Artificial societies and agent-based social simulation Reading group
Agent-based social simulation (ABSS) is a branch of computational social science. By representing critical structures, relationships, and dynamic interactions between agents within artificial societies, circumstances and phenomena representing the antecedents and outcomes of realistic crises befalling a system or society (e.g., a pandemic or collapsing social insurance scheme) can be generated. Similarly, if realistic crises or phenomena within artificial societies and systems can be generated, so too can synthetic policies that either prevent those same events from arising or provide solutions to emerging or unfolding crises. Modelled policies can also be generated that optimise the performance of systems across potentially competing domains. Agent-based social simulation is a nascent but active field that demonstrates great potential in predicting, understanding and solving many problems facing contemporary society within complex socio-technical systems.
This monthly reading group will focus on both the science and art of designing, developing and then communicating agent-based social simulation models to both the modelling and wider community. Each month we will look at agent-based modelling platforms, problems, projects, and papers both new and old. Students and staff from right across the University with an interest in social simulation are invited to participate.
This group will be led by A/Prof Jason Thompson and with assitance from Dr Fjalar de Haan.
If you would like to receive information from this Reading Group directly, please sign up to the dedicated email group.
Agent-Based Social Simulation Modelling Reading Group
Upcoming Discussion Sessions and Readings
| Date | Readings | Presenter |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 15, 2023 | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Dec 20, 2023 | Coming soon | Coming soon |
Past Agent-Based Social Simulation Discussion Sessions and Readings
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October Session
Session 6: 2023.10.18
- P. Taillandier, B. Gaudou, A. Grignard, Q.-N. Huynh, N. Marilleau, P. Caillou, et al. (2019) Building, composing and experimenting complex spatial models with the GAMA platform. GeoInformatica Vol. 23 Pages 299-322
- G. Datseris, A. R. Vahdati and T. C. DuBois (2022) Agents. jl: a performant and feature-full agent-based modeling software of minimal code complexity. Simulation Pages 00375497211068820
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September Session
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August Session
Session 5: 2023.08.16:
- The practice and rhetoric of prediction - the case in agent-based modelling- Bruce Edmonds https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13645579.2022.2137921?src=recsys
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July Session
Session 4: 2023.07.19:
- Grimm, V., Berger, U., Bastiansen, F., Eliassen, S., Ginot, V., Giske, J., Goss-Custard, J., Grand, T., Heinz, S.K., Huse, G., Huth, A., Jepsen, J.U., Jørgensen, C., Mooij, W.M., Müller, B., Pe’er, G., Piou, C., Railsback, S.F., Robbins, A.M. and Robbins, M.M. (2006). A standard protocol for describing individual-based and agent-based models. Ecological Modelling, 198(1-2), pp.115–126.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.04.023 - Grimm, V., Berger, U., DeAngelis, D.L., Polhill, J.G., Giske, J. and Railsback, S.F. (2010). The ODD protocol: A review and first update. Ecological Modelling, [online] 221(23), pp.2760–2768.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2010.08.019
- Grimm, V., Berger, U., Bastiansen, F., Eliassen, S., Ginot, V., Giske, J., Goss-Custard, J., Grand, T., Heinz, S.K., Huse, G., Huth, A., Jepsen, J.U., Jørgensen, C., Mooij, W.M., Müller, B., Pe’er, G., Piou, C., Railsback, S.F., Robbins, A.M. and Robbins, M.M. (2006). A standard protocol for describing individual-based and agent-based models. Ecological Modelling, 198(1-2), pp.115–126.
- June Session
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May Session
Session 2: 2023.05.17:
- Izquierdo, L.R., Izquierdo, S.S., Galán, J.M., Santos, J.I., 2009. Techniques to understand computer simulations: Markov chain analysis. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 12, 6. https://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/12/1/6.html
- Young, H.P., 2006. Chapter 22 Social Dynamics: Theory and Applications, in: Tesfatsion, L., Judd, K.L. (Eds.), Handbook of Computational Economics. Elsevier, pp. 1081–1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1574-0021(05)02022-8
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April Session
Session 1: 2023.04.19:
- Joshua Epstein’s 2008 lecture to the Second World Congress on Social Simulation – “Why Model?” - https://www.jasss.org/11/4/12.html
- We then took a look at some of Epstein’s more prominent work from his book with Robert Axtell, ‘Generative Social Science’.