The Computational Social Science series (CSS)

Computational Social Science (CSS) is a series edited by Mara Maretti, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, and Lara Fontanella, G. d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. The series brings together contributions from interdisciplinary sources relating to the ongoing debate on innovative research methods and the practical applications of Big Data, with particular regard to the epistemological, methodological, and political aspects of the management of digital content.

According to international literature on the subject, computational social science can be defined as a discipline that makes use of enormous quantities of Big Data, in order to analyse human interaction and from this analysis derive qualitatively new perspectives on collective behaviour, using an interdisciplinary approach comprising sociology, statistics, IT, psychology, law, mathematics, and theoretical physics. Computational social research, drawing on analysis of digital trails left by online activity, analyses of social networks, digital open sources, and social simulations created by means of computational modelling, is a powerful tool for the analysis of social change.

The principal aim of the series is therefore to create an international forum for epistemological, ontological, and methodological discussion in which individual contributions of computational analysis can be compiled, evaluated, and catalogued. Each volume of the series (available in Italian or English) is referred for anonymous appraisal to at least two experts working in the scientific disciplines of mathematics, sociology, statistics, theoretical physics, law, IT, and psychology.