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”