Soft Computing in Humanities and Social Sciences


Book Description

The field of Soft Computing in Humanities and Social Sciences is at a turning point. The strong distinction between “science” and “humanities” has been criticized from many fronts and, at the same time, an increasing cooperation between the so-called “hard sciences” and “soft sciences” is taking place in a wide range of scientific projects dealing with very complex and interdisciplinary topics. In the last fifteen years the area of Soft Computing has also experienced a gradual rapprochement to disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and also in the field of Medicine, Biology and even the Arts, a phenomenon that did not occur much in the previous years. The collection of this book presents a generous sampling of the new and burgeoning field of Soft Computing in Humanities and Social Sciences, bringing together a wide array of authors and subject matters from different disciplines. Some of the contributors of the book belong to the scientific and technical areas of Soft Computing while others come from various fields in the humanities and social sciences such as Philosophy, History, Sociology or Economics. Rudolf Seising received a Ph.D. degree in philosophy of science and a postdoctoral lecture qualification (PD) in history of science from the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich. He is an Adjoint Researcher at the European Centre for Soft Computing in Mieres (Asturias), Spain. Veronica Sanz earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain). At the moment she is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Science, Technology and Society Center in the University of California at Berkeley. Veronica Sanz earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain). At the moment she is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Science, Technology and Society Center in the University of California at Berkeley.




Computing in the Social Sciences and Humanities


Book Description

CD-ROm contains: Multimedia that provides unique approach to various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities -- Links to related resources.




Big Data in Computational Social Science and Humanities


Book Description

This edited volume focuses on big data implications for computational social science and humanities from management to usage. The first part of the book covers geographic data, text corpus data, and social media data, and exemplifies their concrete applications in a wide range of fields including anthropology, economics, finance, geography, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, public health, and mass communications. The second part of the book provides a panoramic view of the development of big data in the fields of computational social sciences and humanities. The following questions are addressed: why is there a need for novel data governance for this new type of data?, why is big data important for social scientists?, and how will it revolutionize the way social scientists conduct research? With the advent of the information age and technologies such as Web 2.0, ubiquitous computing, wearable devices, and the Internet of Things, digital society has fundamentally changed what we now know as "data", the very use of this data, and what we now call "knowledge". Big data has become the standard in social sciences, and has made these sciences more computational. Big Data in Computational Social Science and Humanities will appeal to graduate students and researchers working in the many subfields of the social sciences and humanities.




Humanities Computing


Book Description

Humanities Computing provides a rationale for a computing practice that is of and for as well as in the humanities and the interpretative social sciences. It engages philosophical, historical, ethnographic and critical perspectives to show how computing helps us fulfil the basic mandate of the humane sciences to ask ever better questions of the most challenging kind. It strengthens current practice by stimulating debate on the role of the computer in our intellectual life, and outlines an agenda for the field to which individual scholars across the humanities can contribute.




Integrated Information and Computing Systems for Natural, Spatial, and Social Sciences


Book Description

"This book covers a carefully selected spectrum of issues pertaining to the benefits, dynamism, potential, and challenges of information and computing system application scenarios and components from a wide spectrum of prominent disciplines"--Provided by publisher.




Humanities Data in R


Book Description




Computation and the Humanities


Book Description

This book addresses the application of computing to cultural heritage and the discipline of Digital Humanities that formed around it. Digital Humanities research is transforming how the Human record can be transmitted, shaped, understood, questioned and imagined and it has been ongoing for more than 70 years. However, we have no comprehensive histories of its research trajectory or its disciplinary development. The authors make a first contribution towards remedying this by uncovering, documenting, and analysing a number of the social, intellectual and creative processes that helped to shape this research from the 1950s until the present day. By taking an oral history approach, this book explores questions like, among others, researchers’ earliest memories of encountering computers and the factors that subsequently prompted them to use the computer in Humanities research. Computation and the Humanities will be an essential read for cultural and computing historians, digital humanists and those interested in developments like the digitisation of cultural heritage and artefacts. This book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license




GIS-based Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences


Book Description

Studies in the humanities and the social sciences can be enhanced through the use of geographic information systems (GIS). However, this computer-aided method of analysis is worthless unless researchers can devote the time necessary to learn what it is, what it can do, and how to use it. Resulting from a six-year project entitled Spatial Inf




Doing Computational Social Science


Book Description

Computational approaches offer exciting opportunities for us to do social science differently. This beginner’s guide discusses a range of computational methods and how to use them to study the problems and questions you want to research. It assumes no knowledge of programming, offering step-by-step guidance for coding in Python and drawing on examples of real data analysis to demonstrate how you can apply each approach in any discipline. The book also: Considers important principles of social scientific computing, including transparency, accountability and reproducibility. Understands the realities of completing research projects and offers advice for dealing with issues such as messy or incomplete data and systematic biases. Empowers you to learn at your own pace, with online resources including screencast tutorials and datasets that enable you to practice your skills and get up to speed. For anyone who wants to use computational methods to conduct a social science research project, this book equips you with the skills, good habits and best working practices to do rigorous, high quality work.




Team-Based Learning in the Social Sciences and Humanities


Book Description

Team-Based Learning (TBL) is a unique, powerful, and proven form of small-group learning that is being increasingly adopted in higher education. Teachers who use TBL report high levels of engagement, critical thinking, and retention among their students. TBL has been used successfully in both small and large classes, in computer-supported and online classes; and because it is group work that works, it has been implemented in nearly every discipline and in countries around the world.This book introduces the elements of TBL and how to apply them in the social sciences and humanities. It describes the four essential elements of TBL – readiness assurance, design of application exercises, permanent teams, peer evaluation – and pays particular attention to the specification of learning outcomes, which can be a unique challenge in these fields.The core of the book consists of examples of how TBL has been incorporated into the cultures of disciplines as varied as economics, education, literature, politics, psychology, and theatre. The authors explain why they felt a need to change how they taught and why they chose TBL. Furthermore, each chapter provides examples of the assignments and exercises they use to help their students achieve the specific learning outcomes of their courses.At a time of increasing course sizes, and emphasis on learning outcomes, TBL offers the means to meet such demands while connecting students to their coursework, and stimulating their intellectual engagement.