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 arrived yet?" It was...

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've just finished...

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