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 Reader Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore , Mysore [email protected] Vasantha Raju, N. Librarian Govt. First Grade College –Periyapatna Mysore Dr. Mallinath Kumbar Professor Department of Library and Information Science University of Mysore , Mysore National Conference on Information Technology and its applications CIST-Mysore November 21-22, 2009 University of Mysore, Mysore

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Page 1: From street campaigning to online campaigning: Indian national political p…

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 [email protected]

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

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Overview

• Introduction

• Research questions

• Literature review

• Methodology

• Results

• Current trends in Indian political discourses on the web

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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

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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?

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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

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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

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Political party websites considered for the study

1. BJP 2. CPI 3. CPI (M)4. INC 5. NCP ( listed in alphabetical order)

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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)

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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

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Results-1

Functional (content) features found in Indian national political

party web sites

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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 - - - -

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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

- - - -

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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

- - - -

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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 - - - - -

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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 - - - -

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Results -2

Formal (Content) features found in Indian political party web sites

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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 - - - - -

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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

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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 ?

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Dr. Manmohan Singh in facebook with 13000 more supporters

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Regional politicians leaning towards SNSs

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Thank You

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