A Cheatsheet for Closeread (or the one where I gave a talk and brought more than slides)
How I ended up making a Closeread Cheatsheet (and a talk)
So, I got invited to give a talk for R-Ladies Amsterdam. About something I really, really like: scrollytelling with Quarto and Closeread.
The invitation came after I shared a peek at my Closeread-built research page online. The post picked up a bit of attention. Apparently, the combination of tiny shrews and gentle scroll animations is memorable (take notes, academia!). Slowly it turned from what it showed to how I made it. That eventually turned into: “Would you like to give a talk about this?”.
By the way, I said yes to the talk. You already know that part, you’re here reading the aftermath, afterall.
I love talks like this. I get to share something I’m genuinely excited about, with people who might also be curious. And I get to say: “Hey, this is easier than it looks. And also fun!”
When I started getting things ready, I thought I’d just need some slides. Maybe a live demo. But then came the custom SCSS file. And the example repo. And somewhere along the way, a cheatsheet happened too.
It wasn’t really part of the plan. But I kept reopening the documentation to check things, and at some point I realized I was having the same three doubts on repeat. Eventually, I gave up on flipping between tabs and just made a cheatsheet. It was half an act of self-care, half a design itch.
The result is a printable cheatsheet that puts the main Closeread building blocks in one spot. It’s colorful (because why not), and it’s practical (because I needed it), and if you’re starting your own Closeread experiment, I hope it saves you a few tabs.
I wrapped everything into a tidy GitHub repo; you will find the slides from the talk, the closeread example folder, and the cheatsheet. You can fork it, remix it, or ignore it completely. But if you’re curious, it’s there.
As for the talk… I think it went well. You can waatch it here if you are curious. I was very excited (is too excited possible?). Also, mildly terrified for the classic Zoom shenanigans: where is the link, screen share panic, going too fast and suddenly realizing I’m done five minutes early. But mostly, I’m just happy this tiny visual storytelling project has found its way into other people’s hands.
If you want to try Closeread, everything’s in the repo. And if you want to look at shrews with scroll-activated flair, well… I support that too.
Happy scrolling.