Internet and National Politics

The article ‘Civil Society and Cyber Society: Internet in Community Associations and Democratic Politics’ got me thinking about the Internet and politics. Does the internet really make a difference with regards to politics? I thought I would do some Google searches to find out if there really are any impacts.

The first article I can across was from the Harold Tribune 9 (http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-150873970.html). The article discussed Senator Barack Obama's videotaped response to President George W. Bush's final State of the Union address and how the video elicited little attention from newspaper and television reporters when it was posted on his presidential campaign's Web site in January 2008. However, on the Internet, the poorly lighted video, showing Obama talking directly to the camera, caught fire. It quickly appeared on YouTube's most popular list and Google's most blogged list. Is there really a larger audience accessing online politics than offline politics? Or, is the difference really because of the large number of YouTube users and politics is one of the topics YouTube users search for?

The next article (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics) talks about the use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet. The article goes on to say that if it wasn’t for the internet, Obama would not be President. By using Web 2.0 tools Obama’s Champaign changed the way political supporters were organize, voter advertising was handled, defend against attacks and communication with constituents was organized. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising: the campaign’s advertising created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours, to buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million dollars. Approximately 6.7 million people watched the 37-minute Obama speech on race on YouTube.

I always knew the Internet was a powerful tool, however, seeing all these statistics above in black and white makes you realize the real power of the Internet and other new mediums. If my memory services me correctly, I remember hearing that Obama was the first President to have and use a blackberry while in office. I believe that he also uses ‘twitter’ as a communicate method. I could never see Bush using the same technology.

A spring 2008 survey found that a record-breaking 46% of all Americans used the internet, e-mail or cell-phone text messaging to participate in the 2008 Presidential election process (http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/record-percenta.html ). The survey found that the Internet is becoming an normal part of the political participation -- people use it to read the news, share their views, or to participate in a process to get others to take political action. Bloggers are having a huge impact on the course of elections. Some 47% of online adults have watched at least one type of online political video; that adds up to 35% of all adults. Overall, the survey found that just under a third of all Internet users have participated in the online political process through a variety of means.

I still watch TV to stay on top of the news; I have it on as background noise while doing other work. This is my way of staying on top of community news, politics, etc. It appears that from the statistics above I’m one of those individuals that has not used the Internet to its full potential. I also think at if our politics were as interesting as the USA, I might use the Internet to obtain information that I might otherwise miss or want to see again. Our politics are not that interesting and seeing it once on the TV or reading it in the newspaper is enough for me.

Some additional articles of interest:

Young Voters share Politics via Internethttp://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1313778/young_voters_share_politics_via_internet/

Internet Moves National Politics into 21st Centuryhttp://media.www.thetraveleronline.com/media/storage/paper688/news/2008/10/27/News/Internet.Moves.National.Politics.Into.21st.Century-3506757.shtml

Matt Bai Analyzes Internet’s Effect on National Politics
http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/news/2008-10-28-bai-analyzes-internet%E2%80%99s-effect-national-politics

Innovative Study Suggests Where Blogs Fit into National Politicshttp://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/105/press_release.asp

Kluver, Jankowski, Foot and Schneider , “The Internet and National Elections: A comparative study of web campaigning”, Routledge Research in Political Communication, 2007

Twitter

I've only heard of 'twitter' since taking this class, it seems that now I'm hearing about it everywhere.

The Toronto Star has recently published a number of articles on 'twitter'. I didn't realize that it had such a large network of users.

Toronto Star - February 25th

1. Twitter `tweets' won't be cheap
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/592619


Toronto Star - February 27th - two articles

1. Bell does about face on Twitter
http://www.thestar.com/article/593826

2. Chirpy Miller joins Twitter craze
http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/593900

Online eHealth Websites

The article, “A multilevel analysis of sociability, usability, and community dynamics in an online health community” by Maloney-Krichmar, D., & Preece, J. (2005) got me thinking about some of the online health initiatives that I have worked on over the years.

The article references the results of the” Pew Internet & American Life Project Report, Vital Decisions [Fox and Rainie 2002]” (page 4). The report found that 73 million American adults, or 62% of those with Internet access, researched a disease or medical condition on the Internet, and the number continues to grow. Forty-eight percent of those who sought health information online reported that the advice they found improved the way they take care of themselves or a loved one, and 55% said that access to the Internet improved the way they get medical and health information.

The article specifically identifies the website related to knee injuries; http://www.factotem.org. This website enables individuals to post messages on the site related to knee injuries that they would like to share with others, as well as being able to access articles, medical journals, etc. related to knees.

Another site accessible to Ontarians is the Ontario Wait Times website; http://www.health.gov.on.ca/transformation/wait_times/wait_mn.html. This website enables individuals that are waiting for a medical procedure to research and view the wait times for that procedure within their area.

I think that this type of website (online community) provides Ontarians with more information than they might receive with face-to-face communications. Without this website how would individuals know if they could get the same procedure at another hospital in a shorter period of time (shorter wait time for surgery)? Would individuals have to call each hospital to find wait times for that procedure? Would the hospitals provide in individual with that type of information? Who would have that information? Would that be information that is known to all hospital employees?

Another project I’m working relates to collecting immunization information for school age children. The children can either be immunized at their doctors’ offices or through their schools immunization programs. If the child is immunized at the doctor’s office, the parent is responsible for providing the immunization information to their local health unit. The majority of the public health units have the parents calling their local health unit and verbally providing them with the immunization information for their child. Niagara region health unit created a web page that enables parents to enter the immunization information for their child directly online; https://www.regional.niagara.on.ca/Secure/Record_Vaccination.aspx. This information is very important because children in Ontario can be suspended from school if their local public health unit does not have all of their up-to-date immunization records.

These types of websites contain valuable information but is this information easily access to all generations? Are older generations able to use these websites? What if they are not computer literate? If they do not have a computer and/or an internet connection is this information lost to them?

Below is a movie that was created by the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care that discusses the importance for accurate health records and quick access to health information.

Attached are links to the latest eHealth newsletter and strategy plan for Ontario.
http://www.ssha.on.ca/eNewsletter/Issue2/
http://www.ehealthontario.on.ca/news/strategy_consultation.asp

Online Worlds - Jan 27/09

I registered for this Adult Learning course at OISE thinking that this course would help me further understand the Internet and how adults can/would use it to learn. What I didn't expect was to find out how little I really know about the Internet and how adults can create an entire new version of their lives in a virtual world. I selected a topic for this course that I knew nothing about specifically to expand my knowledge of the unknow. What I didn't expect is how out of the loop I am and how little I know. I did a quick search on the Internet to find out how large this virtual world really is and I was very very surprised. I don't have enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do in my really life - I can't image spending hours in a virtual world - what would I have to give up in the real world to become virtual. I also do not understand what the virtual world brings into the lives of those that participate so I am a little relunctant to come to any conclusions or make assumptions. I'm hoping that I will learn more about this virtual world over the course of my research and understand it's pull a bit more.

Just thought I would attach a link to some of the virtual worlds that came up when I did a quick search on 'online worlds' (I might also need it for research later and this seems like a good place to save the link for future reference).
http://compsimgames.about.com/od/onlineworlds/Online_Worlds_Massive_Multiplayer_Games.htm