Nerd Alert 72: Do you know where your duck is?

Posted on by Ben Keith

HOT LINKS

What we're reading this week

  Adam: Want to make online advertising better? Put users first, says Quartz’s Mia Mabanta.

  Ben: BB(8) is a very large number. In this article about how to name large numbers, the BB() Busy Beaver function astounds me with the accelerating rate at which its results increase and with how people use it.

  Jack: Want to help invent the future of news? Sketch it out.

  Julia: Heartbreak Dance Party is a really awesome “story of new beginnings in New York City,” told through visualizations (with audio!) of one person’s music consumption. It’s part of a broader project, Quantified Selfie, which explores identity through personal data. Bonus: Also check out Quantified Breakup (the author’s previous project), which explains her process of coping with her divorce with some really introspective and powerful data visualizations. It’s great stuff.

  Ryan: Software design patterns are not goals, they are tools.

  Sinduja: There’s so much buzz about Virtual Reality or VR videos and journalism. Here’s an article that talks about emerging VR subgenres.

  Inndy: Robots might be better at global politics than humans.

SHOUT OUT

Work we admire by our journalism peers

A blue background with faint image of the Capitol dome. White text reads: Dive into the data and resources. The Political TV Ad Archive collects political ads in the 2016 election. In addition to tracking airings across key primary states, the collection includes ads that may air elsewhere or exclusively on social media.

The Political TV Ad Archive talks about how they collect, catalogue and compare political ads. They're even working to automatically identify new ads.

The Wall Street Journal's comparison of Facebook feeds for conservative and liberal viewers drove a lot of political discussion this week. Check it out if you haven't already.

NPR Digital Media launched their dev blog!

And a shoutout to you, our reader. You’re awesome.

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