I have now, finally, finished my thesis about the use and effects of blogs in political campaigns. The thesis is now available for download as a pdf here: Blog_Campaigning.pdf, and can also be read as a series of posts on this blog.
Each chapter and subchapter has been published in posts in reverse chronological order to make it easier to view them via a feed reader or on this site. All of the posts have been tagged as “espen’s thesis” as well as other topic-appropriate tags. To view these posts you can either scroll down or view each post from this post from the links provided in the end of the entry.
I created this blog as a part of the research process for my thesis: to structure my thoughts, share my findings and create a discussion about the data as my research progressed.
I now invite you to take a look at the thesis and comment on it so that we together can develop a better understanding of the impact campaigning via blogs has on the political process. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Thanks for reading Blog Campaigning. We will have more posts coming from Jens and Parker in the next week. I’ll be taking a week off so that I can surf (waves, not the net), relax, and enjoy the rest of my time in Australia. That being said, I will respond to comments.
Cheers,
Espen
Read the thesis on the blog:
Scroll down or navigate by clicking the links – Each headline contains a link to the related post:
1. Introduction
1.1 The purpose and importance of the study
1.2 Outline of the Study
2. Data & Methodology
2.1 Methodology
2.2 The data gathering process
2.3 Limitations
3. The medium that is revolutionising political campaigning
3.1 What is a blog?
3.2 The blogosphere
3.3 Blogs in campaigns
4. Literature Review
4.1 Measuring effects: Does web-campaigning win votes?
4.2 The potential impact of blogs
4.3 The uses of blogs in political campaigns
4.4 The impact of blogs
5. Findings
5.1 Blogs’ impact on Election 2006
5.2 How does the web affect people’s voting decision?
5.3 How can we measure the impact of blogs?
Note: The thesis was submitted as a part of my degree; Master of Arts with Honours in Journalism and Mass Communication at Griffith University, Australia, June 1. 2007.
Update: I apologize for spelling Jon Henke’s name incorrectly in the PDF version of the thesis. I also apologize for spelling his blog incorrectly in this version. The blog Jon is writing for is the QandO blog. Here is the link to the blog: http://www.qando.net/.
Update:
The feedback the thesis receives can be followed in this post: Blog Campaigning thesis: Extras
4 Comments
I apologize for spelling Jon Henke’s name incorrectly in the PDF version of the thesis. I also apologize for spelling his blog incorrectly in this version. The blog Jon is writing for is the QandO blog. Here is the link to the blog: http://www.qando.net/.
- Espen
I find this a fascinating subject. And I agree with your conclusion.
My only comment is that it seems that lately some Political campaigns have made poor judgements when hiring a blogger. Interestingly they have seemed to be the Democrats that have stumbled in this regard with Andrea Marcotte and Matt Browner-Hamlin.
Also in a related topic Fred Thompson is running a brilliant campaign by not running a traditional campaign. It will be very interesting to see how he changes the game. He seems to get it more than anyone, even Dean.
g
Greg: Yes, I just read that about Thompson. It will be interesting to see what he can do.
- Espen
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