Abstract
This chapter focuses on the methodological issues surrounding the study of online constituency campaigning during the 2010 UK general election. More specifically, it considers the use of content analysis schemas for understanding the nature of interactivity in election campaigns. In doing so, it addresses two research questions: first, it seeks to measure the extent to which constituency campaigns could be identified and catalogued online; second, it aims to measure how interactive such presences were. In considering these questions, the chapter also assesses the challenges facing researchers in the Web 2.0 era more generally and the future of content analysis in a multi-platform environment.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Anderson, P. (2007) What Is Web 2.0? Ideas, Technologies and Implications for Education, available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/techwatch/tsw0701b.pdf, date accessed 22 December 2011.
Bartle, J. (2005) ‘The Press Television and the Internet’, Parliamentary Affairs, 58 (4), 699–711.
Berners-Lee, T. (1989) Information Management: A Proposal, Online, available at: http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html, date accessed 11 October 2012.
Chadwick, A. (2009) ‘Web 2.0: New Challenges for the Study of E-democracy in an Era of Informational Exuberance’, I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, 5 (1), 9–41.
Coleman, S. (2001) ‘Online Campaigning’, Parliamentary Affairs, 54 (4), 679–688.
Crabtree, J. (2010) David Cameron’s Battle to Connect, available at: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/04/features/david-camerons-battle-to-connect, date accessed 10 June 2010.
Foot, K. and Schneider, S. (2006) Web Campaigning (London: MIT Press).
Gibson, R., Lusoli, W. and Ward, S. (2008) ‘Nationalizing and Normalizing the Local? A Comparative Analysis of Online Campaigning in Australia and Britain’, Information Technology & Politics, 4 (4), 15–31.
Gibson, R., Ward, S. and Lusoli, W. (2003) ‘The Internet and Political Campaigning: The New Medium Comes of Age?’, Representation, 39 (3), 166–180.
Green, D. and Smith, J. (2003) ‘The Professionalization of Campaigns and the Secret History of the Collective Action Problem’, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 15 (3), 321–339.
Hindman, M. (2009) The Myth of Digital Democracy (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Jackson, N. and Lilleker, D. (2009) ‘Building an Architecture of Participation: Political Parties and Web 2.0 in Britain’, Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 6 (3), 232–250.
Lee, B. (2012) Are Digital Technologies Supporting Traditional Styles of Electioneering? Measuring and Explaining the use of Interactive Campaigning by Candidates in the 2010 UK General Election, Ph.D. thesis The University of Manchester.
Lilleker, D. and Jackson, N. (2010) ‘Towards a More Participatory Style of Election Campaigning: The Impact of Web 2.0 on the UK 2010 Election’, Policy & Internet, 2 (3), 69–98.
Margolis, M. and Resnick, D. (2000) Politics as Usual — The Cyberspace ‘Revolution’(London: Sage).
Margolis, M., Resnick, D. and Tu, C. (1997) ‘Campaigning on the Internet: Parties and Candidates on the World Wide Web in the 1996 Primary Season’, Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2 (1), 59–78.
Negroponte, N. (1996) Being Digital (Reading: Hodder & Stoughton).
Norris, P. (2003) ‘Preaching to the converted? Pluralism Participation and Party Websites’, Party Politics, 9 (1), 21–45.
O’Reilly, T. (2005) What Is Web 2.0? Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, available at: http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html, date accessed 22 December 2011.
Rheingold, H. (1993) The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (London: MIT Press).
Römmele, A. (2003) ‘Political Parties, Party Communication and New Information Communication Technologies’, Party Politics, 9 (7), 7–20.
Stromer-Galley, J. (2000) ‘Online Interaction and Why Candidates Avoid it’, Journal of Communication, 50 (4), 111–132.
Ward, S. and Gibson, R. (2003) ‘Online and On Message? Candidate Websites in the 2001 General Election’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 5 (2), 188–205.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Benjamin J. Lee
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lee, B.J. (2014). From Websites to Web Presences: Measuring Interactive Features in Candidate-Level Web Campaigns During the 2010 UK General Election. In: Cantijoch, M., Gibson, R., Ward, S. (eds) Analyzing Social Media Data and Web Networks. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276773_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276773_10
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-44680-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-27677-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)