The Oxford Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation » wikis

Parties, campaigns and representation: the political impact of blogs and social media

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:44:39 +0000

The outcome of political careers and even campaigns is increasingly dependent on the successful mastery of new communication tools including social media. Many MPs and members of Congress are embracing the use of social networking tools to keep in touch with their constituents, whilst Facebook, YouTube and even Twitter have potentially changed the nature of election campaigns in reaching out directly to grass-roots supporters, with the recent US presidential campaign also showing how effective these tools might be in raising funds. At the same time, it is not clear whether these tools are likely to prove effective in engaging any voters except those who are already interested in politics, or whether their apparent ‘democratisation’ of traditional party structures is to be believed. Do we yet have any evidence to suggest that social media has genuinely altered the nature of election campaigning? Is there any evidence to suggest that traditional gate-keepers in the political communication process (political parties, press secretaries, political editors in mass media, etc.) are truely being bypassed? Or that traditional political institutions are being altered?

Making science public: data-sharing, dissemination and public engagement with science

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:39:20 +0000

Journals and peer-reviewed publications are still the most widely used channels through which research is disseminated within the scientific community and to a broader audience. However, social media is increasingly challenging the supremacy of editors, reviewers and science communicators. Blogging about science has become a new way of engaging “the public” directly with researchers whilst researchers are increasingly using blogs within their own academic communities for peer-review purposes. Panellists will give their perspective on how social media has changed the nature of the scientific debate amongst scientists, and how it has impacted on engagement with the public understanding of science. So, if social media offers the opportunity of unmediated exchange between scientists and the public, is this the last nail in the coffin of science journalism? Do blogs have the potential to become a respected medium for academic exchange?

Social media, so what? Assessing the impact of blogs and social media

Barbara — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:33:02 +0000

Theorists such as Yochai Benkler have suggested that the accessibility and inherently social nature of Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, social networking and wikis mean that we might expect them to enhance our democratic freedoms through the opening of new channels for debate and collaboration. Academic research suggests that such new opportunities have not been equally taken up, and that in many areas, new social media are simply being used by old ‘elites’. At the same time, blogs and social media are having significant effect in enhancing accountability and transparency, particularly in repressive regimes like Burma and China. This session will ask whether we should be so quick to dismiss the socially egalitarian and politically democratic potential of social media or whether there might equally be more mundane but significant social impacts which have so far been ignored. Is there any evidence that the advent of social media have enhanced the potential for meaningful collaboration? Or for political deliberation? Or engagement across rather than within particular groups? Have they lived up to their democratic potential? What are the downsides of the “Twitter revolution”?