Towards transdisciplinary collaboration between computer and social scientists: Initial experiences and reflections

The aim of this chapter is to explore a collaboration between computer scientists (NS and DK), who take a primarily quantitative approach, and qualitative researchers in sociology (JB and FS) and international relations (VP and MP). This computational social science collaboration is taking place within a large project, the “Space for Sharing” study, which aims to investigate how online platforms support or hinder the sharing of empathy and trust among people in extreme and vulnerable circumstances. The collaboration between JB, FS, DK, and NS is discussed in the section “Digital Outreach and Emotional Distress,” and the collaboration between MP, VP, DK, and NS is discussed in the section “Trust and Empathy Online during Disasters and Humanitarian Crises.” Although the two collaborations are reasonably independent of each other, there are fundamental commonalities that we hope will provide some food for thought on the nature of interactions between computer and social scientists.