The Internet, Electoral Politics and Citizen Participation in Global Perspective
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Social Sciences
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Rachel Gibson (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Bimber B
(2014)
Digital Media and Political Participation The Moderating Role of Political Interest Across Acts and Over Time
in Social Science Computer Review
Bruce Bimber (Author)
(2012)
Digital Media and Political Participation over Time in the UK
Cantijoch M
(2015)
Moving Slowly up the Ladder of Political Engagement: A 'Spill-over' Model of Internet Participation
in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations
Cantijoch, M.
Oxford Research Encyclopedia in Politics
Cantijoch-Cunhill, M
(2018)
Does mode matter? Measuring the effects of different types of online political engagement on offline participation
in Comunicação, Mídia e Consumo
Cheryl Anderson (Author)
(2013)
The web as a pathway to participation in the 2012 US Presidential Election
Gibson R
(2013)
Online Social Ties and Political Engagement
in Journal of Information Technology & Politics
Gibson R
(2013)
Party change, social media and the rise of 'citizen-initiated' campaigning
in Party Politics
Gibson R
(2016)
Friend or Foe? Digital Technologies and the Changing Nature of Party Membership
in Political Communication
| Description | The project ended in January 2013 and we are still generating key findings. In particular we are still analysing the French and U.S. data and so comparative conclusions are limited. Probably the three main substantive findings so far have been (1) that patterns of online participation largely replicate those found in offline behaviour. Something that has not been as explicitly and extensively tested prior to our project; (2) that the internet is mobilizing political engagement but in different ways - so use of the internet for political information is linked with increased conventional offline political activity such as voting compared with other types of uses which confirms and reinforces findings from other studies. The internet also appears to fostering a new type of e-expressive type of online political engagement that is heavily reliant on social media. This appeals to less interested and engaged citizens but does not appear to increase an individuals' likelihood to vote, suggesting a mobilization into more informal types of political activity may be occurring; finally (3) parties and campaign organizations are using the internet and particularly social media to build a more citizen-initiated model of campaigning that has the potential for decentralizing control of campaigns and helping them to generate new and much needed resources. The enthusiasm for this new model is tempered, however, by how strong and centralized parties are, since it allows non-members greater control over the party/candidate message and local campaign operations than has hitherto been possible. In addition the new data mining potential of social media appears to be increasingly driving much of the innovation and adoption by national parties and the ability to better target voters. These findings are important since they show that new citizens can being encouraged into the political process by the technology and also that it has the potential to make parties more open and interactive. However, the extent to which its democratising promise is actively being exploited by politicians and elites during elections is constrained by the institutional context and their inevitable focus on vote maximizing. Finally the project data have formed the basis for a book that has been submitted to OUP and will be published in 2020. The book provides a more structured over time narrative of the emergence and growing importance of digital campaigns in the four countries that were focused on in the project. It also brings in a wider range of comparative survey data from 19 countries and surveys the international literature on the topic over time. The key findings are that digital campaigning has progressed through 4 main phases - experimentation, standardization, community building and activist mobilization and direct mobilization. These 4 phases have emerged at different times in different countries with the U.S. being a leading nation in terms of its location in the cycle. The phases are found to be associated with cycles of increased and decreased pluralisation in the party system and in democratic opportunities for voters, members and smaller parties to get involved in election campaigns. The most phase - voter mobilization - is generating a new state of centralized control in which Artificial Intelligence and algorithms determine party strategy and we there is an increasing presence of a new 'apolitical' elite who are skilled in the science of running campaigns. |
| Exploitation Route | The work has already been discussed and disseminated in non-academic contexts. Specifically: Conferences and Symposia - the 2012 International Electoral Affairs Symposium for election administrators and online election technologists to provide insight into how democratic publics are using the technology during elections and how to better reach them; - two Hansard events at the Houses of Parliament on social media campaigning for policy-makers and their staff, as well as media and the general public to help draw together other academic and non-academic expertise to show how parties and candidates other countries are using social media to campaign effectively - E-campaign events - Fairsay's annual Ecampaign Forum (ECF); the Netroots UK and Northwest conferences; and the TUC Grassroots Conference for Unions. All featured ecampaigners and activists from NGOs and third sector groups. The work was used as a means of helping them locate the digital campaign in wider historical trends of campaigning and reflect on the extent to which citizens are willing to use the new tools to help campaigns. Small one-off consultation exercises with NGOs and Charities - Save the Children, Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) Major consultation exercises - The RAND corporation report to the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) which is a study commiissed as part of the European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS) set up by the European Commission to examine future trends and develop policy that will meet EU states' needs in 2030. My work is being used to understand what types of participation will emerge online and how will political organizations such as parties and pressure groups change to adapt to these trends. Schools - a debate for the ESRC Festival of Social Science held at a local sixth form college (Stonyhurst, Clitheroe) for students on the U.S. Presidential election campaign. I organized it and presented some of the findings of the project along with presentations of two other politics Professors. Charities - the findings for the project Basis for Knowledge Exchange Grant appplication with mySociety. An online charity that helps citizens locate information to help them address local community issues and also follow their councillors and members of parliament more closely and hold them to account. Media - A headline article in the Guardian on the political uses of Twitter 'Is Twitter anything more than an online echo chamber?' August 22 2012. A report on the project commissioned for the ESRC annual magazine Britain in 2012. This research can be put to use in number of ways: - By parties and candidates - the research shows that citizens' interest in official campaign material has increased significantly in elections held in the social media era. A small but significant number of citizens are downloading software and applications to help promote and campaign for candidates online or undertaking 'citizen initiated campaigning' as we term it here. Closer analysis of who these individuals are and how to recruit them and particularly to sustain them after the election campaign could help parties address some problems they face with falling membership numbers. In addition, we have the results of a unique online experimental analysis of voter responses to candidate and educational sites during the 2012 election that will allow insight into how effective this content is in stimulating political interest, voting and other types of political activity such as donating or contacting a public official. Finally, our results also show an increase in the extent of overall contacting by friends and family during elections since the arrival of the internet and particularly social media. Such contact may be particularly effective in that it comes from a trusted other. Parties and campaigns, therefore need to pay attention to developing ways that they can apply such two-step approaches to disseminating their message. - By third sector groups and community campaigners seeking to engage more people in a cause or issue, particularly young people. At the same time that increases with formal actors' online presence is rising, our findings show that use of social media to exchange and comment on politics is of interest particularly to younger citizens and those typically less engaged. This more 'expressive' type of engagement does not appear to lead to an increase in voting but could be used to raise awareness of wider non-electoral political issues and lead to engagement in third sector or more informal political channels. Providing effective and easy ways to forward embed and share political content from one's site therefore would seem to be an important means of promoting a message online. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education |
| Description | The impact of our message about the importance of taking digital media seriously as a campaign tool and the need to understand more about the audience for digital campaigns occurred across a wide range of non-academic users including NGOs, parties, policy makers, media professionals, think tanks, and electoral/governing officials. Specifically this included Trades Union Council, NetRoots UK, NGOS, parties, the BBC, MPs and their staff, MEPs, RAND Europe and Electoral Commission/Reform agency staff. Members of Obama e-campaign team, George Bush's e-campaign team, the Liberal Democrats, the UK and Australian Greens, National CWUYouth Committee contacted the project subsequently to request further information about our work. One of the Hansard Society organizers emailed the PI to say that the final conference event which included high-profile speakers from leading internet companies, PR firms, research institutes and Parliament itself "attracted large online audiences across social media" and "contributed to our continued partnership with Parliament Week and helped connect us to number of influential stakeholders within the digital industries." We also helped inform local A-level pupils of the exciting nature of social science research and the new methods we are developing for web research through 2 invited talks, one of which was a 2012 ESRC Festival of Social Science sponsored debate and focused on who would win the U.S. Presidential election. Finally the online charity mySociety were a significant consumer of our research and on the basis of this agreed to participate in a Knowledge Exchange project to measure the social and political benefit of their sites. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Government, Democracy and Justice |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | ESRC International Networking Grant |
| Amount | £22,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/J019453/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2013 |
| End | 03/2014 |
| Description | ESRC Knowledge Exchange Partnership |
| Amount | £43,318 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | ES/K008110/1 |
| Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2013 |
| End | 09/2014 |
| Title | Election website coding scheme |
| Description | A coding scheme that allowed party sites to be scored and compared on their performance and design as campaign sites. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The coding scheme was made available as an appendix and supplied on demand to other researchers. Publications featuring the website have not been published for very long. The OUP book that is scheduled for 2015 will further publicise the schemes. |
| Title | Surveys of online election behavior |
| Description | Survey questions designed to measure citizens use of the internet for political purposes during an election. Fielded in four countries over four elections between 2010-2012 |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2010 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The questions we developed have been used in 3 national election studies (Australia, U.S. and France) and thus will provide a basis for questions fielded in these countries in subsequent elections. |
| Title | Election survey data |
| Description | Opinion survey data on voters use of the internet during the 2010 UK and Australian general elections and 2012 US and French general elections |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Deposited with UK Data Archive as part of t&c of the funding. Not known whether it has been re-used by other researchers as yet. The questions for 3 surveys were part of wider election studies and thus will be made available to the research communities using these resources. |
| Title | Election website coding scores |
| Description | Spss files of coding scores for party websites and social media content in the 2010 UK and Australian Elections and 2012 U.S. and French Presidential elections |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Submitted to UKDA as part of the formal requirements for data deposit. Not so far aware of any re-analysis. However, the data were very specific to the project. |
| Title | Website archive |
| Description | List of URLs included in several collections archived at Archive-it. They include websites of parties, candidates and media during the electoral campaigns of the elections in UK 2010, Australia 2010, US primaries 2012, France 2012. These collections are now available publicly. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2011 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Allowed for comparative research to be undertaken on online elections for four key democracies |
| URL | http://www.waybackmachine.org |
| Description | Impact events at House of Parliament |
| Organisation | Hansard |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | We helped to provide the content and speakers for the event and chaired/organized the event with Hansard |
| Collaborator Contribution | Helped to source speakers, booked venue and provided logistical support for 3 events run at the House of Commons during the course of the project. One was a roundtable that examined the Internet Election of 2010, the second was a panel discussion on 'How to Run an Effective Social Media Campaign' featuring practitioners and elected representatives. The final event 'Chasing the Digital Wave' was a conference that presented results from the project and also showcased the work of international expert academics on elections elsewhere. |
| Impact | Journal of Information Technology and Politics Special Issue Election Report 2010 'Putting the Small 'p' back in politics' |
| Start Year | 2010 |
| Description | Building an effective social media campaign : a roundtable debate |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was a roundtable discussion organised by the University of Manchester and the Hansard Society as part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science and taking place during Parliament Week (Oct 31 - Nov 6). Hansard reported positive feedback on the event from participants.This was attended by over 80 people. Formal evaluations were conducted and were overwhelmingly positive. They revealed the event had raised non-academic awareness of the importance of social science and ESRC funded research (the 2 that did not report this were an academic and an ESRC funded PhD student, i.e. individuals that were already aware). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Chaired Inside Government Forum on the Future of the Internet in the Public Sector |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event was well attended and there was considerable discussion in the sessions and the breaks. An specialist in government IT services made contact during and after the event to talk about possibilities for assisting parties in analysis of their social media and web use data. Despite some interest this was not converted into a specific project. We remain in touch however and open to future such opportunities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Chasing the Digital Wave: International Lessons for the 2015 Election campaign |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This was a final conference for the grant project organised with the Hansard Society. It was a day long event and sparked a lot of discussion in person and also on social media attracted comment. Attended by policy makers and staff, campaigners. After the final conference in London Tom Brake, MP tweeted 'Couple members of my staff attended @HansardSociety event yesterday. Good feedback/ideas from @Markpack panel amongst others'. Papers presented were revised and prepared for a special issue of the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (published 2014). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Contribution to media news story on the politics of Twitter |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Extensive commentary posted in response to the article on Guardian site Based on the comments it was clear the report had prompted some individuals to speculate on the political implications of Twitter, both good and bad. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2012/aug/22/twitter-online-echo-chanber-leftwing |
| Description | Digital methods : tools for analysis |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 1 day workshop University of Manchester. Trained researchers in how to use web data analysis software. Students and researchers increased understanding of the methods for analysis of digital / web data. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Elections, campaigning and citizens online |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | International Workshop hosted by the Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University 15-16 September 2010 Led to exchange of knowledge about how to best measure web campaigning |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| Description | Invited Contributor to the Social Media and Elections Task Group of the Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Discussion focused on how social media could help ERIS do its work of observing and monitoring elections A report of the meeting was circulated and key points for further consideration by ERIS identified. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited talk to Save the Children digital campaigns team |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We discussed how STC could best capitalize on new media and borrow from best practice seen in the U.S. and the ladder of engagement built by campaigners such as Barack Obama The group considered it a fruitful discussion that helped inform their thinking and planning around use of social media. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Keynote address at Workshop on Civic and Political Engagement and Social Chane in the new digital wave.' Conceptualizing Online Participation - Cevipof , France |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Formed part of an ongoing debate which lasted for up to 4 days during the workshop. Built some new networks for further research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://internetpoliticsecpr.eu/2013/12/18/civic-political-engagement-in-the-new-digital-era-conferen... |
| Description | Keynote address to e-campaign practitioner body Netroots NorthWest |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Good question and answer discussion. Helped to reinforce links with key practitioners in TUC and other e-campaign bodies |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.netrootsuk.org/netroots-north-west-2012/ |
| Description | Lecture for International Summer School in Political Communication and Electoral Behavior |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Students asked follow up questions and debated the key methodological issues raised. Students contacted me afterward to request information about sources and also for advice on their research projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.polcomm2014.net/ |
| Description | Meeting with mySociety Director, Tom Steinberg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We discussed the options for a research partnership to study the effect of mySociety sites We agreed to submit a proposal for the Knowledge Exchange scheme that would allow us to systematically research the question of mySociety's democratic and political impact. This was successful and resulted in a new grant 'Measuring the Societal Benefit of Online Civic 'self-help' Sites' Reference ES/K008110/1 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-051-27-0299/outputs/read/8df77c74-9874-4ebd-a0c2-6cdd4cf4bd... |
| Description | New methodologies for web research in the social sciences |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Workshop stimulated participant discussion of methodological problems and challenges in studying social and political actors use of web 2.0/social media tools The work produced a proposal for an edited book which was accepted and will be published by Palgrave in 2014. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.projectcode.net |
| Description | Parties and campaigning in the digital era |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Panel organised at the ECPR General Conference, Reykjavik, 25-27 August 2011. This panel brought together papers from academics and postgraduate students that confront core methodological issues faced by researchers analyzing political actors use of web 2.0 technologies. Led to a number of papers being selected for a special issue of Journal of Information Technology and Politics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Presentation for TUC Grassroots conference on Online Members and Virtual Organizations |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Discussion followed about the merits of how to move individuals from online into more active offline roles Several individuals contacted me to say that they had been very interested in my work and how I might help them, including Save The Children who invited me to come to their London HQ and address their campaigns team |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://grassrootsuk.org/programme/ |
| Description | Presentation on e-participation for the International Electoral Affairs Symposium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talk gave rise to interesting q&a and debate I was invited by the Electoral Reform International Services to join an expert panel looking at the impact of social media on electoral monitoring |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.electoralforum.org/ |
| Description | Presentation to Netroots UK conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The panel featured myself and MP Tom Watson and there was a very lively debate on how politicians are and should use social media. I was invited to give a keynote and help organize the Manchester Netroots Northwest event in 2012. Tom Watson got in touch and thanked me for my presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
| URL | http://www.netrootsuk.org/netroots-2011/workshops/engaging-with-politicians-online/ |
| Description | Public Lecture for Manchester Statistical Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The group were very interested in the topic and the discussion continued through the formal dinner. I was invited to attend further events and lecture of Manchester Statistical Society and I was also asked to contribute my presentation as a paper for the MSS annual proceedings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.manstatsoc.org/home |
| Description | School Visit to speak about Online Campaigning in the US and French Presidential elections |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Stimulated student questions and discussion Teacher informed me students had found it very interesting and useful for their politics A level |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | School visit to speak at a roundtable I helped organize focusing on outcome of 2012 U.S. Presidential election |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Lively discussion and debate with students Teacher was very impressed and invited me to return to talk to his Politics students the following year. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://stonyhurst.web7.devwebsite.co.uk/news/?pid=3&nid=2&storyid=422 |
| Description | Talk for Phd Training Event - ElecDem Network (EU funded PhD training network in Advanced Techniques for Political Communication Research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Students asked important questions and debated issues about web content analysis indepth Slides were shared and guide/resources on methods distributed to the group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| URL | http://www.elecdem.eu/events/ |
| Description | Talk on the Power of Social Media at the Scottish Parliament Festival of Politics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interesting questions and answer session followed Made some connections with e-campaign practitioners and political journalists (Michael White, Guardian) |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.wow247.co.uk/blog/2013/08/06/festival-of-politics-2013-preview |