Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
@brianckeegan.com
{Social, Data, Network, Information} Scientist, @cuboulder.info
Visiting Scientist, @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social AY25-26
High-tempo collaboration, information commons, public interest data science
https://www.brianckeegan.com/
Signal: brianckeegan.26
Visiting Scientist, @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social AY25-26
High-tempo collaboration, information commons, public interest data science
https://www.brianckeegan.com/
Signal: brianckeegan.26
Pinned
Brian Keegan – Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies
A Harvard University cross-school, interfaculty initiative administered by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
popcenter.harvard.edu
ICYMI, I’m on sabbatical this AY at @harvardpopcenter.bsky.social:
popcenter.harvard.edu/blog/directo...
I’ll be working on a STS-flavored book project about ecofascist data science that combines critical demography and data studies.
Let me know if you’re in Boston this year and want to meet up!
popcenter.harvard.edu/blog/directo...
I’ll be working on a STS-flavored book project about ecofascist data science that combines critical demography and data studies.
Let me know if you’re in Boston this year and want to meet up!
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
we'll reunite after the 2026 primary cycle and not a moment sooner actually bsky.app/profile/whit...
The sooner we get past internal recriminations and back to fighting united, the better off we all are — the likelier our victory next November.
November 10, 2025 at 10:30 PM
we'll reunite after the 2026 primary cycle and not a moment sooner actually bsky.app/profile/whit...
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:
November 10, 2025 at 2:17 PM
I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:
A data-driven post-mortem on Boulder’s election results.
A statistical model predicting city council races reveals a consistent pattern in how Boulder’s ballots are cast and counted — and why progressives keep coming from behind.
boulderreportinglab.org/2025/11/09/b...
A statistical model predicting city council races reveals a consistent pattern in how Boulder’s ballots are cast and counted — and why progressives keep coming from behind.
boulderreportinglab.org/2025/11/09/b...
Opinion | Brian Keegan: What Boulder’s 2025 election results reveal about how we vote
Why do progressive candidates in Boulder always seem to come from behind on election night only to surge ahead? A data model offers clues.
boulderreportinglab.org
November 10, 2025 at 1:51 PM
A data-driven post-mortem on Boulder’s election results.
A statistical model predicting city council races reveals a consistent pattern in how Boulder’s ballots are cast and counted — and why progressives keep coming from behind.
boulderreportinglab.org/2025/11/09/b...
A statistical model predicting city council races reveals a consistent pattern in how Boulder’s ballots are cast and counted — and why progressives keep coming from behind.
boulderreportinglab.org/2025/11/09/b...
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
They caved in March so they could get a better deal now. They’re caving now so they can get a better deal in some indeterminate future. The better deal is always just beyond their reach, but continuing to cave will get them there. And if you don’t agree with that, you don’t understand Politics,
November 10, 2025 at 2:44 AM
They caved in March so they could get a better deal now. They’re caving now so they can get a better deal in some indeterminate future. The better deal is always just beyond their reach, but continuing to cave will get them there. And if you don’t agree with that, you don’t understand Politics,
It'll be lost in the din of a thousand other controversies by next November, but the Dems voting with Republicans to end the shutdown tonight has everything to do with protecting the fucking filibuster and nothing to do with protecting Americans from exploding healthcare costs or fascist ICE raids.
November 10, 2025 at 2:45 AM
It'll be lost in the din of a thousand other controversies by next November, but the Dems voting with Republicans to end the shutdown tonight has everything to do with protecting the fucking filibuster and nothing to do with protecting Americans from exploding healthcare costs or fascist ICE raids.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
More evidence that faculty should stop speaking with NYTimes reporters that are actively hostile to their profession and institutions.
He responded to a comment with a nakedly biased take on what's been occurring for the past decade or so on college campuses!
November 9, 2025 at 5:41 PM
More evidence that faculty should stop speaking with NYTimes reporters that are actively hostile to their profession and institutions.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
The Extraordinary Power of Standing For Something
Winning by creating vision in the positive space of shared standards, and expertly negotiating the negative space of shame.
www.the-reframe.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Today I wrote about Zohran Mamdani's historic win, the energizing power of holding to shared principles of decency, and a taxonomy of the endlessly intertwined relationship between shame and vision. www.the-reframe.com/the-extraord...
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Funneling scholars into a few major platforms isn’t just annoying, it’s corrosive to intellectual freedom. Institutions should support researchers moving to more democratic and decentralized alternatives. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Science Must Decentralize
Knowledge production doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Every great scientific breakthrough is built on prior work, and an ongoing exchange with peers in the field. That’s why we need to address the threat
www.eff.org
November 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Funneling scholars into a few major platforms isn’t just annoying, it’s corrosive to intellectual freedom. Institutions should support researchers moving to more democratic and decentralized alternatives. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
I'm teaching "Intro to NLP" for our grad students next semester, and I'm curious how others are teaching such courses, in our current "era of AI." I've seen ideas (no tech in class, commonplace books) for smaller seminars, but how to do this in large, structured CS classes? Any success stories?
November 9, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I'm teaching "Intro to NLP" for our grad students next semester, and I'm curious how others are teaching such courses, in our current "era of AI." I've seen ideas (no tech in class, commonplace books) for smaller seminars, but how to do this in large, structured CS classes? Any success stories?
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Brewster Kahle says that in the aftermath of the copyright attacks on the Archive, “the world became stupider.” I agree.
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
“We survived, but it wiped out the library,” Internet Archive’s founder says.
arstechnica.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Brewster Kahle says that in the aftermath of the copyright attacks on the Archive, “the world became stupider.” I agree.
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Internet Archive’s legal fights are over, but its founder mourns what was lost
arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
Never forget that a Democratic US Attorney’s decision to prosecute Aaron Swartz for downloading JSTOR PDFs contributed to his suicide but AI firms’ decision to download everything ever will be a justification for hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer bailouts and legal exemptions.
“authors & publishers who filed a lawsuit against the Sam Altman-led firm have secured access to internal Slack messages… discussing the mass deletion of a pirated books dataset… A NY district court ordered OpenAI to hand over the communications regarding data deletion”
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
OpenAI in Danger After Authors Suing It Gain Access to Its Internal Slack Messages
Authors and publishers, who are suing OpenAI, secured access to internal Slack messages and emails discussing the deletion of pirated books.
futurism.com
November 9, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Never forget that a Democratic US Attorney’s decision to prosecute Aaron Swartz for downloading JSTOR PDFs contributed to his suicide but AI firms’ decision to download everything ever will be a justification for hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer bailouts and legal exemptions.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Lots of hard, shitty lessons being learned from this presidency. And one of the many I hope you're learning is, white supremacy is incompatible with reality, and cannot exist without historical revisionism.
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Lots of hard, shitty lessons being learned from this presidency. And one of the many I hope you're learning is, white supremacy is incompatible with reality, and cannot exist without historical revisionism.
If Congressional Democrats actually cared about their constituents or winning elections, they could repackage Medicare for All as “Trumpcare” and dare the GOP to vote against it.
November 9, 2025 at 1:00 AM
If Congressional Democrats actually cared about their constituents or winning elections, they could repackage Medicare for All as “Trumpcare” and dare the GOP to vote against it.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
“Biden officials worried that attaching their names to a recommendation to limit American support for Tel Aviv would hinder their future career prospects, the former senior official said, ‘which is in itself appalling.’”
NEW: Inside the Biden administration debates in late 2024 that could have changed the course of the Gaza war
-top intel official sought to cut support for Israel but Brett McGurk pushed back
-talk of "very likely" US liability
-Blinken spoke of "ethnic cleansing"
www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...
-top intel official sought to cut support for Israel but Brett McGurk pushed back
-talk of "very likely" US liability
-Blinken spoke of "ethnic cleansing"
www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-...
Biden Discussed Potential Israeli War Crimes In Gaza. He Kicked The Can To Trump.
New intelligence shocked officials in late 2024, spurring heightened fear of U.S. liability, HuffPost has learned. The period saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken ask if Israel’s actions constituted ...
www.huffpost.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:27 AM
“Biden officials worried that attaching their names to a recommendation to limit American support for Tel Aviv would hinder their future career prospects, the former senior official said, ‘which is in itself appalling.’”
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
CNN: The guy worth half a trillion dollars has just been awarded a trillion-dollar bonus
NYT: The president took a break from building a giant golden White House ballroom to eliminate SNAP benefits
CBS: It remains baffling that so many voters are willing to consider socialism
NYT: The president took a break from building a giant golden White House ballroom to eliminate SNAP benefits
CBS: It remains baffling that so many voters are willing to consider socialism
November 8, 2025 at 10:34 PM
CNN: The guy worth half a trillion dollars has just been awarded a trillion-dollar bonus
NYT: The president took a break from building a giant golden White House ballroom to eliminate SNAP benefits
CBS: It remains baffling that so many voters are willing to consider socialism
NYT: The president took a break from building a giant golden White House ballroom to eliminate SNAP benefits
CBS: It remains baffling that so many voters are willing to consider socialism
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:39 PM
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
We now have leaders of undergraduate clubs and organizations putting themselves on the line while the regents and administration themselves still refuse to go to court for anything besides protecting their ability to negotiate the terms of our surrender in secret.
Our students are just stunning. Their bravery and integrity put our leaders to shame.
Student organization coalition files amicus brief supporting lawsuit against Trump - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Nov. 5 at 1:02 a.m. A coalition of 25 student organizations filed an amicus brief Thursday in support of a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleged research funding su...
dailybruin.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:04 PM
We now have leaders of undergraduate clubs and organizations putting themselves on the line while the regents and administration themselves still refuse to go to court for anything besides protecting their ability to negotiate the terms of our surrender in secret.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Give Rosalind Franklin a tenth of the advantages he had and she’d be recognized as the “discoverer” of DNA. As it was, he and his colleagues had to use her (stolen!) notes to get there.
James Watson died yesterday. He was a bad man with many bad ideas. We owe a debt of gratitude to the unknown hero who uploaded this picture of him to Wikipedia.
November 8, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Give Rosalind Franklin a tenth of the advantages he had and she’d be recognized as the “discoverer” of DNA. As it was, he and his colleagues had to use her (stolen!) notes to get there.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
This article contends that the Sierra Club's effort to integrate social justice into its mission was the cause of turmoil. My perspective suggests a simpler reason: Poor leadership.
The Sierra Club Embraced Social Justice. Then It Tore Itself Apart.
www.nytimes.com
November 8, 2025 at 5:01 PM
This article contends that the Sierra Club's effort to integrate social justice into its mission was the cause of turmoil. My perspective suggests a simpler reason: Poor leadership.
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
Reposted by Brian C. Keegan, Ph.D.
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.
November 7, 2025 at 11:03 PM
I understand why we shut down American airspace for a few days after 9-11 to avoid a repeat attack but imagine shutting down American airspace to avoid releasing the Epstein files.