To improve the development and application of computational social science research one step further, Faculty of Social Sciences plans to hold Computational Social Science Workshops on a regular base.
Professor Chen Yunsong from Department of Sociology, Nanjing University gave a lecture on this first workshop. He first recalled the concept of “sociological imagination” and its limitations — the lack of a truly guiding channel for advancement. Then, Professor Chen called for a “second kind of imagination” based on mathematical logic rather than life history. At the same time, he combined his research results over the years to provide teachers and students with a wealth of practical cases, and further pointed out the challenges and opportunities facing contemporary computational social science research.
Teachers and students from different departments actively participated and raised their own questions and opinions during the lecture.