Chapter 7: @kwelle.bsky.social of @gesis.org & @indiiigo.bsky.social of Mannheim on using social media data in CSS. Social media provides rich digital traces of human behavior, but also raises serious methodological & ethical challenges, from platform bias to reproducibility. A great guide!
Are you using survey-style questionnaires designed for humans to measure characteristics of LLMs?
In our #EACL2026 paper, we evaluate both the reliability and validity of such tests and found that their scores do not reflect real-world model behavior. In fact, they can be deceptive!
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Three things said about AI and social science: it's a topic to study, a thing to critique, a tool to use. My new Daedalus essay argues these aren't three conversations; they're one. A 🧵 on "Field Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object, and Tool."
www.amacad.org/publication/...
Taha Yasseri
Government-controlled media influences the output of large language models via their training data, and models queried in the languages of countries with lower media freedom show a stronger ...
Chapter 6: @lauraknelson.bsky.social from UBC Sociology on computational inductive research.
The chapter makes a strong case that unsupervised methods don’t replace theory: they reshape how we generate & validate it.
Induction, abduction, deduction, combined with transparency & reproducibility.
Uses of advanced artificial intelligence are changing how societies organize labor, govern, produce knowledge, and make meaning. In light of these developments, this essay argues that AI models, tools...
fresh off the press from yours truly: oecs.mit.edu/pub/b61joemo...
I offer an overview of algorithmic bias. I trace its historical roots, examine canonical scholarship and notable real-world incidents, and explore how algorithmic bias emerged as a field of study
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Attention #NLProc researchers, the EACL 2027 website is officially LIVE: 2027.eacl.org! 🎉
🇬🇷 Join us in Athens, Greece (Mar 9-13, 2027) at #EACL2027
📅 ARR submission deadline: Aug 6, 2026. Open to all areas of CL/NLP + related fields. Stay tuned for the detailed CfP soon!
Jana Jung
We are delighted to welcome @marlutz.bsky.social to our lab over the next few months! 🎉
She'll work on the representation of different demographic groups in LLMs.
#NLProc
We're excited that @nschwitter.bsky.social will join us for the next session of the TADA Spring Speaker Series to present work on AI-generated images as experimental treatments.
When? **Thursday**, April 30, 17:00 (Berlin time)
Sign up for our newsletter at tada.cool for the Zoom link!
MilaNLP Lab
As part of the special issue Explanation and Causality in Sociology, @rubac.bsky.social, @cklamm.bsky.social and I discussed what it takes to do causal inference with text as data - whether we try to explain texts, treat them as causes, or use them as controls 💬🔍👉 link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Chapter 5: @martinarvidsson.bsky.social, Hedström, Jarvis & @marckeuschnigg.bsky.social on the intersection of Analytical Sociology and Computational Social Science.
Computational tools are most powerful when used to identify and test mechanisms, not just describe or predict aggregate patterns.
New📄(accepted at #ACL2026NLP main):
W&C-Sent: 1.6k+ English sentences from social media labeled for perceived warmth (trust, sociability) & competence toward individuals and target groups (key for studying stereotypes, biased lgge, & other #NLP and #CSS applications).
arxiv.org/abs/2601.06316
Verena Kunz
This article discusses and showcases approaches to causal inference with text as data, focusing on the challenges and opportunities that arise when sociological constructs are embedded in language. We...
Warmth (W) (often further broken down into Trust (T) and Sociability (S)) and Competence (C) are central dimensions along which people evaluate individuals and social groups (Fiske, 2018). While these...
In Chapter 4, Ralph Schroeder of @oii.ox.ac.uk argues that CSS needs a stronger theory, not just better data.
He proposes an AI-driven model of media agenda-setting that links media visibility, public attention, and political change. A big step toward cumulative media theory.
Nicole Schwitter
Taha Yasseri
Chapter 3: @helenmargetts.bsky.social & Cosmina Dorobantu on how CSS can improve public policymaking, from better detection and prediction to ethical, accountable use of AI in government. A powerful case for impact beyond academia. doi.org/10.4337/9781...
@oii.ox.ac.uk @lsedatascience.bsky.social
Taha Yasseri
Chapter 2: Duncan Watts & @davidlazer.bsky.social reflect on how the field has evolved from early simulation models to today’s large-scale data and experiments, and ask how can computational social science move from producing insights to having real societal impact? @nunetsi.bsky.social
Taha Yasseri
Thrilled to announce the Handbook of Computational Social Science is officially out! 956 pages, 118 authors, and truly global, interdisciplinary perspectives. Deep thanks to the contributors and anonymous reviewers who shaped this over 4 years. Buy your copy now!
@elgarpublishing.bsky.social
