Big Data and Political Participation

Abstract

This Panel looks at how Big Data and related methodological and analytical practices can leverage our understanding of political mobilization and participation – from social movements to voting behaviours. While more traditional forms of collective action still exist, activists lean increasingly on web-based platforms and internet services that produce Big Data flows worldwide. Moreover, Big Data are increasingly considered a fundamental component of electoral campaigns, governmental and legislative dynamics as well as of the interactions between political leaders with their constituencies. To shed light on this complex context, the Panel hosts Papers that investigate to what extent Big Data are changing the way in which conventional and unconventional forms of political participation can be investigated from a broad array of methodological lenses, in different national contexts, transnationally or fluidly across the online/offline boundary.