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Digital Electioneering
21 October 2008
Kathy E. Gill
COM597
Tonight’s Goal
• Gain a perspective on how Internet campaigns are evolving by– Tracing the roots of the power shift– Discussing key, defining moments in online
campaigning
• Discuss the net effect of Internet campaigns on participation and cultural cohesion
Guest Speaker
• Mary McGlohon
• PhD Student at Carnegie Mellon
• Analysis of intersection of the Usenet group alt.politics and the political blogosphere
But First A Moment (or Two) of Levity
First …
• What Is Usenet?
• Anybody?
What Is Usenet?
• USENET is the one of the oldest worldwide systems of electronic discussion groups that is still operational – Originally designed in 1979 by two Duke
University students to connect with UNC– Each Usenet group has a unique name– No central server, no central system owner– More at Wikipedia
Social Network Goldmine
• Because it’s so large – and has been around so long – Usenet is the network scientist’s goldmine
Discussion Leaders
• Jody
• Maury
• Rubi
From Trent Lott To Obama Girl
• 2002: Trent Lott & Blogosphere• 2004:
– Swift Boat Vets; MoveOn.org; League of Conservation Voters
• $630,000 in civil penalties from FEC
– Dan Rather (& Blogosphere)– FactCheck.org– This Land (JibJab)– ActBlue
The 2008 Campaign - Federal
• Apple Ad(s)
• Ron Paul’s Nov5 campaign
• Obama Girl (barelypolitical.com)
• Opposition ads (non-aligned)
• YouTube Debates (primaries)
• Obama’s MySpace “space”
Web Data Offer New Slant on Traditional Horse Race
The 2008 Campaign - States
• Washington: Building Industry Association PAC; “YouChoose08”
• Kansas: Information Architect Sean Tevis and his campaign for the state house (WiredPen)
Small Group
• In groups of two, use the rubric developed in "Explaining The Adoption of Web Campaigning Practice" to analyze a 2008 campaign website such as Obama, McCain, Gregoire or Rossi. (You are not limited to these!)
Thinking About Our Essays
• Think about a report that you have recently read or written for work. What characteristics made the report useful? What characteristics interfered with its utility?
• We’ll brainstorm a list of best practices.
For Next Week’s Discussion
• We will not be meeting together on election evening (Tu 4 Nov). What do you suggest as appropriate alternative assignments that would require approximately four hours to complete?
• We’ll decide next week. Please post ideas as a comment on this blog post in the interim.
Tech Workshop: Wordpress
• Genre Conformance– Categories & tags
• Customization– Kill SnapPreview!– Suggested Sidebar: archives, categories,
“meta”