CES Online Learning Tutorials
Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification
Welcome to the educational module Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification!
This online module introduces theory and methods to explain change in the diversity of cultural objects and ideas through time. The macroevolutionary approach presented in these tutorials is particularly useful for explaining cultural dynamics that occur over larger and longer frames of analysis, where observed phenomena cannot be easily traced to individual-level mechanisms, and/or individual-level data may be incomplete.
We designed the modules for two types of users: 1) those who are looking to apply these methods to their own datasets and 2) those who are more interested in the underlying statistical models and algorithms. We focus on providing intuitive explanations of our models in the main text, but please see the "Deep Dive" content for deeper technical details of the math and algorithms to learn more.
Most importantly, we want these tutorials to help foster a new perspective on methods useful for the macroevolutionary analysis of culture. If you have any additional questions or suggestions for these tutorials please feel free to contact the lead developers: Bernard Koch or Erik Gjesfjeld.
To access the tutorials: Click here or use the dropdown menu above under "Tutorials."
A webinar by Bernard Koch and Erik Gjesfjeld associated with this module is available in the DySoC/NIMBioS 2020 Webinar Series on Cultural Evolution: Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification.
Designers
- Bernard Koch (Sociology, UCLA, CES Member / Lead Designer)
- Erik Gjesfjeld (Archaeology, Cambridge, CES Member / Lead Designer)
- Michael Alfaro (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA)
- Jacob Foster (Sociology, UCLA)
- Daniele Silvestro (Biological & Environmental Sciences, Univ. of Gothenburg)
Sponsors
Modeling the Dynamics of Cultural Diversification is one of a series of online teaching modules sponsored by the Cultural Evolution Society and the Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity through the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation.
This project was supported by Grant #61105 from the John Templeton Foundation to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (PIs: S. Gavrilets and P. J. Richerson) with assistance from the Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity and the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The Cultural Evolution Society's Online Learning Tutorial Series is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. For designers' contact information, click here.