Well politics has been an even bigger hot topic this past week. Who will run, who will win? Having a Bachelor's in Political Science, I seem to find myself immersed in all of the debates and platforms. Then I often have a fleeting thought...do other countries work like this? How do their campaigns for political office go? Do they participate in the same way Americans do?
Jean Burgess and Axel Bruns really got me to see that often times...nothing changes. People are who they are. Their study looked at Twitter as a microblogging platform and the election related tweets. The researchers discuss how much Twitter impacts a campaign but often times not in the ways it should. It seems that even in places like Australia, the voters seem to mirror only what they are presented. Not a lot of in-depth research is done by the common voters to see what they like and do not like about candidates. We see that in our own country as well, Americans jumping on board with social campaigns yet never really understanding what they are fully supporting.
The roles change a bit in places like South Africa. The citizens of these areas, as discussed by Marion Walton and Pierreinne Leukes, do not have a direct and readily available connection to the campaigns being given by elected officials. So do they let that stop them, why of course not. While what gets heard and who hears it is closely monitored, mobile use to gain access to these campaigns has increased. These two articles also add to the context of how crucial it is for voters to get involved and how crucial this new emergence of social media campaigns really are.
The final article for this week discusses how blogs and political blogging effect the political discourse of a country. Stefania Vicari discusses how the new political blogging practices are effecting campaigns. Because of this new era, Blogs are bringing light to the issues facing countries and even giving a new era of campaigning a shot.
Overall the issues that face Americans are still prevalent in other countries. Social media is playing a giant role in the politics of today around the world. So as this new era pushes its way through, will we step up and do our part to join in the fight to know the facts and do the research.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
#PoliticallyCorrect
As if social and digital media did not run our daily lives already a new era has been rung in, digital political campaigns. Our first reading for this week kind of set the premise and theoretical basis for what this new phenomenon is, interactivity. Barbara Warnick writes about the guidelines and research done on interactivity and concludes that is that in which users connect with a speaker on a common cause. She writes about the political campaigns of the 2004 election and shows that interactivity functions rhetorically to advance the agendas of candidates. This shows that political figures are stepping on board the digital media train, now more than ever, to join voters under a common cause.
The next article by Janet Johnston focused on the use rhetoric on Twitter in the 2012 presidential campaigns. She states that, "Social media changes the way candidates react to situations as well as how Americans can respond, support, and gather information about both candidates." So how does this new use of digital and social media affect us as voters in any kind of elections? Well data shows that President Obama's "Change" campaign was one of the driving forces behind his win and reelection. So if he is the first to really solidify the use of rhetoric and Twitter as its outlet then what will come of the next campaigns? Johnson again describes the use of rhetoric by stating, "Political candidates must learn to use rhetoric in the digital world. When a person learns to communicate a clear, concise, and effective message at the appropriate time and direct that message to a specific audience about a certain situation, that person creates leverage. By creating “rhetorical leverage,” political candidates communicate messages effectively with the electorate and create an advantage. The candidates can possibly neutralize messages created by their opponents in other traditional media by learning to use virtual rhetoric effectively and take advantage of the rhetorical situation through these new rhetorical media."
Rhetoric, being the use of language to construct clear and effective messages for an audience and a specific situation, plays a key role in everyday life and once again, like Warnick states, bring people together on a common cause. That also is prevalent in Amber Davisson's piece on Google Maps as a rhetorical invention in the 2008 election. The use of the traditional red and blue maps were used to divide our country by affiliations; however, in 2008 Google created user generated maps that sought to band a divided country together into what they could unite and become. Instead of the traditional read and blue mixed maps we see around election time, alternative maps created during the 2008 presidential election, show the seeds of future political action. Here lies a potential future where users can collaborate and participate in the political interpretation of the spaces they occupy on a daily basis.
Social media plays a heavy role in now just about every aspect of our lives. Political parties and their communication through social media gives voters a firsthand experience of the political process in real time, which television, radio, and print could not accomplish in past elections.
The next article by Janet Johnston focused on the use rhetoric on Twitter in the 2012 presidential campaigns. She states that, "Social media changes the way candidates react to situations as well as how Americans can respond, support, and gather information about both candidates." So how does this new use of digital and social media affect us as voters in any kind of elections? Well data shows that President Obama's "Change" campaign was one of the driving forces behind his win and reelection. So if he is the first to really solidify the use of rhetoric and Twitter as its outlet then what will come of the next campaigns? Johnson again describes the use of rhetoric by stating, "Political candidates must learn to use rhetoric in the digital world. When a person learns to communicate a clear, concise, and effective message at the appropriate time and direct that message to a specific audience about a certain situation, that person creates leverage. By creating “rhetorical leverage,” political candidates communicate messages effectively with the electorate and create an advantage. The candidates can possibly neutralize messages created by their opponents in other traditional media by learning to use virtual rhetoric effectively and take advantage of the rhetorical situation through these new rhetorical media."
Rhetoric, being the use of language to construct clear and effective messages for an audience and a specific situation, plays a key role in everyday life and once again, like Warnick states, bring people together on a common cause. That also is prevalent in Amber Davisson's piece on Google Maps as a rhetorical invention in the 2008 election. The use of the traditional red and blue maps were used to divide our country by affiliations; however, in 2008 Google created user generated maps that sought to band a divided country together into what they could unite and become. Instead of the traditional read and blue mixed maps we see around election time, alternative maps created during the 2008 presidential election, show the seeds of future political action. Here lies a potential future where users can collaborate and participate in the political interpretation of the spaces they occupy on a daily basis.
Social media plays a heavy role in now just about every aspect of our lives. Political parties and their communication through social media gives voters a firsthand experience of the political process in real time, which television, radio, and print could not accomplish in past elections.
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