This lecture was presented as part of the Berkeley Distinguished Lectures in Data Science on Tuesday, October 2, 2018. Download the slides and accompanying paper for this talk.
The 2005 National Science Foundation workshop report on "Cyberinfrastructure for the Social and Behavioral Sciences" (Fran Berman and Henry Brady) argued that the methods of doing research in the social sciences would be transformed by big data and data science and that the social sciences should be centrally involved in studying the impacts of big data and data science on society. In "The Challenge of Big Data and Data Science," just completed for the Annual Review of Political Science, I have brought these arguments up-to-date. I will talk about defining "big data" and "data science," about the new kinds of research being done in the social sciences over the past decade that use big data and data science methods, and about the impacts of the information revolution on warfare, cities, the media, health care, and jobs and the ways that the social sciences must come to grips with them.
The Berkeley Distinguished Lectures in Data Science, co-hosted by the Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) and the Berkeley Division of Data Sciences, features Berkeley faculty doing visionary research that illustrates the character of the ongoing data revolution. This lecture series is offered to engage our diverse campus community and enrich active connections among colleagues. All campus community members are welcome and encouraged to attend. Arrive at 3:30 PM for light refreshments and discussion prior to the formal presentation.