Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2023
This paper aims to improve the transparency of agent-based social simulation (ABSS) models and ma... more This paper aims to improve the transparency of agent-based social simulation (ABSS) models and make it easier for various actors engaging with these models to make sense of them. It studies what ABSS is and juxtaposes its basic conceptual elements with insights from the agency/structure debate in social theory to propose a framework that captures the 'conceptual anatomy' of ABSS models in a simple and intuitive way. The five elements of the framework are: agency, social structure, environment, actions and interactions, and temporality. The paper also examines what is meant by the transparency or opacity of ABSS in the rapidly growing literature on the epistemology of computer simulations. It deconstructs the methodological criticism that ABSS models are black boxes by identifying multiple categories of transparency/opacity. It argues that neither opacity nor transparency is intrinsic to ABSS. Instead, they are dependent on research habitus-practices that are developed in a research field that are shaped by structure of the field and available resources. It discusses the ways in which thinking about the conceptual anatomy of ABSS can improve its transparency.
The result of recent research (Snyder, 2013 - PhD thesis) on construction materials and workforce... more The result of recent research (Snyder, 2013 - PhD thesis) on construction materials and workforce has shown that the Water Supply of Constantinople was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in the ancient world, requiring as much stone as the Great Pyramid of Giza and five times more manpower than of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. However, with lacking archaeological and textual evidence, many vital questions remain about macro--level outcomes of this massive undertaking and the organisation of the labourers involved. This project provides the unique opportunity to explore one of the most under--appreciated aspects of modern classical scholarship: the spectrum of large--scale construction from the role of the individual to the function of the empire in the late antiquity
Review of:Gintis, Herbert (2016) Individuality and Entanglement: The Moral and Material Bases of ... more Review of:Gintis, Herbert (2016) Individuality and Entanglement: The Moral and Material Bases of Social Life. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ
This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reali... more This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reality. The research design integrates grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and social simulation and is therefore called grounded simulation (GS). GS starts with in-depth investigations of complex social phenomena from perspectives of people who experience them. These investigations follow principles of grounded theory and enquire into contexts that research participants describe and the way they make sense of action in these contexts. Data analysis progresses inductively and outwards, from narratives of people who are at the centre of the phenomena to emerging constructs and theories. While the grounded theory fieldwork would have its own research outputs, its selected findings can be then carried to agent-based models for further investigation of social complexity. By representing social and economic agents, their contexts and actions as closely as possible, GS shortens the distance...
PurposeThis paper aims to study the evolution of definitions of internet of things (IoT) through ... more PurposeThis paper aims to study the evolution of definitions of internet of things (IoT) through time, critically assess the knowledge these definitions contain and facilitate sensemaking by providing those unfamiliar with IoT with a theoretical definition and an extended framework.Design/methodology/approach164 articles published between 2005 and 2019 are collected using snowball sampling. Further, 100 unique definitions are identified in the sample. Definitions are examined using content analysis and applying a theoretical framework of five knowledge dimensions.FindingsIn declarative/relational dimensions of knowledge, increasing levels of agreement are observed in the sample. Sources of tautological reasoning are identified. In conditional and causal dimensions, definitions of IoT remain underdeveloped. In the former, potential limitations of IoT related to resource scarcity, privacy and security are overlooked. In the latter, three main loci of agreement are identified.Research ...
Review of:Padgett, John F. and Powell, Walter W. (2012) The Emergence of Organizations and Market... more Review of:Padgett, John F. and Powell, Walter W. (2012) The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ
Despite revolutionary expectations about information and communication technologies (ICT), the ac... more Despite revolutionary expectations about information and communication technologies (ICT), the academic understanding of what exactly these technologies bring to individual lives remains incomplete. We know very little about how individuals perceive the value of ICT products, and even less about the process by which these value perspectives are built. This paper contributes to addressing these gaps. It presents an empirical study comparing the perceived use-value of personal computers and mobile phones. The findings show that the day-to-day value of innovations is deeply embedded in the existing and newly emerging social contexts. Thus, societal transformations, such as becoming an information society, cannot be reduced to matters of technological possibilities. The paper also builds a construct for the sense-making process that clarifies that compared to mobile phones, computers are more difficult to position in mind, purchase and use, require more support from social contacts and ...
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 2023
This paper aims to improve the transparency of agent-based social simulation (ABSS) models and ma... more This paper aims to improve the transparency of agent-based social simulation (ABSS) models and make it easier for various actors engaging with these models to make sense of them. It studies what ABSS is and juxtaposes its basic conceptual elements with insights from the agency/structure debate in social theory to propose a framework that captures the 'conceptual anatomy' of ABSS models in a simple and intuitive way. The five elements of the framework are: agency, social structure, environment, actions and interactions, and temporality. The paper also examines what is meant by the transparency or opacity of ABSS in the rapidly growing literature on the epistemology of computer simulations. It deconstructs the methodological criticism that ABSS models are black boxes by identifying multiple categories of transparency/opacity. It argues that neither opacity nor transparency is intrinsic to ABSS. Instead, they are dependent on research habitus-practices that are developed in a research field that are shaped by structure of the field and available resources. It discusses the ways in which thinking about the conceptual anatomy of ABSS can improve its transparency.
The result of recent research (Snyder, 2013 - PhD thesis) on construction materials and workforce... more The result of recent research (Snyder, 2013 - PhD thesis) on construction materials and workforce has shown that the Water Supply of Constantinople was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in the ancient world, requiring as much stone as the Great Pyramid of Giza and five times more manpower than of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. However, with lacking archaeological and textual evidence, many vital questions remain about macro--level outcomes of this massive undertaking and the organisation of the labourers involved. This project provides the unique opportunity to explore one of the most under--appreciated aspects of modern classical scholarship: the spectrum of large--scale construction from the role of the individual to the function of the empire in the late antiquity
Review of:Gintis, Herbert (2016) Individuality and Entanglement: The Moral and Material Bases of ... more Review of:Gintis, Herbert (2016) Individuality and Entanglement: The Moral and Material Bases of Social Life. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ
This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reali... more This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reality. The research design integrates grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and social simulation and is therefore called grounded simulation (GS). GS starts with in-depth investigations of complex social phenomena from perspectives of people who experience them. These investigations follow principles of grounded theory and enquire into contexts that research participants describe and the way they make sense of action in these contexts. Data analysis progresses inductively and outwards, from narratives of people who are at the centre of the phenomena to emerging constructs and theories. While the grounded theory fieldwork would have its own research outputs, its selected findings can be then carried to agent-based models for further investigation of social complexity. By representing social and economic agents, their contexts and actions as closely as possible, GS shortens the distance...
PurposeThis paper aims to study the evolution of definitions of internet of things (IoT) through ... more PurposeThis paper aims to study the evolution of definitions of internet of things (IoT) through time, critically assess the knowledge these definitions contain and facilitate sensemaking by providing those unfamiliar with IoT with a theoretical definition and an extended framework.Design/methodology/approach164 articles published between 2005 and 2019 are collected using snowball sampling. Further, 100 unique definitions are identified in the sample. Definitions are examined using content analysis and applying a theoretical framework of five knowledge dimensions.FindingsIn declarative/relational dimensions of knowledge, increasing levels of agreement are observed in the sample. Sources of tautological reasoning are identified. In conditional and causal dimensions, definitions of IoT remain underdeveloped. In the former, potential limitations of IoT related to resource scarcity, privacy and security are overlooked. In the latter, three main loci of agreement are identified.Research ...
Review of:Padgett, John F. and Powell, Walter W. (2012) The Emergence of Organizations and Market... more Review of:Padgett, John F. and Powell, Walter W. (2012) The Emergence of Organizations and Markets. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ
Despite revolutionary expectations about information and communication technologies (ICT), the ac... more Despite revolutionary expectations about information and communication technologies (ICT), the academic understanding of what exactly these technologies bring to individual lives remains incomplete. We know very little about how individuals perceive the value of ICT products, and even less about the process by which these value perspectives are built. This paper contributes to addressing these gaps. It presents an empirical study comparing the perceived use-value of personal computers and mobile phones. The findings show that the day-to-day value of innovations is deeply embedded in the existing and newly emerging social contexts. Thus, societal transformations, such as becoming an information society, cannot be reduced to matters of technological possibilities. The paper also builds a construct for the sense-making process that clarifies that compared to mobile phones, computers are more difficult to position in mind, purchase and use, require more support from social contacts and ...
Agent-based computational economics (ACE) has been used for tackling major research questions in ... more Agent-based computational economics (ACE) has been used for tackling major research questions in macroeconomics for at least two decades. This growing field positions itself as an alternative to dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. In this paper we first review the arguments raised against DSGE in the ACE literature. We then review existing ACE models, and their empirical performance. We then turn to a literature on behavioural New Keynesian models that attempts to synthesise these two approaches to macroeconomic modelling by incorporating some of the insights of ACE into DSGE modelling. We highlight the individually rational New Keynesian model following Deak et al. (2015) and discuss how this line of research can progress.
Uploads
Papers by Ozge Dilaver