Keeping public media RAD: Leveraging R for audience research and business intelligence … along with other things

Collin K. Berke, Ph.D.

👋 Hi, I’m Collin





  • Media Research Analyst at Nebraska Public Media (member station of PBS & NPR).
  • Goal is to use data to answer questions on how to best reach and engage audiences.
  • Developing open source tools and utilizing cloud computing resources to achieve this goal.

Keeping public media RAD 😎

My team’s aim:

  • Reproducible
  • Automated
  • Documented and effectively communicated

How does my group stay RAD?

  • Public media already has some rad content and services …
  • My team also works on some pretty RAD projects:
    • Internal R packages for audience and marketing research.
    • Automating our work with the Google Cloud Platform.
    • Developing Shiny apps for business intelligence.
    • Utilizing Quarto for reporting.

Teaching R

  • Partnering with the College of Journalism and Mass Communication (COJMC) and Matt Waite
  • Teach SPMC 350: Sports Data Visualization and Analysis
  • Goal: Convert R beginners to R users
  • Introduce R >> Wrangling >> Analysis >> Visualization >> Publish original work online

Data Science Learning Community

  • A welcoming place to get help and learn more about data science.
  • We’re known for our book clubs.
  • I’m an active member and facilitator.
  • I’m also leading a cohort for R4DS (2e).
  • Check it out:

Oh and one more thing …

Analysis at the speed of thought 🚀

I’m a huge modal editing nerd

  • Neovim (specifically LazyVim) or Emacs.
  • If you use any of these tools, let’s geek out about them.

Connect with me!

  • I want to meet everyone, but I’m interested in speaking with:
    • R Users and R Developers leveraging R in business.
    • People who teach R.
    • Anyone trying to be RAD by using R.
  • If we don’t get a chance to meet in person, let’s connect online.

Collin K. Berke, Ph.D.

  • 👨‍💻 Follow me on GitHub: @collinberke
  • 👔 LinkedIn: collinberke
  • 📧 Email: collin.berke@gmail.com
  • 🔗 Blog: www.collinberke.com