SAGE Ocean launches to help advance big data research in the social sciences

The rise of vast data sets and the emergence of new technologies is changing social science research. To support researchers develop new computational social science skills and access and work with data at a scale previously unimaginable, SAGE Publishing has launched SAGE Ocean.

Alongside SAGE's existing publishing outputs of books, journals and online products, SAGE Ocean will provide new types of resources for social scientists to promote methodological innovations, as well as practical tools and products for a new era of social science research. SAGE Ocean will partner with leading academics across disciplines to help tell their stories and to cultivate new ideas, alongside encouraging new interdisciplinary collaborations through community engagement such as events and blogs.

SAGE Ocean will also offer investment and business support for commercial start-ups and later-stage companies that are focused on improving computational social research. Through its annual Concept Grants program, it will provide seed funding of up to $35,000 for early stage software ideas that support social researchers to work with big data and new technologies.

Introducing SAGE Ocean, Martha Sedgwick, Executive Director of Product Management at SAGE said:

“As technology changes the world around us, big data and computational methods offer social researchers the opportunity to ask, and help answer, fundamental questions about individuals and collectives, facilitating deeper examinations into complex societal issues and uncovering previously unknown truths about the world around us. Through SAGE Ocean, we hope to equip social researchers with the skills, tools and resources they need to work with big data and new technology to ultimately improve society and social outcomes.”

The SAGE Ocean initiative was officially launched at the first ever Social Science Foo Camp on 2-4 February 2018 held at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park, CA. Co-hosted by SAGE Publishing, O’Reilly Media and Facebook, Social Science Foo Camp gathered together around 250 of the world’s leading social scientists, technologists, businesspeople and policy makers with the aim to get ideas flowing across traditional boundaries of discipline and profession, and to help shape perspectives and priorities that propel us to a better future.

Ziyad Marar, President, Global Publishing, further commented:

“Fittingly launched at the first ever Social Science Foo Camp, SAGE Ocean is our response to the rise of big data and new technology in the social sciences. As the leading methods publisher, we believe computational techniques are an important part of the evolving social science landscape and we have set up this initiative to help researchers engage with this opportunity. It is important to us that we invest in innovation, so I’m proud that through SAGE Ocean we will be able to help usher in this new age of social research, continuing our mission to support researchers of the future to thrive.”

The first product from SAGE Ocean is SAGE Campus, a series of online data courses to equip social researchers with the skills they need to conduct big data research. To learn more about SAGE Ocean, read its blog and checkout the latest events visit:  ocean.sagepub.com.  

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Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 1,000 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. Our growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company’s continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. www.sagepublishing.co