Jer Thorp

The 48 species of "backyard birds" competing in the #WorldCupOfBirds You may be aware that there is a soccer tournament happening right now. In my Brooklyn neighbourhood, it's downright unavoidable. There are roving bands of fans in matching jerseys, every restaurant is festooned with flags, and the borough's official "fan city" is only a few blocks away from my apartment. You may not know that there is another tournament underway, one to determine the world's best "ordinary

Every three years, a strange bureaucratic ritual plays out in the U.S. Copyright Office. Organizations, law school clinics, trade associations, academics, companies, and individuals file mountains of documents to request (or oppose) limited exemptions to 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1), a prohibition on circumventing the digital locks that control access to copyrighted works. The requests are mundane and quietly extraordinary. Permission to break a digital lock in order to repair your

When I was growing up, my mom would spend early March on the lookout for robins. They were, she told us, heralds of spring. Spotting the first robin out on the lawn was the first sure sign that winter was over. If you live in North America, it's probable that you learned something similar about these ubiquitous thrushes, with their persimmon bellies. This time of year I'll often be asked a question by park-goers who spot me with binoculars around my neck:"Have the robins arri

Feathers colored by data from Wikipedia descriptions This is a story about dead birds in drawers, xkcd, natural language processing and feathers. It's about color, quixotic pursuits and art made from data. It starts in a parking lot. It's December, 2020, and I'm in Breezy Point, Queens, a neighbourhood that's long been known for retired cops and just this week is known for being the only zipcode in NYC that sent in zero applications for Zohran Mamdani's transition team. I'

A collectively authored visualization of the datasets that touch our lives during a day. Last month I flew to Pittsburgh to attend an...

In March, I waded across a shallow river and hiked a short distance along a jungle path to arrive at one of the most remarkable places...

My Binoculars to Binomials class is built around five modules, each with a different focus. These modules have at least one coding...

A set of printed bird valentines. Yesterday I spent a few hours making a silly, birdy, data-y set of valentines that anyone can share,...

I've been trying to collect good things over the last two weeks, gathering them carefully and holding them close. Stories about generous...