Crowdsourcing and "Using the Crowd" poses many interesting questions as both a social scientific and computational phenomenon. This by-application-only Mixer event on ‘Using the Crowd’ aims to catalyze dialogue and cooperation across many fields and disciplines at UMass Amherst, to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using the crowd.

Since the publication of Randall Collins's Interaction Ritual Chains, much interaction has moved from face-to-face to online settings. Join us for a reception and public lecture, as Paul DiMaggio draws on Bakhtin’s theory of speech genres to adapt key concepts from IRC theory to the online world. The Social Science Matters Future Series explores how we can live and thrive in a world where social and technological transformation must be considered simultaneously and inseparably.