SICSS-Saarbrücken

September 8 to September 19, 2025 | Saarbrücken, Germany

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-Saarbrücken 2025.

  • Complete the pre-arrival reading.
  • Complete coding bootcamp (if needed).
  • Watch lecture videos.
  • Prepare your computing environment.

Organizers will be available via Slack to support you as you work through these pre-arrival materials. Please feel free to reach out to us!

Reading

In order to prepare for SICSS-Saarbrücken 2025, we recommend you 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 serve as a 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.

We also recommend the ESRC Social Science Playlist for an introduction to Social Science Research.

Bernie Hogan

Hogan, B. (2021) Networks are a lens for power: A commentary on the recent advances in the ethics of social networks special issue. Social Networks 67, 9-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2020.12.003

Birkett, M., Melville, J., Janulis, P., Phillips II, G., Contractor, N., & Hogan, B. (2021). Network Canvas: Key decisions in the design of an interviewer-assisted network data collection software suite. Social Networks, 66, 114-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2022.01.006

Georg Wenzelburger

Grimmelikhuijsen, S., & Meijer, A. (2022). Legitimacy of algorithmic decision-making: Six threats and the need for a calibrated institutional response. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance, 5(3), 232-242. https://doi.org/10.1093/ppmgov/gvac008

König, P. D., & Wenzelburger, G. (2021). The legitimacy gap of algorithmic decision-making in the public sector: Why it arises and how to address it. Technology in society, 67, 101688. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101688

König, P. D., & Wenzelburger, G. (2020). Opportunity for renewal or disruptive force? How artificial intelligence alters democratic politics. Government Information Quarterly, 37(3), 101489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giq.2020.101489

Coding Boot Camp

Please note that the majority of the coding work presented at SICSS-Saarbrücken 2025 will employ Python. We recommend the participants have working knowledge and experience with python programming. If you would like more practice, some materials we recommend are:

You are welcome to employ a language of your choice, such as R, Julia, or other languages that are commonly used, however, we cannot support all these languages.

Lecture videos

Some of the main videos and course materials developed by SICSS Co-Founders Chris Bail and Matt Salganik can be found here.

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. Before SICSS, you should have your preferred Python setup ready. If you need guidance, please refer to the following link: Anaconda

Slack

Before participating at SICSS-Saarbrücken 2025, you should have an account in the SICSS 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.

Other softwares

Network Canvas Architect
Gephi

Optional downloads:

Network Canvas Interviewer

Host a Location

You can host a partner location of the Summer Institutes of Computational Social Science (SICSS) at your university, company, NGO, or government agency.

Learn More