Professor of Journalism, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I teach people who can't spell code to find stories and visuals in data with #rstats. Publish all my course books and tutorials at https://github.com/mattwaitehttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mle74i7t3c2qIn the last faculty meeting talking about future changes to Canvas feels like Captain Smith holding a meeting about the return voyage on the Titanic while others deal with that loud bang and grinding noises that occurred earlier.08 May 2026 16:55 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mle74i7t3c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mlc2bpo3rs22Canvas/Instructure hacked (twice) during finals week. LMSes nationwide are currently useless.07 May 2026 20:23 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlc2bpo3rs22https://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mjajpa7dn22kI have many thoughts about this:11 Apr 2026 19:04 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mjajpa7dn22khttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mhgnuxq2gs2bIt's not real ... but by the end of the weekend, it should be ... and that size. #nebrasketball #huskers19 Mar 2026 18:44 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgnuxq2gs2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mgs3a5fehc2pHow am I supposed to feel about things when right now, in Nebraska, the weather alerts are that it’s randomly snowing out of the blue … and the risk of wildfires is high today? Fire snow.11 Mar 2026 14:17 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgs3a5fehc2phttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mfk5esizv22pIf Canvas doesn't view this as an existential threat, they have no idea how ready I am to replicate college in the 1980s. companion.ai/einstein https://companion.ai/einstein23 Feb 2026 17:09 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mfk5esizv22phttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3md45ec7qwk2gAds in ChatGPT? I cannot *wait* to fail an essay because it says "Times v Sullivan is the backbone of press freedom in the United States, just like the Ford F-150 is the backbone of the American worker. F-150: Built Ford Tough."23 Jan 2026 16:41 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3md45ec7qwk2ghttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3mbhzfze7bc24Always fun to dust off some old code ...02 Jan 2026 23:12 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbhzfze7bc24https://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ma53rwlt522bI'll give you @kleinmatic.bsky.social with the shot: https://www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/show-your-work-makes-a-triumphant-return/16 Dec 2025 21:30 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ma53rwlt522bhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3m7asiujqik27We made a better fake image of this in less than 5 minutes during a class on the evolution of fake news yesterday. Buckle up, society. https://bsky.app/profile/journalstar.com/post/3m7arj7c2hw24 [contains quote post or other embedded content]05 Dec 2025 15:29 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7asiujqik27https://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3m73nu7xbxk2cWhat I was confronted with:03 Dec 2025 14:23 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3m73nu7xbxk2chttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3m6k4acqcis2fIn the spirit of using AI to do dishes so I can do art, I tested out Antigravity/Gemini 3 with a gnarly PDF parsing job. What I got back was orders of magnitude better than any other tool I've used over a period of years: https://mattwaite.github.io/posts/2025-11-24-parsing-pdfs-with-antigravity/26 Nov 2025 14:52 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3m6k4acqcis2fhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lkon7oily22dMidwest living in 2025: it is 75 degrees out. The sun is shining. The school district just called. School is cancelled tomorrow because of the blizzard coming.18 Mar 2025 21:43 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lkon7oily22dhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ljsvdmzh6c2jFor those who can't be in the room for my AI Starter Pack in R session, here's some notes/code examples we'll work through. If you can be there at 3:30, more demos in the session. #NICAR25 https://mattwaite.github.io/posts/r-llm-starter-pack/07 Mar 2025 20:54 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljsvdmzh6c2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ljax5ge6js2yBack in 2009, when I somehow convinced a Florida newspaper to let me move to Nebraska and work remotely, we used to have a computer with Skype running all the time in the small office my group worked in. We could just talk like I was still in the room. It was really nice. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/28/tech/skype-microsoft-shutdown/index.html28 Feb 2025 17:38 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljax5ge6js2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lif3uac4nc2qNew report on the state of journalism in Nebraska: There are 9 counties without a single news organization in them. There are 16 county seats with no local news organization in them. More than half of the state's counties are covered by two or fewer journalists. newsmap.unl.edu https://newsmap.unl.edu/17 Feb 2025 15:48 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lif3uac4nc2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lfssxws2222oAsked AI for a header image for my AI + Journalism class to put into the LMS. Asked for something evocative of journalism's past and future, colorful and futuristic. What I got vs what my Gen X ass sees:15 Jan 2025 22:31 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfssxws2222ohttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lfpybuc34k2iHow big is the Palisades fire compared to where you live? This will tell you: https://calmatters.org/environment/wildfires/2025/01/la-fires-size-mapped/ For me, probably 80% of Lincoln is wiped out centering the fire on campus. Everything from far West O east past 84th Street, from Pioneers in the south to Cornhusker Highway in the north.14 Jan 2025 19:28 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfpybuc34k2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lf6unppovs2yThe ability to reverse engineer a shitty agency's shitty website structure so I can make obviously public data usable is not the superpower I wanted, but it's the one I got.08 Jan 2025 00:07 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lf6unppovs2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lero3wuvf224Hey fellow academics, do you find course evaluations to be terrible (in all the ways) but your institution still uses them in decisions? Do you also find LLM writing to be flat and lifeless? Here's a bonkers idea: Put your course evals into NotebookLM and let it summarize them for you. A short🧵02 Jan 2025 18:06 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lero3wuvf224https://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3lekc4zviac2qHello Canvas, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a learning outcome softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of a syllabus30 Dec 2024 19:43 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3lekc4zviac2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3leeqdehzd22cMy dog vs AI image analysis: FIGHT28 Dec 2024 14:41 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3leeqdehzd22chttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3le3evc33t227Rosemary Garlic Focaccia rolls are fire.24 Dec 2024 21:22 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3le3evc33t227https://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ldyxsyzofs2kWatching my wife try to help her parents de-enshittify Facebook as much as possible because it still matters to them and they want what they used to have on the platform back is just sad.23 Dec 2024 22:23 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldyxsyzofs2khttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ldtqg2o6cs2wThe circles of Hell: 1. Limbo 2. Lust 3. Gluttony 4. South Lincoln Trader Joe’s parking lot on a normal Saturday 5. Anger 6. Heresy 7. Violence 8. South Lincoln Trader Joe’s parking lot, today. 9. Treachery21 Dec 2024 20:27 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldtqg2o6cs2whttps://bsky.app/profile/mattwaite.bsky.social/post/3ldphvpxbn22aI have major opinions about this driven entirely by the realities of having to drag 65 not-entirely-willing undergrads from zero to making stuff in 16 weeks starting next month. https://bsky.app/profile/alexselbyb.bsky.social/post/3ldnxnmvjpk2i [contains quote post or other embedded content]20 Dec 2024 03:44 +0000at://did:plc:br43fpekd6yulji6pdig6cgi/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldphvpxbn22a