Informatics 690C - Intro/Social&CulturalAnalytics

This course introduces the use of computational methods for studying culture and society. We will learn how to transform textual and visual material into data, and how we can explore and analyze this data using machine learning and statistical models as both quantitative and qualitative tools. We will also survey and discuss how these methods are applied within the humanities and social sciences, as well as reflect on the challenges, limitations, and ethical issues that arise in the computational study of culture and society.

Open to PhD students EXCEPT students working toward a Computer Science PhD. BASIC EXPERIENCE WITH PYTHON, INTRODUCTORY DATA SCIENCE, OR OTHER INTRODUCTORY PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE IS RECOMMENDED BUT NOT REQUIRED. ALL REQUIRED PROGRAMMING AND STATISTICAL CONCEPTS WILL BE INTRODUCED IN THIS COURSE. STUDENTS NEEDING SPECIAL PERMISSION MUST REQUEST OVERRIDES VIA THE ON-LINE FORM: https://www.cics.umass.edu/overrides.