Abstract
This article is dedicated to the sociological problem of what digital change means for science communication. Without giving definitive answers, at least relevant questions should be generated to explore the extent and depth of digitalisation as a sociotechnical process. One of the central effects of the digital shift is the emergence of large amounts of data. This fact still has to be taken into account in research on the digital transformation of science communication, which is still primarily concerned with the habits of use and presentation logics of journalistic versus social media. If the term science communication is broadened and also includes scholarly communication, the continuous generation of data becomes all the more obvious. Numerous scientific communication activities are constantly producing user-generated data whose empirical potential is far from exhausted. These data may provide insights into science communication processes that were previously not readily available to researchers. The application and further development of methods handling large amounts of data offer new possibilities for science communication research together with the opportunity to counter purely data-driven approaches by new competitors with a critical reflection.
