Big data and artificial intelligence get most of the press about computational social science, but maybe the most complex aspect of it refers to using computational tools to explore and develop social science theory. This course shows how computer simulations are being used to explore the realm of what is theoretically possible. Computer simulations allow us to study why societies are the way they are, and to dream about the world we would like to live in. This can be as intuitive as playing a video game. Much like the well-known video game SimCity is used to build and manage an artificial city, we use agent-based models to grow and study artificial societies. Without hurting anyone in the real world, computer simulations allow us explore how to make the world a better place. We play hands-on with several practical computer simulation models and explore how we can combine hypothetical models with real world data. Finally, you will program a simple artificial society yourself, bottom-up. This will allow you to feel the complexity that arises when designing social systems, while at the same time experiencing the ease with which our new computational tools allow us to pursue such daunting endeavors.
VB
Enjoyed Netlogo and the introduction to ABM courses
PB
That was a great class. I really enjoyed the hand-on NetLogo work.
DP
Excellent course. A complex topic explained simply.
QB
Very useful course for learning basics of ABM and NetLogo programming. We went over many variations of Sugarscape model and got some good insights on what ABM is.
MS
I really enjoyed this course. It was very interesting!
TL
Very good course with great explanations. The wordings on questions of the quizzes could have been clearer.
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I learned a lot from this course. This is the very foundation of AI and NLP and the most important course to really understand its relationship to the empirical, analytical, and theoretical areas of research.
Very useful course for learning basics of ABM and NetLogo programming. We went over many variations of Sugarscape model and got some good insights on what ABM is.
Very good course with great explanations. The wordings on questions of the quizzes could have been clearer.
That was a great class. I really enjoyed the hand-on NetLogo work.
This is my favorite, aside from the Capstone. This was the exposure to computer science, coding, and data analytics I needed to propel me forward. I recently complete a B.S in Applied Mathematics. Due my duties as a Marine, I haven't really been able to get exposure to the things like data software and computer simulations. Highly recommended. The UC team is amazing and did a fantastic job putting this together!
What a magnificent way to (almost) wrap up this specialization! While the first courses were a tad bit more theoretical, this is the one I've enjoyed the most. It was not only highly theoretical, but also highly functional in showing ways of modeling (in pretty accurate ways) social events and even societies. This will indeed prove to be a useful tool for my current and future jobs.
Lovely explanatory course on Computer Simulations, including the benefits and drawbacks of such simulations when trying to come up with theories in Social Science. Quite lengthy yet not at all uninteresting, it strikes a balance between giving you just enough to understand what is going on and teasing you into wanting to know more about the subject.
Ha sido un excelente curso. Se complementa muy bien con los demás y permite la adquisición de conocimientos fundamentales y el comienzo de un entrenamiento necesario para los científicos sociales con una herramienta muy interesantes como lo es NetLogo.
Just To learn to program in Netlogo, worth all the invest of time and effort.
I really enjoyed this course. It was very interesting!
Enjoyed Netlogo and the introduction to ABM courses
Excellent course. A complex topic explained simply.
Great class! I learned so much in this course!
very informative and beginner friendly
Great Course!
The content and the insight from this course is amazing. I would strongly recommend this course for anyone working as a Data Scientist or working in theory in the social sciences. However, there are a couple videos and content that need to be edited and re-published, which makes some of the content hard to follow.
good
Good Course, Specially the assignment was interesting. However I think this course can be further improved by incorporating today's real world examples.
The course is good if you're trying to learn about computational social science research methods. It doesn't really cover computer simulations in depth.