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Title Simulating social complexity : a handbook / Bruce Edmonds, Ruth Meyer, editors
Published Berlin ; New York : Springer, ©2013

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Description 1 online resource
Series Understanding complex systems, 1860-0832
Springer complexity
Understanding complex systems.
Springer complexity.
Contents Part I. Introductory Material. Introduction to the Handbook / Bruce Edmonds, Ruth Meyer -- Historical Introduction / Klaus G. Troitzsch -- Types of Simulation / Paul Davidsson, Harko Verhagen
Part II. Methodology. Informal Approaches to Developing Simulation Models / Emma Norling, Bruce Edmonds, Ruth Meyer -- A Formal Approach to Building Compositional Agent-Based Simulations / Catholijn M. Jonker, Jan Treur -- Checking Simulations: Detecting and Avoiding Errors and Artefacts / José M. Galán [and others] -- Documenting Social Simulation Models: The ODD Protocol as a Standard / Volker Grimm, Gary Polhill, Julia Touza -- Validating Simulations / Nuno David -- Understanding Simulation Results / Andrew Evans, Alison Heppenstall, Mark Birkin -- Participatory Approaches / Olivier Barreteau [and others] -- Combining Mathematical and Simulation Approaches to Understand the Dynamics of Computer Models / Luis R. Izquierdo [and others] -- Interpreting and Understanding Simulations: The Philosophy of Social Simulation / R. Keith Sawyer
Part III. Mechanisms. Utility, Games, and Narratives / Guido Fioretti -- Social Constraint / Martin Neumann -- Reputation / Francesca Giardini, Rosaria Conte, Mario Paolucci -- Social Networks and Spatial Distribution / Frédéric Amblard, Walter Quattrociocchi -- Learning / Michael W. Macy, Stephen Benard, Andreas Flache -- Evolutionary Mechanisms / Edmund Chattoe-Brown, Bruce Edmonds
Part IV. Applications. Agent-Based Modelling and Simulation Applied to Environmental Management / Christophe Le Page [and others] -- Assessing Organisational Design / Virginia Dignum -- Distributed Computer Systems / David Hales -- Simulating Complexity of Animal Social Behaviour / Charlotte Hemelrijk -- Agent-Based Simulation as a Useful Tool for the Study of Markets / Juliette Rouchier -- Movement of People and Goods / Linda Ramstedt, Johanna Törnquist Krasemann, Paul Davidsson -- Modeling Power and Authority: An Emergentist View from Afghanistan / Armando Geller, Scott Moss -- Human Societies: Understanding Observed Social Phenomena / Bruce Edmonds [and others]
Summary Social systems are among the most complex known. This poses particular problems for those who wish to understand them. The complexity often makes analytic approaches infeasible and natural language approaches inadequate for relating intricate cause and effect. However, individual- and agent-based computational approaches hold out the possibility of new and deeper understanding of such systems. Simulating Social Complexity examines all aspects of using agent- or individual-based simulation. This approach represents systems as individual elements having each their own set of differing states and internal processes. The interactions between elements in the simulation represent interactions in the target systems. What makes these elements "social" is that they are usefully interpretable as interacting elements of an observed society. In this, the focus is on human society, but can be extended to include social animals or artificial agents where such work enhances our understanding of human society. The phenomena of interest then result (emerge) from the dynamics of the interaction of social actors in an essential way and are usually not easily simplifiable by, for example, considering only representative actors. The introduction of accessible agent-based modelling allows the representation of social complexity in a more natural and direct manner than previous techniques. In particular, it is no longer necessary to distort a model with the introduction of overly strong assumptions simply in order to obtain analytic tractability. This makes agent-based modelling relatively accessible to a range of scientists. The outcomes of such models can be displayed and animated in ways that also make them more interpretable by experts and stakeholders. This handbook is intended to help in the process of maturation of this new field. It brings together, through the collaborative effort of many leading researchers, summaries of the best thinking and practice in this area and constitutes a reference point for standards against which future methodological advances are judged. This book will help those entering into the field to avoid "reinventing the wheel" each time, but it will also help those already in the field by providing accessible overviews of current thought. The material is divided into four sections: Introductory, Methodology, Mechanisms, and Applications. Each chapter starts with a very brief section called 'Why read this chapter?' followed by an abstract, which summarizes the content of the chapter. Each chapter also ends with a section of 'Further Reading' briefly describing three to eight items that a newcomer might read next
Analysis Computer science
Electronic data processing
Social sciences -- Data processing
Mathematics
Social sciences
Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Statistical Physics, Dynamical Systems and Complexity
Behavioural Sciences
Game Theory, Economics, Social and Behav. Sciences
Notes Includes index
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Subject Social interaction -- Computer simulation
Social structure -- Computer simulation
Complexity (Philosophy)
Physique.
Astronomie.
Complexity (Philosophy)
Social interaction -- Computer simulation
Genre/Form handbooks.
Handbooks and manuals
Handbooks and manuals.
Guides et manuels.
Form Electronic book
Author Edmonds, Bruce.
Meyer, Ruth, 1966-
ISBN 9783540938132
3540938133
3540938125
9783540938125
9783540939481
3540939482
9783642436369
3642436366