Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science launch online festival open to all
By Chris Burnage, Communications Manager, SAGE Publishing
For the past few years in June, the Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS) have seen students gather across the world at partner locations and in the designated primary location to begin a two-week program of collaboration, workshops, lectures, and participant-led research projects in computational social science (CSS). The strange times of COVID have somewhat altered these plans with some partner locations postponing until 2021 and some opting to move online. Whether virtual or postponed the fourth iteration of SICSS set a new record for partner locations—a total of 22 locations signed up to take part. Founders Matt Salganik and Chris Bail, allow participants to only attend once but as attendance has grown so have graduates returning to their institutions and setting up new partner locations. We interviewed Matt and Chris last year, learn more about the history of SICSS and read the interview.
SICSS Festival open to everyone
As a response to the current situation, they have launched the SICSS Festival which sees new kinds of events launch that are open to anyone. Starting on June 22nd and running until June 26th 2020, a total of five online events ran looking at the teaching of CSS, the ongoing efforts to increase diversity in CSS, the opportunities and challenges of industry collaborations, and creating open-source software as part of an academic career. Participants who were lucky enough to grab a place on the session, running June 24th saw a live demonstration of Empirica, a new open-source software platform for developing and conducting synchronous and interactive human-subject experiments where students took part in a real-time experiment.
Panel discussion on teaching computational social science
Speakers: Matti Nelimarkka (SICSS-Princeton 17), Rochelle Terman (SICSS-Princeton 17), and Jae Yeon Kim (SICSS-Princeton 19)
Moderator: Matthew Salganik
Description: Teaching computational social science at both the undergraduate and graduate level presents a number of challenging pedagogical questions. How should we teach a class with students from different disciplinary backgrounds? What is the role of programming in computational social science education? How should computational social science courses fit into a larger curriculum? The panelists addressed these questions—and others—first in a moderated conversation and then took questions from the audience.
Archiving: Recording available.
Discussion on diversity in computational social science
Speakers: Naniette H. Coleman (SICSS-Princeton 19)
Moderator: Matthew Salganik
Description: In order to thrive, the field of computational social science requires contributions from people from different intellectual backgrounds and different life experiences. Naniette Coleman discussed the creation of SICSS-Howard/Mathematica, the first SICSS located at a Historically Black College or University (HBCU); why she thinks this work is important, explained what other efforts are underway now, and what she thought should be done in the future. There was also time for the audience to submit written questions to be asked by the moderator.
For more information about SICSS-Howard/Mathematica 2022 and the application procedure, check out our website. Also follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, and join our email list.
Archiving: Recording available.
Using Empirica for high-throughput virtual lab experiments
Speakers: Abdullah Almaatouq (SICSS-Princeton 17), James Houghton (SICSS-Duke 20), and Nicolas Paton.
Description: Empirica is a new open source software platform for developing and conducting synchronous and interactive human-subject experiments. It has already been used by researchers around the world. This session started with a live demonstration where participants took part in a real-time experiment involving dozens of people. Next, the data from that experiment was downloaded and analyzed. Thus, participants had a behind-the-scenes, end-to-end experience with an experiment run with Emprica. Finally, there was time for questions and discussion about Empirica and the future of experiments in the social sciences.
Archiving: Recording available.
Creating open-source software as part of an academic career
Speakers: Ryan Gallagher (SICSS-Duke 18), Anne Helby Petersen (SICSS-Duke 18), and Carsten Schwemmer (SICSS-Duke 18)
Moderator: Matthew Salganik
Description: Almost all computational social science depends on open source software, yet very few computational social scientists actually contribute to open source software. These panelists shared their experiences developing open source software as part of an academic career, and they offered advice for others who want to contribute to existing open source projects or start new ones.
Archiving: Recording available.
Opportunities and challenges with industry collaborations
Speakers: Dave Holtz (SICSS-Duke 18) and Sanaz Mobasseri (SICSS-Duke 18)
Moderator: Matthew Salganik
Description: Most big data sources are controlled by companies, and many computational social scientists struggle to get access to this data. These panelists, who have experience collaborating with companies on research projects, shared insights about initiating, developing, and maintaining productive collaborations between researchers and companies. They discussed practical issues, such as negotiating data usage agreements and navigating legal considerations for both parties, as well as described potential risks and ethical issues created by these collaborations.
Archiving: Recording available.