@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social
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koen_hufkens

@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social

Founder of BlueGreen Labs | addressing #climatechange through data driven methods in #ecology #remotesensing #phenology #foodsecurity

#rstats developer | maker with duct tape and a hammer | #academic omnivore | move fast and fix things

There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in

  • Leonard Cohen

Personal account | #politics, #science & #foss software | he / him

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JulianOliver, to random
@JulianOliver@mastodon.social avatar

Brian Merchant's new book 'Blood in the Machine' looks interesting, a historical take on automation and inequality, with a lens on AI

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018923704/brian-merchant-blood-in-the-machine

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@JulianOliver Looking forward to this one as well (on my bedside table). Currently finishing "Survival of the Richest" by Douglas Rushkoff - it makes for a "nice" companion I think.

https://rushkoff.com/books/survival-of-the-richest-escape-fantasies-of-the-tech-billionaires/

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@JulianOliver Yep, it frames a lot of ideas "The Mindset" and crosses with some of what @pluralistic touched upon in "The Lost Cause".

koen_hufkens,
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@JulianOliver No, will check it out.

koen_hufkens, to LateStageCapitalism
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So there goes another one. will soon bring Raspberry Pi to its knees to satisfy the greed of some corporate goons.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/raspberry-pi-is-preparing-for-an-ipo-in-london-for-likely-more-than-500m/

koen_hufkens, to academicchatter
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

Does anyone else take issue with, or have profound concerns about, platform science?

For clarity, it refers to the tendency the last decade for science to be organized into top down meta level networks (which at times, or more often than not, share a political and economic reality not to dissimilar to market based platform economics).

@academicchatter

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter It's a borrowed (new) term I use. I equate the economic and political fallout of these similar to online "platform" economics of for example Facebook or Uber.

Basically, setups where little new is created, on the platform, aside from a way to aggregate labour - AND - where the benefits of this labour generally don't flow back in equal measure to the contributors (users).

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter With this I mean that, when done correctly, networks can be great. But this requires radical openness in governance and the underlying process(ing). The latter is rarely the case.

This results in these networks having similar dynamics than say Uber, where the contributions to a network disproportionately benefit the network owner (rarely the contributors).

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter I'll give an example. In movement ecology you have Movebank. Which provides certain services to people who contribute their data (i.e. it pulls in remote sensing and climate data for locations - mostly).

This service is "free", but by and large this service is not reproducible by others (their processing is not open). i.e. you do not teach people to do this on their own. Thereby, sucking the oxygen out of the room when it comes to funding general infrastructure.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter Then there is the issue of "god mode" referring to the abuse of Uber spying on its users. And I've seen this, as I had preferential access to data in the past. In short, those who own the network can pre-empt large studies because they can see / and leverage the value of the full dataset before anyone else does.

This gives network owners an incredible advantage in getting things "first out of the door", as well as explore research questions and data gaps.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter The latter then reflects onto the potential to write and acquire funding for said network.

This is further compounded by the fact that the more people contribute to large the incentive there is to fund it - especially when the "secret sauce" is not shared. In many ways, things become too big to fail.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter This is my general criticism, that networks are fine. Unless they do not share their inner workflows and governance structures. And especially in ecology there is a lot of that out there.

koen_hufkens,
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@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter So the way to make this into a platform would be to setup a database, where you gatekeep all aspects (only sharing a subset of the data back to the contributors - or a transformed "product").

You then leverage this into soliciting more contributions (the growth phase) from external collaborators. This will give you the opportunity to posit that it becomes indispensable (while not sharing all data or the underlying processing) - increasing personal funding chances.

koen_hufkens,
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@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter Now I've been the devil's advocate here. Don't do this, as it limits reproducibility and in the long-term negatively impacts the open data discourse IMO.

koen_hufkens,
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@DrEvanGowan @academicchatter Often monetizing this require a certain momentum (critical mass), and being open about things works against this. Again, not saying you should do this - but it seems to be a pattern in certain fields.

koen_hufkens, to mastodon
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A casual observation, for me has settled into something that resembles what "good" Twitter used to look like. I can only thank the devs and the community at large.

I think there is a bit more space for the academic component to grow, but much of that has moved to LinkedIn (keeping business and fun separated). Fair enough for me.

fj, to random
@fj@mastodon.social avatar

Continuing a thread from a few years ago on encryption & security architecture being political and that should reflect the power structure.

Paraphrasing @lessig, “Cryptographic architecture is politics”: An encrypted messaging protocol that's right for personal communications does not mean it's the right protocol for institutions and regulated communications.

koen_hufkens,
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@fj I've always found the use of Slack in any setting rather troubling. Not in the least because it gives your employer complete control over the version of record (unlike email - which can be safeguarded more easily).

It is too easy to hide uncomfortable conversations and therefore walk back on discussed topics and agreements. The DOJ / FTC is absolutely right in this context.

ErikJonker, to random Dutch
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social avatar

Wilders plaatst zich aan de zelfde kant als Trump en Milei

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@ErikJonker Ik wil zijn oplossingen voor "climate change" wel eens zien. Waarschijnlijk samen te vatten als "bunkers for the rich". 🤡

UlrikeHahn, to SciComm
@UlrikeHahn@fediscience.org avatar

When scientists make erroneous pronouncements outside their area of expertise that's misinformation. When they make predictions that prove wrong that can be hugely consequential. How do we stop ourselves from doing this and how do we recognise epistemic trespass in others? What actually constitutes 'expertise', particularly in novel, interdisciplinary contexts ?

Join the scibeh.org 2024 online workshop to help us all work this out

https://www.scibeh.org/events/workshop2024/

@philosophy

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@UlrikeHahn @paulralph @philosophy Add scientific humility to the list of themes to explore.

Cmastication, to random
@Cmastication@mastodon.social avatar

doing my corp internet security training and I'm reminded of a few stories.

CW: Old man telling stories follows.

in 1998ish I was a grad student. Even though I was in the ag Econ department I was interested in all things tech. So I learned about promiscuous mode on ethernet and ran some random sniffing software. At that point authentication for POP email was not encrypted, but was plain text. in one day of sniffing I had email creds for everyone on my floor.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@Cmastication Only passwords, no porn? I was sysadmin of the university library system (early 2000's) as an undergrad (don't ask why). Some things can't be unseen.

Luckily I could remotely reset terminals using Norton Ghost. But you better wash your hands if you used a pub(l)ic terminal.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@Cmastication I was once called into the head librarian's office to fix his slow browser. Don't need to tell you where this is going - let's say he had a long history.

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

I have ✨ a new preprint ✨ to share!!

This is a scientific review paper which seeks to provide a map, an entry point, and a call to action for improving the lives of the people who create software:

"Psychological Affordances Can Provide a Missing Explanatory Layer for Why Interventions to Improve Developer Experience Take Hold or Fail"

You can download it free and open access here:

https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/qz43x

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@grimalkina Thanks for putting this together, as an OSS developer this is really insightful and potentially helpful in addressing some of the tension which exists in this domain.

Cmastication, to random
@Cmastication@mastodon.social avatar

good code comments on production code are like warnings written in blood and spiked to the bodies of our enemies left in the middle of the trail as a warning to future travelers.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@Cmastication Two things for the win: Organize your code from day 1, comment your code extensively from day 1. That's what I teach students - I will die on this hill.

aral, to random
@aral@mastodon.ar.al avatar

Everyone’s for social justice until it threatens their own privilege.

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@aral Isn't that the false dichotomy that giving people additional rights doesn't take yours away?

jbaert, to random
@jbaert@mastodon.social avatar

Is dit nu die befaamde omvlokking waar ik het Vlaams Belang constant over hoor toeteren?

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@jbaert Eerder whitewashing me dunkt..

koen_hufkens, to Futurology
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

A recent study highlights the decline in disruptive science. I think most of this is due to the intellectual poverty of a mindset of current day .

It is well documented that poor people suffer from a scarcity mindset, which erodes core cognitive functions. This mindset clouds decisions, prioritizing small short-term gains over long-term larger profits by affecting planning ability. The same applies to creativity.

@academicchatter

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04577-5

koen_hufkens,
@koen_hufkens@mastodon.social avatar

@kraweel65 @andrei_chiffa @academicchatter Fact remains that too many academics are chasing metrics, and too many people down the pecking order are thrown under the bus for it.

Both the Science and Nature laments on PhD student and post-doc well-being go back more than a decade with little improvement over time.

Getting back to not chasing our tail would do everybody a favour.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00332-6

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