Big Data and Social Sciences
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Transcript of Big Data and Social Sciences
Big Data and Social Sciences OECD, 25th November 2015, Paris
Chr
istin
e B
orgm
an
Big, Open, and Personal
Big Data Network
More people
Mor
e m
achi
nes Big Data
Big Compute Conventional Computation
“Big Social” Social Networks
e-infrastructure
Science 2.0
Big Data Production & Analytics
deeply about society
The
futu
re
New Forms of Data ▶ Internet data, derived from social
media and other online interactions (including data gathered by connected people and devices, eg mobile devices, wearable technology, Internet of Things)
▶ Tracking data, monitoring the movement of people and objects (including GPS/geolocation data, traffic and other transport sensor data, CCTV images etc)
▶ Satellite and aerial imagery (eg Google Earth, Landsat, infrared, radar mapping etc) http://www.oecd.org/sti/sci-tech/new-data-for-
understanding-the-human-condition.htm
New Research Questions ▶ Social media data offers
the possibility of studying social processes as they unfold at the level of populations, as an alternative to traditional surveys or interviews.
▶ The data from social media is described as "qualitative data on a quantitative scale" and requires innovative analysis techniques.
Social media data and real time analytics
https://twitter.com/CR_UK/status/446223117841494016/
Some people's smartphones had autocorrected the word "BEAT" to instead read "BEAR". "Thank you for choosing an adorable polar bear," the reply from the WWF said. "We will call you today to set up your adoption."
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26723457
Social Media Triangle
social media data and analytics
social media for engagement with
research
social media as a subject of research
Sam McGregor
A rehearsal for the future
▶ The Internet of Things describes a world in which everyday objects are connected to a network so that data can be shared
▶ But it is really as much about people as the inanimate object
▶ It is impossible to anticipate all the social changes that could be created by connecting billions of devices
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/internet-of-things-blackett-review
F i r s t
Citizen Science https://www.zooniverse.org/
Social Machines Real life is and must be full of all kinds of social constraint – the very processes from which society arises. Computers can help if we use them to create abstract social machines on the Web: processes in which the people do the creative work and the machine does the administration... The stage is set for an evolutionary growth of new social engines. The ability to create new forms of social process would be given to the world at large, and development would be rapid.
Berners-Lee, Weaving the Web, 1999 (pp. 172–175)
Observer of one social machine
Observers using third party observatory
Observer of multiple social
machines
Human participants in
Social Machine
Human participants in multiple Social Machines
Observer of Social Machine infrastructure
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SM
SM
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Social Machine Observing Social
Machines
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@dder
De Roure, D., Hooper, C., Page, K., Tarte, S., and Willcox, P. 2015. Observing Social Machines Part 2: How to Observe? ACM Web Science
Methods of Observation
Tarte, S. Willcox, P., Glaser, H. and De Roure, D. 2015. Archetypal Narratives in Social Machines: Approaching Sociality through Prosopography. ACM Web Science 2015.
Tiropanis, T., Hall, W., Shadbolt, N., De Roure, D., Contractor, N. and Hendler, J. 2013. The Web Science Observatory, IEEE Intelligent Systems 28(2) pp 100–104.
Understanding the design and emergent behaviours of co-created sociotechnical constructions at scale
Macroscope
Observatory
Prosopography
Skills New Forms of Data Centre for Doctoral Training
Much of the value of ‘new forms of data’ lie in the potential for them to be analysed in near real-time, which presents opportunities for revealing phenomena as they unfold, enabling timely response with immediate influence.
Such analysis brings distinct new computational requirements, requires new skills, and makes new demands on the ease of use and capability of e-Infrastructure.
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/postgraduates/dtc/dtc-policy/commissioning-of-centres-for-doctoral-training.aspx
Closing points ▶ New forms of data, not a silo ▶ Studying things in new ways (better, cheaper, faster) and
studying new things (new social processes, real time) ▶ Need access to data, methods, infrastructure ▶ An international endeavour ▶ Quality, reproducibility—confidence in results, standing
on shoulders of others ▶ Preparation for Internet of Things ▶ We are building social machines – what are the ethical
principles?