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Stewardship of global collective behavior
Bak-Coleman, Joseph B. Alfano, Mark Barfuss, Wolfram Bergstrom, Carl T. Centeno, Miguel A. Couzin, Iain D. Donges, Jonathan F. Galesic, Mirta Gersick, Andrew S. Jacquet, Jennifer
Bak-Coleman, Joseph B.
Alfano, Mark
Barfuss, Wolfram
Bergstrom, Carl T.
Centeno, Miguel A.
Couzin, Iain D.
Donges, Jonathan F.
Galesic, Mirta
Gersick, Andrew S.
Jacquet, Jennifer
Author
Abstract
Collective behavior provides a framework for understanding how the actions and properties of groups emerge from the way individuals generate and share information. In humans, information flows were initially shaped by natural selection yet are increasingly structured by emerging communication technologies. Our larger, more complex social networks now transfer high-fidelity information over vast distances at low cost. The digital age and the rise of social media have accelerated changes to our social systems, with poorly understood functional consequences. This gap in our knowledge represents a principal challenge to scientific progress, democracy, and actions to address global crises. We argue that the study of collective behavior must rise to a “crisis discipline” just as medicine, conservation, and climate science have, with a focus on providing actionable insight to policymakers and regulators for the stewardship of social systems.
Keywords
collective behavior, computational social science, social media, complex systems
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Book
Volume
118
Issue
27
Page Range
1-10
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND).