Towards a hyperlinked society : a critical review of link studies

The hyperlink is a fundamental feature of the web. This paper investigates how hyperlinks have been used as research objects in social sciences. Reviewing a body of literature belonging to sociology, political sciences, information sciences, geography or media studies, it particularly reflects on the study of hyperlinks as indicators of other social phenomena. Why are links counted and hyperlink networks measured? How are links interpreted? The paper then focuses on barriers and limitations to the study of links. It addresses the issue of unobtrusiveness, the importance of interpreting links in context, and the possibilities of large-scale, automatic link studies. We finally argue that beyond the apparent diversity and ad hoc methodologies that the reviewed studies propose, a unified framework exists. It combines quantitative link counts, qualitative inquiries and valuation of field expertise to support link interpretation

Egypt 2.0

Blogging as a phenomenon has spread far from its initial western context and provides new interesting research topics on the implications of the blogosphere in more authoritarian states. We however face many problems when trying to connect the technological complexity of the new information era and the social scientific theories of our discipline. By applying a framework designed to bring order and validity to our efforts to connect social science with information technology I try to define key features of both blogging and the blogosphere. From this framework will we move on to charge the key features with a societal implication, in our case will the features be connected with their potential to assemble the blogs into a social platform for political deliberation. And after presentation of the problems the researcher faces when gathering his data will I present the context in which the Egyptian political blogosphere exist. From this I will move on to propose the hypothesis that an authoritarian state actually will strengthen the quality of the information disseminated in the blogosphere. We will eventually end up with an originally gathered data set and discuss what conclusions we dare to draw

A deliberative public sphere? Picturing Portuguese political blogs

Deliberative democracies are based on the principle of citizens’ participation. However, election turnouts and citizens’ alienation are signs of a political disengagement that could endanger the foundations of democratic systems. The spaces in which political debate and rational argumentation between equals may take place have diminished, yet new digital technologies have brought up potentialities in the promotion of online, horizontal and deliberative communication. Political blogs have been one of the most studied platforms, as they allow citizens engaged in political discussion and argumentation to establish a public sphere in which matters of public concern are debated. Nonetheless, issues of political polarization, fragmentation and non-rational debate have also been pointed out to limit the most optimistic perspectives over political blogs. By using the social network analysis, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the role of Portuguese political blogs, by assessing its level of deliberation.This research was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and co-funded by the European Social Fund in the framework of the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (POPH) of QREN (SFRH / BD / 45400 / 2008

Double differentiation in a cross-national comparison of populist political movements and online media uses in the United States and the Netherlands

In a context of highly visible and politically influential populist movements, this study considers the online self-representation of the Tea Party Patriots (TPP) in the United States and the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands. A multi-methodological approach was adopted to compare the discursive manifestation of key populism concepts: leadership characteristics, adversary definition and mobilizing information. Analyses reconstruct and account for similarities and differences in discursive framing strategies of 'double differentiation' through which both movements attempt inclusion in and exclusion from the political establishment, and, in doing so, mobilize communities of support. Altogether, this study advances the understanding of what constitutes 'unmediated' content that is presented through user-generated media production, and how self-determined media spaces have facilitated shifts in populist media legitimation and political representation in two politically unique countries

The impact of ICT expansion on promoting democracy and economic freedom in the Middle East (1995-2005)

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The PhD study has found that ICT expansion has positively influenced democratic freedom, information sharing and dissemination and provides a public sphere for discourse among citizens of the eleven Middle Eastern countries. This thesis also found that ICT expansion positively influences economic freedom in the eleven Middle Eastern countries. However, differences between countries such as the educational attainment of their citizens and institutional resistance to ICT utilization both enhanced and restricted the relationship between ICT and economic freedom in the regio

Group level influence on blog's design behaviour

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The purpose of this research is twofold. Firstly, this research aims to investigate whether the design preferences of bloggers in selected countries from different cultural backgrounds are influenced by national culture traits. The investigation involves two categories of blogs selected within a country where the bloggers share similar attributes such as language or geographical location. Secondly, simultaneously, this research intends to discover the possibility of the impact of group level influence on design preferences of bloggers who are linked together in a network through bloggers’ linkage or blogrolls. To achieve the said purposes, observations on both the global and local blogs of six selected countries are conducted using the content analysis method. This method allows this research to observe web pages and rate design preferences of bloggers via a coding system, similar to the method used to analyse documents or manuscripts to find common themes or keywords. A total of 612 blogs (306 global and 306 local) are observed for a period of nine months to identify cultural traits on design behaviour based on national culture indicators chosen from prominent literatures. To prevent a systematic error, an independent second observer was appointed and the results obtained are compared using a statistical methodology. In addition, translators were also engaged to verify that the translations are of a correct meaning and comprehension since blogs use various national languages on their web pages. The data were statistically tested using SPSS engaging in statistical analysis of frequency table, Cross-Tabulation and cluster analyses and MANOVA. Results shown that design preferences between both the global and local blogs in each country, has significant differences in most of the design indicators chosen. The findings indicate that the national culture influence on design preferences in linked networks of blogs is weakening indicating another type of influence might be in existence. The results also provide evidence that blogs in linked networks are statistically significant as a cluster or a group by themselves and are independent from one cluster to another. The research, however, studies only six countries from six different cultural dimensions. The inclusion of other countries, similar to or different from the countries under investigation, would be an added advantage. Furthermore, the use of only a single type of global blog provider (blogspot.com) in this research could be extended to other global blog providers such as wordpress.com to give fairer coverage of major and popular global blogs as well as providing a wider generalisation effect of the research findings

BLOG.GOV: winning digital hearts and minds?: professionalization, personalization and ideology in foreign policy communication

Discussions of blogging as a form of political communication have mainly centred on the context of election campaigns, national domestic issues, citizen political blogging and mainstream media blogs. The rise of government blogging as an alternative news source in the aftermath of the 2003 war in Iraq, however, is much less addressed by scholars. This thesis examines the case of the US State Department blog Dipnote in order to study the dynamics of blogging as foreign policy communication and public diplomacy. The focus of the analysis is on posts relating to the Middle East, towards which US foreign policy attention was primarily geared after 9/11. The broader research question of this thesis attempts to determine the relative importance of professionalization, personalization and ideology in influencing the content on the official foreign policy blog of the U.S. government, in order to advance the theoretical understanding of blogging in the context of foreign policy communication and public diplomacy. A content analysis of blog posts was conducted between the period of September 2007, when the blog was launched, and March 2010. In addition to this, several interviews were conducted with the management of the blog at the State Department. Furthermore, by comparing the blog content under the Bush and Obama administrations, this study was able to trace patterns of continuities and discontinuities over time. The analytical framework is adapted from Farrell and Webb’s (2002) professionalization framework, and as such it breaks down the blog’s elements into technical, resource, and thematic developments. First, it is argued that the utilization of the blog as a cultural space is a new interpretation for foreign policy communication not previously considered in studies of government blogging in political communication or public diplomacy research. Second, blogging enables a new form of official yet casual communication which serves to legitimize American activities and presence in the Middle East through personalization and de-ideologization of content that make the blog a source of soft power. Third, the blog is a “protected space” (adapted from Gumbrecht, 2004) where the government maintains editorial control, low immediacy, low interactivity and low engagement. Overall, the findings point to the classic contradictions that the government faces both offline and online in the digital era; between openness and control, as well as secrecy and transparency, especially in the foreign policy context. In conclusion, the analysis suggests that blogging is part of an evolution and does not amount to a revolution in political communication and public diplomacy. I thus argue that in their adoption of new technology, the government moves from a new technology experimental phase to a new technology consolidation phase

Digital activism in Asia reader

The digital turn might as well be marked as an Asian turn. From flash-mobs in Taiwan to feminist mobilisations in India, from hybrid media strategies of Syrian activists to cultural protests in Thailand, we see the emergence of political acts that transform the citizen from being a beneficiary of change to becoming an agent of change. In co-shaping these changes, what the digital shall be used for, and what its consequences will be, are both up for speculation and negotiation. Digital Activism in Asia marks a particular shift where these questions are no longer being refracted through the ICT4D logic, or the West’s attempts to save Asia from itself, but shaped by multiplicity, unevenness, and urgencies of digital sites and users in Asia. This reader crowd-sources critical tools, concepts, analyses, and annotations, self-identified by a network of change makers in Asia as important in their own practices within their own contexts

Blogging the hyperlocal : the disruption and renegotiation of hegemony in Malta

This thesis examines how blogging is being deployed to disrupt institutional hegemony in Malta. The island state is an example of a hyperlocal context that includes strong political, ecclesiastical and media institutions, advanced take-up of social technologies and a popular culture adjusting to the promise of modernity represented by EU membership. Popular discourse is dominated by political partisanship and advocacy journalism, with Malta being the only European country that permits political parties to directly own broadcasting stations.The primary evidence in this study is derived from an analysis of online texts during an organic crisis that eventually led to a national referendum to consider the introduction of divorce legislation in Malta. Using netnography supplemented by critical discourse analysis, the research identifies a set of strategies bloggers used to resist, challenge and disrupt the discourse of a hegemonic alliance that included the ruling political party, the Roman Catholic Church and their media. The empirical results indicate that blogging in Malta is contributing to the erosion of the Church’s hegemony. Subjects that were previously marginalised as alternative are increasingly finding an online outlet in blog posts, social media networks and commentary on newspaper portals.Nevertheless, a culture of social surveillance together with the natural barriers of size and the permeability of the social web facilitates the appropriation of blogging by political blocs, who remain vigilant to the opportunity of extending their influence in new media to disrupt horizontal networks of information exchange. Blogging is increasingly operating as a component of a hybrid media ecosystem that thrives on reflexive cycles of entertainment: the independent newspaper media, for long an active partner in the hegemonic set up in Malta, are being transformed and rendered more permeable at the same time as their power and influence are being eroded. The study concludes that a new episteme is more likely to emerge through the symbiosis of hybrid media and reflexive waves of networked individualism than systemic, organised attempts at online political disruption

Role of Civil Society Under Autocratic Regime: Evaluating Activists\u27 Role in a Nondemocratic Setting to Promote Sociopolitical Awareness

Activism in Cuba is perceived as an anti-government ideology that deviates from the monolithic, homogeneous socio-political norm. The Cuban government repudiates ideological diversity by implementing repressive regulatory tactics through internet monitoring to criminalize dissenting discourse. The focus of this research will be on cyber-activism in the context of an authoritarian regime. Netnographic methods, coupled with social network framework, will be implemented to collect and analyze qualitative data on the adaptive civil disobedience strategies used by activists to circumvent censorship. Semi-structured interviews rendered insights of social media experiences to express dissent and denounce human rights abuses in Cuba. This research proposes to explore the mechanisms through which activists and the Cuban government resist and contest the legitimacy of ideological differences. This research contributes to the literature of Cuban civil society, activism work in nondemocratic settings and activism’s proliferating organizational strategies in the digital world