The following short courses run by the VOSON Lab in the ACSPRI Summer Program 2016 (https://www.acspri.org.au/summerprogram2016) may be of interest to this list. The early-bird discount close this coming Wednesday 18th November. *Big Data Analysis for Social Scientists * This course introduces you to the collection and analysis of socially-generated 'big data' using the R statistical software and Gephi network visualisation software. The focus is on programmatic approaches for collecting and analysing big data from social media and the WWW. The course will also provide an opportunity for you to learn how these data and techniques are already being used in social science research. The course involves the use of a R package (soon to be released publicly) for collecting data from Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram via free APIs, and constructing datasets ready for network and text analysis. 18-22 January, Canberra. Instructors: Tim Graham, Haris Memic. See: https://www.acspri.org.au/summerprogram2016 8-12 February, Melbourne. Instructor: Robert Ackland. See: https://www.acspri.org.au/summerprogram2016/big-data-analysis-social-scienti... *Social Media Analysis** *This course will provide students with an introduction to social media analysis in the context of social research. The course provides an introduction to both social network analysis and text analysis, and is designed for non-programmers. The course provides practical training in three software tools that can be used for social research using digital trace data: NodeXL (Excel template for collecting and analysing social media data), Gephi (for network visualisation), and VOSON (for hyperlink network construction and analysis). The course also provides a broad overview of online research methods, including an introduction to using Virtual Worlds (e.g. Second Life and Massively Multiplayer Online Games) and online experiments for social research. 1-5 February, Melbourne. Instructor: Robert Ackland. See: https://www.acspri.org.au/summerprogram2016/social-media-analysis -- Dr Robert Ackland Associate Professor, School of Sociology and ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods Leader, Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) Lab <http://voson.anu.edu.au> Australian National University