Copenhagen Center for Social Data Science (SODAS)
We are the Center for Social Data Science at the University of Copenhagen, an interdisciplinary research center combining methods from econometrics to ethnography with new data science techniques including machine learning and NLP.
- Helene Willadsen & Annika Johanne Bonk reveal that the open-ended responses to employee surveys are an informational treasure trove. These responses are a window into more "practical" workplace issues, and that topic models can help pick out their themes: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
- Danish paper Jyllands-Posten covered SODAS PhD Ole Tuetloff's research on which jobs will be replaced by 🤖: jyllands-posten.dk/erhverv/ECE1... But actually, Ole says, "you will not be replaced by AI, but by a human who is better at using AI than you," increasing existing labor market inequalities.
- Does it work to punish the group for its members' misbehavior?In a new paper, SODAS researchers and co. show that collective punishment decreases cheating among study participants, even those scoring high on dishonesty. Read more here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... Photo by cottonbro studio
- Come along for this exciting Data Discussion on Friday! 📢
- Join us for a Data Discussion on December 12! 📅 Yani Kartalis will discuss content plurality in Greece’s fragmented media system, while Tereza Blažková will present on participatory design in predictive modeling for student success. Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us for a Data Discussion on December 12! 📅 Yani Kartalis will discuss content plurality in Greece’s fragmented media system, while Tereza Blažková will present on participatory design in predictive modeling for student success. Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- @maria-drc.bsky.social and Johanna Einsiedler published a proof-of-concept for AI-generated benchmarks for how LLMs perform on workplace tasks. According to these LLM-as-a-judge benchmarks, current models still underperform on many basic operations. Read the paper: www.brookings.edu/wp-content/u...
- Join us for this exciting lecture on Thursday! 📢
- SODAS Lecture on December 4! 📅 In this fascinating lecture, Sander van der Linden will explore psychological inoculation against misinformation 🧪 🔍 Event 🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Clara Vandeweerdt talked to Danish media about her research on the effect of disruptive protest by climate activists. Listen to Jyllandsposten's podcast episode with Clara: omny.fm/shows/hvis-d... Or a shorter interview on Radio 4 Morgen: radio4.dk/podcasts/rad... (1/2)
- SODAS Lecture on December 4! 📅 In this fascinating lecture, Sander van der Linden will explore psychological inoculation against misinformation 🧪 🔍 Event 🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Current SODAS PhD Sofie Læbo Astrupgaard recently got a gold medal from the Univeristy of Copenhagen for her Master thesis. She wrote about working from home: which professions benefit, and how employers talk about it in job ads. Learn more about Sofie's thesis here: sodas.ku.dk/research/sof...
- Join us for an exciting lecture this Friday! 📢
- SODAS Lecture on November 21! 📆 In this lecture, Ruud Wouters will explore protest and politicization in the hybrid media arena, uncovering the dynamics of political contestation 📣 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- SODAS Lecture on November 21! 📆 In this lecture, Ruud Wouters will explore protest and politicization in the hybrid media arena, uncovering the dynamics of political contestation 📣 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Come join us for this exciting Data Discussion on Friday! 📢
- Join us for a Data Discussion on Friday, November 7! 📅 Daniel Juhász Vigild will start by exploring how government use of AI impacts its trustworthiness, while Stephanie Brandl will examine whether LLMs can identify and classify fine-grained forms of populism. Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us for a Data Discussion on Friday, November 7! 📅 Daniel Juhász Vigild will start by exploring how government use of AI impacts its trustworthiness, while Stephanie Brandl will examine whether LLMs can identify and classify fine-grained forms of populism. Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us for an exciting SODAS Lecture this Friday! 📢
- SODAS Lecture on October 31! 📅 In this lecture, Martin Fleischmann will discuss spatial data and open science. Join us for a peek under the hood of scientific software development! Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- SODAS Lecture on October 31! 📅 In this lecture, Martin Fleischmann will discuss spatial data and open science. Join us for a peek under the hood of scientific software development! Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- What is the point of activists blocking roads or interrupting sports events? Clara Vandeweerdt shows that these kinds of protests are excellent at drawing attention to their cause. On the other hand, they slightly decrease support for the protesters' policy demands. Read the paper: rdcu.be/eJJrR
- Join us for a Data Discussion on October 10! 📅 Frederik Hjorth will open the session with a discussion on the political origins of critical social science, followed by Hjalmar Bang Carlsen, who will examine the reliability of AI interviewers. Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Greece has unusually many news outlets, but that does not mean its media landscape is diverse. Most websites cover the same broad topics--even more so when they take over news agency content, and when websites have the same owner. Read more in Yani Kartalis' paper: eprints.lse.ac.uk/129624/1/Gre...
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- In a new DR article (🇩🇰), Morten Axel Pedersen comments on the new "extreme sport" of going without your smartphone, on daydreaming, and on the meditativeness of manning a conveyor belt. Link: www.dr.dk/nyheder/kult...
- The first Data Discussion of the fall is happening this Friday! 📢
- Join us for the first Data Discussion of the fall on September 19! 📅 Berit Heling will present an exploration of the psychometrics of employer image attributes with LLMs, while August Lohse will discuss insights from 10 years of student exams and generative AI. Event 🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us for the first Data Discussion of the fall on September 19! 📅 Berit Heling will present an exploration of the psychometrics of employer image attributes with LLMs, while August Lohse will discuss insights from 10 years of student exams and generative AI. Event 🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
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- * Decoupling geographical constraints from human mobility * 🌍🚶 How much of our movement is about human choice and how much is constrained by geography and the spatial layout of locations? Our paper (out in Nature Human Behavior) gives you a practical way to tell: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Sofie Læbo Astrupgaard and Emilie Emilie Munch Gregersen wrote chapter 9, “Samarbejde i det kollektive feltarbejde”, in the 2nd edition of the book Antropologiske Projekter. They show how collective fieldwork benefits from a shared methodological infrastructure. samfundslitteratur.dk/bog/antropol...
- We warmly welcome @keltonminor.bsky.social as a new Associate Professor in Planetary Behavioral Data Science, in a joint position with the Psychology Dept. Kelton's research examines how individuals and populations adapt to rapid global changes in the atmosphere, biosphere, and cybersphere.
- Rare open-rank researcher job in environmental psychology, Copenhagen employment.ku.dk/all-vacancie...
- When it comes to ethnic discrimination, a story is worth a thousand data points. A new paper shows that one anecdote about a teen of Lebanese origin being turned down for a job 👦 is as powerful as a large audit study 📑 in convincing people that discrimination is real. doi.org/10.1017/S000...
- Last week, the SODAS gang went on a two-day retreat to sunny Hornbæk. After countless PechaKucha presentations, much swimming in the Baltic, and several worthy attempts at snatching the next Ig Nobel prize, we are ready for another academic year. 💪 See you in the classroom and the conference center!
- What happens when anthropologists turn their analytical gaze on their own archive—not through fieldwork, but through computational analysis? In a new article, @krisalbris.bsky.social and co. investigate the intellectual history of anthropology. Read more: rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
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- Hear Malene Hostrup Jensen explain her paper with SODAS colleagues on Danes' apparent addiction to passive screen time and their difficulty doing something about it. On Danish radio, listen from 39:04: www.dr.dk/lyd/p1/p1-mo...
- DR reporting today on a SODAS research paper, finding that Danes don't like how much time they spend scrolling on social media, but the vast majority don't do anything about it. Of 9500 respondents, only 30% have turned off notifications or deleted apps. www.dr.dk/nyheder/vide... (in 🇩🇰)
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- Congrats to Anna Helene Kvist Møller for receiving a Carlsberg internationalization grant! Her project investigates how subtle signs of taste in visual content become thresholds for algorithms to control the (in)visibility of users in different 🌎 and cultures. www.carlsbergfondet.dk/en/what-we-h...
- At this year’s Folkemøde, Morten Axel Pedersen was spontaneously invited to give a talk to a visiting group of German democracy advocates. During the talk, he shared his research outcomes on democracy festivals with the "German Democracy Gang."
- In a new paper, Sofie Læbo Astrupgaard and co. present “broad data ethnography”. They outline four principles for the analysis of e.g. field notes: compilability (a shared data structure), compatibility (similarity in data content), counting, and computability. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
- SODAS at Folkemødet 2025! DISTRACT researchers Morten Axel Pedersen, Emilie Munch Gregersen, Karoline Husbond Andersen and Magnus Nørtoft presented findings from studying the Danish People’s Meeting (Folkemødet) in 2021 and 2022 on the Research Stage at the People’s Meeting.
- New paper alert: Anna Helene Møller and co. published a guide for social scientists wanting to analyze images. They recommend pattern exploration with unsupervised learning; theory-driven image classification; then context-sensitive interpretation by researchers. journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
- In a new paper, @fghjorth.bsky.social shows that politicians, once in government, start using more complicated language. They likely have to talk about more technical, less ideological topics. Since voters prefer simplicity, this means governing is costly. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
- 🚨 New publication 🚨 : Happy to share that my paper, "Losing Touch: The Rhetorical Cost of Governing" is now forthcoming at @cpsjournal.bsky.social. Short 🧵 about the paper here 👇 1/10
- On June 13, DISTRACT researchers Morten Axel Pedersen, Emilie Munch Gregersen, Magnus Nørtoft, and Karoline Husbond Andersen will present at Folkemødet. Watch the presentation on June 13 at 10:00 on “Folkemødets Forskningsscene.” Read more 🔗 : sodas.ku.dk/projects/dis...
- Don't miss this exciting lecture on Friday!💡
- SODAS Lecture on May 30! 📅 In this lecture, Ioana Sendroiu will present an extended computational case study examining a billion-dollar advance market commitment designed to bootstrap innovation in carbon removal technologies 💻 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Do tough conditions lead to dark personalities? In a new study by Ingo Zettler, @laulilleholt.bsky.social and co, aversive societal conditions in a country (across corruption, violence etc.) were linked to people's Dark Factor of Personality scores 20y later. In PNAS: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- We are hiring! SODAS is seeking a motivated part-time administrative employee/project coordinator to join the center 🔍 The deadline for applications is 9 June 2025, 23:59. Read more and apply here 🔗 : employment.ku.dk/staff/?show=...
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- SODAS Lecture on May 30! 📅 In this lecture, Ioana Sendroiu will present an extended computational case study examining a billion-dollar advance market commitment designed to bootstrap innovation in carbon removal technologies 💻 Event🔗: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us this Friday for the final session of this spring’s Data Discussions! 💡
- Join us for a Data Discussion on May 23! 📅 Ting Xiao will discuss how the division of labor within research teams contributes to North–South disparities. Afterwards, Valdemar Osted will present on working with large-scale social media data in the private sector📊 Event: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- Join us for a Data Discussion on May 23! 📅 Ting Xiao will discuss how the division of labor within research teams contributes to North–South disparities. Afterwards, Valdemar Osted will present on working with large-scale social media data in the private sector📊 Event: sodas.ku.dk/events/sodas...
- On Monday, May 12, the EthNote team – Professor Morten Axel Pedersen, Emilie Munch Gregersen, and Magnus Nørtoft – presented a talk on computational anthropology and hosted a hands-on workshop with EthNote at @ucl.ac.uk! 💡
- In a new paper, Malene Hornstrup Jespersen, Kristoffer Albris, and Helene Willadsen investigate the interrelations of different digital use cases and provide insights from which relevant conceptualizations of ‘screen time’ can be made📱 Read the paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- This exciting lecture will take place on Friday!💡
