Pre-arrival

The Summer Institute will bring together people from many fields and backgrounds. In order to use our time together efficiently, there are a number of things that you should do before participating in SICSS-ODISSEI 2024.

• Complete the pre-read
• Complete Python Boot Camp by the Netherlands eScience Center
• Complete coding Boot Camp (if needed)
• Watch lecture videos
• Prepare your computing environment

Python Boot Camp by the Netherlands eScience Center

Introduction to Python programming

This workshop introduces Python programming for researchers. The workshop builds on learners’ existing knowledge to enable them to quickly apply skills learned to their own research. You will learn the basics of Python, how to use control statements and functions, and how to write clear and reusable code. The largest part of the workshop focuses on data: data import, exploratory data analysis, and visualization. We will make use of popular Python packages such as Pandas and Matplotlib.

This workshop uses a tabular interview dataset from the SAFI Teaching Database, we use a single dataset throughout the workshop to model the data management and analysis workflow that a researcher would use. There are no prerequisites, and the materials assume no prior knowledge about the tools.

Before the Boot Camp it is required to set up the Python environment and download the data. Please, find the instructions here. As the Boot Camp will take place online, having a videoconferencing tool installed is required. Please, find the instructions below.

A few instructions for the Python Boot Camp by the Netherlands eScience Center

• Please follow this link for all the relevant information about the Python Boot Camp by the Netherlands eScience Center.
• Be sure to complete this pre-training survey. We use this to calibrate the pace of the workshop and, together with a post-training survey, to assess how it went.
• Make sure you have the necessary software installed on your laptop by following the setup instructions. If you have any trouble, send us an email at training@esciencecenter.nl.
• On the Boot Camp days (Monday, 3 & Tuesday, 4 June), please join the call 15 minutes earlier (08:45) if possible, to say hello to the instructors and fellow learners and to check if your audio and video setup works correctly. That will allow us to start teaching on time.
• Make sure to keep the workshop website with all the necessary details handy.
• Join the workshop session with the following Zoom link. Please make sure to log in with the name you have used for the registration. For safety reasons, people who cannot be recognized by the Zoom username will not be let into the workshop.
• Let us know if you have any questions by emailing training@esciencecenter.nl.

Install the videoconferencing client

If you haven’t used Zoom before, go to the official website to download and install the Zoom client for your computer.

Set up your workspace Like other Carpentries workshops, you will be learning by “coding along” with the Instructors. To do this, you will need to have both the window for the tool you will be learning about (a terminal, RStudio, your web browser, etc..) and the window for the Zoom video conference client open. In order to see both at once, we recommend using one of the following set up options:

• Two monitors: If you have two monitors, plan to have the tool you are learing up on one monitor and the video conferencing software on the other.
• Two devices: If you don’t have two monitors, do you have another device (tablet, smartphone) with a medium to large sized screen? If so, try using the smaller device as your video conference connection and your larger device (laptop or desktop) to follow along with the tool you will be learning about.
• Divide your screen: If you only have one device and one screen, practice having two windows (the video conference program and one of the tools you will be using at the workshop) open together. How can you best fit both on your screen? Will it work better for you to toggle between them using a keyboard shortcut? Try it out in advance to decide what will work best for you.

This blog post includes detailed information on how to set up your screen to follow along during the workshop.

Schedule of the Python Boot Camp

Day 1: The 3rd of June, 2024

09:00: Welcome and introduction

09:15: Introduction to Python and Python basics

10:15: Coffee break

10:30: Python control structures

11:30: Coffee break

11:45: Creating reusable code

12:45: Wrap-up

13:00: END

Day 2: The 4th of June, 2024

09:00: Recap of Day 1

09:15: Reading data from a file using Pandas

10:15: Coffee break

10:30: Extracting row and columns and data aggregation using Pandas

11:30 Coffee break

11:45 Data visualization using Matplotlib

12:45 Wrap-up

13:00 END

Reading

In order to prepare for SICSS-ODISSEI 2024, you should read Matt Salganik’s book, Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age (Read online or purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, or Princeton University Press). Parts of this book, which is a broad introduction to computational social science, will be review for most of you, but if we all read this book ahead of time, then we can use our time together for more advanced topics.

Coding Boot Camp

The SICSS Boot Camp is an online training program created by Chris Bail to provide you with beginner level skills in coding so that you can follow the more advanced curriculum we teach at SICSS. The videos and materials are designed for complete beginners and are best viewed as a sequence since each video builds upon content introduced in previous tutorials. If you are already familiar with the topics in these videos, you do not need to complete them.

If you would like more practice after completing the Boot Camp videos, some other materials that we can recommend are:

• RStudio Primers, which can be supplemented by the open access book R for Data Science by Garrett Grolemund and Hadley Wickham
• R for Social Science, Data Carpentry.
• Introduction to R for Social Scientists, Taught by Charles Lanfear at University of Washington. This course includes videos of lectures, slides, and assignments.
• Learn R, Code Academy.

Please note that the majority of the coding work presented at SICSS-ODISSEI 2024 will employ Python. You are welcome to employ a language of your choice, such as R, Julia, or other languages that are commonly used by computational social scientists. However, we cannot support those languages.

Lecture videos

SICSS-ODISSEI 2024 will be using a flipped classroom model. Therefore, you should watch videos of lectures before our meetings, and then we will use our time together for discussion and group activities.

Computing environment

Python

Some of the activities will require coding, and we will support Python. You are welcome to use other languages, but we cannot guarantee that we can support them.

Slack

Before participating at SICSS-ODISSEI 2024, you should have an account in the SICSS 2024 Slack workspace. If you have not used Slack before, you should review these getting started materials. Slack can be hard to use at first, but we’ve found that it is the best way to enable everyone to collaborate.

GitHub

Many participants at SICSS use GitHub to collaborate. If you do not yet have one, you should create a GitHub account. If you are a student, we recommend that you apply for a GitHub Student Developer Pack.