From street campaigning to online campaigning: Indian national political p…
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From street campaigning to online campaigning: Indian national political party web sites
Dr. N.S. Harinarayana ReaderDepartment of Library and Information ScienceUniversity of Mysore , Mysore ns.harinarayana@gmail.com
Vasantha Raju, N. Librarian Govt. First Grade College –Periyapatna Mysore
Dr. Mallinath Kumbar ProfessorDepartment of Library and Information ScienceUniversity of Mysore , Mysore
National Conference on Information Technology and its applications CIST-Mysore
November 21-22, 2009University of Mysore, Mysore
Overview
• Introduction
• Research questions
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Results
• Current trends in Indian political discourses on the web
Introduction
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the
Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee”
- The Huffington Post
Research questions
• What content features have been employed in Indian national political party websites to engage net savvy users in political discourses?
• Do they demonstrate contemporary technologies or is it simply an extended brochure leaflet of the national party?
• What formal features are using for effective content (functional features) delivery?
Earlier studies Website type Research area Selected article(s) Geographical orientation
Party Collection of various website contents including hyperlinks
Margolis et al. (1997, 1999) USA
Gibson & Ward (1998) UK
Gibson et al. (2003) USA & UK
Tkach-Kawasaki (2003) Japan
Kluver (2004) Singapore
Mainly hyperlinks Ting & Kluver (2004) Singapore
Ackland & Gibson (2004) Australia
Individualpolitician
Candidate Collection of various contents (links)
Davis (1999), Kamarck (1999) USA
Ward & Gibson (2003) UK
Mainly hyperlinks Foot et al. (2003) USA
Elected member
Collection of various contents and links
Owen et al. (1999), Carter (1999) USA
Mainly hyperlinks Park et al. (2004, 2005) South Korea
Party & politician
Party & candidate
Collection of various contents and links
Foot & Schneider (2002) USA
Lusoli, W. & Ward, J. (2005) UK
Party & member
Tkach-Kawasaki (2006) Japan
Adopted: from Tkach-Kawasaki, L .M. & Park, H.W. (2007). South Korean and Japanese politicians online: Comparing Political Cultures Through Political Websites . Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/hanpark/comparing-political-cultures-through-political-websites-presentation
Methodology
• 5 national political party web site were selected for the study from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
• Data coded between 27th to 30th March 2009 • BSP and RJD party web site was removed from
the data set. • Functional (content) and formal (design)
features (Gibson & Ward, 2005) were examined
Political party websites considered for the study
1. BJP 2. CPI 3. CPI (M)4. INC 5. NCP ( listed in alphabetical order)
Functional (content) features of political party web sitesInformation provision organizational history
ideology
press releases
party news, photo gallery , etc .
Mobilization /resource generation Canvassing tour schedule
Election campaigning diary
Friend raising
Online volunteering
Online subscription to party publications, etc
Integration or networking Links to satellite home pages/partisan websites
Links to politicians’ personal home pages
Links to party institutions
Links to NGOs, Links to media organizations ,etc
Participation email leader, email other politicians/candidates, email officials/staff
general feedback, Discussion for um/Bulletin board/guestbook
Campaign diary/blog without comment facility, Blog with comments
Online q& a/chat rooms , Opinion polls etc.
Campaigning Negative campaigning (banner, pop-up ad etc. on home page)
Targeting ex-pat voters, Targeting marginal constituency/swing voter (explicit effort)
Join an email update list, Become online campaigner
Send a link/e-postcard, Download literature,
Download of promotional material (e.g. logos, screen savers)
Formal (design) features of the political party web sitesAccessibility Language (English )
Text-only version
Print article, Email article/bookmark , Download article
blind/visually impaired access
Web browser compatibility
Metadata etc .
Navigation Site map/index/Search engine/box
Link back to home page
Upward button etc.
Updating (freshness) Frequency of updating content
Interactive elements Wikis
Blogs
Podcasts
RSS feeds
Forums
Interactive forms
Video
Sound/Audio
Overall web 2.0 approach
Results-1
Functional (content) features found in Indian national political
party web sites
Results (1): Information provision
Item BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP Organizational history - Structure - - -Values/ideology -Policies - -Party Manifesto Media releases - Speeches - -People/Who’s Who - - Leader focus - -Candidate list/profiles -Electoral Information 1 (statistics, information on past performance)
- -
Electoral information 2 (postal voting info/voting registration)
- - - - -
Event Calendar (prospective or retrospective) - - - -
Frequently Asked Questions - - - - -
Article Archive or Library - -Current party news - -Contact Photo archive/gallery -
Newsletter - - - -
Results (1): Mobilization/resource generation
Item BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP
Canvassing tour schedule - - - - -
Campaigning committee - - - -
Election campaigning diary - - - - -
Party members in the media - -
Online party membership - - - -
Friend raising - - - -
Online fundraising
Online volunteering - - - - -
Offers of post - - - - -
E-shop/Merchandise - - - - -
Online subscription to party publications
- - - -
Results (1):Integration/networking
Item BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP
Links to satellite home pages/partisan websites
- - -
Links to politicians’ personal home pages
- - -
Links to party institutions - - -
Links to other political institutions
- - -
Commercial links - - - - -
Links to NGOs - - - - -
Links to media organizations - - - - -
Other links (education, jobs, search engines, etc
- - - -
Results (1):ParticipationItem BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP
email leader - - -
email other politicians/candidates - - - -
email hq general - - - email named officials/staff - - - -
Feedback
general feedback on the website - - - -
feedback issues/policy general solicited
- - - -
email feedback on specific issue - - - - -
Interactive debate/comment
Discussion forum/Bulletin board/guestbook
- - - -
Campaign diary/blog without comment facility
- - - - -
Blog with comments - - - - -
Online q& a/chat rooms - - - - -
Opinion polls - - - - --
Games - - - - -
Results (1): Campaigning
Item BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP
Negative campaigning (banner, pop-up ad etc. on home page)
- - -
Targeting ex-pat voters - - -- - -
Targeting marginal constituency/swing voter (explicit effort)
- - - - -
Join an email update list - -
Become online campaigner - - - -
Send a link/e-postcard - - -- - -
Download literature - -
Download of promotional material (e.g. logos, screen savers)
- - - -
Broadcasting time of party spots - - - -
Web radio/video/ podcasts - -
SMS Campaign - - - -
Results -2
Formal (Content) features found in Indian political party web sites
Results (2): Formal features Category Item BJP CPI CPI (M) INC NCP
Accessibility Language (English version)
Text-only version - - - - -Print article - - - -Email article/bookmark - -
Download article - - - -blind/visually impaired access
- - - - -
Web browser compatibility
-
Metadata - - - Navigation
Site map/index - - - -Search engine/box - -Link back to home page Upward button - - -
Updating Updated daily 1-2 days 3-7 days every two weeks monthly 1-6 months- - - - - -
Interactive elements Wikis - - - - -Blogs - - - - -Podcasts - - - - -RSS feeds - - - -Forums - - -
Interactive forms - - - -Video - -
Sound/Audio - -
Overall web 2.0 approach - - - - -
Findings
• BJP and INC have high presence of information provision features.
• Features are very light in terms of participation, mobilization, and campaigning
• Web 2.0 features were very light in all the national party web sites
• Youth engagement in political discourses is the biggest challenge
• Web technologies can play a crucial role in civic engagement in political discourses
Current trends in Indian political discourses and web
Shashi Tharoor - Indian Minister of State for External Affairs “cattle class” comment on his Twitter space created a great uproar
Our prime minister presence in FaceBook-though not a net savvy
All these trends shows that Indian politics slowly gaining its momentum in the web as well
Can we call next Indian parliamentary election as Internet election ?
Dr. Manmohan Singh in facebook with 13000 more supporters
Regional politicians leaning towards SNSs
Thank You
?
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