Universität Wien

180096 KU Big Data in Science (2022S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
REMOTE

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

All course units will be held via Zoom.

Thursday 10.03. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 17.03. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 24.03. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 31.03. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 07.04. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 28.04. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 05.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 12.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 19.05. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 02.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 09.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 23.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital
Thursday 30.06. 18:30 - 20:00 Digital

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Big Data has become ubiquitous in science, society, and politics, and has already changed the organization of science. Before the appearance of Big Data, the data has been produced in a more target directed way, e.g. in experimental settings. Such regimented data production appears to have changed with data producing technologies, such as the omic-technologies in the life sciences, which has led to the appearance of novel research areas, such as genomics, epigenomics, and proteomics. The huge amounts of data produced in those fields, become stored in databases, and shared among the community of researchers. Such data can ‘travel’ into different research contexts, becoming employed to study of diverse research questions. In recent years some philosophers of science have asked whether science is experiencing profound changes as a result of becoming data centric.

This course addresses the notion of Big Data, the importance on algorithms and visualization for data-centric practices, and the impact of Big Data on scientific knowledge.

Assessment and permitted materials

- careful reading and active discussion of the literature
- questions in the Moodle platform
- active discussion in the Moodle platform
- (co-)chairing group discussion in the class
- a group project

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria:

- active participation (30%),
- questions and online discussion of readings (30%),
- (co-)chairing a class (10%),
- a group project (30%).

All aforementioned components of the course have to be fulfilled for the successful completion of the grade.

One unexcused absence is permitted.

Grading table
1 – (excellent) 90 – 100 points
2 – (good) 81 – 89 points
3 – (satisfactory) 71 – 80 points
4 – (sufficient) 61 – 70 points
5 – (insufficient) 0 – 60 points

Examination topics

The course does not have a final essay or an examination (see minimum requirements)

Reading list

Bechtel, William. 2020. “Data Journeys beyond Databases in Systems Biology: Cytoscape and NDEx.” In Data Journeys in the Sciences, 121–43. Springer, Cham.

Kitchin, Rob. 2021. The Data Revolution: A Critical Analysis of Big Data, Open Data and Data Infrastructures. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications Ltd. (selected parts)

Klingenstein, Sara, Tim Hitchcock, and Simon DeDeo. 2014. “The Civilizing Process in London’s Old Bailey.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111 (26): 9419–24. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1405984111.

Leonelli, Sabina. 2016. Data-Centric Biology: A Philosophical Study. University of Chicago Press. (selected parts)

———. 2021. “Data Science in Times of Pan(Dem)Ic.” Harvard Data Science Review, January. https://doi.org/10.1162/99608f92.fbb1bdd6.

Lin, Chujun, and Mark Allen Thornton. 2021. “Fooled by Beautiful Data: Visualization Aesthetics Bias Trust in Science, News, and Social Media.” PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/dnr9s.

Shen-Orr, Shai S., Ron Milo, Shmoolik Mangan, and Uri Alon. 2002. “Network Motifs in the Transcriptional Regulation Network of Escherichia Coli.” Nature Genetics 31 (1): 64–68. https://doi.org/10.1038/ng881.

Stark, David C., and Noortje Marres. 2020. “Put to the Test: For a New Sociology of Testing” 71 (3): 423–43. https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-kkcr-7s54.

Waller, Isaac, and Ashton Anderson. 2021. “Quantifying Social Organization and Political Polarization in Online Platforms.” Nature 600 (7888): 264–68. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04167-x.

Wills, Melissa. 2017. “Are Clusters Races? A Discussion of the Rhetorical Appropriation of Rosenberg Et Al.’S ‘Genetic Structure of Human Populations.’” Philosophy, Theory, and Practice in Biology 9 (12). http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/ptb.6959004.0009.012.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Th 11.05.2023 11:27