Posts

Blog: The True Origin of Stockholm Syndrome

I’m sure you’ve all heard of Stockholm Syndrome. It’s been used countless times in movies and TV series, rather comedically to exaggerate the phenomenon. It’s introduced to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors, with the underlying assumption that emotions can develop between captors and captives during intimate time together. Sounds wild, right? This syndrome is, however, not proven, nor is it part of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) as a formal diagnosis. And people have now raised concerns about the syndrome and how to de-influence it. But it’s still part of the curriculum and is widely known and used by the general population. So, I wanted to understand how it came about and why it’s so popular despite being wrong. And what I found was an extremely interesting story. To set the scene, it's August 23, 1973, in Stockholm. Jan-Erik Olsson, who’s a lifelong criminal, walked into the bank, pulled out a gun from...
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Reflections from IC2S2 2025

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I (Ethel Mensah) had the privilege of attending the 11th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2) in Norrköping Sweden, last month. I work got accepted for a poster presentation at the conference. It was a very insightful experience – not just interacting with other researchers but also learning from their work and pondering on what I could apply it to my own work.     From the tutorial session on Scalable Analysis of GPS Human Mobility Data with Applications to Socio-Spatial Inequality where they used mobile data, I was reminded of biases that result from the chosen method of analysis or from the data cleaning process. I also became aware of some libraries that could help with managing and processing large amounts of data and the concept of the of the levy flight model of travel (a type of random walk). Additionally, I was enlightened by the tutorial session on computational social science for sustainability in line with the United Nations sustainabili...
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Blog: “Am I Really Good Enough?” – My Journey with Imposter Syndrome as a Data Scientist

Have you ever delivered a successful project but felt like you just got lucky? Or worried that one tough question could expose you as a fraud? That’s Imposter Syndrome , and research shows 70% of high-achieving professionals experience it at some point (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). I ( Jhon Raza)  am one of them. Where It All Began My first big project as a Data Scientist was a customer-churn prediction model . It hit 0.87 AUC , and everyone celebrated. Me? I thought: “I just got lucky with the data split. If they ask me something deep about logistic regression, I’m done.” That wasn’t a one-time thing. After an internal hackathon, despite positive feedback, I told myself, “They’re being polite.” When asked to mentor a junior analyst, I thought, “Why me? I barely know enough myself.” Sound familiar? Why Imposter Syndrome Hits Hard in Tech Imposter feelings aren’t just “in your head.” They’re linked to personality traits like perfectionism and low self-efficacy (Neur...
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How to prepare for a successful parallel talk at IC2S2

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Not too long ago, I (Jianlong) played a wise man to someone stressed about an interview. Instead of wishing her luck, I conveyed my faith in her through my usual contrarianism: "No luck required—only preparation." The words came naturally as it had been my mantra this year. Consistent, calm, and predictably excellent—that's how I like to present myself to unsuspecting individuals I wish to impress. But when I found myself on a flight bound for Sweden , feeling not at all confident about what was to come, I knew I had to practice what I preached. I used every opportunity to prepare for the talk over the next two days. In the end, there was no stage fright; only confidence and eloquence. I was pleasantly surprised by how much in my element I felt in front of the audience. To assist fellow I2SC members in delivering successful talks at conferences—with or without luck—I have compiled the action guide below.  Step 0: Submit an extended abstract Short on time? Don't worry....
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Posters and Ducks: First time at IC2S2

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Last week, I (Brahmani) had the chance to attend the IC2S2 conference in Norrköping, Sweden. Being one of the biggest conferences in this field, with over 600 attendees, and seeing that this was my first time, I was extremely daunted and nervous before the conference. I never expected it to be as smooth sailing as it was. I had the chance to meet many professors, have fruitful discussions with fellow researchers and have fun! An added bonus was that I got to present a poster on our work looking into how Political Engagement changed after Elon Musk bought Twitter.  The poster session was great and I received amazing feedback and the occasional praise for using ‘Twitter’ instead of ‘X’. There were countless posters and parallel sessions that were very informative. I came out with so many new ideas and having made many connections. My personal favourite was the keynote by Sarah Williams from the Civic Data Design Lab at MIT. Her work was overwhelming, inspiring and just awesome. ...
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Design Thinking for Research: Borrowing Human-Centered Principles to Enhance Your Pipeline

In both research and design, curiosity drives us. Researchers seek to understand phenomena, build theories, and create knowledge. Designers craft experiences, products, and solutions that resonate with the need of people in different contexts. Though these domains have distinct goals and methods, there is a point where design thinking principles can support the research process, particularly I am thinking of applications where some of our research ideas are validated.  By borrowing tools like empathy mapping, rapid prototyping, and iterative testing, researchers can make their work more grounded, relevant, and impactful. Why Combine Design Thinking with Research? In both research and design, curiosity drives us. Researchers seek to understand phenomena, build theories, and create knowledge. Designers craft experiences, products, and solutions that resonate with the need of people in different contexts. Though these domains have distinct goals and methods, there is a point where...
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Double Delight in Geneva: AI for Social Good + Crisis Computing Workshop

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From July 8–11, 2025, I (Theophilus Aidoo) had the privilege of attending two significant events in one trip: the AI for Social Good Global Summit and the Crisis Computing Workshop, both held in the beautiful city of Geneva. It was an inspiring and intellectually rich experience that brought together practitioners and researchers using AI to address societal challenges.  At the AI for Social Good Summit, I was particularly impressed by the variety of applications showcased from agriculture and disaster response to robotics. One session that stood out for me was the Human-Centered AI for Disaster Management session. There, I learned how researchers are leveraging large language models (LLMs) to assist in the analysis and interpretation of satellite imagery. This approach not only improves the efficiency of remote assessments but also enables more human-readable and accessible communication of technical results.  A quote that stayed with me from that session was:  “Data mus...
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