New SIAM News Article on Responsible Modeling of Social Systems
We are excited to share a new article published in Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM) News titled “Modeling Social Systems: Transparency, Reproducibility, and Responsibility.”
The article emerged from discussions at a workshop on collective social phenomena hosted by the Banff International Research Station at Casa Matemática Oaxaca last summer. The workshop brought together mathematicians, engineers, statisticians, and computational social scientists to examine the challenges and responsibilities involved in modeling complex social systems.
In the piece, our interdisciplinary group outlines several guiding principles for responsible social system modeling, including:
Being explicit about modeling goals
Clearly communicating assumptions
Quantifying and communicating uncertainty
Sharing code and workflows when possible
Collaborating across disciplines and perspectives
Together, these principles aim to support greater transparency, reproducibility, and accountability in the use of models within socially sensitive contexts.
I am grateful to have contributed to these discussions and to collaborate with such a thoughtful and interdisciplinary group of researchers.
You can read the full article here: https://www.siam.org/publications/siam-news/articles/modeling-social-systems-transparency-reproducibility-and-responsibility/
Arturo García Bustos’ mural, “Oaxaca en la historia y en el mito,” was completed in 1980 in the Palacio de Gobierno in Oaxaca City, Mexico — a short walk from Casa Matemática Oaxaca. The mural portrays the region’s complex social history, from pre-Columbian civilizations through the present. Similarly, mathematical models distill some aspects of social systems while omitting others. Unlike art, however, models should make their exploratory, explanatory, or predictive aims clear and transparent. Photo courtesy of Nick Saum at www.nicksaum.com.
