Cutting NSF Is Like Liquidating Your Finest Investment
Look closely at your mobile phone or tablet. Touch-screen technology, speech recognition, digital sound recording and the internet were all developed using […]
First, Do No Harm: Five Tips for Collaborating With Government and Development Orgs
The appeal of collaborating with a government agency, or an organization funded by one, seems obvious. In practice, however, it’s not always easy to make collaborative research work well. Susan Dodsworth and Nic Cheeseman outline some simple lessons for those looking to collaborate while avoiding the common pitfalls.
New Members Appointed to Canada’s SSHRC
Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, or SSHRC, has announced the membership of its 18-member governing council.
Nick Seaver on Dissecting the Algorithmic Organism
When discussing the nexus of computer science and social science, the transaction is usually in one direction – what can computer scientists do for social scientists. But a recent paper from Tufts University anthropologist Nick Seaver reverses that flow, using the tool of ethnography to interrogate the tools of engineering.
Divining What a ‘Digital Truth Serum’ Can Reveal to Us
The underlying conceit of economist and data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s work, whether in his new book, on the op-ed pages of the New York Times or in the classroom, or on campus, is that people’s search activity on a search engine reveals much more about them than do surveys, polls, or other social media
Campaign for Social Science Adds Four to Board
Britain’s Campaign for Social Science has announced the appointment of four new board members, drawing on extensive research, public policy and practitioner social science expertise.
A Cry From Canada: Freedom of Expression Under Attack at Our Universities
The former president of the University of Saskatchewan argues that freedom of expression is under attack in Canada’s universities through an accumulation of episodes that diminish its significance and through a vector of intellectual laziness accompanied by ideology and anger.
How Young People Cope with Challenging Contexts
In an exploration of the complex dynamics of youth in especially challenging situations around the world, Charalmabos Tsekeris and Lilu Stylianoudi from the Academy of Athens have brought together 15 studies from around the world that point to a surprising finding: young people manage reasonably well in extremely difficult situations.
Storify is Dead. Responsible Data Stewardship Must Live
Storify is dead The service, which let you take social media content like Twitter and Facebook posts and aggregate them together into stories, announced that they’ll be shutting down and deleting all content as of March 16th, 2018. It’s not as bad as some platform shutdowns – there is notice and at least you can export your own content (one story at a time) – but it’s still a reminder of how vulnerable user-generated content can be online.
