Amanda Alvarez

Data Behind the Scenes Conf - Call for Speakers What This Conference Is About "Data, Behind the Scenes" is a (free) online-only, single track conference centered on the real stories of data work from the folks in the trenches. We’re not here for th...

The weekend is here!

Perfect time to submit your #dataBS talk.

We want your lessons-learned stories from data work, everything from "my data pipeline: the unsung hero" to "how we got that AI system working" to "what we learned when it fell over."

Details and sign-up:
bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

Last week, I was called a geek in print. This week, a nerd.
15 year old me would be annoyed, but not because it's untrue.

Ah, the old "if we don't collect data about something problematic that we're doing, we can pretend there are no problems" 🤡
#dataBS

An excellent thread by @datageekb.bsky.social showing how she's using the @dataindex.us Take Action! newsletter by our awesome collaborator Meghan Maury to answer calls for public comment on changes to federal gov forms & surveys.

#dataSky

Data Behind the Scenes Conf - Call for Speakers What This Conference Is About "Data, Behind the Scenes" is a (free) online-only, single track conference centered on the real stories of data work from the folks in the trenches. We’re not here for th...

The #dataBS (Data Behind the Scenes) Conference Call for speakers is out! We're gonna do this!!

All online, single track, free to attend. Come talk about your messy experiences doing data stuff. At work, personal projects, whatever. A space to commiserate about nerdy things!

bit.ly/dataBSconf-cfs

These geeks are building an early warning system for disappearing government data As federal data vanishes and changes under Trump, America’s Data Index is tracking what’s still at risk—and why it matters.

Happy to be one of "these geeks"
#dataBS

Cautious. Curious. First fox we’ve caught on our trail cam, though we saw footprints in the snow throughout the winter and frequently see them trotting down the street where we live.

Today’s trail cam visitors hung around for a while!

oh noooooo

2024. But I can only be sure that it's no worse than that because I didn't have this computer in Dec. 2023.

Just discovered I have Chrome tabs looking at Advent of Code problems that have been open since those problems were freshly released, AMA.

The Trump admin is jailing children for extended periods of time in violation of the Flores Settlement, which requires prompt release. Border Patrol runs some of the harshest & cruelest prisons that will never be safe for children, making every day spent there dangerous.

Art by @ritzyp.bsky.social

The average number of days children spend in immigration prisons has increased dramatically in 2025. This year alone, the number of children held for two weeks or longer has increased sevenfold!

This is why Flores must be protected.

#dataSky

It’s shaping up to be a straight tequila night

#dataSky

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn’t the solution to dealing with imperfect data, and I would have thought that was obvious. Turns out it’s not, so @datageekb.bsky.social spells it out.
#dataSky

EAT MOAR TACOS

While democracy is openly under attack, remember it is also under attack by covert actors. PACER provides public access to federal court records.

We don't even know who's attacking it and we are losing the capacity to respond to the attacks.

At ADRCon plenary, big shout-outs to the important work at being done at
@datarescueproject.org
@icpsr.bsky.social
And
@dataindex.us
❤️🤍💙

"The Trump administration's push to rapidly amass sensitive personal information about hundreds of millions of people living in the U.S. is extending to a rich new vein of information: troves of databases run by states."

This is bad. And we should all care about it.
#dataBS

This was not the first time I signed up, and I finally made it! Thanks for doing this!

I spent most of today seeking to meet with one of the many victims of ICE raids currently jailed in Downtown LA.

While @chrclla.bsky.social focuses its efforts on impact litigation, my team boosts efforts on the ground whenever possible.

What I saw speaks to the crisis in LA & beyond.

Monitoring the shenanigans affecting our federal data is important, but the work doesn’t stop there. Follow Take Action! (newsletter and expanded summary on dataindex.us) for a distilled look at changes being made/proposed, making it easier for YOU to weigh in on the issues you care about.
#dataBS

BEA Announcement: Changes to the Direct Investment by Country and Industry News Release and Related Data Tables SUITLAND, Md. – The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ ongoing modernization and streamlining of news release packages will include changes in the production and presentation of tables in the July 22 release, "Direct Investment by Country and Industry." Most data previously published as tables within the annual news release on direct investment by country and industry will continue to be updated and available simultaneously with the news release on BEA’s website. The news release data are found in the Interactive Data and the comprehensive data webpages for U.S. Direct Investment Abroad and Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The tables will no longer be included in the body of the news release. This will reduce duplication, increase efficiency, and point data users directly to our most complete data tables, via links in the release. BEA will no longer produce the data in two tables previously included in the full news release's section on U.S. direct investment abroad: Dividends by Country of Foreign Affiliate and Dividends by Industry of U.S. Parent. Additionally, some of the annual detail tables previously produced alongside the news release will be discontinued. The tables to be discontinued have been noted on the comprehensive data webpages for U.S. Direct Investment Abroad and Foreign Direct Investment in the United States. The discontinued tables will be archived. BEA will continue to publish its other annual detail tables on direct investment by country and industry, as well as the quarterly tables.

NEW: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says it plans to stop releasing some data tables on U.S. direct investment abroad after announcing more than a week ago it's discontinuing some tables on foreign direct investment in the U.S. "due to resource constraints"
content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USD...

How to Find a Loved One After a U.S. Immigration Arrest This guide will help you look for someone who was taken by immigration officers and may be facing deportation.

I saw this useful resource: www.nilc.org/resources/ho...

That shirt 😍

The Data We Take for Granted As the former U.S. Chief Data Scientist, I know first-hand how valuable and vulnerable our nation’s federal data assets are. Like many things in life, we’ve been taking our data for granted and will m...

Tell your stories about why public data matters! ❤️🛟 @essentialdata.us
fas.org/publication/...

Why are we building @dataindex.us? @datageekb.bsky.social explains in our latest newsletter (see the archives and subscribe at dataindex.us/newsletter)
#dataSky