This summer, I am teaching the Introduction to Computing for Complex Systems course at the ICPSR 2010 Program in Quantitative Methods. On the first day of class, I previously blogged about the course and thus if you are interested in additional details — feel free to consult the prior post.
For those interested in an introductory course that does not assume significant prior preparation, I did want to put up another post highlighting that all of course material (to date) is now freely available online. This includes course slides, model examples and assignments.
In this introductory course, I highlight several environments designed to explore the field of complex systems. These include Netlogo (agent based models and network models), Vensim (system dynamics / ecological modeling) and Pajek (empirical network analysis). Although, we do not work with more advanced languages within the course, those who need to conduct complex analysis are directed to alternatives such as R, Python, Java.
In the course slides, I offer a history of the science of complex systems and walk step-by-step through the process of model development and implementation. The slides and associated materials are designed to be a complete self-teaching environment where an individual who follows along carefully should be able to bring him or herself up to speed. More material will be added over the balance of the four-week session. So, please check back for more … including slides from our guest speakers!