Blog

Index Naming Conventions

how-to

quarto

Here we look at a simple yaml value that allows one to define the name of an output file. This is useful with quarto document listings were each post is contained in a separate directory and one wants to create an index.html file but one doesn’t want dozens of index.qmd files spread across directories.

Tight Markdown Lists with Images

how-to

R Markdown

This post looks at the outcome of various ways of formatting bulleted lists with inline images. These are issues one might consider when putting screen shots into documentation that is organized as a series of steps in an unordered or ordered markdown list.

Scraping Wikipedia Table: Genocides

how-to

wrangling

Wikipedia is full of interesting tables. This post works through scraping a wikipedia table on genocides for use in R. The approach of scraping using rvest is compared to use of the ChatGPT large language model. I find that rvest is much better and likely applicable to a wider range of wikipedia tables. Also examed is the use of regular expressions to remove wikipedia footnotes from table cells, removal of commas in string representations of numbers along with their conversion to numeric objects, as well as some ggplot considerations. Plotting details involve making a sorted and stacked bar chart (along with a perplexing snag), bar width and spacing issues, and wrapping of long text fields using scales::cut_short_ scale().

Find and replace in R data frames

how-to

wrangling

One of the most common data wrangling tasks is string manipulation involving the need to 1) within the column of a data frame 2) find a value and change it to something else. This post looks at base R functions sub() and gsub as well as functions in the tidyverse libraries stringr and dplyr.

Creating a Reproducible Example with `reprex::reprex()`

how-to

Creating a (minimum) reproducible example (reprex) is an important skill for coding. This post shows how to use the reprex package to illustrate multi-line reproducible example that can be used for answering questions on StackOverflow or other similar sites.

Searching for strings in vectors with `grep()`

how-to

wrangling

Searching for strings in a list or a column that meet a given criteria is a common task. These are some notes on how to do it.

`ggplot` Graphs as Functions

how-to

Sometimes we need to make several graphs that are very similar in character. Defining the same graph parameters over and over is redundant. In this post we look at making ggplot graphs into functions that can be called repeatedly.

Duplicate Detection

how-to

museum

wrangling

This document outlines how to check for duplicate accession and object identification numbers in PastPerfect. Mixed use of two and four digit encoding of year in accession number and object identification number resulted in duplicate records. This document outlines an approach to identififying and reporting these kinds of duplicate records. The document’s purpose is to support duplicate record merging in PastPerfect or other similar situations. The general approach to duplicate record identification could be applied in a variety of database deduping contexts.

3D Model Comparisons

how-to

photogrammetry

museum

This post compares 3D models built with photogrammetry and a laser scanner. The laser scanner produced a superior geometric reconstruction but photogrammetry rendered a better texture. Next steps involve figuring out how to either combine the best of both methods or get a better photo texture from the laser scanner.

Not Another Post about Weather Data in R

how-to

wrangling

This post looks at loading and visualizing local weather data in R. The solution returns 20 minute data over a several year period, converts these to a time series, and uses the dygraphs library to visualize the data.

Maya Textile Storage

museum

Unstructured cotton garments exhibited in When a Woman Rises will be stored on custom built hangars. This is an alternate to storing the objects flat which is not practical given the storage space. This document reviews the storage problem, reviews key conservation themes, and storage. Lastly, the document provides a plan for constructing the custom designed hangars.

Calculator

how-to

JavaScript

This post illustrates the use of Observable for making a simple calculator that can help estimate lengths of string needed to make garment hangers.

Knocking the Rust Off Metashape Workflow: Merging Model Chunks

photogrammetry

how-to

I’m picking up structure from motion photogrammetry after a hiatus of nearly a decade. During this interim, Agisoft’s flagship application improvied considerably. It used to be called PhotoScan but is now called Metashape. In this post, I log my current metashape workflow for reconstructing an object composed of two chunks that need to be merged.

Mayday Post 2023: Book Review

labor

My annual May Day post drawing attention to a person, event, or text related to this holiday and the labor movement. This year, we look at Philip Foner’s (1986) May Day: A Short History of the International Workers’ Holiday 1886-1986.

Cumbia

anthropology

music

Thinking about and trying to represent some of the international relationships surrounding the origin and spread of cumbia.

Street Photography

photography

A selection of street images and scenes.

Exploring Pile Sorts with ChatGPT

how-to

ai

anthropology

I asked ChatGPT a bit about pile sorting (Figure 1), then I requested that the AI demonstrate the method with sample data. Below is the conversation that followed.

Nathan Craig, ChatGPT

R language libraries for free listing, pile sorting, and Q-method

how-to

anthropology

This week, Introduction to Ethnographic Field Methods is looking at free listing and pile sorting. This post briefly reviews R libraries that can be used for free listing, pile sorting (Q-sort), and the related suite of methods known Q methods.

A test festivus post

This is a test festivus post that I’m making in a text editor and publishing with quarto.

Moonlander Keyboard

Some very brief notes on my evolving keyboard setup.

University Museum Inventory

museum

R and Quarto are used for a museum catalog interface.

Invert Names

how-to

wrangling

museum

A short note on switching inverted names like last, first to read first last.

Dealing with compound fields

how-to

wrangling

We have a table containing a compound field that is composed of multiple values separated by a delimeter. Here we are simulating data exported from PastPerfect museum catalog software. There are several such cases one might encounter: material, use, culture, etc.

Reading and Visualizing GDELT Data

how-to

GDELT

wrangling

A quick look at how to incorporate GEDELT visualizations or create ones using xts and dygraphs.

May Day Post

labor

A May Day post in honor of workers.

Thoughts on OIG’s Report Regarding Understaffing at TCDF

immigration

DHS OIG found that chronic understaffing at TCDF resulted in poor sanitation and security. This post looks briefly at how much money was paid out to the facility in Ghost Beds during this time and how understaffing is an ongoing issue in New Mexico’s carceral facilities.

Lists and Inline Reporting

how-to

R Markdown

Reporting values inline is one of the strong suits of R Markdown. Using lists can make storing variables more organized, and with the right functions lists can be generated automatically. This makes writing with inline values in R Markdown easier.

NMSU Anthropology Seed Bank Donation

A selection of native and non-native warm season seeds grown in Las Cruces with some general notes.

Sample Table of Resources

This post illustrates the use of a sample table of resources that are listed on the page.

Formatting Inline Code and Reporting \(p\)

R Markdown

how-to

This how-to explores some issues with formatting text called by R Markdown’s ability to include inline code. Topics covered include conditional formatting of numbers by means of knitr hooks as well as strategies for reporting really small \(p\) values

GUI roundup for editing, plotting, and annotating

how-to

A brief review of some graphical user interfaces (GUI’s) for working with data in RStudio.

GDELT Summary Explorer API Calls in R

how-to

GDELT

This post looks at submitting API calls to the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) database within R. The focus is on the Summary Explorer and TV News dataset. After reviewing several methods, I conclude that the Explorer GUI is the best method to construct the request URL. From this an export URL can be constructed from the GUI and a little bit of manual editing to change the format of the request from JSON to CSV.

Cumulative and Current COVID-19 in ICE Detention Over Time

immigration

Top plots and facet plot showing cumulative and current COVID-19 infections by ICE Detention Facility.

Current ICE Detention Population

immigration

Daily updated information on ICE detention population and COVID-19 levels.

OCPC Monthly Detained Population Dec 2016-Aug 2020

immigration

This post contains some information on monthly detained population as gleaned from EMMA filings.

ICE Detention COVID-19 Maps

immigration

Animated visualizations of COVID-19 infections in ICE detention over time.

Canvas LMS and R

how-to

Summary of methods to use R for creating exams in Canvas, uploading those exams, as well as retrieval and analysis of grade books from single and multiple classes.

Critical Race Theory in the Media

race

This post explores coverage of critical race theory in texts and TV news over time. Evidence suggests there is a concerted effort on the part of select conservative media outlets to establish a moral panic regarding CRT, particularly as it is a component of educational curricula.

May Day Post

labor

A May Day post.

ICE Detention Guaranteed Minimums & Ghost Beds as of April 2021

immigration

An exploration of detention facility contract guaranteed minimums, where are they and what is the expected cost.

ICE ADP

immigration

This post is an exploration of immigration detention average daily population over time. Particular attention is given to the period represented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

First post

Welcome to my new site.

Citation

BibTeX citation:

@online{untitled,
  author = {},
  title = {Blog},
  url = {https://nmc.quarto.pub/nmc/blog.html},
  langid = {en}
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

“Blog.” n.d. https://nmc.quarto.pub/nmc/blog.html.