DMI Webinar "Quantifying the unquantifiable: NLP for measuring social phenomena"

"Quantifying the unquantifiable: NLP for measuring social phenomena"

12 April 2021, 12:30-13:30 CET

ABSTRACT: 

We are increasingly using computational text analysis to explore social science questions. A common and crucial step, then, is measuring social phenomena using computational methods. In this talk, I will explore what Natural Language Processing (NLP) has to offer for quantifying rich and complex social phenomena as well as potential risks. Finally, I will reflect on the recent shift to a greater focus on explanation, robustness and data in NLP, and how the goals and interests of the NLP community are now perhaps becoming better aligned with computational social science--making this a promising time to strengthen interdisciplinary connections.

SPEAKER: 

Dong Nguyen is an assistant professor at the department of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University (NL). Previously she was a research fellow at the Alan Turing Institute (UK). She holds a PhD from the University of Twente (NL) and a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University (USA). She is interested in developing NLP methods to explore social science questions. At Utrecht she leads the NLP and Society Lab.

The talks will be held online. If you would like to participate, please fill this form.

For more information, write to dmi@unibocconi.it.