Ross Weistroffer

1/ Sorry for double-posting from X. Sharing a new working paper for the Year of the Horce 🐎:

"An AI-assisted workflow that scales reproducibility in empirical research" (bit.ly/repro-ai) w/ Leo Yang Yang

The latest thought-provoking piece out of the League's Center for Democracy Innovation argues that if we want mass deliberation to succeed, we can’t just design better forums, we have to build an economy and culture that supports participation.

Food for thought: 👀📰: https://ow.ly/jCNU50YhMkp

The LA Charter Reform Commission (CRC) locked in its first set of recommendations Wednesday night, beginning with the unanimous 12-0 approval of all planning & infrastructure reforms below (for more information, see links here: t.co/LnhV1rIQTn )

Same

Can feed algorithms shape what people think about politics? Our paper "The Political Effects of X's Feed Algorithm" is out today in Nature and answers "Yes."

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We’re recruiting participants for a paid research study on AI for inclusive virtual collaboration.

Interested? Scan the QR code or visit: bit.ly/allyshipteam

[1/n] Just wrapped up 7 months interning with @pcastr.bsky.social at Google DeepMind and I'm so excited to share our work: arxiv.org/abs/2602.10324.

TLDR: We used LLM-powered program synthesis to automatically model and discover differences between human and LLM strategic behavior

LA Charter Reform (STILL) At a Crossroads: The LA Charter Reform Commission is preparing to vote on: Planning & infrastructure Reforms, like: creating a Capital Infrastructure Plan; empowering a Director of Public works; and replacing Area Planning Commissions with a Board of Neighborhood Appeals. This includes Government Structure Reforms, like splitting the City Attorney's office, lowering the voting age to 16 for LAUSD and city elections, and changing ballot access requirements to run for office. Voice your support for the direction you want LA to take! Meeting at LA City Hall, 200 N Spring St, Room 350; Feb 18th, 4 PM. You can call/Zoom in to participate! Talking points & meeting info at: bit.ly/FRLA26 We're Fair Rep LA, at FairRepLA.com

WEDNESDAY (2/18), 4 PM, LA City Hall, Room 350: the Charter Reform Commission meets to vote on whether to advance key reforms.

Also on the agenda: a motion for Commission STAFF to disclose their communications w/elected officials.

More meeting info at: bit.ly/FRLA26

I keep coming back to @cdsamii.bsky.social essay on the “problem-centered” over “puzzle-centered” research paradigm and I can’t help but feel like so many problems with social science methods boil down to this cyrussamii.com?p=3682

It was such a fantastic experience to get to facilitate at LA’s first civic assembly! Much thanks to all participants and @publicdemocracyla.bsky.social for making this happen.

Our full video of this meeting of the LA Charter Reform Commission is now up at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMg5...

📢New co-authored article in @polbehavior.bsky.social about PARTICIPATION and REPRESENTATION!
✨We ask "Are the Politically Active Better Represented?" Our answer, using the most comprehensive data to date: A clear "YES" for nonelectoral participation like protest.
⬇️See Jesper's 🧵for more ✨

I decided to start an open @semble.so collection to curate more examples/inspiration for "extreme citizen science": semble.so/profile/joel...

cc @ronentk.me

existential cookie message from the olympics website

WEDNESDAY (2/11) @ 4 PM - LA City Hall, Room 350: the full Commission meets to (hopefully) finally vote on the Charter reforms the Ad Hoc Committee purged.

Stand up and be counted to restore the Charter reforms LA's future needs!

Zoom & meeting info: bit.ly/FRLA26

Repair as Translation: Thinking AI Ethics from Salvage Worlds Webinar Recap: How can African repair practices reshape AI ethics? Moving beyond upstream design concerns towards downstream sites where ethical judgement occurs amid constraint, toxicity and unequal ...

Much AI ethics work focuses on preventing future harm through better design or regulation. Ntapanta’s work draws attention to ethical judgement that takes place when prevention has already failed health.uct.ac.za/ethics-lab/a...

A poster for the Digital Democracy from Below taking place on February 20, 2026, 12:00pm-1:30pm EST. Free and open to the public. Speakers are: Julie Bolthouse, Luã Cruz, Bianca Wylie, Tamara Kneese, Dhanaraj Thakur and Roya Pakzad. Co-organized by Jess Reia, Jonathan van Geuns and Nicole West Bassoff. Sponsored by the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab at UVA.

As we navigate the undermining of democratic processes & witness how tech facilitates/resists authoritarianism, join us on Feb 20@12pm to hear from @technolua.bsky.social @tamigraph.bsky.social @thakurdhanaraj.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social B.Wylie, J.Bolthouse
dtdlab.virginia.edu/event/digita...

The LA Charter Reform Commission's Ad Hoc Committee finally executed their reform purge. Time to fight back.

Tell the FULL Commission to purge the Ad Hoc Committee instead, and put real reform back on the table.

More meeting info: bit.ly/FRLA26

Updated our long-list of resources on accessibility and visualization, including 2025 articles, guides, and technical tools!

(For those that don't know, this single-page doc is one of my most-starred projects on github.)

github.com/dataviza11y/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

📢 New article!
What if “populist” political visuals aren’t really populist at all?

Using insider interviews with top party communication strategists in 🇮🇹, we show that emotional and stylistic visuals are used across the board driven by social media logics

Link: journals.sagepub.com/eprint/2IXE9...

Mary Ellen Pleasant

Mary Ellen Pleasant, American civil rights pioneer, entrepreneur. The “Mother of Civil Rights in California”; one of the wealthiest & most powerful people in California. Key role in major #civilrights court cases; California black rights activist #womenshistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM #woc #PolSky

Absolutely, if *only* because of the incredible Trent Reznor score if not for the top-notch writing, and home-run performances by Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Jean Smart, and Hong Chau (to name a few).

Screenshot of the OVA website, showing all courses

The Open Visualization Academy (OVA) IS LIVE!
openvisualizationacademy.org

Thread follows #dataViz #infographics #dataJournalism #dataVisualization

What makes technical expertise a legitimate source of authority? Trym Nohr Fjørtoft (@trymnf.com) examines “technical legitimacy”, proposing conditions under which expertise can justify delegation to non-majoritarian institutions. Read OPEN ACCESS: buff.ly/b3DAdu1

@polstudiesassoc.bsky.social #ECRs

THIS SATURDAY (1/31) • 9:30 AM • Occidental College

The LA Charter Reform Commission’s “electric saw” committee is back to decide which proposed changes to how LA works move forward…and which get cut. 🪚

More meeting info: bit.ly/FRLA26

Thank you Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez!

CM Hernandez is the 1st City of LA elected official to offer their support for allowing "residents 16 and up to vote in LAUSD Board elections to allow for representation of the people most impacted by these elections."

"If misinformation stabilizes disrupted worldviews, the solution lies not in better facts, but in better ways of making meaning."

Fantastic work on the need for broader lenses to address the disordered discourse that emerges from epistemic collapse (to borrow from @eliothiggins.bsky.social).

The Missing Semester of Your CS Education Master powerful tools that will make you a more productive computer scientist and programmer.

this lecture series is really useful for people who took the roundabout route to programming: missing.csail.mit.edu

But yes, bringing this before Council so late to begin with, and now having to duel with competing initiatives in November is...less than ideal, to say the least.

Should note that this just kicks the can down the road to November.

Also, in fairness, the timeline for getting something on the June ballot this quickly meant they only had until Jan 28 to request ballot language, and until Feb 11 for a final vote. (Credit to @unrigla.bsky.social for flagging.)