Bit by Bit : Social Research in the Digital Age

Matthew J. Salganik
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

An innovative and accessible guide to doing social research in the digital age

In just the past several years, we have witnessed the birth and rapid spread of social media, mobile phones, and numerous other digital marvels. In addition to changing how we live, these tools enable us to collect and process data about human behavior on a scale never before imaginable, offering entirely new approaches to core questions about social behavior. Bit by Bit is the key to unlocking these powerful methods―a landmark book that will fundamentally change how the next generation of social scientists and data scientists explores the world around us.

Bit by Bit is the essential guide to mastering the key principles of doing social research in this fast-evolving digital age. In this comprehensive yet accessible book, Matthew Salganik explains how the digital revolution is transforming how social scientists observe behavior, ask questions, run experiments, and engage in mass collaborations. He provides a wealth of real-world examples throughout and also lays out a principles-based approach to handling ethical challenges.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

你該殺死那個胖子嗎? 為了多數人幸福而犧牲少數人權益是對的嗎? 我們今日該如何看待道德哲學的經典難題 (Would You Kill the Fat Man?)

大衛‧愛德蒙茲 (David Edmonds)
online access
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

榮獲美國專業與學術傑出哲學出版獎（The PROSE awards）

道德哲學是在我們的日常生活中最常遇見的哲學。小至欺騙撒謊、大至殺人放火，我們不斷用心中那把尺檢視自己與他人，但那把尺卻不會始終如一，甚至有時還會自我矛盾，這把尺究竟該長什麼樣子，正是道德哲學家苦心孤詣想找出來的。

大衛‧愛德蒙茲在本書中從一個倫理學中著名的思想實驗「電車難題」出發，不僅用饒富趣味的生動文字討論電車難題的源流以及種種變形，更介紹近十年來社會學、心理學、神經科學等對電車困境的熱情與解釋。因為這個看似極端的「一或五」情境，背後代表了生活中大大小小的道德選擇，愛德蒙茲用各種精彩的真實案例來挑戰我們的道德直覺，更試圖在許多哲學家絞盡腦汁想出的電車場景中，讓我們不禁反思這個大哉問：道德到底是什麼？我到底該怎麼做才是對的？

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Travelling to Infinity : My Life with Stephen

Jane Hawking
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind 
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

Professor Stephen Hawking is one of the most famous and remarkable scientists of our age and author of the scientific bestseller "A Brief History of Time", which sold over 25 million copies across the world and will be adapted as a children's book in the Autumn of next year. In this compelling memoir his first wife, Jane Hawking, relates the inside story of their extraordinary marriage. As Stephen's academic renown soared, his body was collapsing under the assaults of motor neurone disease, and Jane's candid account of trying to balance his 24-hour care with the needs of their growing family will be inspirational to anyone dealing with family illness. The inner-strength of the author, and the self-evident character and achievements of her husband, make for an incredible tale that is always presented with unflinching honesty; the author's candour is no less evident when the marriage finally ends in a high-profile meltdown, with Stephen leaving Jane for one of his nurses, while Jane goes on to marry an old family friend. In this exceptionally open, moving and often funny memoir, Jane Hawking confronts not only the acutely complicated and painful dilemmas of her first marriage, but also the faultlines exposed in a relationship by the pervasive effects of fame and wealth. The result is a book about optimism, love and change that will resonate with readers everywhere.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

Related Post:

時間簡史 : 從大爆炸到黑洞 (A Brief History of Time)

是設計，讓城市更快樂 : 找回以「人」為本的大街小巷，創造人與人的互動連結 (Happy City)

查爾斯‧蒙哥馬利 (Charles Montgomery)
online access from HyRead ebook
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

★ 蟬連亞馬遜都市發展∕都市經濟∕城市規劃排行榜

為何生活在都會裡心情會這麼煩躁？人口太稠密？錯！路邊的攤販太多？錯！因為現代城市的設計就不是要讓你過得好！

以下這些人應該要出來負責：
‧讓車子時速能超過40公里的車商
‧主張「車子最大」的道路規劃
‧建築蓋得超密，害陽光無法照到街道上的建商
‧硬把都市蓋成棋盤狀，結果沒留任何綠地給市民的政府
‧以為要「空間」就得搬去郊區的都市規劃師
‧因為財務危機，就把公車班次減少的公車處
‧把商場蓋在市郊，害你得浪費油開車大老遠去購物的零售商

這些設計讓我們以為生活要過得好，就得遠離都市、搬去郊區：於是我們的道路越蓋越筆直（撞死的行人也越來越多）、住宅區離市中心越來越遠（想購物？要上班？先開一小時車再說）、「路」變成車子走的而非人走的（去哪裡都得開車，所以我們越來越胖）、土地都蓋高樓大廈不見綠地（想去公園玩耍？對不起，你得開車去那個超遠的森林公園）、與鄰居完全沒有互動，不認識彼此。

長期投入城市規劃的得獎記者查爾斯‧蒙哥馬利，透過大量的追蹤訪談，結合環境心理學、行為經濟學等，將影響人快樂／不快樂的元素融合為一個個小故事以及妙味橫生的心理學研究，抽絲剝繭現代都市規劃的利弊，以及我們該如何追求更舒適的居所。他以巴黎、波哥大、紐約、溫哥華等地為例，指出快樂城市應該有充足的人口、完善的大眾運輸、車流量越低越好、道路以步行為主，而每個路口都要一片綠地，並有充足空間讓市民彼此交流。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)

Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Max Tegmark
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

New York Times Best Seller

How will Artificial Intelligence affect crime, war, justice, jobs, society and our very sense of being human? The rise of AI has the potential to transform our future more than any other technology—and there’s nobody better qualified or situated to explore that future than Max Tegmark, an MIT professor who’s helped mainstream research on how to keep AI beneficial.

How can we grow our prosperity through automation without leaving people lacking income or purpose? What career advice should we give today’s kids? How can we make future AI systems more robust, so that they do what we want without crashing, malfunctioning or getting hacked? Should we fear an arms race in lethal autonomous weapons? Will machines eventually outsmart us at all tasks, replacing humans on the job market and perhaps altogether? Will AI help life flourish like never before or give us more power than we can handle?

What sort of future do you want? This book empowers you to join what may be the most important conversation of our time. It doesn’t shy away from the full range of viewpoints or from the most controversial issues—from superintelligence to meaning, consciousness and the ultimate physical limits on life in the cosmos.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

大數據 : 「數位革命」之後, 「資料革命」登場 : 巨量資料掀起生活、工作和思考方式的全面革新 (Big Data)

麥爾荀伯格 (Viktor Mayer-Schonberger) 、庫基耶 (Kenneth Cukier)
check holdings in CityU LibraryFind
check resources on the same subject in CityU LibraryFind

汽車烤漆的顏色能告訴你，這輛二手車的故障率高低嗎？
市政府要怎樣清查，才能迅速找出有致命危險的人孔蓋？
從谷歌的搜尋字眼，怎麼預測流感疫情的蔓延？

要回答這些問題，關鍵就在於巨量資料（俗稱大數據）。
「巨量資料分析」是一門新興科技，能夠解讀和預測無數的現象，
包括預測機票的價格、好萊塢新片的票房、你家裡的青少年是否未婚懷孕！
也能協助診斷早產兒的健康情況，探查收入高低與幸福快樂的相關程度，
幫忙規劃快遞的送貨路線、電動車的充電站應該設置在哪裡，
還能用來發展自動導航的無人駕駛汽車、
以及「從駕駛人的臀部形態判斷是否為車主」的防盜系統，
也能夠快速進行多種語文的互譯……

兩位最頂尖的大數據專家，真正掌握到巨量資料思維的精髓，
在這本書裡，清晰曉暢的解釋了巨量資料是什麼，
它將如何改變我們的生活，對經濟、社會和科學會帶來什麼影響，
我們又能夠做些什麼，趕搭上這波新潮流，
同時也懂得保護自己，避免個人資料和隱私受到侵害。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)