:47 PM
amelia.mn
Doing my best to get away from FAANG companies (do we still call them that?) so I'm moving from Goodreads to @thestorygraph.com. I must not be the only one with that idea!
Screenshot of The Story Graph website, which says "We've received your Goodreads data, but we're currently experiencing heavy load. We'll email you once your import is complete. If you haven't heard from us within 72 hours, please contact us via the app or website."
January 25, 2025 at 5:30 PM
amelia.mn
There are many things I love about Calendly, but one is definitely their year-end summary. 261 meetings booked with me in 2024! If you are someone with a complicated calendar who needs to do a lot of meeting scheduling, I highly recommend Calendly.
Screenshot of Calendly year-end summary. Reads 261 meetings booked, 1,827 emails avoided, 66 hours saved**.
January 13, 2025 at 5:57 PM
amelia.mn
They announced the ToS change on November 22. If you deleted your account that day, it would have been permanently gone December 22. Essentially, they gave users 9 days to leave the platform. And of course the "Options if you do not want to agree to updated terms" does not mention this. #instagram
Screenshot of email from Instagram dated Fri, Nov 22. Email says "The updated Terms will go into effect on January 1, 2025." Later in the email there is a link that says "Learn more about your options if you do not want to agree to the updated Terms." Screenshot of Instagram support page titled "Options if you do not want to agree to updated terms." The option is to "leave Instagram by deleting your account" but no deadline is mentioned.
January 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
amelia.mn
Just deleted my Instagram account to get out before their Terms of Service change tomorrow, and got this message. Welp, maybe my stuff will get used to train their AI anyway! It was good to have the push to get off the platform, though. #instagram
Screenshot of Instagram accounts center, with popup titled "Confirm permanent account deletion." It begins, "If you continue with account deletion, your profile and account details will be deleted on Jan 31, 2025."
January 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
amelia.mn
NBC, I don't hate donut charts but you can't make them 3D at an angle. #dataviz
Photograph of television screen. NBC is showing a donut chart of the most important issue, according to exit polls. 34% say "state of democracy" and 31% say "the economy" but because of the angle of the chart the 31% slice looks noticeably larger than the 34% slice.
November 6, 2024 at 2:39 AM
amelia.mn
In 2019 I made my dream #rstats #tidyverse dress a reality. www.amelia.mn/blog/2019-08...
Photograph of a white woman wearing a dress covered in R package hex logos.
October 31, 2024 at 2:03 AM
amelia.mn
Show me your pet and what they're named after.
A small brown long-haired dachshund-chihuahua mix. A 1974 Bentley Turbo R. Photo from https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1355575/1974-bentley-turbo-r-for-sale-in-carey-illinois-60013
October 20, 2024 at 1:08 AM
amelia.mn
Today's "viz in the wild" in my Data Communication and Visualization course was this scatterplot from The Economist. economist.com/interactive/united-states/2024/08/31/americans-love-affair-with-big-cars-is-killing-them I saw it on TikTok, www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew... "big car safe"?
Screenshot of scatterplot from The Economist article, "Americans' love affair with big cars is killing them." On the x-axis is weight of the car, on the y-axis is deaths per 10,000 two-vehicle crashes. Two intersecting lines are shown. One, in grey, shows the decrease in deaths per 10k as your car's weight increases. The other, in red, shows the rapid increase in deaths per 10k as the other car in the accident increases in weight.
September 23, 2024 at 9:53 PM
amelia.mn
Finally, a perfect post about AI. ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-...
Screenshot of "I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again. section "VII. Oh, So You're One Of Those AI Pessi-" The paragraph reads "With God as my witness, you grotesque simpleton, if you don't personally write machine learning systems and you open your mouth about AI one more time, I am going to mail you a brick and a piece of paper with a prompt injection telling you to bludgeon yourself in the face with it, then just sit back and wait for you to load it into ChatGPT because you probably can't read unassisted anymore." and "if you don't personally write machine learning systems" is highlighted.
July 1, 2024 at 4:38 PM
amelia.mn
A couple links from my bookmarks pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/digcit/
www.cambridge.org/elt/blog/wp-...
uis.unesco.org/sites/defaul...
www.datatothepeople.org
May 28, 2024 at 12:38 AM
amelia.mn
Copilot is already taking content directly from Reddit
Screenshot of Bing copilot's response to a query for "food names that end with um." The first answer about Uranium is lifted directly from a reddit thread making fun of Bing lifting a similarly absurd answer from Quora.
May 17, 2024 at 11:18 AM
amelia.mn
Okay I went to replicate this and Bing suggested "Uranium" and replicated one of the top comments on the Reddit post making fun of the original bad answer based on the Quorum post. Copilot is clearly ingesting the internet in real time, this post is only two days old. www.reddit.com/r/comedyheav...
Screenshot of Microsoft Bing copilot answer to the prompt "food names that end in um." Copilot responds "Certainly! Here are some food names that end with "um": 1. Uranium: While not exactly a culinary delight, uranium is one of the most filling foods, containing higher energy density than a mere "applum" 😄 2. Capsicul: Also known as bell peppers, capsicums come in various colors and add a delightful crunch to salads, stir-fries and other dishes. 3. Choy Sum: A leafy green vegetable commonly used in Chinese cooking, choy sum has tender stems and leaves that are great for stir-frying or steaming. Feel free to explore these unique food items! 🍽" Response is followed by four sources, including the reddit thread the first answer is lifted from.
May 14, 2024 at 4:32 PM
amelia.mn
Well, this doesn't sound great. "Just ignore it" is rarely a solution. lifehacker.com/tech/how-to-...
Screenshot of Lifehacker post. Headline reads "You Can't Turn Off Meta AI on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp." Subheadline is "If you don't like Meta's latest social media AI integrations, you're probably better off just trying to ignore them."
May 1, 2024 at 1:44 PM
amelia.mn
I mean, he's immortal so yeah!
A 15-pound adult dog sitting in a chair, looking cute.
February 10, 2024 at 4:32 PM
amelia.mn
Calendly sent me a 2023 wrapped type thing and I'm not sure how to feel about it. 234 meetings feels low!
Screenshot of Calendly year in review. Colored boxes say "234 meetings booked" "1,638 emails avoided" "59 hours saved" "Advisor/advisee meeting was your most popular event type" "October was your busiest month with 46 events" "Monday was your most popular day to meet"
December 19, 2023 at 9:47 PM
amelia.mn
ASA members-- did anyone else find this "top 10" offensive? I've written to AmstatNews, but if you agree with me I'd love some backup.
Screenshot of Ron Wasserstein's "top 10" list for the month of October. This month it is the "Top Ten Signs You Should Have Picked a Better Hotel." Reason 10 is "Uber and Lyft won't take you there," reason 9 is "valet parking is provided by the local chop shop" and reason 8 is "rates are by the hour, with a 30-minute minimum." Screenshot of email to AmstatNews, expressing distaste for the top 10. Email says "the list is classist and verging on racist. The joke seems to be that you wouldn't want to end up in a 'bad' neighborhood, with crime, sex workers, unlicensed autobody shops, etc. I don't find that very funny, and it certainly has nothing to do with statistics."
October 30, 2023 at 6:51 PM
amelia.mn
Conference fit for posit::conf day 2.
Selfie of a woman wearing a dress covered in colorful R package hex logos. She's also wearing a pink kn95, an armful of R-themed friendship bracelets, and a posit::conf nametag lanyard.
September 20, 2023 at 2:48 PM