Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 214, 325-346 (2012)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2012-01697-8

Regular Article

Manifesto of computational social science

¹ ISTC-CNR, Italy
² CRESS, University of Surrey, UK
³ Center for Social Complexity, George Mason University, USA
⁴ National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (IRSTEA), France
⁵ Institute of Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
⁶ Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
⁷ University College London, UK
⁸ CNRS, France
⁹ GISC, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain
¹⁰ Center for Complex Systems, University of Warsaw, Poland
¹¹ ICS, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
¹² IFISC (CSIC-UIB), Campus Universitat Illes Balears, 07071 Palma de Mallorca, Spain
¹³ ETH Zurich, Switzerland

^a e-mail: rosaria.conte@istc.cnr.it

Received: 1 August 2012
Revised: 9 October 2012
Published online: 5 December 2012

Abstract

The increasing integration of technology into our lives has created unprecedented volumes of data on society’s everyday behaviour. Such data opens up exciting new opportunities to work towards a quantitative understanding of our complex social systems, within the realms of a new discipline known as Computational Social Science. Against a background of financial crises, riots and international epidemics, the urgent need for a greater comprehension of the complexity of our interconnected global society and an ability to apply such insights in policy decisions is clear. This manifesto outlines the objectives of this new scientific direction, considering the challenges involved in it, and the extensive impact on science, technology and society that the success of this endeavour is likely to bring about.