Episode from the podcast Data Skeptic
Episode
Released Sunday, June 22nd 2025 36 min
Show notes
In this episode we'll discuss how to use Github data as a network to extract insights about teamwork. Our guest, Gabriel Ramirez, manager of the notifications team at GitHub, will show how to apply network analysis to better understand and improve collaboration within his engineering team by analyzing GitHub metadata - such as pull requests, issues, and discussions - as a bipartite graph of people and projects. Some insights we'll discuss are how network centrality measures (like eigenvector and betweenness centrality) reveal organizational dynamics, how vacation patterns influence team connectivity, and how decentralizing communication hubs can foster healthier collaboration. Gabriel's open-source project, GH Graph Explorer, enables other managers and engineers to extract, visualize, and analyze their own GitHub activity using tools like Python, Neo4j, Gephi and LLMs for insight generation, but always remember – don't take the results on face value. Instead, use the results to guide your qualitative investigation.
39 min
Doug Bowman, Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech, joins Kyle to explore how augmented reality, virtual reality, and AI are reshaping the future of human-computer interaction. From wearable virtual workspaces to intelligent interfaces that adapt to our surroundings, they discuss the opportunities, challenges, and privacy concerns of a world where computing extends beyond the screen.
26 min
What if we could 3D print food with customized flavors and textures? Yamato Miyatake joins us to explore how digital food fabrication, human-computer interaction, and AI could transform the future of cooking and dining.
30 min
The next evolution of wearable technology may not require new screens or controllers, but new ways to interact with the devices we already wear. Shimon explores how gesture-sensing earbuds could transform virtual reality and wearable computing through intuitive, user-centered interactions that make technology more accessible and adaptable.
44 min
How do we design robots and autonomous vehicles that understand the unwritten rules of human behavior? Kyle speaks with Cornell Tech professor Wendy Ju about implicit interaction, "Wizard of Oz" prototyping, and what studying pedestrians, self-driving cars, and even robotic furniture can teach us about designing technology that behaves the way people expect.
34 min
The data we collect about ourselves can tell us a lot—but only if the technology collecting it actually fits into our lives. Daniel Epstein explores personal informatics, from fitness trackers and food journals to baby tracking and AI, and explains why abandoning a tracking tool doesn't necessarily mean it failed.
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