Me
I lead the Helsinki Social Computing research group, where we combine social science theory and ideas with tools and approaches adapted from computer science research, such as prototyping, coding, user centric design and, machine learning. Our work focuses on two thematical areas.
Computational social science and data science
- investigating validity, reliability, and practices of computational social science
- integration of social science theory with computational social science methods
- using design research and human-computer interaction as research methods
Digital democracy
- novel technology-enhanced environments that support participation
- political power and digital systems, including critical algorithm studies
- deeper theoretical and methodological integration between political science and human-computer interaction research
Previously, I have also been interested in topics such as: supporting collocated interaction (public displays, backchannels). the interaction between traditional and new media, educational technology and social learning. I'm currently in the process of divesting my focus on these areas. However, I have published several papers on these topics.
I currently work at the Centre for Social Data Science, University of Helsinki. I teach in several areas focused on digitalisation, computers, and social science such as
- Coding Social Science, an introductory textbook for computational social science
- Summer Institutes in Computational Social Science (SICSS) at Helsinki
- The Political in Human-Computer Interaction
Academically, I have dual training in political science and computer science: I have a Bachelor and master’s degree in political science, and Bachelor and PhD in computer Science, as well as industry experience from Nokia Corporation, startups, and I currently consult Finnish software company Futurice regarding social computing and organisations.
I am a member of the Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence's interdisciplinary group of experts FCAI Society and visiting researcher at the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University I'm also the co-founder of Rajapinta, the Finnish association for social science and information technology research and still an active member of the association.
