New Media Technologies: Online Politics COM 300 Kathy E. Gill 9 May 2006

Agenda  Recap last week  Community and Online Politics  Discussion Leaders  Assignments  Lab: blog search continues

Recap  Online news: (mostly) repurposed electrons  Anatomy of a blog Blogroll Outbound links (attribution) Date-stamp, permalink RSS feed (which is what?)  Blogging impact on news Low cost of entry Can shape the news (social system impact)

Community Defined  Dyson: the unit in which people live, work and play Esther’s website, Release 1.0Release 1.0  Sardar: communities are shaped by a sense of belonging – to a place, common struggle, tradition, and history, in other words, it’s more than just having common interests

Example: Traditional  Geographic: neighborhood, city, county, state, nation  Issue: Non-Government Organizations (NGO)  Affiliative: church, book club, sewing circle, professional association …  Examples from your lives?

Example: Electronic  Electronic Information Exchange System (EIES), 1976  Bulletin Boards  Multi-User Dungeons/Domains (MUDDs)  Listserv, Online Forums, Blogosphere, Wikis  Examples from your lives?

Example: Political Communities  Political parties  Political interest organizations NRA v Sierra Club NRASierra Club  Political blogosphere DailyKos v RedState DailyKosRedState  Others? Has the internet influenced your perception of a specific political party or organization?

Characteristics  Self-selecting May be contingent May be transient  Questions: How important are personal ties, stability in political communities?  Can meaningful personal ties be developed without personal interaction? Explain.  How can we foster a stable community online when members can have multiple identities?

Types of Political Info  Government documents Tax forms Legislator contact Legislation, regulation  Party or issue-related 520 expansion, Sound Transit path  Campaign-related Primaries today in W.VA and NE  Other?

Candidate Info  Outlining positions – press, voters  Rebuttal statements  Bio  Getting elected, re-elected Raising $ Anything else?  Is any part of this mix served particularly well by Net technologies?

Political Info – Your Experience  Who has looked for political info online? Candidate? Issue? Other?  When political campaigns come around in our area, which medium is more likely to get your attention? Television? Picket signs? Street-side supporters? Newspapers? The internet? Why?  Which do you trust more? Why?

Candidate Communication  RSS makes it easy to read blogs/sources that support and reiterate your own opinions. How might this affect the ability of candidates to tap into the theoretical "reach" the internet opens up to them?  Do you think the internet will help to maintain or strengthen the relationship between the politician and the people, or will the internet increase the gap between the two? Explain your reasoning.

Types of action  Mobilizing action – MoveOn.orgMoveOn.org Write congressional letters Write letters-to-the-editor Organize protest  Raising money – Dean Campaign Google Ads  Anything else?

Connectivity - US  About 60% of all homes have computers  US – about half of all adults who are online at home connect via broadband – that’s about 1/3 of all adults  Implications? Do you think people who do not have internet access are at a disadvantage in terms of political knowledge? Are there many credible sources for news about local events/politics on the internet?

Discussion Leaders  Divide into groups – each leader will share site/info with two groups  Then we’ll regroup and continue larger discussion

For reflection …  Digital Divide: How will those who do not have a computer access political information? Who should be responsible?  Ethics: What do you think about Joe Trippi putting Cranston paraphernalia on Mondale buses in order to get Cranston tickets for Mondale supporters? Was the plan ethical? What might be an internet corollary?  Ethics: What are the real and potential negatives of internet technology in political campaigns?  Empowerment: In what ways does the internet contribute to your knowledge and understanding of political issues, and how could it serve you better?

Assignments  Friday – community exercise  Presentations on projects Th 25 May, Tu 30 May, Th 1 June  Third assignment – Fr 26 May  Final project, Tu 6 June NOTE: I will review drafts if submitted early. For W credit – drafts need to be submitted by Tu 23 May and final paper must incorporate feedback.

Lab  Revisit/continue Thursday’s blogosphere search  To find Seattle-area blogs: Explore seattleblogs.us (use blogrolls of entries – don’t review a site in this COM300 database!) and seattle.blogmob.org