From Princeton to London via Chicago: My Summer Institute in Computational Social Science journey

By Joshua Becker, Assistant Professor at the UCL School of Management, University College London

Continuing our series on the Summer Insitute in Computational Social Science, Joshua Becker traces his SICSS journey.

Before I get into this, you should know I’m a network researcher. So even though this is ostensibly about a summer program, it’s also about networking. I almost didn’t participate in the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, or SICSS as I now know it fondly. At the time, I thought it was just about learning the skills — and I felt I had a solid methods foundation — and mainly just applied because it seemed like the kind of thing I was supposed to do as a grad student. Having never previously seen the gorgeous Princeton campus, I imagined the trip itself as little more than spending two weeks in suburban New Jersey rather than at home with my wife. Luckily, I applied. And luckily, I was accepted.  Mileage may vary, but I made out well on the deal.

I did indeed learn new methods, including my first ever attempt at imputation for missing data. And though I’d read about post-stratification in textbooks, the institute was my first time actually seeing non-probability samples in action. And it was pretty impressive if you’re into that sort of thing.

But for me, the best part is networking.  That year (Princeton 2017) I planned a project during week two with Ethan Porter testing a theory of echo chambers, which we did eventually run and publish in PNAS.  I also met other friends and collaborators, and in fact, just submitted a new paper with another participant from that year. I continue to enjoy the sense of community during alumni gatherings at conferences, even when meeting people from other years or partner sites.  The closest thing I can compare it to is the kind of bonds formed at summer camp, except as an adult and with live science.

As it happened, 2017 was the first year for SICSS, and it was only run at one site.  When I heard that participants were invited to organize partner sites, well— I didn’t hesitate to embrace the opportunity.  On my way to a postdoc a Kellogg — obtained through SICSS networking — I partnered with another SICSS alum to organize SICSS-Chicago.  We also recruited a third co-organizer, a grad student at Northwestern whom I’d met by chance at the International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2).

SICSS Partner Site, Take One:  Chicago

For the Chicago site, we really wanted to figure out what could make it special as a partner site.  Why would anyone want to be in Chicago instead of New Jersey/North Carolina?  (You know, besides it being Chicago.)  We decided to use SICSS as an opportunity to focus specifically on building a local computational social science (CSS) community.  Our guest speakers that year involved people working on data and digital technologies with local institutions, and most of the participants were from the Chicago area, globally speaking.

SICSS-Chicago was run within weeks of my arrival in a city where I had nearly no prior personal connections. Before the first day of my postdoc, I’d co-organized and run an event with 20 participants (students, postdocs, and faculty), a TA, and a number of guest speakers.  And so I didn’t feel quite so lost by the time I’d started my job.

Running an event, if you do it well, requires a great deal of ancillary networking.  Before you can even meet the participants, you have to recruit them.  Recruiting and organizing means contacting anybody who might know anybody who might be interested, which naturally led me to conversations with many interesting people.  All the faculty in my new department, staff, and administration.  Emails to everyone with anything related to computational social science in a 50-mile radius.  After this experience, I truly think that organizing an event is one of the best ways to get to know an institution and field.

Replication Experiment:  SICSS-London

They say replication is key to social science.  And here I find myself again, on my way to a new job in a new city, at the University College London (UCL). So what will I do to get to know my new home?  Run a SICSS site!

London is a huge city. And there was not yet a SICSS-London, but there is a Data Beers gathering (pre-pandemic) and a CSS London initiative (pre-‘demic) and so here I am coming in as an outsider, looking to organize an event aimed in part at building community. Rather than trying to take on the project myself, I once again tapped the power of a network. This network once again included a fellow SICSS-2017 alum and someone I’d met at IC2S2.  In sum, SICSS-London is a joint effort of faculty at University College London, London School of Economics, Imperial College London, Greenwich University, and City, University of London.

Hopefully, in 2022, we can join for the second year of SICSS-London on the newly renovated 50th floor of One Canada Square, the home of UCL School of Management.  This year, SICSS is a virtual event worldwide, happening at sites around the globe, including Chicago, London, and New Jersey. 

In fact, I haven’t even made it to London myself.  I write this post and organize SICSS-London from my work-from-home set up in Chicago.  My plan at this point is to move by the end of May.  So once again, it looks like I will be inaugurating a new job and a new city with the SICSS community!  And truly, I can’t think of a better network to be a part of.

You can apply for SICSS-London now. Applications must be submitted by March 19, 2021.

About

Joshua Becker is a SICSS-Princeton 2017 Alum, former SICSS Chicago co-organizer, and current SICSS-London 2021 co-organizer. Joshua is also an Assistant Professor at the UCL School of Management, University College London. They received their PhD in Communication from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the Kellogg School of Management. Prior to graduate school, Joshua worked professionally in mediation and conflict resolution, spent some time managing training and coaching for a customer service department, and now serves as a pro-bono mediator with the Chicago Conflict Resolution Center. Joshua's research has been published in Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Harvard Business Review.