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What’s happening in the world of big data and the social sciences
David De Roure, University of Oxford @dder
Research Councils UK
ESRC Big Data Network
The fourth quadrant
More people
More machine
s
Big Data Big Compute Conven6onal Computa6on
“Big Social” Social Networks
e-‐infrastructure
online R&D
Big Data Produc6on & Analy6cs
deeply about society
The future
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)
hGp://www.oecd.org/s6/sci-‐tech/new-‐data-‐for-‐understanding-‐the-‐human-‐condi6on.htm
House of Commons Inquiry
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/science-and-technology-committee/news/report-responsible-use-of-data/
Traditional data storage systems were not designed for real-time analysis but new technologies can now provide live information and data analysis can accomplished in real-time. 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.
Traditional data storage systems were not designed for real-time analysis but new technologies can now provide live information and data analysis can accomplished in real-time. 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.
New Social Processes
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Photographs: Cancer Research UK
Digital Marketing Ecosystem
hGps://www.gartner.com/technology/research/digital-‐marke6ng/transit-‐map.jsp
Citizen Science
hGps://www.zooniverse.org/
Social Media Triangle
social media data and analy.cs
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
hGps://www.gov.uk/government/publica6ons/internet-‐of-‐things-‐blackeG-‐review
New Forms of Data CDT
New UK Centres for Doctoral Training in New Forms of Data and in Biosocial Research
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 the national e-Infrastructure.
hGp://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-‐and-‐guidance/postgraduates/dtc/dtc-‐policy/commissioning-‐of-‐centres-‐for-‐doctoral-‐training.aspx
Big, Open, and Personal
theODI.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)
Observing Social Machines
hGp://sociam.org/
Methods of Observation
Tarte, S. Willcox, P., Glaser, H. and De Roure, D. 2015. Archetypal Narra6ves 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
Summary
New forms of data enable us to:
• Observe social processes in new ways
• Study new social processes, e.g. social media
• Design new social processes, e.g. for citizen engagement at scale
There are considerations of ethics and responsible innovation in each
This is all a rehearsal for living in the Internet of Things
Thank You
Thanks to Fiona Armstrong, Peter Elias, Wendy Hall, Chris Lintott, Sam McGregor, Nigel Shadbolt, Ségolène Tarte, Ramine Tinati, Thanassis Tiropanis, Max Van Cleek, and Pip Willcox
Contact [email protected]
