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vtraag.social.cwts.nl.ap.brid.gy
Vincent Traag
@vtraag.social.cwts.nl.ap.brid.gy
200 followers 2 following 5 posts
Senior researcher @cwts, Leiden University. Computational social science, science studies, modelling & networks.

Searchable posts at https://www.tootfinder.ch/

[bridged from https://social.cwts.nl/@vtraag on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Vincent Traag
mastodon.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
We’re excited to release Mastodon 4.5 into the world! Arriving just a few months after the last release, this version brings the long-awaited Quote Posts feature, along with many other goodies. Here’s a quick look (you should read our blog post for more!) […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
November 6, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
ricci.discuss.systems.ap.brid.gy
While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #unix v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973

Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition

We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum

#retrocomputing
An old reel to reel magnetic tape. It has a label, in Jay Lepreau's handwriting, proclaiming it to be "UNIX Original from Bell Labs v4 (see manual for fmt)"
November 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
vtraag.bsky.social
The leidenalg package is now also updated and now supports igraph 1.0. github.com/vtraag/leide... You can download and install using pip. The conda package will be updated shortly.
October 31, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
bjornw.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Ter aanvulling:

Lees ook dit artikel van @bert_hubert en deel dit vooral ook met vrienden in andere EU landen. Bert heeft een aantal vertaalde versies klaar staan in oa Duits, Engels, Frans, Spaans, Pools etc.

https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/chatcontrol-weer-terug/
Chatcontrol: Of de Amerikanen onze WhatsApp foto's willen melden bij Europol - Bert Hubert's writings
In het kort: onder leiding van Denemarken pleiten veel EU-lidstaten er (weer) voor om WhatsApp/Signal/etc te dwingen al onze foto’s en links te inspecteren met behulp van AI. Als de AI ook maar enige “twijfel” heeft of iets kinderpornografie zou kunnen zijn, worden je foto, locatie, telefoonnummer en andere gegevens doorgestuurd naar een nieuw “EU Centrum”, en daarna naar Europol en de lokale politie. Wat er daarna gebeurt staat niet precies in het voorstel, maar je vakantie op Cyprus zou zomaar kunnen eindigen met een gesprek op het lokale politiebureau om je foto’s uit te leggen.
berthub.eu
August 29, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
braccolaetitia.social.sciences.re.ap.brid.gy
On my way home after two intense days at CWTS | Leiden University discussing data sources and indicators for bibliometric analysis. A huge thanks to Clara Calero Medina, Ludo Waltman and Vincent Traag for the inspiring conversations and useful tips that […]

[Original post on social.sciences.re]
June 18, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
vtraag.bsky.social
New preprint! 🚨

We study the interaction between misinformation and science on Twitter during COVID-19 based on ~407M tweets. Both science and misinformation featured prominently during the pandemic, but the interaction between the two has not been studied on this scale before.

🧵 (1/10)
Mapping the interaction between science and misinformation in COVID-19 tweets. Publication from @luzuzek.bsky.social, Juan Pablo Bascur, @annabertani.bsky.social, @ricgallotti.bsky.social. This project is supported by European Media and Information Fund. Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding related to the topic evolved rapidly. Along with scientific information being discussed widely, a large circulation of false information, labelled an infodemic by the WHO, emerged. Here, we study the interaction between misinformation and science on Twitter (now X) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We built a comprehensive database of 407M COVID-19 related tweets and classified the reliability of URLs in the tweets based on Media Bias/Fact Check. In addition, we use Altmetric data to see whether a tweet refers to a scientific publication. We find that many users find that many users share both scientific and unreliable content; out of the 1.2M users who share science, also share unreliable content. Publications that are more frequently shared by users who also share unreliable content are more likely to be preprints, slightly more often retracted, have fewer citations, and are published in lower-impact journals on average. Our findings suggest that misinformation is not related to a ``deficit'' of science. In addition, our findings raise some critical questions about certain open science practices and their potential for misuse. Given the fundamental opposition between science and misinformation, our findings highlight the necessity for proactive scientific engagement on social media platforms to counter false narratives during global crises.
July 4, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
vtraag.bsky.social
Great to see @luzuzek.bsky.social present our work on the interaction between science and misinformation during COVID-19 yesterday at @netsciconf.bsky.social
Lucila stands in front of slides with two network visualizations of papers highlighting which papers are more often shared by scientists (left) and reliable users (right), with more reliable users/scientists displayed in yellow and less reliable/non-scientists in purple.
June 3, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
bert-hubert.mastodon.nl.ap.brid.gy
Weer mooi onderzoek van BNR Nieuwsradio! Ondanks mooie verhalen blijven hele stukken overheid in hoog tempo al onze privégegevens naar Amerikaanse clouds te verhuizen. Daar kan de regering Trump bij onze medische details, en misschien praktisch erger: ze kunnen onze toegang ook afsluiten. En […]
Original post on mastodon.nl
mastodon.nl
May 20, 2025 at 5:32 AM
vtraag.social.cwts.nl.ap.brid.gy
Techbedrijf aan de leiband van Trump – kan Nederland nog wel zonder Microsoft?
https://www.volkskrant.nl/binnenland/techbedrijf-aan-de-leiband-van-trump-kan-nederland-nog-wel-zonder-microsoft~b4262ab3/
May 20, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
bonfire.indieweb.social.ap.brid.gy
🎉🔬 More news this weekend.
@sciety (eLife's preprint evaluation platform) has secured funding from @nlnet to build a Bonfire flavour for federating preprint reviews and discussions.

This means federated, community-governed spaces for open discourse around scientific preprints outside […]
Original post on indieweb.social
indieweb.social
May 10, 2025 at 1:05 PM
vtraag.social.cwts.nl.ap.brid.gy
This fall I will be teaching a course on processes on networks to a very interdisciplinary audience of 3rd year bachelor students. This includes diffusion and epidemic processes and more social spreading and social influence processes.

Any recommendations for relevant (not too mathy) literature?
March 19, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
fonolog.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy
Nijmeegse collega's! Er is een steengoede brief die de universiteit oproept om geen software meer te gebruiken van grote (Amerikaanse) bedrijven en in plaats daarvan gebruik te maken van non-profit alternatieven, gebaseerd op publieke waarden en transparantie. Teken die brief! […]
Original post on mstdn.social
mstdn.social
March 11, 2025 at 9:28 PM
vtraag.social.cwts.nl.ap.brid.gy
I'm happy to say that after almost 5 years, our work on comparing peer review with metrics at the institutional level is now finally available from @QSS_ISSI at https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00352.

Here's the previous thread on our preprint:
https://social.cwts.nl/@vtraag/110107119844768262
Quantitative Science Studies (@QSS_ISSI@scicomm.xyz)
59 Posts, 28 Following, 381 Followers · Official journal of the International Society for Scientometrics and Informetrics (ISSI), edited by @lariviev@mastodon.social, @rodrigocostas@social.cwts.nl and Li Tang, published by @themitpress@mastodon.mit.edu
scicomm.xyz
March 11, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
mszll.datasci.social.ap.brid.gy
That was fast: #bluesky might have taken its first step towards US govt related censorship: https://www.404media.co/bluesky-deletes-ai-protest-video-of-trump-sucking-musks-toes-calls-it-non-consensual-explicit-material/
Anyway, good that bs is decentralized, so you can just switch to another s […]
Original post on datasci.social
datasci.social
February 27, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
jon.social.vivaldi.net.ap.brid.gy
We at Vivaldi are the only browser company with a Mastodon server. We have chosen to support the Fediverse in every way we can. We will continue to do so as we need options away from Big Tech.

https://social.vivaldi.net/

#vivaldi @Vivaldi #mastodon #fediverse
Vivaldi Social
Vivaldi Social is part of the Mastodon network and is hosted in Iceland by the makers of Vivaldi Browser. Everyone is welcome to join.
social.vivaldi.net
February 23, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
vtraag.bsky.social
The post by Fiona Fox raises some good questions, about scientists getting politically involved. In many cases, I tend to agree that scientists should show restraint, and that political involvement may risk decreasing trusts in science and scientists. In this case, I disagree. (1/6)
scurry.bsky.social Stephen Curry @scurry.bsky.social · Feb 17
This is a thoughtful and balanced piece on my open letter and the issues raised by Musk's fellowship of the Royal Society, and hopefully will contribute to their discussions on 3rd Mar. 1/2
www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-v...
If the Royal Society expels Musk, it could harm trust in science - Research Professional News
Scientists might achieve more for the public by staying out of politics, writes Fiona Fox
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 17, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
ionica.mathstodon.xyz.ap.brid.gy
It took some years of complaining, but Leiden University just changed its password policy 🥳🥳🥳
Good news: from 10 February 2025, you will no longer have to change the password for your ULCN account every 182 days. You will choose one strong password and that will not expire.
February 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy
Update, on the #cdc order directing staffers to withdraw pending journal articles that use now-prohibited terms like #transgender and #immigrant (earlier in this thread) …

Bravo to the #bmj (@bmj_latest) for calling this order "sinister and ludicrous."
https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r253 […]
Original post on fediscience.org
fediscience.org
February 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
jukkasuomela.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
The Department of Computer Science at Aalto University (Finland) is hiring five (!) Assistant Professors in these areas:
- Computer Architecture
- Programming Languages
- Human-Computer Interaction
- Software Engineering
- Systems Security […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 30, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
fonolog.mstdn.social.ap.brid.gy
Nu de regering-Trump hard ingrijpt in de wetenschap als die volgens politici de verkeerde woorden gebruikt, en nu het duidelijk is dat grote Amerikaanse bedrijven door de knieën gaan en het nieuwe regime steunen, wordt het belangrijk om keuzes te maken […]
Original post on mstdn.social
mstdn.social
February 4, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
erikuden.mastodon.de.ap.brid.gy
This is a public service announcement to **never** ever use Oracle
A screenshot of an interaction with Oracle Cloud customer service where I ask: "I understand that. So for a reason that I cannot be told my account was terminated without any notice, all of my data deleted, and there is nothing Oracle can do to change this?" Oracle support responds "That is correct."
February 1, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
erikuden.mastodon.de.ap.brid.gy
Day three of Trump's term and the largest push for surveillance capitalism yet has been made: **Project Stargate** will be a $500.000.000.000 (_500 billion USD_) data center used for running a multitude of AIs with the purpose of spying on you.

Larry Ellison, the world's second richest man and […]
Original post on mastodon.de
mastodon.de
January 23, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
petersuber.fediscience.org.ap.brid.gy
This is very welcome news in the face of Trumpist depredations of
US public data.
https://lil.law.harvard.edu/blog/2025/01/30/preserving-public-u-s-federal-data/

"In recent months the Harvard Law School @harvard_law] Library Innovation Lab @harvardlil] has created a data vault to download […]
Original post on fediscience.org
fediscience.org
February 1, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Vincent Traag
jasonkoebler.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy
Thousands of datasets have disappeared from data.gov. Determining what's gone, why it's gone, and whether it moved elsewhere will to take time. Things are definitely being purged but archivists working hard to determine exactly what has happened to a given dataset […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
January 30, 2025 at 7:43 PM