Hi everyone, I am currently looking for PhD advisors in Computational Social Science who also have a keen interest in LLM and AI. I would be super grateful if someone can name some professors in this domain that can possibly be a good fit.

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Below is my research interest:

1. Methods research: this involves inventing and improving statistical and machine leanring methods for social science research OR leveraging LLM to generate data required in social science research.
2. Interpretability: Examining how social science concepts are represented in LLM by looking into the model internals. With this approach, we basically treat LLMs as a big database of knowledge.
3. Large scale analysis: data mining on large scale datasets such as social medias, Wikipedia, and Google books to discover trends and cultural phenomena.

I have a broad theoretical interests in various social issues including misinformation, inequality, innovation and public opinion.

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Background:

• Bachelor's in Computer Science and Psychology; Master's in Computational Social Science.
• High GPAs, low GRE.
• 3 first-author conference poster and 4 in other authorship positions (2nd or 3rd).
• 1 journal paper accepted, 3 under review, and 3 on-going.

I was looking into CSS and it seems very similar to what is Social Data Science, which is using data science techniques to address social challenges. There are a few universities that offer this as a major or graduate degree, but not many as it seems to be an "emerging" field. Is this not the same exact thing as Computational Social Science?

Hello Lovely Redditors and GMU CSS alumni and current students,

I aim to apply for doctoral studies in CSS at GMU at the end of this year. The application requires a GRE-GEN test score, familiarity with an object-based programming language, and completion of at least one Calculus course at the undergraduate level.

For my background, I hold an undergraduate degree in International Relations (graduated with 3.63 out of 4.00) and a master's degree in Conflict Studies (graduated with 3.32 out of 4.00).

At the moment, I am feeling fear and worry about the upcoming application, which is due this November. I do not know how much would be sufficient for each requirement. Therefore, I would like to ask current students and alumni the following questions:

1. What were your GRE-GEN scores when you applied? As an international student whose first language is not English, I am particularly concerned about the verbal reasoning part.
2. For familiarity with an object-based programming language, I have decided to learn R for data analysis. Currently, I have just completed the basic R course from w3schools. How can I demonstrate my familiarity with R to the application committee?
3. I took several courses in Economics but none in Calculus during my undergraduate studies. How can I fulfill the requirement of completing at least one Calculus course at the undergraduate level?

Thank you so much in advance for your valuable suggestions and guidance. I truly appreciate your time and efforts in answering these questions.

Hi guys,

I am looking for a way to exploit data from linkedin (use the content of the profiles of several -few thousands- individuals I have identified by the companies they are working in as well as their network). However I cannot find a way to access the data by identifying as academia. When I write to Linkedin I am answered with a flat no with no additional info on what I should do.

Anyone that has been through this can share their experience ?

Many thanks !!

same as title.

hi! i’m a prospective undergrad for computational social science at the university of amsterdam. the programme is very project heavy and will familiarise students with data science methods for modern problems like climate change, income inequality, etc. is it viable for a career in IT or tech or would i be better off majoring in econometrics and data science

What are peoples thoughts on this? I have started a project using Mesa but it seems like performance is not that high. I am using reinforcement learning.

Call for Papers: Special Section of JQD:DM in Collaboration with ICWSM

The Journal of Quantitative Description: Digital Media (JQD:DM), rapidly becoming one of the leading outlets for descriptive quantitative work in the social sciences, is hosting a special section that will provide authors with the opportunity to share their work with the community surrounding The International AAAI Conference on the Web and Social Media (ICWSM), a premier outlet for computational social science research. This section aims to build bridges between various scholarly communities engaging in the study of digital media, broadly construed. 

Authors of accepted papers will have their work published in JQD:DM, and will present the work at ICWSM’s annual conference in June 2024. Submissions are welcome from all, and are especially encouraged from scholars outside the ICWSM community, with the intent of bringing together communities interested in descriptive work in the social and computational sciences. We are seeking a broad range of submissions with regard to topic and methodology; the primary criterion is that the work must provide descriptive insight into digital media. Note that JQD:DM explicitly does not accept papers that make causal claims. Letters of Inquiry (LOIs) in the JQD:DM format are required, due May 15. 

LOIs and questions should be sent to the Special Section Editors at jqdicwsmsi@gmail.com. Other important dates can be found below:

May 15th: LOIs Due

June 8th: Accepted LOIs invited to submit full papers 

September 15th: Full papers due

November 15th: Reject or Revise & Resubmit decisions mailed to full paper authors

January 15th, 2024: R&R Submission Deadline

March 15th, 2024: Accept or Reject decisions for R&Rs

Early June, 2024: Accepted papers are presented at ICWSM **(Note: As a condition of publication in JQD:DM, we will require at least one author of accepted papers to present the work at ICWSM.)

Thank you, and looking forward to your submissions!

Dr. Jason Jeffrey Jones, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Institute for Advanced Computational Science, Stony Brook University

Dr. Sarah Shugars, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Rutgers University

Dr. Yini Zhang, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University at Buffalo

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1POBMdoNgmGG4QrkGZ1PE5lay7yo2h23SubAFZjC8LO8/edit?usp=sharing

What are some other top-tier Computer Science conferences relevant to social science research, in addition to ICWSM and WWW?

Hi everyone, as the title states, I would like to know if I have a realistic chance of getting into a CSS PhD program with my background. I have two bachelor's (one in International Business and one in Psychology) and a master's (in Computational Cognitive Science). Because the focus in psychology and CogSci is more on individuals rather than groups/societies, I'm afraid I might not be considered for such programs.

I'd be grateful to hear your thoughts!

I once enjoyed the company of the handsomest hunk of data on human behavior ever created.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature11421

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0052168

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2016.12.004

http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/686225

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173851

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Then, a clamoring awoke slumbering giants, affections shifted in the aftermath and the relationship ended.

​

Like a jilted (but still comely) maiden - I turned my affection toward the next best suitor.

https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/twitter-api

​

It took years, but eventually I uncovered unique, unappreciated qualities of my new data beau.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleh.2018.09.005

https://doi-org.proxy.library.stonybrook.edu/10.23919/JSC.2021.0002

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0260185

​

Now, goliaths wrestle anew, and I fear knives are out for my newly-crowned prince of data.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/20/musk-twitter-acquisition-staff-cuts/

​

Spurned consorts of the past beckon.

https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/docs

https://www.reddit.com/dev/api/

Hi, sorry for this ignorant question, but as hard as I've searched in google I found it difficult to find the field of science that use hard mathematical models to understand social dynamics (I come from engineering). Can anyone one give me a guideline to start studying it or at least which are the main fields of sutdy?

Btw, I find it super interesting

I would like to understand more about the process of simulating a social phenomena computationally; for example, i would like to understand, if possible, how to implement a simulation of social influence in a specific envioronment.

How should one proceed ? Could you link some resources ?

Can anyone recommend me some CSS papers that are broadly about grassroots organising on social media?

Cheers!

I am writing this to get some advice and also to get a sense of what people in the field are thinking about this:

I was wondering whether getting a master/phd in computer science with a professor who focuses on social sciences is better or a professor in sociology/psychology who uses computational methods?

As far as i understood, both lack in one aspect of the research. Professors coming from engineering backgrounds usually do not ask questions which are interesting in the social sides, and they are usually trying to solve important societal problems (elections, pandemics, misinformation) using high level computational methods. Their work usually outputs a solution for the problems rather than a theory defining the reasons behind it.

On the other hand, the sociology/pysch professors usually work on questions which are interesting in theory but they clearly lack the high level maths and computing.

Considering all of this, i am pretty confused which path should i choose. I am mostly coming from a natural science background (physics major sociology minor. Focused on complexity science and collective behavior) and i want to perfectly combine the two sides: using high level methods to develop theories defining underlying reasons of social life.

I’ll appreciate any suggestions and thoughts on this.

A search yielded a single result outside the scope of my intent.

I'm trying to teach myself some basic R from a project perspective. I found a book i think will work out, but after that, I'm wondering about other books that may exist detailing a more general overview in CSS in general. Any feedback welcome.

Edit: Autocorrect title

As the title says I want to get an idea where other members here prefer to publish their Computational Social Science research

Hi everyone! I'm looking for Master/Predoc programs in computational social science, in order to accumulate more experience for PhD application. Any reccomendation about this? I'm mainly interested in topics like social network, network science, sociology, etc. So opportunities relevant to those would be better! Thank you so much!😁

I’m looking for departments doing research in CSS in the UK/EU. Since different faculties use alternative names for CSS, I thought that I might miss some interesting opportunities and deemed it appropriate to ask for your help :)

Hello fellow Redditors! I just got to know the world of CSS and it really amazes me. These days I was researching a the topic a bit and found the term "social computing". I was wondering if it's the same thing as CSS, or os it something similar, but not quite the same? Thank you all!

I see a lot of names floating around related to CSS: digital humanities, social data science, CSS. Is there any concrete difference between these university programs, or are they simply rebrandings of the same concept?