New Media Practices and the 2012 Presidential Elections

The past few posts I have written all belong to a collection of case studies about new media practices and the 2012 elections. I want to collect them all here, and briefly reflect on what these case studies might mean overall for democratic engagement and participation. #MocktheVote Practices of political news consumption and production on … Continue reading New Media Practices and the 2012 Presidential Elections

Live-tweeting democracy: the fantasy of representation

Twitter and the 2012 Elections: Media Practice and Politics Whereas Facebook is a platform that treats politics as more or less taboo, Twitter's network is made up substantially of news outlets/media organizations, political junkies and citizen journalists. This characteristic of Twitter's population of users is partly a product of the site's informational architecture, which makes … Continue reading Live-tweeting democracy: the fantasy of representation

Practices of political news production and consumption on Facebook’s news feed

Since its beginning, the Internet's potential to disseminate information broadly and easily has been hailed as a great democratizing force. Today, this idealist vision has somewhat deteriorated, with some arguing that the Internet creates “echo-chambers” and "filter bubbles" of like-minded people who can choose to only engage with material that agrees with them, and preventing people from being active … Continue reading Practices of political news production and consumption on Facebook’s news feed

#Mockthevote: A Case Study in Democratic Media Practice

Media practice and the 2012 elections: Theorizing new models of democratic participation This case study is named after a hashtag that was trending on Twitter during the three presidential debates. Appropriated from the popular “Rock the vote” campaign, this label was being used to tag Tweets commenting on the debate as it went down- although not … Continue reading #Mockthevote: A Case Study in Democratic Media Practice