Suchergebnisse

AbstractNegative campaigning emphasizes what is wrong with an opponent, in terms of policy or personality. American research shows that negative campaigning online has become entrenched. The objective of this paper is to provide an empirical account of the amount and condition of negative messages produced on Twitter by Canadian party leaders. The data comes from a content analysis of tweets in two elections held in 2011. This paper has two research questions: first, what is the tone of Twitter communication? Is there differential use of Twitter by incumbents and challengers in terms of tone? Despite expectations, the data shows Canadian party leaders infrequently attack opponents on Twitter; less than 10% of tweets are negative. This said, we do find evidence that challengers are more likely than incumbents to go negative on Twitter. The paper concludes by considering the implications of this finding for future research on online negativity.

AbstractPolitical actors in Canada are using social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The Canadian government has been lauded for its success in the online delivery of services, but it has been criticized for not employing the Internet for more democratic purposes, and little attention has been paid to this most recent development. This article examines the extent to which Twitter is being used by Canadian government departments and agencies. It asks whether governmental use of Twitter fits into previous patterns of service delivery oriented e‐government or whether it is taking advantage of the possibility for democratic interaction afforded by social media. Based on a content analysis of Government of Canada tweets, the paper finds that service delivery characterizes government tweets and shows how nominal a commitment the Canadian government has made to using Twitter as part of its well‐established and lauded e‐government strategy.

Canadian parliamentarian Garth Turner was expelled from the caucus of the
governing Conservative Party in 2006. Turner was ousted because comments on
his blog allegedly breached caucus confidentiality. While political blogs are
mainstream in American politics, the study of Canadian political blogs is in its
infancy. This research addresses one aspect of political weblogs: blogging by
Canadian parliamentarians through a case study of Garth Turner Unedited. While
most current Canadian parliamentarians are online with their own web sites
promoting the constituency and party activities, Garth Turner is only one of a few
parliamentarians that embrace blogging in its full capacity. The research
demonstrates that the blog has become a virtual community for political
participation and expression.

The Internet has been heralded as the most revolutionary technology since the printing press. Within political science, much work centres around the democratizing potential of the Internet. Cyber-optimists argue that the Internet has the capacity to equalize political competition for parties. Other scholars argue that the Internet will not dramatically change the status of minor parties. Politics on the Internet will be `politics as usual'. Empirical support for both theories is mixed. Research has shown that party-centred countries are more likely to become equalized as a result of the Internet than candidate-centred countries. Using data from the 2004 federal election, this article argues that the Internet has not led to an equalization of party competition in Canada. The websites of nine political parties show that despite equal access to the Internet, there is unequal success in cyberspace for Canadian parties.

Abstract.Canadian political parties have been using the Internet as a campaign tool since the 1997 election.Rebuilding Canadian Party Politicsby Carty, Cross and Young (2000) presents one of the first analyses of Internet-based communications during a Canadian election. It is also one of the most important assessments of Canadian party systems. The book outlines the components that characterize the fourth party system, which they argue, began after the 1993 election. Regionalization is the defining characteristic of this emerging system. The book argues that the Internet, like other communication technologies, is important in this latest party system. Consistent with the notion of regionalized campaign communications, the authors suggest that Canadian political parties use the Internet to target campaign messages to different regional and sociodemographic groups and enter into private conversations with voters. Using original data collected from the 2004 federal election, this paper reflects on these claims. The paper builds the case that the use of the Internet as a campaign tool is not consistent with their argument. Internet-based campaign communications in Canada by the major parties is neither regionalized nor targeted. Rather, this technology makes campaign communication more transparent and centralized.Résumé.Au Canada, les partis politiques utilisent Internet comme outil de campagne depuis l'élection de 1997.Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics, par Carty, Cross et Young (2000), présente l'une des premières analyses des communications sur Internet pendant une campagne électorale. Il constitue aussi l'une des plus importantes évaluations des systèmes des partis politiques canadiens. Le livre dégage également les éléments qui caractérisent le système à quatre partis qui est né, selon eux, après l'élection de 1993. La régionalisation est la caractéristique déterminante de ce nouveau système. Le livre soutient qu'Internet, comme les autres technologies de communication, est important pour ce nouveau système à quatre partis. Conformément à la notion de communications de campagne régionalisées, les auteurs suggèrent que les partis politiques canadiens utilisent Internet pour cibler les messages de campagne selon les différents groupes régionaux et sociodémographiques et engager des conversations privées avec les électeurs. Le présent article examine ces affirmations à partir des données recueillies lors de l'élection fédérale de 2004. Il établit que l'utilisation d'Internet comme outil de campagne ne cadre pas avec leur argument. Les campagnes de communication sur Internet menées par les principaux partis au Canada ne sont ni régionalisées ni ciblées. Cette technologie rend plutôt les communications des campagnes électorales plus transparentes et plus centralisées.

Communication Technology, Barney, Darin, The Canadian
Democratic Audit; Vancouver, UBC Press, 2005, pp. 210, xiii.When Darin Barney tells people he studies digital politics, they
typically ask, "So, is the Internet good for democracy or isn't
it?" (179). If you have ever wanted to know, Barney's
Communication Technology provides an extremely comprehensive
answer to questions about information and communication technologies
(ICTs), democracy and Canadian politics.

The increased use of digital politics by citizens, groups, and governments over the last 25 years carried the promise of transforming the way politics and government was practiced. This book looks at Canadian political practice and the reality of the political process against those early promises.

COVID-19 has made videoconferencing a regular occurrence in the lives of Canadians. Videoconferencing is being used to maintain social ties, run business meetings—and to uphold responsible government. On April 28, 2020, Members of the House of Commons sat virtually using Zoom. The virtual sitting was the first of what will become a stand-in for regular proceedings, allowing the Members to fulfill some of their parliamentary duties while complying with physical distancing (see Malloy, 2020). As the legislative and executive branches look to digital technology to allow the business of government to continue, what about the judicial branch of Canada's government? Courts are an essential service. This is best articulated by the Chief Justice of Nova Scotia: "The fact is, the Courts cannot close. As the third branch of government, an independent judiciary is vital for our Canadian democracy to function. It is never more important than in times of crisis" (Wood, 2020). In this analysis, we seek to understand how courts have responded to COVID-19 and the challenges of physical distancing through the use of digital technologies. This is accomplished through a systematic review of COVID-19 statements and directives issued from all levels of court across Canada. We briefly compare Canada to the United States, a jurisdiction that demonstrates greater openness to technology.

AbstractJournalists routinely live-tweet high-profile criminal trials, a practice that raises questions about access to justice and the principle of open court. Does social media open up the justice system? There is a normative debate in the literature about the use of Twitter and social media in the courtroom. This paper takes on this debate by exploring the relationship between digital technologies and criminal justice. Through a systematic examination of journalists' tweets during two key trials (Ghomeshi and Saretzky), we ask to what extent can the live-tweeting of court proceedings achieve greater access to justice in Canada? We argue that while the live-tweeting does provide more access to court, potentially furthering the principle of open court, the nature of this access provides little in the way of increased engagement with the public and its understanding of the legal system. This paper makes contributions to both the legal studies and digital politics literatures.

AbstractThepicture superiority effectsuggests that a single photograph can communicate a significant amount of political information to voters. Accordingly, politicians must make strategic choices in their self-presentation, particularly when considering how to respond to gender-based stereotypes. Strategic stereotype theory suggests that politicians will either emphasize or rescind gender-based stereotypes depending on whether they believe them to be advantageous to their political image. While the literature on gendered self-presentation is largely confined to television advertising, there is a growing literature focused on the online environment. In this research note, we develop a methodological framework to assess gender-based stereotypes in a purely visual environment. We test the framework using photographs from the Twitter feeds of the main party leaders in the 2018 Ontario election. The note concludes by reflecting on the methodological challenges of examining gender in visual political content online.