Description
46% of internet users say that using cmc allows them to get a better understanding of politics,25% say that using the internet gives them more political power and 20% say that using the internet gives them more input in to politics
Political Communication
In CMC
Luke Iddon
Tom Kidman
Aazim Javed
Alexander Katzmaier
Manuel Janka
Agenda
? Advantages and History of Politics
? Media’s of CMC
? E-Democracy
? Digital Divide
? Internet Activism & Hacktivism
? Terrorism and the Internet
? Questions???
Politics and their history
? 46% of internet users say that using cmc allows them to get a better
understanding of politics,25% say that using the internet gives them
more political power and 20% say that using the internet gives them
more input in to politics
? Mr Blair has also engaged in a series of "online" events such as pod
casts, e-interviews and the like in an attempt to engage more
directly with voters without the media getting in the way.
? “The Internet fits within an overarching historical change that has
occurred since the early 1970s when we first witnessed the marriage
between politics and all sorts of media. Politics has increasing
become a media-manipulation game”
Advantages
? Easy communication between parties
? Wide range of communication
? Online communities can be targeted for political needs
? Allows a broad range of computer-mediated formats (i.e.,
instant messages, e-mails, chat rooms)
? Allows voters to view information about polictal parties
? 1/3 of Americans user cmc to find out about political
news on the internet and pose questions to candidates
? giving a voice to numerous groups and individuals that
other wise wouldn't have access to any media
? Gives interactivity to political parties
Advantages Cont..
? Access to political information (Hansards, press releases,
newspapers, speeches, party policies)
? alternative voices
? ways to organise political demonstrations
? ways to organise both at the grass roots level and
globally.
? Online petitions cans be created appealing directly to the
government to change laws
? Cheap and effective means for activists to communicate
both globally and locally
Cross Border Relations
? With conflicts going on around the world between
neighboring countries communication between the two
countries has become difficult for citizens of both sides,
but with cmc they can communicate between countries
using messages or message boards without having to
risk injury crossing borders.
? Since 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party came to
power, the government has maintained tight control over
the various forms and methods information is spread to
its people. In some cases, postings have even led to arrests.
Fu Lijun,37, an assistant professor at Xinxiang Medical College
in Henan, was arrested in October 1999 for posting an article in a
chat room detailing how Falungong could cure illness
Actions through politics
? Jody Williams used email and the internet to successfully start a campaign
against land mines in which 89 countries responded by banning land mines.
? At the start of the iraq war more than 1000 websites were shutdown by
cyber activists including military websites.
? The campaign for Howard dean of the united states used political power
and the internet to generate donations towards his campaign.
? Other presidential campaigns fought over the internet
? Bimber and Davis (2003)
? 2002 presidential election in South Korea
? In 2004 parties and candidates used the Internet to effectively mobilize
voters and to promote candidates' visions!
The features and why politics
use internet
? With the internet being an interactive medium it has become prominent in
political campaigns because it is an interactive medium it can engage
people and allow them to have a say where as other forms of media like TV
don’t allow this.
? In some ways, newer communication mediums (such as the Internet) may
be revitalising citizen participation in political discourse
? The internet gives every person that has it a voice whether they start a
website or a petition to change a law there is always a part which is
interactive and this can be good or bad as it is not just empowering for
progressive groups.
? Arguably this has altered democratic relationships between government and
citizens and between citizens themselves.
Medias of CMC
CMC described as…
“The use of a computer to create, address, route, distribute, or receive
messages sent from one individual to another, from a group to an
individual, from an individual to a group, or from one group to another
group” (Murphy,1994)
? The reason CMC is possible is because of the wide
range of different medias that can be used
? Looking at some different types of Political CMC, and
why they are appropriate
During the War…
? Only way soldiers could communicate with home
was by letter
? These letters were edited by higher powers, saying
that any information that could help the enemy was
taken out
? Actually “Censored” to keep people back at home in
the dark about the terrible conditions that soldiers
had to endure
? Soldiers had no alternative way of communicating
with home, so people back in England knew only
what the government wanted them to know
Nowadays…
? It would be almost impossible to censor something in this way, as everyone
can have their own say on things.
? On the BBC website, people are encouraged to leave their own comments
about the web stories, in particular if they are present in a certain country, or
at an event.
? This means that the views of everyone can be heard, all with different
perspectives
? Blogs like these are know as “Listservs”, and are used by many websites.
? These communication channels require people to participate in
communication interaction in order to reach a wide audience. Visitors or
readers need to create and facilitate a flow for interaction.
? Quicker responses, compared to those in traditional media, are crucial to
create meaningful flows of information
Medias for politics
? Mailing lists have been used to help keep people up to date on different
situations
? During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, MOVEON, an
Internet grass roots social activist organization, was used to keep
supporters up to date with what was happening, by regularly contacting the
people who registered to a mailing list - (www.moveon.org).
? This method proved to be a success, as it was seen to be personal, and
supporters felt that they were kept “in the loop”
? Personal home pages are a popular method of keeping people up to date
? May not be seen as affective as other CMC methods, as a website may only
be updated every few months
? Even though the documents on web sites can be updated frequently,
compared to old mass media, the presentation of these documents remains
at the authors control
Changes because of CMC
? Its not only computer based media that is affected by CMC.
? Traditional media sources are now using computer based methods to reach
a different audience
? Newspapers now use websites to show stories, which, as with the BBC
website, allow people to comment on and share their own views and ideas.
They also allow for the use of video’s and other types of multimedia that
aren't available in a Newspaper
? Radio shows can now be listened to online at a later date, as well as being
able to select a certain part of a radio show, so the audience is only
listening to the part that interests them
? Television is a very important political tool. It is believed that during the
Kennedy/Nixon election, Kennedy won, because he came over much better
on the screen that Nixon. Television now uses the internet to allow for
anytime viewing, so the audience can chose when they want to view it
PORTAL BOX
? Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet
? Center for Technology in Government
? Political Communication Resources
? Democracy Resource Lists
? DoWire - Democracies Online Newswire
? Africa political room
? Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community
? Samoa Chat - Politics Board
? Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe
? Essential Information Mailing Lists
? World Movement for Democracy
E-Democracy
E-democracy comprises the use of electronic communications
technologies such as the Internet in enhancing democratic processes
within a democratic republic.
One major obstacle to the success of e-democracy is that of citizen
identification. For secure elections and other secure citizen-to-government
transactions, citizens must have some form of identification that preserves
privacy and maybe also one which could be used in internet forums.
Another obstacle is that there are many vested interests that would be
harmed by a more direct democracy. Amongst these are politicians, media
moguls and some interests in big business and trade unions.
Digital Divide
digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital
and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It
includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the
imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital
citizen. The digital divide may be classified based on gender, income, and race
groups, and by locations.
The term global digital divide refers to differences in technology access between
countries or large regions of the world.
Digital divide worldwide
Canada: According to an Autumn 2007 Canadian Internet Use Survey, 73% of
Canadians aged 16 and older went online in the 12 months prior to the
survey, compared to 68% in 2005. In small towns and rural areas, only 65% of
residences accessed the Internet, compared to 76% in urban areas. The
digital divide still exists between the rich and the poor; 91% of people making
more than $91,000/year regularly used the Internet, compared to 47% of
people making less than $24,000. This gap has lowered slightly since 2005
China: China is the largest developing country in the world and therefore saw
their Internet population grow by 20% in 2006 However, just over 19% of
Chinese people have access to the Internet and the digital divide is growing
due to factors such as insufficient infrastructure and high online.
Digital Divide Worldwide Cont.
Europe: A European Union study from 2005 conducted in 14 European
countries and focused on the issue of digital divide found that within the
EU, the digital divide is primarily a matter of age and education. Among
the young or educated the proportion of computer or Internet users is
much higher than with the old or uneducated. The study found that the
presence of children in a household increases the chance of having a
computer or Internet access, and that small businesses are catching up
with larger enterprises when it comes to Internet access.
United States: According to a July 2008 Pew Internet & American Life
report, “55% of adult Americans have broadband Internet connections at
home, up from 47% who had high-speed access at home last year at this
time [2007]”. This increase of 8% compared to the previous year’s
increase of 5% suggests that the digital divide is decreasing. However,
the findings go on to show that low-income Americans’ broadband
connections decreased by 3%.
Internet activism
? Internet activism is the use of
communication technologies such as e-mail,
web sites, and podcasts for various forms of
activism to enable faster communications by
citizen movements and deliver a message to
a large audience
? Cyberactivists
? Internet is the key resource
Usage
? Fundraising
? E-petitions
? Lobbying
? Volunteering
? Community building
? Organizing
Example of early activism
? Lotus MarketPlace: Households (April 10,
1990)
? Software which contains name, address, and
spending habit information on 120 million
individual US citizens
? Mass e-mail compaign was started
? Over 30 thousand people contacted Lotus
? Lotus issued a press release stating that it had
cancelled MarketPlace
Hacktivism
? Hacktivism is "the nonviolent use of illegal or
legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of
political ends.”
? It includes:
defacements, redirects, denial-of-service attacks,
information theft, web site parodies, virtual sit-ins,
virtual sabotage and software development.
Criticism
? Internet activism
? Unequal access
? „cyberbalkanization“
? Hacktivism
? hacktivists are defacing government websites as
well as web sites of groups who oppose their
ideology
? DoS: attack on free speech
Terrorism
? Use of violence and threats to intimidate or
coerce people
? Often for political purposes
? Need media to show people what they did
Terrorism
? Internet ideal media
? easy access
? little regulation
? huge audiences spread throughout the world
? anonymity of communication
? fast flow of information
? inexpensive
? a multimedia environment
Terrorism
? Content of terrorist sites
? History of the organization
? History of activities
? Details from leaders, founders and heroes
? Information over their political and ideological aims
? Audiences
? Current and potential supporters
? International public opinion
? Enemy publics
Terrorism
? How terrorists use the Internet?
? Psychological Warfare
? Publicity and Propaganda
? Data Mining
? Fundraising
? Recruitment and Mobilization
? Networking
? Sharing Information
? Planning and Coordination
Al Qaeda
? Sunni Islamistic group
? Founded between 1988 and 1990
? Famous for assassination 11/9/2001
? Many web platforms, but most got disabled
? Speaker: Al Jazeera
? Founded as news channel
? Got famous through Osama Bin Laden
? Many different channels and different languages
? Many live streams
Bibliography
? The potential of computer mediated communication for political structuration
http://www.javnost-thepublic.org/media/datoteke/hacker-1-2004.pdf
(accessed 09/02/2009)
? The Internet and Political Communication
http://www.craigbellamy.net/2006/06/24/the-internet-and-political-
communication/(accessed 09/02/2009)
? You've Got Dissent!Chinese Dissident Use of the Internet and Beijing's
Counter-Strategies Michael Chase, James Mulvenon; Rand, 2002
? Emerson, J. (2005). An Introduction to Activism on the Internet.
http://www.backspace.com/action/ (accessed 09/02/2009)
? Arquilla, J. (2002). Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime,
and Militancy. RAND Corporation. Chapter Eight
Bibliography
? Delio, M. (2004) Hacktivism and How It Got Here.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2004/07/64193?currentPage=1
(accessed 09/02/2009)
? Weimann, G. (2004). How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet.
http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr116.pdf
? Knickmeyer, E. (2008). Al-Qaeda Web Forums Abruptly Taken Offline.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101703367_pf.html
? Official English Hompage of Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
? Osama Bin Laden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG7GDEDjQA4
Bibliography
? LEE, JENGHOON (2006) COMPUTER MEDIATED
COMMUNICATION AS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION :
INVESTIGATING THE AGENDA-SETTING FUNCTION
? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080726
234557AAICsPh
? Selnow, G W (1995)
http://www.cjconline.ca/index.php/journal/article/viewArti
cle/875/781
doc_956049460.ppt
46% of internet users say that using cmc allows them to get a better understanding of politics,25% say that using the internet gives them more political power and 20% say that using the internet gives them more input in to politics
Political Communication
In CMC
Luke Iddon
Tom Kidman
Aazim Javed
Alexander Katzmaier
Manuel Janka
Agenda
? Advantages and History of Politics
? Media’s of CMC
? E-Democracy
? Digital Divide
? Internet Activism & Hacktivism
? Terrorism and the Internet
? Questions???
Politics and their history
? 46% of internet users say that using cmc allows them to get a better
understanding of politics,25% say that using the internet gives them
more political power and 20% say that using the internet gives them
more input in to politics
? Mr Blair has also engaged in a series of "online" events such as pod
casts, e-interviews and the like in an attempt to engage more
directly with voters without the media getting in the way.
? “The Internet fits within an overarching historical change that has
occurred since the early 1970s when we first witnessed the marriage
between politics and all sorts of media. Politics has increasing
become a media-manipulation game”
Advantages
? Easy communication between parties
? Wide range of communication
? Online communities can be targeted for political needs
? Allows a broad range of computer-mediated formats (i.e.,
instant messages, e-mails, chat rooms)
? Allows voters to view information about polictal parties
? 1/3 of Americans user cmc to find out about political
news on the internet and pose questions to candidates
? giving a voice to numerous groups and individuals that
other wise wouldn't have access to any media
? Gives interactivity to political parties
Advantages Cont..
? Access to political information (Hansards, press releases,
newspapers, speeches, party policies)
? alternative voices
? ways to organise political demonstrations
? ways to organise both at the grass roots level and
globally.
? Online petitions cans be created appealing directly to the
government to change laws
? Cheap and effective means for activists to communicate
both globally and locally
Cross Border Relations
? With conflicts going on around the world between
neighboring countries communication between the two
countries has become difficult for citizens of both sides,
but with cmc they can communicate between countries
using messages or message boards without having to
risk injury crossing borders.
? Since 1949 when the Chinese Communist Party came to
power, the government has maintained tight control over
the various forms and methods information is spread to
its people. In some cases, postings have even led to arrests.
Fu Lijun,37, an assistant professor at Xinxiang Medical College
in Henan, was arrested in October 1999 for posting an article in a
chat room detailing how Falungong could cure illness
Actions through politics
? Jody Williams used email and the internet to successfully start a campaign
against land mines in which 89 countries responded by banning land mines.
? At the start of the iraq war more than 1000 websites were shutdown by
cyber activists including military websites.
? The campaign for Howard dean of the united states used political power
and the internet to generate donations towards his campaign.
? Other presidential campaigns fought over the internet
? Bimber and Davis (2003)
? 2002 presidential election in South Korea
? In 2004 parties and candidates used the Internet to effectively mobilize
voters and to promote candidates' visions!
The features and why politics
use internet
? With the internet being an interactive medium it has become prominent in
political campaigns because it is an interactive medium it can engage
people and allow them to have a say where as other forms of media like TV
don’t allow this.
? In some ways, newer communication mediums (such as the Internet) may
be revitalising citizen participation in political discourse
? The internet gives every person that has it a voice whether they start a
website or a petition to change a law there is always a part which is
interactive and this can be good or bad as it is not just empowering for
progressive groups.
? Arguably this has altered democratic relationships between government and
citizens and between citizens themselves.
Medias of CMC
CMC described as…
“The use of a computer to create, address, route, distribute, or receive
messages sent from one individual to another, from a group to an
individual, from an individual to a group, or from one group to another
group” (Murphy,1994)
? The reason CMC is possible is because of the wide
range of different medias that can be used
? Looking at some different types of Political CMC, and
why they are appropriate
During the War…
? Only way soldiers could communicate with home
was by letter
? These letters were edited by higher powers, saying
that any information that could help the enemy was
taken out
? Actually “Censored” to keep people back at home in
the dark about the terrible conditions that soldiers
had to endure
? Soldiers had no alternative way of communicating
with home, so people back in England knew only
what the government wanted them to know
Nowadays…
? It would be almost impossible to censor something in this way, as everyone
can have their own say on things.
? On the BBC website, people are encouraged to leave their own comments
about the web stories, in particular if they are present in a certain country, or
at an event.
? This means that the views of everyone can be heard, all with different
perspectives
? Blogs like these are know as “Listservs”, and are used by many websites.
? These communication channels require people to participate in
communication interaction in order to reach a wide audience. Visitors or
readers need to create and facilitate a flow for interaction.
? Quicker responses, compared to those in traditional media, are crucial to
create meaningful flows of information
Medias for politics
? Mailing lists have been used to help keep people up to date on different
situations
? During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, MOVEON, an
Internet grass roots social activist organization, was used to keep
supporters up to date with what was happening, by regularly contacting the
people who registered to a mailing list - (www.moveon.org).
? This method proved to be a success, as it was seen to be personal, and
supporters felt that they were kept “in the loop”
? Personal home pages are a popular method of keeping people up to date
? May not be seen as affective as other CMC methods, as a website may only
be updated every few months
? Even though the documents on web sites can be updated frequently,
compared to old mass media, the presentation of these documents remains
at the authors control
Changes because of CMC
? Its not only computer based media that is affected by CMC.
? Traditional media sources are now using computer based methods to reach
a different audience
? Newspapers now use websites to show stories, which, as with the BBC
website, allow people to comment on and share their own views and ideas.
They also allow for the use of video’s and other types of multimedia that
aren't available in a Newspaper
? Radio shows can now be listened to online at a later date, as well as being
able to select a certain part of a radio show, so the audience is only
listening to the part that interests them
? Television is a very important political tool. It is believed that during the
Kennedy/Nixon election, Kennedy won, because he came over much better
on the screen that Nixon. Television now uses the internet to allow for
anytime viewing, so the audience can chose when they want to view it
PORTAL BOX
? Institute for Politics Democracy and the Internet
? Center for Technology in Government
? Political Communication Resources
? Democracy Resource Lists
? DoWire - Democracies Online Newswire
? Africa political room
? Greenpeace Cyberactivist Community
? Samoa Chat - Politics Board
? Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe
? Essential Information Mailing Lists
? World Movement for Democracy
E-Democracy
E-democracy comprises the use of electronic communications
technologies such as the Internet in enhancing democratic processes
within a democratic republic.
One major obstacle to the success of e-democracy is that of citizen
identification. For secure elections and other secure citizen-to-government
transactions, citizens must have some form of identification that preserves
privacy and maybe also one which could be used in internet forums.
Another obstacle is that there are many vested interests that would be
harmed by a more direct democracy. Amongst these are politicians, media
moguls and some interests in big business and trade unions.
Digital Divide
digital divide refers to the gap between people with effective access to digital
and information technology and those with very limited or no access at all. It
includes the imbalances in physical access to technology as well as the
imbalances in resources and skills needed to effectively participate as a digital
citizen. The digital divide may be classified based on gender, income, and race
groups, and by locations.
The term global digital divide refers to differences in technology access between
countries or large regions of the world.
Digital divide worldwide
Canada: According to an Autumn 2007 Canadian Internet Use Survey, 73% of
Canadians aged 16 and older went online in the 12 months prior to the
survey, compared to 68% in 2005. In small towns and rural areas, only 65% of
residences accessed the Internet, compared to 76% in urban areas. The
digital divide still exists between the rich and the poor; 91% of people making
more than $91,000/year regularly used the Internet, compared to 47% of
people making less than $24,000. This gap has lowered slightly since 2005
China: China is the largest developing country in the world and therefore saw
their Internet population grow by 20% in 2006 However, just over 19% of
Chinese people have access to the Internet and the digital divide is growing
due to factors such as insufficient infrastructure and high online.
Digital Divide Worldwide Cont.
Europe: A European Union study from 2005 conducted in 14 European
countries and focused on the issue of digital divide found that within the
EU, the digital divide is primarily a matter of age and education. Among
the young or educated the proportion of computer or Internet users is
much higher than with the old or uneducated. The study found that the
presence of children in a household increases the chance of having a
computer or Internet access, and that small businesses are catching up
with larger enterprises when it comes to Internet access.
United States: According to a July 2008 Pew Internet & American Life
report, “55% of adult Americans have broadband Internet connections at
home, up from 47% who had high-speed access at home last year at this
time [2007]”. This increase of 8% compared to the previous year’s
increase of 5% suggests that the digital divide is decreasing. However,
the findings go on to show that low-income Americans’ broadband
connections decreased by 3%.
Internet activism
? Internet activism is the use of
communication technologies such as e-mail,
web sites, and podcasts for various forms of
activism to enable faster communications by
citizen movements and deliver a message to
a large audience
? Cyberactivists
? Internet is the key resource
Usage
? Fundraising
? E-petitions
? Lobbying
? Volunteering
? Community building
? Organizing
Example of early activism
? Lotus MarketPlace: Households (April 10,
1990)
? Software which contains name, address, and
spending habit information on 120 million
individual US citizens
? Mass e-mail compaign was started
? Over 30 thousand people contacted Lotus
? Lotus issued a press release stating that it had
cancelled MarketPlace
Hacktivism
? Hacktivism is "the nonviolent use of illegal or
legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of
political ends.”
? It includes:
defacements, redirects, denial-of-service attacks,
information theft, web site parodies, virtual sit-ins,
virtual sabotage and software development.
Criticism
? Internet activism
? Unequal access
? „cyberbalkanization“
? Hacktivism
? hacktivists are defacing government websites as
well as web sites of groups who oppose their
ideology
? DoS: attack on free speech
Terrorism
? Use of violence and threats to intimidate or
coerce people
? Often for political purposes
? Need media to show people what they did
Terrorism
? Internet ideal media
? easy access
? little regulation
? huge audiences spread throughout the world
? anonymity of communication
? fast flow of information
? inexpensive
? a multimedia environment
Terrorism
? Content of terrorist sites
? History of the organization
? History of activities
? Details from leaders, founders and heroes
? Information over their political and ideological aims
? Audiences
? Current and potential supporters
? International public opinion
? Enemy publics
Terrorism
? How terrorists use the Internet?
? Psychological Warfare
? Publicity and Propaganda
? Data Mining
? Fundraising
? Recruitment and Mobilization
? Networking
? Sharing Information
? Planning and Coordination
Al Qaeda
? Sunni Islamistic group
? Founded between 1988 and 1990
? Famous for assassination 11/9/2001
? Many web platforms, but most got disabled
? Speaker: Al Jazeera
? Founded as news channel
? Got famous through Osama Bin Laden
? Many different channels and different languages
? Many live streams
Bibliography
? The potential of computer mediated communication for political structuration
http://www.javnost-thepublic.org/media/datoteke/hacker-1-2004.pdf
(accessed 09/02/2009)
? The Internet and Political Communication
http://www.craigbellamy.net/2006/06/24/the-internet-and-political-
communication/(accessed 09/02/2009)
? You've Got Dissent!Chinese Dissident Use of the Internet and Beijing's
Counter-Strategies Michael Chase, James Mulvenon; Rand, 2002
? Emerson, J. (2005). An Introduction to Activism on the Internet.
http://www.backspace.com/action/ (accessed 09/02/2009)
? Arquilla, J. (2002). Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror, Crime,
and Militancy. RAND Corporation. Chapter Eight
Bibliography
? Delio, M. (2004) Hacktivism and How It Got Here.
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2004/07/64193?currentPage=1
(accessed 09/02/2009)
? Weimann, G. (2004). How Modern Terrorism Uses the Internet.
http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr116.pdf
? Knickmeyer, E. (2008). Al-Qaeda Web Forums Abruptly Taken Offline.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101703367_pf.html
? Official English Hompage of Al Jazeera.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
? Osama Bin Laden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG7GDEDjQA4
Bibliography
? LEE, JENGHOON (2006) COMPUTER MEDIATED
COMMUNICATION AS POLITICAL COMMUNICATION :
INVESTIGATING THE AGENDA-SETTING FUNCTION
? http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080726
234557AAICsPh
? Selnow, G W (1995)
http://www.cjconline.ca/index.php/journal/article/viewArti
cle/875/781
doc_956049460.ppt