A Praxis of Influence: Framing the Observation and Measurement of Information Power
Chris Bronk, Jason Pittman, Carolyn Semmler

TL;DR
This paper develops an integrated framework combining politics, computing, and psychology to observe, measure, and analyze the influence of information in international relations and digital platforms, emphasizing impact beyond traditional metrics.
Contribution
It introduces a triadic analytical framework, mapping tactics to objectives and targets, and presents a McCumber-style cube for comprehensive influence analysis, advancing measurement methods.
Findings
Virality and denial of logic exploit fast cognition.
Conventional reach metrics understate impact.
Instrumentation should focus on belief change and decision effects.
Abstract
Information power is the capacity to convert data flows into durable shifts in attention, belief, and behavior. We argue that this power has migrated from broadcast persuasion to platform-ized, data-driven operations that fuse computational delivery with cognitive effects. In this context, we define and bound information power within international relations and the information environment while demonstrating why observing and measuring it demands an integrated lens that combines politics (goals and governance), computing (data movement and algorithmic delivery), and psychology (attention, affect, memory, and belief). The article contributes three elements: (1) a triadic analytical framework that specifies the minimum variables and instrumentation needed for study; (2) two crosswalks that map common objectives (persuade, disrupt, shape) and target classes (leaders, elites, publics) to…
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