e-Democracy and the 2007 Australian Federal Elections
The advance in internet and communication technology is currently revolutionizing politics on a local, state, federal and international level. Communications between politicians or MPs and the public community is shifting towards the internet in order to connect with a larger public voting base. This shift has furthermore connected Politian’s to differing demographics of the information age which they would not have connected to in traditional political avenues.
The emergence of the internet and associated communication technologies has lent politics to a new medium. The combination of politics and the internet is called e-democracy.
The concept of e-democracy is associated with efforts to broaden political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their representatives via new information and communication technologies(1).
The advance in internet and communication technology is currently revolutionizing politics on a local, state, federal and international level. Communications between politicians or MPs and the public community is shifting towards the internet in order to connect with a larger public voting base. This shift has furthermore connected Politian’s to differing demographics of the information age which they would not have connected to in traditional political avenues.
The emergence of the internet and associated communication technologies has lent politics to a new medium. The combination of politics and the internet is called e-democracy.
The concept of e-democracy is associated with efforts to broaden political participation by enabling citizens to connect with one another and with their representatives via new information and communication technologies(1).
This particular definition emphases the political stance gained by political parties. On the other hand Kenneth Hacker and Jan van Dijk delve deeper into digital democracy as:
The use of information and communication technology (ITC) and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in all kinds of media for purposes of enhancing political democracy or the participation of citizens in democratic communication. A collection of attempts to practice democracy without the limits of time, space, and other physical conditions, using ITC and CMC instead, as an addition, not a replacement for traditional ‘analogue’ political practices(2).
Digital democracy or e-democracy impacts upon relationships between the political and the public in a positive manor. E-democracy is seen to strengthen the relationship by humanizing the politician. The internet poses the potential to make politics freely accessible and democratic forcing politicians to become more open, accountable and human(6). Internet politics involve the citizen more in the actual decision-making process, by consulting and also enabling the ability to discuss and deliberate government policy proposals(3). The discussion and deliberation between the public and politic allows an interaction that strengthens the support or vote the public has for a particular party.
The 2007 Australian elections between the Howard (Liberal) and Rudd (Labour) government saw the first e-democracy campaigning in the country. The increase in professional mainstream use of political websites and blogs illustrate the way in which Australian political parties have utilized a new form of media to tackle the lack of mainstream coverage and successfully re-stage political argument in the cyber world rather than televised sound(5). The Howard government had been in power from 1995 until Kevin Rudd took the upper hand at an early stage in the election by utilizing communication technologies to his advantage. The 2007 election was the first time in Australian politics that the internet has been used as a political campaign and outlet to advertise to voters.
The 2007 Australian elections between the Howard (Liberal) and Rudd (Labour) government saw the first e-democracy campaigning in the country. The increase in professional mainstream use of political websites and blogs illustrate the way in which Australian political parties have utilized a new form of media to tackle the lack of mainstream coverage and successfully re-stage political argument in the cyber world rather than televised sound(5). The Howard government had been in power from 1995 until Kevin Rudd took the upper hand at an early stage in the election by utilizing communication technologies to his advantage. The 2007 election was the first time in Australian politics that the internet has been used as a political campaign and outlet to advertise to voters.
The rise and popularity of the internet has encouraged political parties to set up websites to directly communicate with voters.
Election campaigns in other countries have utilised the internet in producing websites for candidates and their parties. The Australian social media mirrored the American internet campaign and produced election sites including a special election2007 channel created by Google providing tools to chart trends, access electorate and candidate information, electorate boundaries over Google Maps and hyperlinks to YouTube political video clip channels(4).
The YouTube debate and rebuttal from candidate to candidate interested most internet users, capturing a demographic that was previously unreachable. Over 600 videos were posted on YouTube; the 40 videos by Howard’s Liberal Party had 140, 00 views, however Rudd’s Labor Party posted 64 videos which received 460, 000 views and also 1.5 million views across channels and social networking sites(4).
Election campaigns in other countries have utilised the internet in producing websites for candidates and their parties. The Australian social media mirrored the American internet campaign and produced election sites including a special election2007 channel created by Google providing tools to chart trends, access electorate and candidate information, electorate boundaries over Google Maps and hyperlinks to YouTube political video clip channels(4).
The YouTube debate and rebuttal from candidate to candidate interested most internet users, capturing a demographic that was previously unreachable. Over 600 videos were posted on YouTube; the 40 videos by Howard’s Liberal Party had 140, 00 views, however Rudd’s Labor Party posted 64 videos which received 460, 000 views and also 1.5 million views across channels and social networking sites(4).
Figure 1. Australian Labor Party
In conjunction with the election2007 channel, social networking sites also created election ‘channels’ and selected candidates were invited to join(4). Social networking allowed politicians to have a direct point of contact with the Australian public who could voice their opinions to Howard or Rudd without going through the traditional chains of government.
The initiative allowed politicians to control the profile and image they presented and provided them with the opportunity to communicate directly with Myspace members, a demographic often difficult to reach(4).
The social networking sites dramatically increased the popularity of Kevin Rudd to the point where his campaign team requested Facebook to increase the individual friend limit(6).
The internet opened up a demographic that was previous unreachable in previous traditional campaigning strategies. Labor leader Kevin Rudd was able to use the internet to his advantage and became a successful campaign tool. Kevin Rudd was able to provoke a greater interest via internet campaigning, allowing users to further engage in his political ideas through hyperlinks between social networking sites, YouTube and other political channels. John Howard’s party lacked dedication towards internet campaigning which ultimately lead to the loss of the cyber demographic to Kevin Rudd(4).
Digital democracy is way of increasing the public’s involvement in politics and leads to a stronger and united political nation. Political internet outlets provide a greater sense of community by humanizing politicians and perceiving them as another common person.
The internet is an ever expanding tool in connecting and sharing with other users. It is a public forum that only now the government and politics have recognized the incredible power it holds. By evolving to new communication technologies of campaigning, the political fight has become stronger and seemingly only won by those who gain the support of the internet demographic through dedication to the internet. Digital democracy will impact on democracy in the offline world but will enhance it rather than detract from the political.
The federal elections of 2007 demonstrate the power of e-democracy and popularity of the internet. The shift towards integration of media communication in campaign strategies still support traditional media campaigning but have the potential to become a mainstream tool(4).
Reference List
Books:
(1) Chadwick, A. 2006, Internet Politics: States, Citizens and New Communication Technologies
(2) Hacker, K.L and Van Dijk, J. 2000, Digital Democracy: Issues of theory and practice, SAGE Publications, London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi.
Internet:
(3) Backhouse, J (2007) e-Democracy in Australia: the Challenge of Evolving a Successful Model, Electronic Journal of e-Government Volume 5 Issue 2 [online] http://www.ejeg.com/volume-5/vol5-iss2/Backhouse.pdf [access date: 21/10/09]
(4) Backhouse, J (2008) Election Campaigning in the Era of Web 2.0 and Social Media, found in – Remenyi, D (2008) 4th International Conference on e-Government [online] http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vxs1GhszvFMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA55&dq=e-democracy+rudd+and+howard+elections&ots=imgEt_5kLZ&sig=UBthG_WgngGC3Wz-6gw87LVFoww#v=onepage&q=&f=false [access date: 21/10/09]
(5) Griffiths, M (2008) Participation Verite: Lessons from Australian New Media Democracy 2007-08 – found in Hahamis, P (2008) Proceedings of the 8th European Conference on e-Government [online] http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KjALtIPW14AC&oi=fnd&pg=PA299&dq=e-democracy+rudd+and+howard+elections&ots=k7DZ3wTCju&sig=uRwwC4Cojd5hJjwyVPSTuJQ4cjs#v=onepage&q=&f=false [access date: 21/10/09]
(6) Hills, R (2007) Politics turns to the web [online] http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22530075-27197,00.html [access date: 21/10/09]
Citations:
Books:
Dahlberg, L. and Siapera, E. 2007, Radical Democracy and the Internet: Interrogating theory and practice, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, USA.
Hague, B.N. and Loader, B.D 1999, Digital Democracy: Discourse and Decision Making in the Information Age, Routledge, New York, USA.
Vicktor, M. and Lazer, D. 2007, Governance and Information Technology: From Electronic Government to Information Government, The MIT Press, USA.
Webster, F. 2001, Culture and Politics in the Information Age: A new politics?, Routledge, New York, USA.
Internet:
Fishlock, S (2007) The Internet’s role in the 2007 Federal Election [online] http://www.datalink.com.au/company/blog/ramblings/the_internet_and_the_2007_federal_election [access date: 21/10/09]
Figure 1. Australian Labor Party (posted 6/08/07) Why Vote Labor? Kevin Rudd tells you his plan for Australia [online] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQg34SW4Oz0&NR=1 [access date: 22/10/09]
