An Introduction to Programming-as-Social-Science (PaSS)

Abstract

Programming-as-Social-Science (PaSS) is emerging as a new set of practices within social research methods, exploring ways in which the work of computer programming and social science might usefully integrate with one another. Work in this area thus far has focussed on carving out a distinctive approach which, rather than deify new forms of enquiry such as data science and treat the matter as one of "upskilling" social scientists with programming techniques, grows its own methodological repertoire from the fertile soil of the knowledge, rigour and expertise already evident within the social sciences. This talk hopes to introduce participants to PaSS via its conceptual origins as well as through examples of PaSS-relevant-applications in action, drawing out the features that make it distinct and pointing towards resources available to help newcomers engage with PaSS directly and practically in their own research and teaching.

Speaker

Phillip Brooker is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool, with interdisciplinary research interests in and around ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, science and technology studies, human-computer interaction and Programming-as-Social-Science (PaSS). Phillip has a research record in digital methods and social media analytics, out of which has grown an interest in the use of computer programming techniques to support the work of doing social science; an interest explored in his recent book "Programming with Python for Social Scientists" (SAGE), as well as in his recent work exploring the uptake and sense-making of artificial intelligence technologies as methods and topics of the social sciences.