Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS)
@cphsodas
We are the Center for Social Data Science at the University of Copenhagen, an interdisciplinary research center combining methods from econometrics to ethnography with new data science techniques including machine learning and NLP.
@louisboucherie.com was interviewed about Copenhagen Fashion Week 💃 and body representation in Politiken today: politiken.dk/kultur/art10... Louis and co recently analyzed fashion records spanning 25 years and found a paradox: diversity has increased, but the typical model body hasn't changed.
Congrats to @louisboucherie.com on being awarded a @carlsbergfondet.dk Internationalisation Fellowship! He'll be at Columbia, then at Princeton, and finally back at SODAS. He'll model how life events shift people's health years later, e.g. if job loss at 50 changes the risk of heart disease at 60. 🧓
@hjalmarcarlsen.bsky.social and Jonas Toubøl find that people are driven to volunteer by "demand networks": others asking them to help. Women and altruists are most likely to respond to needs. They show this with a survey on COVID volunteering. Paper out now: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
We're delighted that @abbasrizi.bsky.social received Novo Nordisk's Postdoctoral Fellowship for Oxford. 🥳 He'll be there for 2 years, then at SODAS for 1. He'll work on minimal network models for epidemic control, to find out how much complexity is actually needed to guide public health decisions.
Does personality predict crime? @laulilleholt.bsky.social, Ingo Zettler and co. found a clear relationship between the "Dark Factor of Personality" and both self-reported crime and registered criminal convictions. Article: econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/abs/10.1... More on the Dark Factor: darkfactor.org
New book alert: "Kits for Digital Methods: Doing Sociotechnical Research". Samantha Breslin wrote the "Programming as Participant Observation Kit". She explains basic steps like choosing a language, setting up an environment and tracking research insights while coding. Preorder: kitsformethods.com
Until 2025, the CDC emphasized that scientists agreed there is no link between vaccines and autism. Now, they say that a link can't be ruled out. @robertboehm.bsky.social, @schneali.bsky.social, @corneliabetsch.bsky.social & @laulilleholt.bsky.social show this erodes Americans' trust in vaccines.
Join us for the last SODAS Lecture of the spring on May 8! 📅 In this lecture, @sebstier.bsky.social will explore advances in user-centered data collection approaches, using examples from the field of political communication 📣 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
SODAS Lecture on April 17! 📅 Come and join us for this exciting lecture, where @lenafrescamente.bsky.social will discuss the complexity of misinformation. With new insights, the lecture explores the complex systems through which misinformation perpetuates 💻 Event 🔗 : sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
@keltonminor.bsky.social and co just published a "wake-up call" on the effect of climate change on sleep. Especially in the poorest & hottest regions, we don't know enough about how much sleep people are losing due to heat. Summary: news.ku.dk/all_news/202... Academic paper: doi.org/10.1093/slee...
Do disruptive protests help or hurt? In a new review, @claravandeweerdt.bsky.social finds they're great at getting attention from media and the public for their issue. They have no or small positive effects on public opinion about the cause, and on people's intentions to act. doi.org/10.1093/pnas...
@claravandeweerdt.bsky.social, @gregoryeady.bsky.social, @fghjorth.bsky.social and Peter Thisted Dinesen present a method for measuring people's social identities from short self-descriptions. The unsupervised algorithm discovers identities bottom-up: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
SODAS researchers and co. investigated the correlation between "dark" personality traits and job choice. They found that people with dark traits tend not to choose social jobs (like nurse, −.50 ≤ r ≤ −.21) but also artistic jobs (−.31 ≤ r ≤ −.12). Read more: econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/full/10....
SODAS Lecture on March 13! 📅 Join us for this fascinating lecture, where @marioluissmall.bsky.social will discuss the availability of large-scale data and the spread of computational social science 💻 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
Yani Kartalis and co. connect media habits with far-right voting & find that readers of a Spanish conservative paper and Portuguese tabloid are more likely to develop nostalgia for authoritarian times, which correlates with support for the far right. Read more: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
While researchers have usually modeled complex systems as networks of one-on-one interactions, recent advances in higher-order networks allow them to also describe groups of three or more units. However, this added complexity isn't always necessary. (1/2)
SODAS Lecture on February 20! 📅 SODAS is delighted to host Matthew Salganik! In a fascinating lecture on evolving life trajectories, Matthew will discuss how rich registry data and new AI methods can bridge computational social science and biomedical research 🧪 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
Does it work to punish the group for its members' misbehavior?In a new paper, SODAS researchers and co. show that collective punishment decreases cheating among study participants, even those scoring high on dishonesty. Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... Photo by cottonbro studio
@maria-drc.bsky.social and Johanna Einsiedler published a proof-of-concept for AI-generated benchmarks for how LLMs perform on workplace tasks. According to these LLM-as-a-judge benchmarks, current models still underperform on many basic operations. Read the paper: www.brookings.edu/wp-content/u...
Clara Vandeweerdt talked to Danish media about her research on the effect of disruptive protest by climate activists. Listen to Jyllandsposten's podcast episode with Clara: omny.fm/shows/hvis-d... Or a shorter interview on Radio 4 Morgen: radio4.dk/podcasts/rad... (1/2)
SODAS Lecture on December 4! 📅 In this fascinating lecture, Sander van der Linden will explore psychological inoculation against misinformation 🧪 🔍 Event 🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
SODAS Lecture on November 21! 📆 In this lecture, Ruud Wouters will explore protest and politicization in the hybrid media arena, uncovering the dynamics of political contestation 📣 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
What is the point of activists blocking roads or interrupting sports events? Clara Vandeweerdt shows that these kinds of protests are excellent at drawing attention to their cause. On the other hand, they slightly decrease support for the protesters' policy demands. Read the paper: rdcu.be/eJJrR
Greece has unusually many news outlets, but that does not mean its media landscape is diverse. Most websites cover the same broad topics--even more so when they take over news agency content, and when websites have the same owner. Read more in Yani Kartalis' paper: eprints.lse.ac.uk/129624/1/Gre...
Sofie Læbo Astrupgaard and Emilie Emilie Munch Gregersen wrote chapter 9, “Samarbejde i det kollektive feltarbejde”, in the 2nd edition of the book Antropologiske Projekter. They show how collective fieldwork benefits from a shared methodological infrastructure. samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/antropol...
We warmly welcome @keltonminor.bsky.social as a new Associate Professor in Planetary Behavioral Data Science, in a joint position with the Psychology Dept. Kelton's research examines how individuals and populations adapt to rapid global changes in the atmosphere, biosphere, and cybersphere.
When it comes to ethnic discrimination, a story is worth a thousand data points. A new paper shows that one anecdote about a teen of Lebanese origin being turned down for a job 👦 is as powerful as a large audit study 📑 in convincing people that discrimination is real. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
Last week, the SODAS gang went on a two-day retreat to sunny Hornbæk. After countless PechaKucha presentations, much swimming in the Baltic, and several worthy attempts at snatching the next Ig Nobel prize, we are ready for another academic year. 💪 See you in the classroom and the conference center!
Congrats to Anna Helene Kvist Møller for receiving a Carlsberg internationalization grant! Her project investigates how subtle signs of taste in visual content become thresholds for algorithms to control the (in)visibility of users in different 🌎 and cultures. www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/what-we-h...
At this year’s Folkemøde, Morten Axel Pedersen was spontaneously invited to give a talk to a visiting group of German democracy advocates. During the talk, he shared his research outcomes on democracy festivals with the "German Democracy Gang."