cardinals & politics
i feel like a cardinal, trying to choose a new pope. 'cept that my own personal pope is my thesis topic. if i had a chimney, the smoke coming out of it would be gray-white right now.
i came up with a fairly new idea today: look at the effect blogs are having on the political landscape, focusing on elections or pre-electoral phases. i could attempt to compare the effects of blogs in the us prez elections of 1996, 2000 and 2004; then compare the findings with the effects on the uk general election on may 5, 2005; finally look at the role blogs played / are playing / will play in the german bundestagswahlen of 2002 and 2006.
i could round the whole thing off with a glimpse at the roles other forms of media play, such as print, tv, and radio - along with the development of their power over the years. of course, i would also have to look at what makes blogs stand out - including their problems (issues of trust, ethics) and opportunities (grassroots journalism, broad spectrum of views, uncensored information).
this is, of course, a very current topic (what did you expect?):
apart from reading up on what other people wrote about the power of blogs in elections, i could attempt to make smart use of search engines (comparing numbers of hits, looking at top search results), and maybe conduct some e-mail interviews with one or more of the following: politicians, members of the media, bloggers, and "average" citizens.
as always, comments are welcome! stay tuned for updates. i hope the smoke will lose its grayish hue soon.
i came up with a fairly new idea today: look at the effect blogs are having on the political landscape, focusing on elections or pre-electoral phases. i could attempt to compare the effects of blogs in the us prez elections of 1996, 2000 and 2004; then compare the findings with the effects on the uk general election on may 5, 2005; finally look at the role blogs played / are playing / will play in the german bundestagswahlen of 2002 and 2006.
i could round the whole thing off with a glimpse at the roles other forms of media play, such as print, tv, and radio - along with the development of their power over the years. of course, i would also have to look at what makes blogs stand out - including their problems (issues of trust, ethics) and opportunities (grassroots journalism, broad spectrum of views, uncensored information).
this is, of course, a very current topic (what did you expect?):
- US Federal Election Commission vs blogs:
- mar 03, 2005: "The coming crackdown on blogging", c|net news.com
- mar 23, 2005: "Online politicking receives temporary reprieve", c|net news.com
- mar 24, 2005: "Feds get set for Net rules", c|net news.com
- mar 24, 2005: "Bloggers narrowly dodge federal crackdown", c|net news.com
- apr 14, 2005: "Beistand für politische Blogger im US-Kongress", heise.de (german)
- apr 14, 2005: "Online Freedom of Speech Act Introduced in House", slashdot
- UK election: "The Election Monitor - our campaign weblog", bbc news
- german elections: "Wahlkampf", politik-digital.de (german)
apart from reading up on what other people wrote about the power of blogs in elections, i could attempt to make smart use of search engines (comparing numbers of hits, looking at top search results), and maybe conduct some e-mail interviews with one or more of the following: politicians, members of the media, bloggers, and "average" citizens.
as always, comments are welcome! stay tuned for updates. i hope the smoke will lose its grayish hue soon.
posted by hfehr at 8:25:00 pm
1 Comments:
looks like a reasonable way to approach a relevant issue. i like the framework you laid out including multiple comparisons: blogs vs. conventional media; by country; by time. - would be great, in addition to analyzing existing data and reports, to come up with some creative indicators of blog development, and possibly of blog impact on elections. - good approach, keep going, .ra.
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