We are a research group focusing on combining data science methodology with modern trends in social science research. The result is an interdisciplinary approach to different areas of study. An example being the effect that social media technology has on communication and discourse around culturally relevant topics of discussion.
Our vision:
We are seeking to understand the specifics of the relationship between the individual and social environment – we believe this to be at its core a relationship of interdependence.
First off, how do individuals perceive their social environment as well as their role in it, and most importantly, where is this information reflected. And second, how does a social environment react to the individual’s attempts to navigate it.
However, what happens when the social environment that an individual navigates is no longer physical but mostly virtual?
In the information age, an individual’s online persona is often more “real” than the mask they wear in person. People are drawn to participate and actualize themselves in the space through which all flows of social power pass. All roads always lead to Rome – the Rome of today is virtual, it has been transferred onto the Cloud.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.” ~ F. W. Nietzsche
As an individual in the vast expense of the cosmos (abyss) that is society, we must always be mindful of our relation to it and our role in it, in order to preserve our sense of self.