Projects

Social Weather Service (SWS)

This SWS project is at its initial stage. It systematically implements global-scale high-performance infrastructure for data-intensive analysis of social dynamics. The project consists of three primary tasks: (a) structured development of an efficient SWS architecture utilizing diverse socio-historical data; (b) development and evaluation of advanced data quality enhancement strategies for continuously growing integrated socio-historical data repository; (c) implementation of the proposed solutions in a large-scale integrated framework using computational and data handling resources of scalable cloud infrastructure and Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center. The SWS data integration and analytical infrastructure will provide a novel way to integrate large, heterogeneous datasets comprising contemporary and historical information at multuiple scales into coherent analytical frameworks. The SWS predictive models and instability forecasting will offer unique insights into some of the most pressing problems facing modern societies.


Collaborative for Historical Information and Analysis (CHIA)

The goal of this project is to design a novel collaborative platform assembling historical data that brings substantial steps forward toward building infrastructure for a world-historical data resource. It integrated research by social scientists and information scientists through multi-institutional collaboration. We implemented a Col*Fusion infrastructure to collect, document, and analyze historical data to permit cross-disciplinary analysis of human society over time.


Seshat Global History Databank

The Seshat brings together the most current and comprehensive body of knowledge about human history in one place. It systematically collects what is currently known about the social and political organization of human societies and how civilizations have evolved over time.