This document discusses the opportunities and challenges presented by big data for social sciences research. New forms of data from social media, tracking, and internet-connected devices allow researchers to study social processes as they unfold in real-time at large scales. However, analyzing this data requires new computational skills and infrastructure. Researchers must also consider new methods and address issues like reproducibility, ethics, and access to ensure quality results. Overall, big data has the potential to transform social sciences by enabling the study of phenomena in new ways, but significant challenges around data, skills, and research practices must be overcome.

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

2. ChristineBorgman

3. Big, Open, and Personal

5. Big Data Network

6. More people
Moremachines
Big Data
Big Compute
Conventional
Computation
“Big Social”
Social Networks
e-infrastructure
Science 2.0
Big Data
Production
& Analytics
deeply
about
society
Thefuture

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. Social Media Triangle
social media
data and
analytics
social media for
engagement with
research
social media
as a subject
of research
Sam McGregor

11. 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

12. F i r s t

13. Citizen Science https://www.zooniverse.org/

14. 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)

15. 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
1
4
2
3
5
6
SM
SM
SM
Social Machine
Observing Social
Machines
7
@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

16. 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
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

17. 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

18. 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?