Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/804846

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Title
Web-based citizen engagement in the 2004 Australian federal election
Author/Creator
Aquilia, Pieter
Description
Studies on the use of internet in the Australian political arena indicate that the site producer, rather than the user, is the benefactor of internet technology. Traditionally, the use of the internet in Australian state and territory elections has been, in the words of Gibson and Ward "top-down information provision" (2003:140). Political websites were primarily an "adjunct to existing communication devices," offering limited interactive experiences (2003: 140-141). During the 2004 Australian federal election, however, this study reveals that political websites were as likely to provide features facilitating public engagement as they were to provide political information, suggesting that the internet is closing the gap on what Putman (2000) calls the "civic deficit." In this chapter, we first examine the extent to which the internet, as it was deployed during the 2004 Australian federal election, is changing from a top-down provision of an information model towards one in which webbased citizen engagement is facilitated. Following this analysis, we take a close look at three websites that fostered public engagement in the 2004 Australian federal election - a political party, a media institution, and a citizen website. We also look beyond the definition of "e-democracy" as the privilege of the site producer alone, investigating the potential for the internet to enhance cyber-citizenship through enhanced user participation in the electoral process.
Relation
The Internet and National Elections: a Comparative Study of Web Campaigning p. 165-177
Relation
Routledge Research in Political Communication 2
Relation
http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780203961926
Date
2008
Publisher
Routledge
Keyword(s)
internet;  Australian politics;  elections;  political websites;  public engagement
Resource Type
book chapter
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/804846
Identifier
ISBN:9780203961926
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Subject
"Web-based citizen engagement in the 2004 Australian federal election"
 
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