Information flows motivate key questions in the major social sciences. The movement of social activity to the Internet means that it is now possible to study information flows directly in a much more systematic fashion than before – data on many forms of social interaction is readily available in machine-readable format. This White Paper proposes a two-stage program to develop new tools in conjunction with pilot initiatives studying information flows, and then apply them more broadly. It then outlines how these methods and data might be applied to three major problems spanning different social sciences – collective cognition, frames and mobilization, and political polarization – and concludes by discussing the policy benefits of better analysis.
