My sources:
I am going to use several course readings along with internet sources.
www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/07/the-internet-as-a-force-in-politics-obama-
www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/index-campaign.html
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I have not yet finished my part of the paper but I am going to write about how our elections and politicians are using cmc and the internet as their primary source to get information out and how the internet is affecting the outcomes of elections.
My sources:
I am going to use several course readings along with internet sources.
www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/07/the-internet-as-a-force-in-politics-obama-would-not-have-won-without-the-internet/
www.politicsonline.com/
www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/index-campaign.html
My sources:
I am going to use several course readings along with internet sources.
www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/07/the-internet-as-a-force-in-politics-obama-
www.nytimes.com/library/tech/reference/index-campaign.html
Government and CMC
The government use of CMC has truly evolved from the 90’s. Technology has played a major factor with the government. People as well as politicians have both benefitted tremendously. Over the course of the past 20 years the technology has become more advanced than ever. We can see that the government takes full advantage of CMC by using the Internet. The Internet is a key component for the government because it allows them to reach out to a mass audience. The Internet is a space that has real communication in a virtual world. Barnes (2003) talks about the notion that the Internet space creates a global sense of communication that resembles traditional communication, thus we become more dependent and involved with each other. Campaigners can target all age groups with the Internet by posting their information for certain websites. They can pick and choose where to place their information. This benefits the government because it enables them to focus on key issues that pertain to certain racial groups, men/women and age groups. This strategy works in reverse as well for the online users.
When users visit their favorite websites like YouTube or Facebook they are exposed to the information that the government has provided for them. People can receive valuable information on policies. Not only can they learn about various topics, they can provide their own homepages to support or disagree as well. Thurlow, Lengel and Tomic (2004) state “CMC is both political and politicizing, because it may be used to confront the authority of governing powers, and to resist dominant social, cultural and political ideologies” (p. 199).
We need to realize that the Internet is so important because it has become a part of our everyday lives. The future rests on the government and CMC. How will the President-elect Barack Obama maintain communication with the American people? The country has hit a rough patch and needs to be briefed on all upcoming bills passed as well as stimulus packages. Also, where will CMC lead us in the future? As of right now we rely on information from communication technology. How can we improve it so that the government can improve the lives of the American people?
References
Barnes, S. B. (2003). Computer-mediated communication: Human-to-human communication across the internet. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer-mediated communication: Social interaction and the internet. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
You tube. Retrieved November 25, 2008, Web site: http://www.youtube.com
Facebook. Retrieved Nobember 25, 2008, Web site: http://www.youtube.com
When users visit their favorite websites like YouTube or Facebook they are exposed to the information that the government has provided for them. People can receive valuable information on policies. Not only can they learn about various topics, they can provide their own homepages to support or disagree as well. Thurlow, Lengel and Tomic (2004) state “CMC is both political and politicizing, because it may be used to confront the authority of governing powers, and to resist dominant social, cultural and political ideologies” (p. 199).
We need to realize that the Internet is so important because it has become a part of our everyday lives. The future rests on the government and CMC. How will the President-elect Barack Obama maintain communication with the American people? The country has hit a rough patch and needs to be briefed on all upcoming bills passed as well as stimulus packages. Also, where will CMC lead us in the future? As of right now we rely on information from communication technology. How can we improve it so that the government can improve the lives of the American people?
References
Barnes, S. B. (2003). Computer-mediated communication: Human-to-human communication across the internet. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer-mediated communication: Social interaction and the internet. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
You tube. Retrieved November 25, 2008, Web site: http://www.youtube.com
Facebook. Retrieved Nobember 25, 2008, Web site: http://www.youtube.com
Government And CMC
Government and politics has been the cornerstone to how humans organize themselves since the beginning of written history. Government, especially democracy, allows for a system to be put in place that facilitates commerce, education, and culture. In the past, a government would go about nurturing these various facets of society by whatever means necessary with very little oversight. This was often achieved by either oppressing the populous or simply keeping the populous in the dark. Even if the government wanted to keep the people well informed about their activities, it was difficult to do so because there was no practical way to distribute reliable information.
It was not until the 15th century and the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg that a reliable new technology had the capacity to spread information quickly and efficiently to the masses (Lualdi, 2005). From that moment forward, leaders and politicians would exercise the communication technology of the day to promote themselves while demonizing their opponents in hopes of gaining favor amongst their peers. When communication technology progressed, governments would quickly find a way to utilize and implement the new technology in a way that would benefit the government and improve their ability to run the nation.
Today, our government has unprecedented access to retrieve, distribute, and organize information and they do so through the use of this relatively new phenomenon known as computer mediated communication. A far cry from the printing press, CMC allows for information to be gathered, encoded, decoded, and delivered instantaneously from anywhere around the world. With this powerful new technology at the world’s disposal, our government and politicians are finding new ways to utilize it in order to create an advantage for our nation and ourselves. Now we will look into just how our government is using this technology to better our nation.
Lualdi, K (2005). The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Change in Campaigning
As the medium of the television emerged, political campaigns adapted and changed. The way candidates presented themselves and techniques that were implemented evolved. Today, the same thing is happening with the ever-evolving internet and rapidly-growing popularity of electronic devices as medium for messages. In a study conducted in October 2008, the Pew Research Center found that 39 percent of voters have watched campaign videos online.
Carr and Steler (2008) cite that the 2008 presidential election became a mixture of online and off, broadcast along with cable, as well as pop and civic culture becoming blurred. Within the medium of the internet other forces have emerged that have impacted the campaigns that were not around as recently as 2004, such as YouTube, and Facebook was barely a recognized name (Carr & Steler, 2008). Items, messages, videos, etc., that go onto the internet are not taken off, or erased (Conlin, 2006). Therefore, this puts a magnifying glass over everything that is done throughout a campaign. Campaigners now have the ability to post videos, interviews and etc. for those who missed the television segment. Thurlow, Lengel and Tomic (2004) refer to e-democracy, which is the ability for governments, elected officials, citizens, political organizations, and etc. to use the internet to engage in political debates about current issues that they either agree or disagree with. There is an increasing amount of political commercials that encourage political involvement via the internet (Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, 2004). Through this mechanism voters can find their own research, which may make them feel more or less confident in their decisions.
This also means that whenever a candidate makes a mistake or has a slip of tongue, it will not go unnoticed. Someone is bound to pick up on it, thus opening it up to scrutiny by viewers. The sermons held by Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Carr & Steler, 2008) is a great example of this. Further, voters are now more skeptical because they can fact-check at any time (Nagourney, 2008).
The has internet created new ways for campaigners to not only reach voters, but raise money, track public opinion, organize supporters and etc. (Nagourney, 2008). The Obama campaign in particular sought to take advantage of the internet based on its demographic is was attempting to reach, the night before the election text messages were sent out reminding supporters to vote (Nagourney, 2008). Bugeja (2005) cites that 25% of lower income families were online as of 2001, which was part of the demographic the Democratic Party usually campaigns towards. The Obama campaign made good use of the internet and mastered its demographic very well. Nagourney (2008) and Carr and Steler (2008) examine how the Obama campaign used the internet to raise a large portion of its money, which has not previously been executed with such finesse.
The tactics implemented by the Obama campaign provide an example of an integrated campaign that comb various sorts of media to accomplish a single goal. There is little doubt that future campaigns will implement similar strategies (Nagourney, 2008). The information that can be shared and obtained by means of the internet, and its ability to combine various forms of media, has changed political campaigns and will continue to foster this change in years to come.
Bugjea (2005). Displacement in the global village. 13-39.
Carr, D., & Steler, B. (2008 Nov, 3). Campaigns in a web 2.0 world. New York Times. Retrieved
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/business/media/03media.html?ei=5070&em c=eta1
Conlin, M. (2006). You are what you post. Business Week, 3977, 52-53.
Nargourney, A. (2008 Nov, 4). The 08 campaign: A sea of change for politics as we know it. New York Times. Retrieved http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04memo.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer-mediated communication: Social interaction and the internet. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
Carr and Steler (2008) cite that the 2008 presidential election became a mixture of online and off, broadcast along with cable, as well as pop and civic culture becoming blurred. Within the medium of the internet other forces have emerged that have impacted the campaigns that were not around as recently as 2004, such as YouTube, and Facebook was barely a recognized name (Carr & Steler, 2008). Items, messages, videos, etc., that go onto the internet are not taken off, or erased (Conlin, 2006). Therefore, this puts a magnifying glass over everything that is done throughout a campaign. Campaigners now have the ability to post videos, interviews and etc. for those who missed the television segment. Thurlow, Lengel and Tomic (2004) refer to e-democracy, which is the ability for governments, elected officials, citizens, political organizations, and etc. to use the internet to engage in political debates about current issues that they either agree or disagree with. There is an increasing amount of political commercials that encourage political involvement via the internet (Thurlow, Lengel & Tomic, 2004). Through this mechanism voters can find their own research, which may make them feel more or less confident in their decisions.
This also means that whenever a candidate makes a mistake or has a slip of tongue, it will not go unnoticed. Someone is bound to pick up on it, thus opening it up to scrutiny by viewers. The sermons held by Rev. Jeremiah Wright (Carr & Steler, 2008) is a great example of this. Further, voters are now more skeptical because they can fact-check at any time (Nagourney, 2008).
The has internet created new ways for campaigners to not only reach voters, but raise money, track public opinion, organize supporters and etc. (Nagourney, 2008). The Obama campaign in particular sought to take advantage of the internet based on its demographic is was attempting to reach, the night before the election text messages were sent out reminding supporters to vote (Nagourney, 2008). Bugeja (2005) cites that 25% of lower income families were online as of 2001, which was part of the demographic the Democratic Party usually campaigns towards. The Obama campaign made good use of the internet and mastered its demographic very well. Nagourney (2008) and Carr and Steler (2008) examine how the Obama campaign used the internet to raise a large portion of its money, which has not previously been executed with such finesse.
The tactics implemented by the Obama campaign provide an example of an integrated campaign that comb various sorts of media to accomplish a single goal. There is little doubt that future campaigns will implement similar strategies (Nagourney, 2008). The information that can be shared and obtained by means of the internet, and its ability to combine various forms of media, has changed political campaigns and will continue to foster this change in years to come.
References
Bugjea (2005). Displacement in the global village. 13-39.
Carr, D., & Steler, B. (2008 Nov, 3). Campaigns in a web 2.0 world. New York Times. Retrieved
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/business/media/03media.html?ei=5070&em c=eta1
Conlin, M. (2006). You are what you post. Business Week, 3977, 52-53.
Nargourney, A. (2008 Nov, 4). The 08 campaign: A sea of change for politics as we know it. New York Times. Retrieved http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04memo.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
Thurlow, C., Lengel, L. & Tomic, A. (2004). Computer-mediated communication: Social interaction and the internet. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications.
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