Human social sensing is an untapped resource for computational social science

The ability to ‘sense’ the social environment and thereby to understand the thoughts and actions of others allows humans to fit into their social worlds, communicate and cooperate, and learn from others’ experiences. Here we argue that, through the lens of computational social science, this ability can be used to advance research into human sociality. When strategically selected to represent a specific population of interest, human social sensors can help to describe and predict societal trends. In addition, their reports of how they experience their social worlds can help to build models of social dynamics that are constrained by the empirical reality of human social systems.

Creating Scientific Theories with Online Communities using Gut Instinct

People's lived experiences provide intuitions about their health. Can they transform these personal intuitions into scientific theories that inform both science and their lives? My research introduces social computing architectures and system principles for people to brainstorm and test causal scientific theories. These ideas are instantiated in the Gut Instinct system (gutinstinct.ucsd.edu). 344 voluntary online participants from 27 countries created 399 personally-relevant questions about the human microbiome, 75 (19%) of which microbiome experts found potentially scientifically novel. To test their theories, end users design structurally-sound experiments, improve them via community reviews, and run them with other participants. Controlled experiments show that participants create better hypotheses and experimental designs when they have access to procedural training. My research illustrates a novel way to tackle complex, creative tasks online by building expertise in online volunteer communities.

Ratioed — dame.is

I began this social art experiment in June 2025 and have “performed” it periodically since. My intent was to explore what it would look like to use a social media post as a medium for art (not for sharing art). Because I used Bluesky, the social data underlying this art projec…

Manoel Horta Ribeiro (@manoelhortaribeiro.bsky.social)

Assistant Professor @ Princeton Previously: EPFL 🇨🇭, UFMG 🇧🇷 Interests: Computational Social Science, Platforms, GenAI, Moderation

Our Approach to Artificial Intelligence

We are experimenting with using AI tools to extend our work as a small nonprofit, so that we can focus our time on reinforcing human connections, conversations, and communities that have eroded.

Social Physics by Alex Pentland: 9780143126331 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

From one of the world’s leading data scientists, a landmark tour of the new science of idea flow, offering revolutionary insights into the mysteries of collective intelligence and social influence...