Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 4h

Has anything great happened in your life because of social media?

Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

If ACA healthcare subsidies are not extended, a 60-year-old earning $65k in Key West, Fla. could see premiums go from $460 a month with the subsidies to $2,400 a month without.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Maps show how expected increases in monthly premiums vary by age and geography.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 18h

Bluesky vs. X engagement comparisons tell familiar story.

Example: My colleague @johngramlich.bsky.social has similar # of followers on each site. Last week, he had a popular post about sports gambling, a topic of interest across political ideology.

X: 59 retweets
B: 1,234 total reposts

Image of a post about sports gambling from John Gramlich that received 59 retweets on X.

Image of a post about sports gambling from John Gramlich that received 1,234 reposts on Bluesky (815 regular reposts & 419 quote-reposts.

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 10h

Heart disease & cancer are America's top killers.
Deaths from homicide & terrorism are rare but they get the most media attention.
ourworldindata.org/does-the-new...

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 11h

I suspect people are doing such work but I don’t know any findings.

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 14h

Although people are scattered across many sites, my impression is that a critical mass of the English speaking academic research community now primarily posts here.

Ascher Levy @ascher1.bsky.social · 14h

who do you think is most using (and losing on) these sites

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Philip N Cohen @philipncohen.com · 3d

"Among articles stating that data was available upon request, only 17% shared data upon request." (Or: you keep saying these words. I do not think they mean what you think they mean)

Ian Hussey @ianhussey.mmmdata.io · 3d

My article "Data is not available upon request" was published in Meta-Psychology. Very happy to see this out!
open.lnu.se/index.php/me...

LnuOpen | Meta-Psychology

open.lnu.se

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 15h

30 states and three U.S. territories recognize Columbus Day in some form.

Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day or just a regular Monday? It depends on where you are

30 states and three U.S. territories recognize Columbus Day in some form, but only 20 states and two territories make Columbus Day a paid holiday for state workers.

www.pewresearch.org

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 9d

An early version of the first US News college rankings awarded points for diversity & didn't put the usual suspects on top. So the magazine got rid of the statistician responsible & changed the algorithm to affirm the "conventional wisdom of the meritocracy."
washingtonmonthly.com/2000/09/01/p...

There’s a certain irony to the way that universities trip over themselves to improve their rankings. Not only are many of the best minds at colleges across the country preoccupied with what is essentially a silly enterprise, the books were cooked to begin with. Since the beginning, U.S. News has operated a system with the top schools pre-selected and the rest jumbled behind.

When Elfin was first charged with creating a ranking system, he seems to have known that the only believable methodology would be one that confirmed the prejudices of the meritocracy: The schools that the most prestigious journalists and their friends had gone to would have to come out on top. The first time that the staff had drafted up a numerical ranking system to test internally–a formula that, most controversially, awarded points for diversity–a college that Elfin cannot even remember the name of came out on top. He told me: “When you’re picking the most valuable player in baseball and a utility player hitting .220 comes up as the MVP, it’s not right.”

Elfin subsequently removed the first statistician who had created the algorithm and brought in Morse, a statistician with very limited educational reporting experience. Morse rewrote the algorithm and ran it through the computers. Yale came out on top, and Elfin accepted this more persuasive formula. At the time, there was internal debate about whether the methodology was as good as it could be. According to Lucia Solorzano, who helped create the original U.S. News rankings in 1983, worked on the guide until 1988, and now edits Barron’s Best Buys in College Education, “It’s a college guide and the minute you start to have people in charge of it who have little understanding of education, you’re asking for trouble.”

To Elfin, however, who has a Harvard master’s diploma on his wall, there’s a kind of circular logic to it all: The schools that the conventional wisdom of the meritocracy regards as the best, are in fact the best–as confirmed by the methodology, itself conclusively ratified by the presence of the most prestigious schools at the top of the list. In 1997, he told The New York Times: “We’ve produced a list that puts Harvard, Yale and Princeton, in whatever order, at the top. This is a nutty list? Something we pulled out of the sky?”

The walls around the system that confirmed the top Ivies began to crack in 1996 when Zuckerman hired James Fallows (a contributing editor of The Washington Monthly) to edit the magazine. Fallows hired former New Yorker writer Lincoln Caplan and, when Elfin left in January of ’97, Fallows put Caplan in charge of special projects at the magazine, which included the annual development of the rankings. The two began to make a series of changes that improved the rankings, most noticeably by eliminating one decimal place in the scoring (schools now get grades like 77 instead of 76.8) to create more ties and reduce a spurious air of precision. Caplan also hired a statistical expert named Amy Graham to direct the magazine’s data gathering and analysis. Although both Caplan and Graham have left the magazine, and both declined to be interviewed, sources within U.S. News claim that, after looking deeply into the methodology of the rankings, Graham found that U.S. News had essentially put its thumb on the scale to make sure that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton continued to come out on top, as they did every year until 1999 after Elfin selected a formula.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Darren Dahly @statsepi.bsky.social · 17h

Yet we still have social media "experts" from academic organizations insisting we must stay on twitter because it has more users. To be honest, most academic organizations will also fail to get much out of bluesky, & should focus efforts on LinkedIn. Bsky best for developing personal peer networks

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 18h

Bluesky vs. X engagement comparisons tell familiar story.

Example: My colleague @johngramlich.bsky.social has similar # of followers on each site. Last week, he had a popular post about sports gambling, a topic of interest across political ideology.

X: 59 retweets
B: 1,234 total reposts

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 17h

The Bluesky post yielded 173 comments bsky.app/profile/john...
The X post yielded 5 comments
x.com/johngramlich...

Both posts were published at the same time.

John Gramlich @johngramlich.bsky.social · 5d

% of US men under 30 who say legal sports betting is a *bad thing* for society

22% in 2022
47% in 2025

No other demographic group has seen a bigger increase.

Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports

Today, 43% of U.S. adults say the fact that sports betting is now legal in much of the country is a bad thing for society, up from 34% in 2022.

www.pewresearch.org

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 18h

Bluesky vs. X engagement comparisons tell familiar story.

Example: My colleague @johngramlich.bsky.social has similar # of followers on each site. Last week, he had a popular post about sports gambling, a topic of interest across political ideology.

X: 59 retweets
B: 1,234 total reposts

3 33 160

Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Andrew Mercer @awmercer.bsky.social · 20h

Terrific piece from @gelliottmorris.com this morning.

Whenever you ask if something “might” happen or “may” be necessary, it’s very easy for respondents to think of scenarios where the answer is yes, no matter how unlikely.

Why most polls overstate support for political violence

Misperceptions about the popularity of violence increase public support for it — but you can help change that.

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 20h

Act now while paper media persists!

Alex de Campi @alexdecampi.bsky.social · 21h

A thought I keep having: what if I just log off all social media and subscribe to a few paper magazines and newspapers instead

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Dr Laura Smith-Khan @lauraskh.bsky.social · 21h

I asked something similar over a year ago in the lead up to a seminar on that topic. It'd be interesting to see if the discussion remains the same - bluesky has evolved a bit since then
bsky.app/profile/laur...

Dr Laura Smith-Khan @lauraskh.bsky.social · Aug 27

In all seriousness, though, I'd love to know: why do you use social media? If for communicating research, what are your hot tips for reading the audiences you want to reach? What have been some benefits that have come from your #scicomm on social media?

Dr Laura Smith-Khan @lauraskh.bsky.social · Aug 26

What's your current social media strategy?
(If nothing else, this trend will give me some fun slides for this workshop!)
www.ew.uni-hamburg.de/en/forschung...

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 1d

4/ I'm grateful for this type of outlet, as it's made me a better academic communicator & researcher as well. I've lost patience with opaque & jargony writing. Thinking through how to explain the "bottom line" of any research really focuses attention & helps me see connections across areas.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 1d

3/ There is still a huge need for people who can bridge both deep knowledge from doing research (scientists) & effective communication/explaining the bigger picture (journalists or full-time #scicomm folks). We need more folks to try! But I'm aware that academic career incentives don't reward this.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 1d

2/ but I think social media is a good place to practice clear & concise communication of work you think is important (your own & others). And of course it has the chance to amplify the reach & understanding of that science much more than the readership of academic journals.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Jenn Dowd @drjenndowd.bsky.social · 1d

Great questions! My trial by fire was COVID, & a crisis is great for pushing you out of your comfort zone. But that experience convinced me of the value in scientists becoming better communicators. What that looks like might be different for everyone... 1/

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, it’s a broad question.

Years ago, “public intellectual” was a common term. Now we may be more likely to talk about creators and influencers.

I’m generally interested in which voices sway the general public, policy makers, etc.

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

@delong.social I think you may be differentiating between syndicated posts to X & occasional replies vs. more active style of posting there.

My point is that many people continue to find some value is posting to X despite vocal reservations about the site. And that nothing replicates old Twitter.

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

Any scholars come to mind who are using channels very effectively?

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Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

How much influence do public intellectuals have in the present influencer era?

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Paul Callahan (he/him) @paulcallahanmv.bsky.social · 1d

Chinese scientists are already repatriating. The US press doesn't cover it much, but it's a regular feature in South China Morning Post. These are people who have worked at US universities and in industry for decades and have won awards.

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Reposted by Conrad Hackett

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

International student arrivals to the US dropped 19% this year, the biggest drop on record aside from the 2020 pandemic low.

The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 1d

The decline is occurring as the Trump administration has delayed visa processing, instituted travel bans or restrictions for 19 countries, threatened to deport international students for pro-Palestinian speech, and heightened the vetting of student visa applicants.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com

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