[Air-L] Tools, Methods and Political Games in the Age of Musk

[Shulman, Stu]

This is the first paper I have written in 15 years. Anyone brave enough to
read it (it's a bit on the long side) feel free to send me some feedback.

"Tools, Methods and Political Games in the Age of Musk"
https://tinyurl.com/AgeOfMusk

As a reminder, we have launched TrustDefender.net, which is free for
research and teaching. If you need a specialized Twitter dataset from the
last 12 months, I can help you get it. I have done more than 1,000 hours of
free software training sessions for individuals, groups, and classes since
2010. Who wants to be next?

https://calendly.com/discovertext

The feedback I get, especially at the just completed conference "Decrypting
Digital Authoritarianism" hosted by the EUI is "why don't more people use
these free tools?" I have some hunches, but my best guess is that the
dominant definition of "data science" in social science means learning to
use spreadsheets, R & Python to crunch numbers and words within a framework
of hypothesis testing.

My probably unwanted, slightly "jet-lagged in an airport" advice is that
people stop saying the phrase "data science" as a stand-in for using
spreadsheets, R & Python. First, there is no science without data, so the
term data science is meaningless. Apologies to any professors of data
science on the list. Second, science is about the methods used to reach
defensible inferences. It is not about adopting specific programming
languages or certain techniques. Third, our web-based collaborative tools
utilizing a graphical user interface were developed after eight years of
NSF funding where building and using scientific instruments for basic and
applied scientific research was woven into the goals of our team. Finally,
if you have spent weeks or months to become an intermediate user of R &
Python, perhaps take 30-60 minutes to become an intermediate user of our
built, tested, reliable, and free platform, or a day or two to become an
expert. You can still use R & Python to extend and expand the options for
data manipulation, but you can also use built software that shortens the
time it takes to initiate and complete research.

Stu



-- 
Dr. Stuart W. Shulman
Founder and CEO, Texifter
Editor Emeritus, *Journal of Information Technology & Politics*