Silvia Canelón

Master the Business of Freelance Journalism April 2-May 21 Thursdays, 3-4 pm ET $199 early bird Learn from experienced journalists and entrepreneurs in our 8-week live, online course designed to help you: • Shape a balanced and profitable portfolio Strengthen your network and define your niche Build better systems for organization, time management and thriving! Nicki Mayo Emma Carew Grovum

Succeed this spring! Take the 8-week Business of Freelancing Course. You’ll learn how to ramp up your earning potential, build and sustain client relationships, and craft a next-level business plan! Register for only $199 before March 13! Learn more at theiij.com/bizsp26

hi are you a journalist who has just started freelancing, either by choice or necessity? or are you thinking about making the jump because of...well, everything?

i am helping to put on this conference next week designed with freelancers in mind and you should check it out!

theiij.com/sessions-26

Solo Together A conference for independent journalists and creators to find community and build thriving businesses March 5 and 6, 2026 – live, online 14+ hours of entrepreneurship, learning, and community-building for independent and creator journalists Register at TheIIJ.com Only $99

Get unstuck. The 2026 IIJ Freelance Conference is your ticket to sustainability: more than 14 hours of live learning, networking opportunities, and a bonus bundle of resources for only $99 theiij.com/sessions-26

Meet your #NICAR26 Fellows! Stacy Kess, Chief of Editorial at Equal Access Public Media, is gearing up for #NICAR26 the only way she knows how: with coffee. Lots of it. To prepare for all the data ses... TikTok video by IRE & NICAR

The Equal Access Public Media chief of editorial @stacykess.bsky.social is getting ready for @ire.org’s #NICAR26…

Alt text:

"I'm interested in covering stories about local governments and non-profits, particularly as they relate to neighborhood and community well-being." - Silvia Canelón

Also pictured is a data visualization of the Philadelphia skyline with building heights rendered as a radial lollipop plot

I'm thrilled to be a fellow at the #NICAR26 data journalism conference this year!

I'll also be coaching a hands-on session on #RStats data analysis + plotting using #tidyverse packages. 📊
Maybe I'll see you there! 👇🏽
schedules.ire.org/nicar-2026/#...

#ddj @ire.org

NICAR 2026 schedule | March 4-7, 2026 | Indianapolis Welcome to the NICAR 2026 schedule! Browse sessions, speakers, sponsors and exhibitors.

1/8 So you're excited to go to the @ire.org 2026 NICAR data journalism conference!

And you want to follow all the speakers online. This tutorial will show you how do this quickly with #Rstats and @bsky.app.

schedules.ire.org/nicar-2026/#/

spongebob is writing on a piece of paper with a pen . Alt: SpongeBob taking notes on a notepad

😂

We are fully on opposite ends of the journalism jargon knowledge spectrum. I only just learned what a clip is last year 😄

What a wonderful overview. Thank you Stacy!

Do No Harm Guide: Centering Accessibility in Data Visualization This third volume in the Do No Harm Guide series from the Urban Institute seeks to provide in-depth lessons on how to create visualization products…

I hope it has that effect!
I enjoy reading about alt text in different contexts bc I’ve learned the context always matters.

If you’re not familiar with it, you might like ch 4 of this guide, which is all about alt text for data viz: www.urban.org/research/pub...

Also, what’s a news budget???

Great post by @stacykess.bsky.social @equalaccesspublicmedia.org on how to write #AltText in a journalism context 👇🏽

FYI for those new to journalism terms (like me!): a "cutline" is a caption that accompanies photos and other visuals, often placed underneath the visual.

#a11y

Accessibility is Black History - The Word What Haben Girma and a longer lineage of Black advocates teach us about access

February cover story: Accessibility is Black History

Akinyele Akintomiwa Michael takes a walk through time and finds you can't have accessibility without Black leaders — from Brad Lomax to @habengirma.bsky.social — pushing the boundaries for access and innovation.

the-word.news/2026/0205/bl...

Glad to be doing this with @mikalarae.bsky.social @halle-burns.bsky.social @quetzal1234.bsky.social @katscade.bsky.social @nurnberger.bsky.social @storytracer.com @te-gryn.bsky.social Such a great team!

dplyr 1.2.0 dplyr 1.2.0 fills in some important gaps in dplyr's API: we've added a new complement to `filter()` focused on dropping rows, and we've expanded the `case_when()` family with three new recoding and re...

dplyr 1.2.0 is out now and we are SO excited!

- `filter_out()` for dropping rows

- `recode_values()`, `replace_values()`, and `replace_when()` that join `case_when()` as a complete family of recoding/replacing tools

These are huge quality of life wins for #rstats!

tidyverse.org/blog/2026/02...

Quilicura, Chile, one of the communities I wrote about in EMPIRE OF AI, has launched a brilliant initiative to inspire more responsible AI prompting. Today, don't use AI; ask the townspeople instead: quili.ai. So heartened to see this creative act of resistance.

Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.

Absolutely damning from @aaronschaffer.com, @willoremus.com, & @nitasha.bsky.social.

To get more data, Anthropic:
* "destructively scanned" millions of books
* downloaded the shadow library LibGen
* hailed another shadow library's arrival as "just in time!!!"

www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

1. LLM-generated code tries to run code from online software packages. Which is normal but
2. The packages don’t exist. Which would normally cause an error but
3. Nefarious people have made malware under the package names that LLMs make up most often. So
4. Now the LLM code points to malware.

Skin Graft, by Pansy 5 track album

Today is Bandcamp Friday, which means that when you buy an artist's music, the site doesn't take a cut. There's no better day to support musicians!

My band, Pansy, just released an EP. You can stream it or buy it here <3

pansysucks.bandcamp.com/album/skin-g...

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Ep 67:
www.buzzsprout.com/2126417/epis...

… in which @sophiesong.bsky.social joins @alexhanna.bsky.social and me in our dismay at defenders of worker’s rights who’d rather talk to ChatGPT than, you know, actual workers.

Thanks to Ozzy Llinas Goodman for production!

Good grief

AI-first but also “do not believe in resumes or cover letters. They are usually full of AI slop and do not tell us anything useful about how you think or work.” 🤔

EAPM News A11y Leather Patch Hat   One size Circumference, in 23.82 Crown height, in 4.55 Bill length, in 2.76 Introducing the perfect accessory for casual outings or everyday wear: our stylish Dad Hat. Crafted from soft, dur…

To us, it's a no-brainer. On Small Business Saturday, buy the EAPM News a11y hat. It's designed by a local Boston-area designer who also donates his time to run the shop. Oh, and the proceeds help EAPM.

Every activity we do provides us with 3 payments: pocket/wallet payment, the payment for the heart, and the payment for the brain. "As managers and leaders, as people in charge and responsible for others, we must take care of that balance in the three currencies of payments." @yabellini.bsky.social

whoah! clearly the motorcyclist community is in dire need of some upholstery help lol

For real! Haha. Or they see a tshirt and are like oh could you upholster my motorcycle seat? Huh???? lol.

Oof. I can definitely see how that shift could take some joy out of the whole experience

Oh geez I can only imagine 😅

I used to follow an account on IG that would compile stories about absurd sewing requests people would get from friends or coworkers or strangers and they were so cringe lol

Right. The key is being able to decide for ourselves how to relate to these creations.

I feel this so deeply. As a person who likes to try crafts and talk about it people are so often like "I'd love to do that but I'm not good at it". But crafts and hobbies are about learning. There's no guaranteed way to be good right off the bat. You have to develop skills and trust yourself.