Big Data and Social Physics
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Course Details
Cost
FREE
Upcoming Schedule
- On demand
Course Provider
edX online courses
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by highly-regarded experts in the field. If you take a class on computer
science through Harvard, you may be tau...
Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the
University of California, Berkeley, are just some of the schools that you have
at your fingertips with edX. Through massive open online courses (MOOCs) from
the world's best universities, you can develop your knowledge in literature,
math, history, food and nutrition, and more. These online classes are taught
by highly-regarded experts in the field. If you take a class on computer
science through Harvard, you may be taught by David J. Malan, a senior
lecturer on computer science at Harvard University for the School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences. But there's not just one professor - you
have access to the entire teaching staff, allowing you to receive feedback on
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courses, constantly enhancing the student experience.
Provider Subject Specialization
Sciences & Technology
Business & Management
Course Description
Social physics is a big data science that models how networks of people behave and uses these network models to create actionable intelligence. It is a quantitative science that can accurately predict patterns of human behavior and guide how to influence those patterns to (for instance) increase decision making accuracy or productivity within an organization. Included in this course is a survey of methods for increasing communication quality within an organization, approaches to providing greater protection for personal privacy, and general strategies for increasing resistance to cyber attack.
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- 115 reviews
- 106 completed
7 years, 4 months ago
I'm not sure how there are already 20 reviews for this course when it wasn't
released until today, but I just finished going through the main lectures and
I have to say this course is very disappointing. I wasn't really sure what to
expect since the course had 1 week listed as the duration: it a short one-
sitting type of course that is just one of several installments the lecturer
is planning to offer. The main lecture content raises many interesting
concepts about big data and social physics but there is not enough content and
each section concludes with the professor referencing his book and telling you
to go read it to learn more even though the book is "not required." Basically,
you’re given a bunch of interesting ideas and visualizations to whet your
appetite and then the lectures fade to a picture of the book. I'm not sure
whether this course is really trying to teach students or masquerading as a
course while functioning as i...
I'm not sure how there are already 20 reviews for this course when it wasn't
released until today, but I just finished going through the main lectures and
I have to say this course is very disappointing. I wasn't really sure what to
expect since the course had 1 week listed as the duration: it a short one-
sitting type of course that is just one of several installments the lecturer
is planning to offer. The main lecture content raises many interesting
concepts about big data and social physics but there is not enough content and
each section concludes with the professor referencing his book and telling you
to go read it to learn more even though the book is "not required." Basically,
you’re given a bunch of interesting ideas and visualizations to whet your
appetite and then the lectures fade to a picture of the book. I'm not sure
whether this course is really trying to teach students or masquerading as a
course while functioning as infomercial for the book. It's too bad because it
is a fascinating topic and I feel that the lecturer could have made a good
course if he took the time to create a 6-8 week MOOC that covered all the
material in depth.
- 2 reviews
- 2 completed
5 years, 11 months ago
Very nice course. Alex Pentland rocks but in my opinion his ideas are at best if combined with theory U of Otto Scharmer and the way he understand Deep Data. In this framework, Big Data can make a great job for all of us. In Romania for example Yoga and meditation was interdicted in 1981 until 1990. Probably they are afraid that a small percent of divergent persons will be out of government control. Probably this science works in a proper way only in good hands. But the way we use it must be open.
student
1/10 starsCompleted
6 years, 11 months ago
Bad course. It is basically an extensive promotion for the author's book. I
doesn't build any skills for the learner; each unit has one intro video (quite
informative and fascinating, I must admit) and a few additional videos of
people talking about cool stuff which more or less relates to what the author
said in the previous section. It doesn't really take you anywhere. Don't get
me wrong, the SUBJECT of the course appears to be amazing, but the course
itself is very bad. If you're interested in social physics, I recommend you
buy the author's book and not waste your time on the course, as I will.
- 70 reviews
- 60 completed
7 years, 1 month ago
I audited the course and watched almost all the videos. This is not a real
course. Just an ad for the book. It is a shame for MIT university to present
this sort of material. However, the idea of this course is interesting and
worth watching.
- 91 reviews
- 66 completed
6 years, 8 months ago
This was the most absurdly assessed MOOC I've ever taken. It should really
just be called a small collection of YouTube videos that are a bit too self-
promoting rather than to be called a MOOC. The entire "class" is meant to be
done in 5 hours. This certainly does not reflect well on MIT. The material in
the brief videos can be illuminating or provocative, but this "course" is way
too shallow.
student
10/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 2 months ago
I think that this course is a very important one because it opens your mind
for the possibilities you can aquire by using big data and gives you a new
idea how a new kind of revolution is evolving comparable to the arriving of
the iron age in former steps of the human evolution. And by the way I liked
the book very much and bought the other one ("Honest Signals") as well.
student
1/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 4 months ago
While some interesting concepts were touched on, this "course" was a joke. It
seemed to be more of an advertisement for the presenter's book and didn't try
to teach anything. If you want a brief overview of the topic, this is the
course for you, but if you want to learn how to use big data find another
course.
- 1 review
- 1 completed
7 years, 4 months ago
I am extremely interested in social physics and have read several of Pentlands
papers, but MAS.S69x is not a course, it is one big advertisement for the his
book. I learned nothing since there was nothing to learn. I really wished they
would make a proper course on the subject.
- 29 reviews
- 28 completed
7 years, 4 months ago
This course is a scam, as well as most of its reviews here. The reviews were
written before the course started with the intention to publicize the course.
Please note all the five star reviews about how the course WILL be. Are pre-
reviews allowed here? The whole idea of the course is to sell a book and big-
data is a good way to catch customers. At least the Foreman grill could
actualy do something! A shame!
student
4/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 5 months ago
There are lots of warning about MOOC turning into freemium model in which a
course is used to advertise for a school or a book. But this course is even
below that. There are few videos in which the lecturer speaks at conferences,
and the rest are entrepreneurs talking about their ideas which are interesting
but nevertheless are another kind of advertisement.
- 1 review
- 1 completed
7 years, 5 months ago
I've just completed the course. I think that this course alone is not enough
to get better understanding about Social Physics and I will need to read the
book Social Physics by Alex Pentland. Because although it is stated as "not
required", Professor Alex Pentland is always speaking to read more in his book
in the course lecture videos.
student
10/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 5 months ago
hello, I am from Indonesia (I live in a small town and my internet connection
is not good), but I really want to be able to follow this course, because I am
very happy with the development of technology (IT) and want to be able to use
OOP- language. Saya pernah mengikuti 6.001x (beberapa kali... dan baru 1 kali
bisa menyelesaikan meskipun tidak 100%)
Student
9/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 4 months ago
I am not sure what people really expected to get out of this from the bad
reviews they posted other than to gain some insight of what is available. I
was left fulfilled but I have a drive to learn more about the subject and was
very intrigued on the subject matter it left me really wanting to research
more. Thanks for the well informed lectures and hope to get more in the
future.
- 1 review
- 1 completed
7 years, 4 months ago
I was a bit disappointed was this course and am surprised that it has a 4-star
average rating. While the subject matter is interesting, there was not any
how-to's or implementation details of the technologies or processes. It was
mostly an survey of the applications with various speakers talking about the
work they have done, each of those topics corresponding to some section or
another of the instructor's book. I agree with some of the other reviewers
saying that the course felt like an advertisement for the instructor's book,
which I'm sure that like myself, a lot of the students in this class must have
purchased. The book itself reads a lot like the instructor's self-
congratulatory rhetoric about his own accomplishments and how he has broken
new ground and charted the future of Social Physics.
student
6/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 5 months ago
Nice course, really interesting topics. The videos are presented in a good
manner. But no assignments and who ever marked yes in certificate section
receives a honor code certificate which is kind of not fair type. Here no
difference would be there between a person who had done this course really and
who did not. According to me if quizs and exams would have been there it would
have certainly been a course worth taking.
- 138 reviews
- 119 completed
7 years, 5 months ago
Well that was different!! I feel like I just walked out of a focus group and
watched some info-mercials. I do see that "social physics" is a very relevant
and interesting new field of study made possible by big data technologies and
that it has many potential applications. But that's about it. At least it
introduced me to the term "social physics".
student
10/10 starsCompleted
7 years, 5 months ago
I believe this will help me a lot in taking desitions about supply and demand,
I am an actvist and i need to understand where english teachers are more
likely to come from to mexico. I really liked the interoduction video.
