Academic Research on Internet Tools in the 2008 Election

The panel Academic Research on Internet Tools in the 2008 Election will be held at 10:00 a.m on Tuesday, April 21st, in Meridian C.

Description
This panel presents the latest research from political science and communications scholars on the use of internet tools in the 2008 election.

Dave Karpf (University of Pennsylvania) presents data on changes to the elite left- and right-wing blogospheres over the course of the election cycle.

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen (Columbia University) will present research on the "labors of internet-assisted activism", the related problems of overcommunication, miscommunication, and communication overload that handicaps activist and volunteer use of new media technologies in campaigns.

Speakers

 * Dave Karpf - Dave Karpf is a Fellow-in-Residence at the Miller Center for Public Affairs in Charlottesville, VA, as well as a doctoral candidate in the Political Science Department at the University of Pennsylvania. His research chiefly focuses on the internet's impact on political associations, including new types of interest group such as MoveOn.org and community blogs. He also writes about the internet applications for existing interest groups, and about the implications of the mobile web for political engagement. His work has previously been published in IPDI's 2007 Politics and Technology Review and in the Journal of Information Technology and Politics. In addition to his academic research, Dave serves as Fifth Officer on the Sierra Club Board of Directors. More info, including his paper presentation, available at www.davidkarpf.com


 * Rasmus Kleis Nielsen - Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is a PhD student in Communications as Columbia University. He works mainly with political communication, new technologies, and various forms of civic and media participation, and has published in both academic, journalistic, and political outlets More info at http://rasmuskleisnielsen.net/


 * Alan Rosenblatt (Moderator) - Alan Rosenblatt, Ph.D. is the Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and well-known internet advocacy evangelist, gray beard, (some say) guru, and (others say) mentor. He is a long-time and frequent speaker and author on digital media, advocacy, and politics, including social networking, blogging, grassroots, e-government, and mobile advocacy strategies. He is the founder of the Internet Advocacy Center and the Internet Advocacy Roundtable; an adjunct/visiting professor at Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, and American Universities, where he teaches graduate courses on the intersection of the internet, politics, and the media; and a blogger at the Huffington Post, TechPresident.com, Campaign &amp; Elections' Politics Magazine, K Street Café, and DrDigiPol.com. Alan is also a founding team member of Media Bureau Networks (MBN), a pioneer in streaming media services which streamed live programs from the 2000 Republican and Democratic National Conventions; a contributing editor to Politics Online; serves on the editorial review boards of several scholarly journals dedicated to the study of the internet, politics, and government; and is a member of the Board of Directors for E-Democracy.org. He was a Fellow at George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy &amp; the Internet in 2008. In the early days of the Web, he taught Political Science at George Mason University for nine years, where, in the spring of 1995, he launched the world's first-ever internet politics course. From 2001 to 2003, he created and served as Vice President for the Online Advocacy Services division at Stateside Associates, a leading state issues management firm. From 2003 to 2005 he served as Director of Training Programs at e-advocates (now called 720 Strategies), which was at the time part of the Capitol Advantage family of companies. He has been working in a professional capacity with the internet since 1988 and with computers and politics since 1986. Alan Rosenblatt has a Ph.D. in Political Science from American University, an M.A. in Political Science from Boston College, and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from Tufts University. He lives in Arlington, Virginia. He does sleep, but always feels like he has more work to do.

From Dave

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From Rasmus

 * The Labors of Internet-Assisted Activism - Follow the link to access the academic paper behind my presentation.

From Alan

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General/from discussion

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