Digital Humanities

Field Experiments in Corporations

January 28, 2025
Yue Lin
by Yue Lin. How do social science researchers conduct field experiments with private actors? Yue Lin provides a brief overview of the recent developments in political economy and management strategy, with a focus on filing field experiments within private corporations. Unlike conventional targets like individuals and government agencies, private companies are an emergent sweet spot for scholars to test for important theories, such as sustainability, censorship, and market behavior. After comparing the strengths and weaknesses of this powerful yet nascent method, Lin brainstorms some practical solutions to improve the success rate of field experimental studies. She aims to introduce a new methodological tool in a nascent research field and shed some light on improving experimental quality while adhering to ethical standards.

The Creation of Bad Students: AI Detection for Non-Native English Speakers

January 21, 2025
Valeria Ramírez Castañeda
by Valeria Ramírez Castañeda. This blog explores how AI detection tools in academia perpetuate surveillance and punishment, disproportionately penalizing non-native English speakers (NNES). It critiques the rigid, culturally biased notions of originality and intellectual property, highlighting how NNES rely on AI to navigate the dominance of English in academic settings. Current educational practices often label AI use as dishonest, ignoring its potential to reduce global inequities. The post argues for a shift from punitive measures to integrate AIs as a tool for inclusivity, fostering diverse perspectives. By embracing AI, academia can prioritize collaboration and creativity over control and discipline.

Digital Humanities Working Group (April 2025)

April 7, 2025, 1:00pm
The UC Berkeley Digital Humanities Working Group is a research community founded to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations in the digital humanities and cultural analytics. Our gatherings are participant driven and provide a place for sharing research ideas (including brainstorming new ideas and receiving feedback from others), learning about the intersection of computational methods and humanistic inquiry, and connecting with others working in this space at Berkeley.

Digital Humanities Working Group (March 2025)

March 3, 2025, 1:00pm
The UC Berkeley Digital Humanities Working Group is a research community founded to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations in the digital humanities and cultural analytics. Our gatherings are participant driven and provide a place for sharing research ideas (including brainstorming new ideas and receiving feedback from others), learning about the intersection of computational methods and humanistic inquiry, and connecting with others working in this space at Berkeley.

Digital Humanities Working Group (February 2025)

February 3, 2025, 1:00pm
The UC Berkeley Digital Humanities Working Group is a research community founded to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations in the digital humanities and cultural analytics. Our gatherings are participant driven and provide a place for sharing research ideas (including brainstorming new ideas and receiving feedback from others), learning about the intersection of computational methods and humanistic inquiry, and connecting with others working in this space at Berkeley.

MAXQDA Fundamentals Departmental (90m)

February 12, 2025, 3:45pm
This 90-minute introductory workshop will teach you MaxQDA from scratch with clear introductions, concise examples, and support documents. You will learn how to download and install the MaxQDA software, upload multiple forms of data then how to use manual and autocode features. We will review some of the additional analytic features including visual, memo and the Questions, Themes and Theories (QTT) tools. We will briefly touch on the MaxQDA Team cloud-based version. Instructors will share recommended resources.

Fritz_X_DargesBlue42… Who Are You?

January 14, 2025
Jonathan Pérez
by Jonathan Pérez. Reflecting on the complexities of the human experience is paramount to conducting research. Jonathan Pérez, through his exploration of a conspiracy subreddit, reflects on his experience trying to find the human behind the datum. Jonathan critiques the harmful effects of dehumanizing rhetoric and the researcher’s responsibility to navigate ethical implications. In doing so, he establishes three guiding rules to support researchers seeking to humanize their analysis: 1) a researcher must always find the story behind the data; 2) a researcher must protect themselves; 3) a researcher must still humanize participants (even those who perpetuate harmful narratives).

Navigating AI Tools in Open Source Contributions: A Guide to Authentic Development

December 17, 2024
Sahiba Chopra
by Sahiba Chopra. The rise of ChatGPT has transformed how developers approach their work - but it might be hurting your reputation in the open-source community. While AI can supercharge your productivity, knowing when not to use it is just as crucial as knowing how to use it effectively. This guide reveals the unspoken rules of AI usage in open source, helping you navigate the fine line between leveraging AI and maintaining authenticity. Learn when to embrace AI tools and when to rely on your own expertise, plus get practical tips for building trust in the open-source community.

Tom van Nuenen, Ph.D.

Data/Research Scientist, Senior Consultant, and Senior Instructor
D-Lab
Social Sciences
Digital Humanities

I work as a Lecturer, Data Scientist, and Senior Consultant at UC Berkeley's D-Lab. I lead the curriculum design for D-Lab’s data science workshop portfolio, as well as the Digital Humanities Summer Program at Berkeley.

Former research projects include a Research Associate position in the ‘Discovering and Attesting Digital Discrimination’ project at King’s College London (2019-2022) and a researcher-in-residence role for the UK’s National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction, and Adversarial Influence Online (2022). My research uses Natural Language Processing methods to...

MAXQDA Fundamentals

February 25, 2025, 3:00pm
This two-hour introductory workshop will teach you MaxQDA from scratch with clear introductions, concise examples, and support documents. You will learn how to download and install the MaxQDA software, upload multiple forms of data then how to use manual and autocode features. We will review some of the additional analytic features including visual, memo and the Questions, Themes and Theories (QTT) tools. We will briefly touch on the MaxQDA Team cloud-based version. Instructors will share recommended resources.