AI and Modelling in Social Sciences: Creating a Network

Introduction

In the rapidly evolving landscape of computational methods in the social sciences, the sheer mass of techniques and models which are getting published makes getting a comprehensive understanding of the field difficult. In our community, we have the necessary competence to pool our knowledge and share insights, help develop ideas, and solve problems. Crosspollination of ideas and concepts from different fields while working with similar methods could also help us gain new perspectives and future research ideas.

This workshop proposes that WASP-HS students who work with, or are interested in computational methods, machine learning, and modelling, should organize into a network. Many of our members have interests in learning and developing methodological competence in AI and modelling. This can be for diverse reasons, such as a wish to improve skills for their projects, improving communication in collaborations, or understanding the impacts of specific implementations. To meet these needs, we could have regular meetings to present our research, develop courses, organize seminar series, and thereby increase the amount of collaboration within WASP-HS.

During the workshop, we will attempt to reach a consensus definition of what computational methods and modelling means, what it can and should achieve, and what the primary purpose of the network should be. Finally, we will decide on the practical implementation of the network. How often do we meet, and what format should it be?

Workshop content

We start the workshop with a presentation by the workshop moderator, outlining the reasoning behind the creation of the network in more depth and the problems and challenges a network such as this would face. After this, each participant is expected to give a short description of their own background, project, and how they think about and use computational methods in their work.

We then move on to a roundtable discussion on the definition of computational methods and modelling and what it can and should achieve. Working on from this, we will move into discussing what the primary purpose of the network should be and which topics should be emphasized. Finally, we will round off the workshop by trying to decide on the practical aspects of organizing.