big data and social sciences

Big Data and Social Sciences OECD, 25th November 2015, Paris

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Big, Open, and Personal

Big Data Network

More people

Mor

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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

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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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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?