Matthew Salganik
@msalganik.bsky.social
Professor of Sociology, Princeton, www.princeton.edu/~mjs3
Author of Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age, bitbybitbook.com
Author of Bit by Bit: Social Research in the Digital Age, bitbybitbook.com
Princeton-SMART is now live. A new research tool for studying smartphone usage. Webinar: Wed, Nov 5, 4pm EST mailchi.mp/44580536fe1f...
October 29, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Princeton-SMART is now live. A new research tool for studying smartphone usage. Webinar: Wed, Nov 5, 4pm EST mailchi.mp/44580536fe1f...
Univ of Rhode Island has an open rank faculty position in the Dept of Political Science to lead their new PhD program in Computational Social Science. jobs.uri.edu/postings/15597
August 27, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Univ of Rhode Island has an open rank faculty position in the Dept of Political Science to lead their new PhD program in Computational Social Science. jobs.uri.edu/postings/15597
I'll be giving a talk about my research Tues, Apr 22 at Princeton Center for Statistics & Machine Learning: "With enough data and the right algorithms is your future predictable? Some evidence from LLMs and complete population-scale data" More info: csml.princeton.edu/events/enoug...
April 21, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I'll be giving a talk about my research Tues, Apr 22 at Princeton Center for Statistics & Machine Learning: "With enough data and the right algorithms is your future predictable? Some evidence from LLMs and complete population-scale data" More info: csml.princeton.edu/events/enoug...
Opening at Columbia for a postdoc to "help build machine-learning models to understand the relationship between social conditions and entrepreneurship at the neighborhood level." apply.interfolio.com/162500
March 8, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Opening at Columbia for a postdoc to "help build machine-learning models to understand the relationship between social conditions and entrepreneurship at the neighborhood level." apply.interfolio.com/162500
Postdoc opportunities at the Knowledge Lab at U Chicago. Application review begins Jan 31. form.jotform.com/241295631499...
December 22, 2024 at 10:39 PM
Postdoc opportunities at the Knowledge Lab at U Chicago. Application review begins Jan 31. form.jotform.com/241295631499...
"Tooling Together: Advancing Research Through Collaborative Tool Development in the Information Environment" Share what you have, learn what is possible, and connect to a community. Jan 24 online. docs.google.com/forms/d/1gwT...
December 11, 2024 at 10:17 PM
"Tooling Together: Advancing Research Through Collaborative Tool Development in the Information Environment" Share what you have, learn what is possible, and connect to a community. Jan 24 online. docs.google.com/forms/d/1gwT...
ACLU seeks a full-time algorithmic justice fellow for a one year position. More info: www.aclu.org/careers/appl...
December 2, 2024 at 2:02 PM
ACLU seeks a full-time algorithmic justice fellow for a one year position. More info: www.aclu.org/careers/appl...
As part of a major new initiative in interdisciplinary data science, Princeton has an open rank faculty search. The Department of Sociology is participating. Application review begins Dec 1: puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
November 1, 2024 at 6:52 PM
As part of a major new initiative in interdisciplinary data science, Princeton has an open rank faculty search. The Department of Sociology is participating. Application review begins Dec 1: puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/app...
Faculty job openings at Cornell, Information Science. Open area open rank and a special focus on areas including computational social science approaches. Application review beings Nov 10. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/28405
September 23, 2024 at 11:28 PM
Faculty job openings at Cornell, Information Science. Open area open rank and a special focus on areas including computational social science approaches. Application review beings Nov 10. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/28405
Department of Sociology at Middlebury College invites applications for a tenure-track faculty at the Assistant or early Associate level. Focus on computational social science and data science. Review of applications begins October 18.
September 22, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Department of Sociology at Middlebury College invites applications for a tenure-track faculty at the Assistant or early Associate level. Focus on computational social science and data science. Review of applications begins October 18.
Update: Here's a thoughtful commentary on our paper about the origins of unpredictability by Mario Small: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
July 27, 2024 at 1:56 PM
Update: Here's a thoughtful commentary on our paper about the origins of unpredictability by Mario Small: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
The paper concludes with some conjectures about what happens to predictive accuracy as the amount of data goes to infinity.
June 20, 2024 at 9:44 PM
The paper concludes with some conjectures about what happens to predictive accuracy as the amount of data goes to infinity.
In our interviews we identified three main sources of irreducible error that we think apply to other tasks: 1) unmeasurable features 2) unmeasured features 3) imperfectly measured features.
June 20, 2024 at 9:42 PM
In our interviews we identified three main sources of irreducible error that we think apply to other tasks: 1) unmeasurable features 2) unmeasured features 3) imperfectly measured features.
Decomposing irreducible error & learning error is important. They have different causes & consequences. Learning error can be reduced by machine learning or domain expertise. Irreducible error is fixed by the task; it cannot be reduced even as the number of cases goes to infinity.
June 20, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Decomposing irreducible error & learning error is important. They have different causes & consequences. Learning error can be reduced by machine learning or domain expertise. Irreducible error is fixed by the task; it cannot be reduced even as the number of cases goes to infinity.
Next, we decompose prediction error into 2 mutually exclusive, exhaustive, and interpretable components: irreducible error and learning error.
June 20, 2024 at 9:41 PM
Next, we decompose prediction error into 2 mutually exclusive, exhaustive, and interpretable components: irreducible error and learning error.
First, we formally define life outcome prediction tasks. Given some data about a person’s past, how well can we predict a specific outcome about them in the future?
June 20, 2024 at 9:40 PM
First, we formally define life outcome prediction tasks. Given some data about a person’s past, how well can we predict a specific outcome about them in the future?
Our new paper explains why some life outcomes are hard to predict. We combined machine learning, a mathematical decomposition, and in-depth qualitative interviews to understand the origins of unpredictability: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
June 20, 2024 at 9:39 PM
Our new paper explains why some life outcomes are hard to predict. We combined machine learning, a mathematical decomposition, and in-depth qualitative interviews to understand the origins of unpredictability: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Postdoc opening: Massive Data Institute & McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown seek a postdoc for a project focusing on the prevalence and effects of generative AI on the 2024 US elections. More information apply.interfolio.com/143997
April 6, 2024 at 9:45 PM
Postdoc opening: Massive Data Institute & McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown seek a postdoc for a project focusing on the prevalence and effects of generative AI on the 2024 US elections. More information apply.interfolio.com/143997
Here are our policy recommendations to US Dept of Commerce (NTIA-240216-0052) on "Dual Use Foundation Artificial Intelligence Models with Widely Available Model Weights". Important AI governance challenge. Many potential benefits to science and society from more openness. www.ias.edu/sites/defaul...
March 28, 2024 at 4:19 PM
Here are our policy recommendations to US Dept of Commerce (NTIA-240216-0052) on "Dual Use Foundation Artificial Intelligence Models with Widely Available Model Weights". Important AI governance challenge. Many potential benefits to science and society from more openness. www.ias.edu/sites/defaul...
Call for nominations! Princeton AI Policy Precepts. Non-partisan program on concepts, opportunities & risks around AI. For policymakers from Congressional offices & Federal agencies in DC. Teachers are Arvind Narayanan, Mihir Kshirsagar & me. Nominate by 3/29 citp.princeton.edu/programs/pri...
March 16, 2024 at 9:52 PM
Call for nominations! Princeton AI Policy Precepts. Non-partisan program on concepts, opportunities & risks around AI. For policymakers from Congressional offices & Federal agencies in DC. Teachers are Arvind Narayanan, Mihir Kshirsagar & me. Nominate by 3/29 citp.princeton.edu/programs/pri...
Job alert: Opening for research assistant at the Future of Family and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). 2 year full time position at Princeton working with a great team on an important project. ffcws.princeton.edu/jobs
March 5, 2024 at 6:38 PM
Job alert: Opening for research assistant at the Future of Family and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS). 2 year full time position at Princeton working with a great team on an important project. ffcws.princeton.edu/jobs
Polarization Lab at Duke looking for postdoc. Will help design, execute & analyze field experiments on a platform created for scientific research on social media. Great chance to work with @chrisbail.bsky.social & colleagues. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/27242
February 27, 2024 at 4:43 PM
Polarization Lab at Duke looking for postdoc. Will help design, execute & analyze field experiments on a platform created for scientific research on social media. Great chance to work with @chrisbail.bsky.social & colleagues. academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/27242
You can participate in a new scientific mass collaboration. The aim of the challenge is to measure current predictability of fertility outcomes in the Netherlands to advance understanding of fertility. Apply by March 24 at preferdatachallenge.nl
February 25, 2024 at 10:08 PM
You can participate in a new scientific mass collaboration. The aim of the challenge is to measure current predictability of fertility outcomes in the Netherlands to advance understanding of fertility. Apply by March 24 at preferdatachallenge.nl
Molly Crockett's lab at Princeton is hiring a full time research assistant to start this summer or fall. Research will be focused on studying social cognition using computational methods. More info: www.crockettlab.org/research-spe...
February 23, 2024 at 2:48 PM
Molly Crockett's lab at Princeton is hiring a full time research assistant to start this summer or fall. Research will be focused on studying social cognition using computational methods. More info: www.crockettlab.org/research-spe...
Oxford Internet Institute has an opening for an associate professor of social data science. Apply by March 7. www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/vacan...
February 16, 2024 at 10:00 PM
Oxford Internet Institute has an opening for an associate professor of social data science. Apply by March 7. www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/vacan...