THE ROLE OF THE INTERNET IN POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
Howard Dean broke new grounds during the 2004 presidential campaign in the USA when he came up with the internet site he called "THE BLOG FOR AMERICA-HOWARD DEANS 2004 CALL TO ACTION WEBLOG". The blog which propelled Howard to the front-lines in the presidential campaigns was designed to act as a forum where citizens could get informed and involved. According to Kerbel and Bloom, Finally informing the electorate? How the internet got people thinking about presidential politics in 2004, the blog contributors raised topics they believed to be important for the campaign to the citizens. And the citizens read, commented and shared opinions on the site. This was something difficult if not impossible with traditional media. The site which was used as a social space by contributors was maintained by a team tied to the Howard Dean campaign.
The call to action weblog was used to raise funds for the campaign, organize social events, voice opinions, and criticize Howard's stands on salient issues.
Though Howard Dean did not succeed in winning the fight for the Presidency in 2004, he certainly left a legacy that was going to help reshape Presidential campaign in the United States of America and perhaps all over the world. Barrack Obama and John McCain both made use of weblogs during their campaigns. However, Obama recorded more success in his use than his opponent did. Obama's, Change We can Believe In, blog was designed with the same features as Howards. The blog provided day to day information on happenings in the campaign, forums to meet other activist, possibilities for comments and opinions. Obama made it possible for people to propose policies and over 15000 proposals have been got so far. Raising funds for the campaign was one of the highs of the blog and the mechanism to contact friends via email and landlines to inform them of the site or some new event helped expand the site. The campaign managers made it their duty to answer all false rumours or misunderstanding by the mainstream media so as to set the records straight for the citizens.
While using the blog, Scheufele (2007) posits that Obama made his campaign alive on twitter. Facebook, youtube and even via the use of sms. The use of these weblog and other internet facilities seemed to have acted as the contributing factor to the success of what has been called the Obama internet campaign. Using the youtube, myspace, facebook and other highly rated internet facilities enabled several millions of Americans to get involved in the elections. Young people were able to meet and talk about the election with other people via these interactive sites and learn bout the campaign from the candidates themselves. Kerbel and Bloom () reveal that this got several persons especially the young involved in the elections and gave them the possibility to contact others and persuade them to get involved. Writing later in 2007, Dietrem Schefele, Understanding the mechanism underlying political participation ….and why it matters,2007, brought out some surprising but yet interesting revelation from research on the 2004 presidential elections in 2004. During the campaign season, young persons between the ages of 18 – 29 said the elections were the most important elections in their live time but less than 50% of persons in this age bracket voted during the final elections. Initially rating it as important definitely resulted from their ability to participate and share opinions via the internet. But the candidates needed more than a weblog to get young people to participate. The birth of the youtube in 2005 and the arrival of other fun sites for young persons like facebook, twitter, myspace was going to be the solution Obama and his opponents needed to get more people involved in the 2008 Presidential elections.
CAN THE INTERNET THEN STAND AS IDEAL
Kerbel and Bloom, "Blog for America and Civic involvement", 2005 seem to conclude that the internet and the use of the weblog was a contributing factor to political knowledge in the 2004 Presidential elections in the USA. While agreeing with him, Perlmutter in "Political blogging and Campaign 2008. A roundtable" (2008) adds that the internet was the cause of increased participation in the 2008 Presidential elections thanks to Obama's expansive and wise use of internet resources. Over 70 million Americans are said to use the internet on a daily basis and the young people are much more available on this media than the older generation – some of which do not know how to use the internet.
But according to Kajsa and scheufele (2005), the internet could be a good source of information for citizens during presidential elections but there are some potholes that have required that the new media be used with traditional media in order to get more effective results.
Research has consistently shown the print media to have an effect on the amount of knowledge that citizens are able to make out of events. The print media seems to offer more in-depth coverage of news thus permitting the ordinary citizen to in one seating get a whole block of information thus accounts for factual recall knowledge by the citizens. This leaves the print media with still much effect as a tool through which citizens can get properly informed. Since knowledge is not just the pieces of information a person has but the ability to connect such pieces, the newspaper provides the best means to get connected pieces of information.
Besides, since all the information on the internet is not provided in one huge block, readers are given the choice to log on to the sites themselves for information. This has often led to selective exposure as most persons are likely to go for sites that write positively or are owned by the persons they support in the political process. This distorts the citizen's awareness as concerns opposing parties and while one could have an in-depth knowledge on one of the candidates for the elections, the same person could be totally lacking in information about the other candidates.
Moreover, the 2004 Pew campaign data revealed most citizens as saying that television is their main source of political information and they use the internet as a compliment to other news sources. According to the research, 99% of the respondents admitted using other media aside the internet as means of information.
Further research however reveal that the internet is vital in getting young persons to get active in the elections through opinion sharing which gives them the feeling of importance thus pushing them to the poles.
CRITIC
All the researchers here tend to look at the internet as an ideal house for information. They tend to look at citizens as rational enough to log into the proper sites for news and information on what is important to them. But the ease of access to the internet and the ability of just about anybody to post articles into internet sites has tended to distort the fairness of the information. Aside original internet news sources, other sites owned by private individuals are accessed on a daily basis and this cannot hold as reliable sources of information even on issues as minimal as the biography of the presidential candidates. This goes to say the there is a lot of distorted information on the internet that could make the new media a kind of dangerous tool for information gathering.
Moreover, I agree with the idea that there is a lot of selective perception done on the internet. People will go for information that gives them mental comfort. Obama fans will easily log into the internet and access his campaign site rather than trying that of McCain. This makes the other media very important. Even though there is selective exposure on other media, it cannot really be as serious as it is with the internet when people make a choice of the information they want to see. Television on its part tends to force its choice on the audience instead since they are never sure of what will be in the newscasts.
The ability to participate and share opinions via the internet is also proven to be an important tool to voter turn-out and even political participation. When people are made to think that their opinions count, they definitely will want to live up to that pride by participating in the general elections.
Besides, since the internet provides citizens with very heterogeneous discussion networks, it is easy for people to access the opinions of others in order to shape or reshape their own opinions. Scheufele (2007) says talking helps, thus interacting with other citizens will help to increase knowledge acquisition and possibly participation.
To conclude, it has largely been proven that the internet or the new media as it has come to be called has impacted a lot on the way people gather information and participate in political issues. Evolving from internet blogging, all the features on the internet have finally been involved in the political process. Since earlier research showed that youths are less involved in politics and in other matters of public concern, the target of politicians is largely tilting towards them leading to the use of this new media. However, the internet cannot stand alone as the ideal source for information. It has been proven as unable to sustain recallable factual knowledge. This may explain why the Obama campaign used several tactics aside the internet to get to their audience. He is even reported to have used computer games as part of his campaign to invite young people to take vote. Since the internet has finally moved into the planning halls of all political candidates in the USA, is there a possibility that the same will prove successful for candidates in other parts of the world.
REFERENCES
2. Kajsa E. Dalrymple and Dietram A. Scheufele: "Finally Informing the Electorate? How the Internet Got People Thinking about Presidential Politics in 2004". The International Journal of Press/Politics 2007; 12; 96
3. David D. Perlmutter: "Political Blogging and Campaign 2008: A Roundtable"
The International Journal of Press/Politics 2008; 13; 160
4. Dietrum Scheufele. " Understanding the mechanisms for the underlying political participation….and why it matters" (2007)
www.unr.edu/organizations/pcr/1702-2007-Spring/commentary
5. www. Callmetaft.wikidot.com/new-media-political process
Howard Dean broke new grounds during the 2004 presidential campaign in the USA when he came up with the internet site he called "THE BLOG FOR AMERICA-HOWARD DEANS 2004 CALL TO ACTION WEBLOG". The blog which propelled Howard to the front-lines in the presidential campaigns was designed to act as a forum where citizens could get informed and involved. According to Kerbel and Bloom, Finally informing the electorate? How the internet got people thinking about presidential politics in 2004, the blog contributors raised topics they believed to be important for the campaign to the citizens. And the citizens read, commented and shared opinions on the site. This was something difficult if not impossible with traditional media. The site which was used as a social space by contributors was maintained by a team tied to the Howard Dean campaign.
The call to action weblog was used to raise funds for the campaign, organize social events, voice opinions, and criticize Howard's stands on salient issues.
Though Howard Dean did not succeed in winning the fight for the Presidency in 2004, he certainly left a legacy that was going to help reshape Presidential campaign in the United States of America and perhaps all over the world. Barrack Obama and John McCain both made use of weblogs during their campaigns. However, Obama recorded more success in his use than his opponent did. Obama's, Change We can Believe In, blog was designed with the same features as Howards. The blog provided day to day information on happenings in the campaign, forums to meet other activist, possibilities for comments and opinions. Obama made it possible for people to propose policies and over 15000 proposals have been got so far. Raising funds for the campaign was one of the highs of the blog and the mechanism to contact friends via email and landlines to inform them of the site or some new event helped expand the site. The campaign managers made it their duty to answer all false rumours or misunderstanding by the mainstream media so as to set the records straight for the citizens.
While using the blog, Scheufele (2007) posits that Obama made his campaign alive on twitter. Facebook, youtube and even via the use of sms. The use of these weblog and other internet facilities seemed to have acted as the contributing factor to the success of what has been called the Obama internet campaign. Using the youtube, myspace, facebook and other highly rated internet facilities enabled several millions of Americans to get involved in the elections. Young people were able to meet and talk about the election with other people via these interactive sites and learn bout the campaign from the candidates themselves. Kerbel and Bloom () reveal that this got several persons especially the young involved in the elections and gave them the possibility to contact others and persuade them to get involved. Writing later in 2007, Dietrem Schefele, Understanding the mechanism underlying political participation ….and why it matters,2007, brought out some surprising but yet interesting revelation from research on the 2004 presidential elections in 2004. During the campaign season, young persons between the ages of 18 – 29 said the elections were the most important elections in their live time but less than 50% of persons in this age bracket voted during the final elections. Initially rating it as important definitely resulted from their ability to participate and share opinions via the internet. But the candidates needed more than a weblog to get young people to participate. The birth of the youtube in 2005 and the arrival of other fun sites for young persons like facebook, twitter, myspace was going to be the solution Obama and his opponents needed to get more people involved in the 2008 Presidential elections.
CAN THE INTERNET THEN STAND AS IDEAL
Kerbel and Bloom, "Blog for America and Civic involvement", 2005 seem to conclude that the internet and the use of the weblog was a contributing factor to political knowledge in the 2004 Presidential elections in the USA. While agreeing with him, Perlmutter in "Political blogging and Campaign 2008. A roundtable" (2008) adds that the internet was the cause of increased participation in the 2008 Presidential elections thanks to Obama's expansive and wise use of internet resources. Over 70 million Americans are said to use the internet on a daily basis and the young people are much more available on this media than the older generation – some of which do not know how to use the internet.
But according to Kajsa and scheufele (2005), the internet could be a good source of information for citizens during presidential elections but there are some potholes that have required that the new media be used with traditional media in order to get more effective results.
Research has consistently shown the print media to have an effect on the amount of knowledge that citizens are able to make out of events. The print media seems to offer more in-depth coverage of news thus permitting the ordinary citizen to in one seating get a whole block of information thus accounts for factual recall knowledge by the citizens. This leaves the print media with still much effect as a tool through which citizens can get properly informed. Since knowledge is not just the pieces of information a person has but the ability to connect such pieces, the newspaper provides the best means to get connected pieces of information.
Besides, since all the information on the internet is not provided in one huge block, readers are given the choice to log on to the sites themselves for information. This has often led to selective exposure as most persons are likely to go for sites that write positively or are owned by the persons they support in the political process. This distorts the citizen's awareness as concerns opposing parties and while one could have an in-depth knowledge on one of the candidates for the elections, the same person could be totally lacking in information about the other candidates.
Moreover, the 2004 Pew campaign data revealed most citizens as saying that television is their main source of political information and they use the internet as a compliment to other news sources. According to the research, 99% of the respondents admitted using other media aside the internet as means of information.
Further research however reveal that the internet is vital in getting young persons to get active in the elections through opinion sharing which gives them the feeling of importance thus pushing them to the poles.
CRITIC
All the researchers here tend to look at the internet as an ideal house for information. They tend to look at citizens as rational enough to log into the proper sites for news and information on what is important to them. But the ease of access to the internet and the ability of just about anybody to post articles into internet sites has tended to distort the fairness of the information. Aside original internet news sources, other sites owned by private individuals are accessed on a daily basis and this cannot hold as reliable sources of information even on issues as minimal as the biography of the presidential candidates. This goes to say the there is a lot of distorted information on the internet that could make the new media a kind of dangerous tool for information gathering.
Moreover, I agree with the idea that there is a lot of selective perception done on the internet. People will go for information that gives them mental comfort. Obama fans will easily log into the internet and access his campaign site rather than trying that of McCain. This makes the other media very important. Even though there is selective exposure on other media, it cannot really be as serious as it is with the internet when people make a choice of the information they want to see. Television on its part tends to force its choice on the audience instead since they are never sure of what will be in the newscasts.
The ability to participate and share opinions via the internet is also proven to be an important tool to voter turn-out and even political participation. When people are made to think that their opinions count, they definitely will want to live up to that pride by participating in the general elections.
Besides, since the internet provides citizens with very heterogeneous discussion networks, it is easy for people to access the opinions of others in order to shape or reshape their own opinions. Scheufele (2007) says talking helps, thus interacting with other citizens will help to increase knowledge acquisition and possibly participation.
To conclude, it has largely been proven that the internet or the new media as it has come to be called has impacted a lot on the way people gather information and participate in political issues. Evolving from internet blogging, all the features on the internet have finally been involved in the political process. Since earlier research showed that youths are less involved in politics and in other matters of public concern, the target of politicians is largely tilting towards them leading to the use of this new media. However, the internet cannot stand alone as the ideal source for information. It has been proven as unable to sustain recallable factual knowledge. This may explain why the Obama campaign used several tactics aside the internet to get to their audience. He is even reported to have used computer games as part of his campaign to invite young people to take vote. Since the internet has finally moved into the planning halls of all political candidates in the USA, is there a possibility that the same will prove successful for candidates in other parts of the world.
REFERENCES
- Matthew R. Kerbel and Joel David Bloom: "Blog for America and Civic Involvement".The International Journal of Press/Politics 2005; 10; 3
2. Kajsa E. Dalrymple and Dietram A. Scheufele: "Finally Informing the Electorate? How the Internet Got People Thinking about Presidential Politics in 2004". The International Journal of Press/Politics 2007; 12; 96
3. David D. Perlmutter: "Political Blogging and Campaign 2008: A Roundtable"
The International Journal of Press/Politics 2008; 13; 160
4. Dietrum Scheufele. " Understanding the mechanisms for the underlying political participation….and why it matters" (2007)
www.unr.edu/organizations/pcr/1702-2007-Spring/commentary
5. www. Callmetaft.wikidot.com/new-media-political process
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