An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically. For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article: Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141. But I suspect there are even earlier sources. Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu crowston.syr.edu