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Understanding elections by the use of a mixed Webometric method:a case study of South Korea’s

2007 presidential election

Han Woo ParkYeungNam University, South KoreaYeon-Ok LeeRoyal Holloway, University of London, UK

AoIR annual conference16-18 Oct 2008, Copenhagen

Elections Online

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Background

• A liberal underdog Roh Moo-Hyun won the 2002 presidential election by 2.3% of the votes.– Ward, A. ‘Netizens’ wooed in S Korea poll.

Financial Times, 17 Dec 2002. – South Korea clicks for votes. CNN, 18 Dec 2002.– York, G. In South Korea, it’s the mouse that roars.

globeandmail.com, 30 Dec 2002.– Watts, J. World’s first internet president logs on.

The Guardian, 24 Feb 2003.

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Research Objectives

• To see whether a similar scenario would unfold in the 2007 election (and if not, why is that the case?)

• To ‘test out’ new research methods for exploring e-campaign practices

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Theoretical Framework

• Equalisation or normalisation?• Wider mobilisation or reinforcement?• Typology of campaign Websites:

informing, involving, connecting, mobilising (Kluver et al., 2007).

• The role of contextual factors in (the evolution of) e-campaigning.

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Methodology

• Webometrics– The respective sizes of the 20 official

Websites of the candidates/parties. – Frequency counts in search engine

indexes – Incoming links – Web traffic

• Co-link analysis: LexiURL • Qualitative complements

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Summary of findings

• Online attention also focused on major parties/candidates– cf. Moon GH, Huh KY

• Frequency counts, Web traffic: the (conservative) GNP > the liberals

• Incoming links, size of the site: the liberals & labour candidates > the GNP

Frequency counts (party)

Frequency counts (candidate)

cf. Freq. counts (minor candidate)

Incoming links (party)

Incoming links (candidate)

Website traffic

(Raw data from Internetmetrix.com)

Size of the site (party)(i.e. Number of Webpages including all subdomains)

Size of the site (candidate)

Summary of findings (2)

• Colink maps = indicative of the relative level of public awareness and the ideological orientation of candidates– cf. Single incoming links = symbolic

affiliation

Colink network (29 Nov)

Colink network (2 Dec)

Colink network (5 Dec)

Colink network (8 Dec)

Colink network (11 Dec)

Colink network (14 Dec)

Colink network (17 Dec)

Conclusion

• No significant effect of online campaigning: the offline atmosphere reproduced in cyberspace

• No e-campaign innovations• Contextual factors mattered

– The worsening economy– Legal frameworks– The ‘animosity’ towards the outgoing government– Political disenchantment of the newly eligible

Han Woo Park, PhDAssistant Professor Dept of Communication & InformationYeungNam University, South KoreaEmail: hanpark@ynu.ac.krhttp://www.hanpark.net

Yeon-Ok LeePhD ResearcherNew Political Communication UnitDept of Politics & International RelationsRoyal Holloway, University of LondonEmail: yenn.lee@rhul.ac.ukhttp://www.yawningtree.net

* Many thanks to the members of the New Media & Society Lab at YeungNam University for their help during data collection.