Introduction to themed issue on big data in communication

When I was selected to be the editor for the Review of Communication, the first themed issue I had in mind was one that addressed big data in communication. I had three main reasons for focusing on big data in communication. First, over the past 20 years, there have been numerous high-quality big data studies in communication. Many of these studies have predominantly fallen within the realms of mass communication, political communication, information and communication, and digital communication. However, increasingly, studies have started to employ big data within health communication, interpersonal communication, and other “communication” disciplines. Second, my interest in this topic stemmed from the same interest shared by Parks (2014), who in his special issue on big data in communication wanted to provide a benchmark for research innovation. In his special issue afterword, Parks discussed how much of the work being done on big data at the time might not stand the test of time but would guide future work. Thus, I wanted to provide an outlet for researchers to methodologically progress the field of big data in communication. The third reason was more personal in nature. I have been working closely with big data for the past six years. My university has a Master’s of Analytics program, and in my role as Head of School, I have worked closely with academics from the College of Science, and College of Business to mentor master’s students using big data to explore multiple interdisciplinary questions. I have been fortunate enough to even advise a few students on their master’s theses as they published their works. I had become a part of the Big Data Movement from a bureaucratic point of view and then a research point of view. In this themed issue, I wanted to see how communication scholars were employing big data. It is my hope that the articles in this themed issue represent the diversity of communication and big data, progress the field of big data in communication, and pique your own interest in this growing field of inquiry. So, what is big data? Big data refers to large, dynamic, and distinct volumes of data created by people, tools, and machines. In each of the articles within this themed issue, “big data” is conceptualized and operationalized differently. However, what each article has in common is that each article shows the diversity of how the communication