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The Myth of Digital Democracy available in Paperback
- ISBN-10:
- 0691138680
- ISBN-13:
- 9780691138688
- Pub. Date:
- 11/16/2008
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
Overview
Matthew Hindman argues that, though hundreds of thousands of Americans blog about politics, blogs receive only a miniscule portion of Web traffic, and most blog readership goes to a handful of mainstream, highly educated professionals. He shows how, despite the wealth of independent Web sites, online news audiences are concentrated on the top twenty outlets, and online organizing and fund-raising are dominated by a few powerful interest groups. Hindman tracks nearly three million Web pages, analyzing how their links are structured, how citizens search for political content, and how leading search engines like Google and Yahoo! funnel traffic to popular outlets. He finds that while the Internet has increased some forms of political participation and transformed the way interest groups and candidates organize, mobilize, and raise funds, elites still strongly shape how political material on the Web is presented and accessed.
The Myth of Digital Democracy. debunks popular notions about political discourse in the digital age, revealing how the Internet has neither diminished the audience share of corporate media nor given greater voice to ordinary citizens.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780691138688 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Princeton University Press |
| Publication date: | 11/16/2008 |
| Edition description: | New Edition |
| Pages: | 200 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Chapter One: The Internet and the "Democratization" of Politics 1
Democratization and Political Voice 4
A Different Critique 8
Gatekeeping, Filtering, and Infrastructure 12
The Difference between Speaking and Being Heard 16
Chapter Two: The Lessons of Howard Dean 20
The Liberal Medium? 21
"Big Mo'" Meets the Internet 26
The Internet and the Infrastructure of Politics 27
The End of the Beginning 34
Chapter Three: "Googlearchy": The Link Structure of Political Web Sites 38
What Link Structure Can Tell Political Scientists 41
The Link Structure of Online Political Communities 45
Site Visibility and the Emergence of Googlearchy 54
The Politics of Winners-Take-All 56
Chapter Four: Political Traffic and the Politics of Search 58
The Big Picture 60
Traffic Demographics 67
Search Engines and (the Lack of) User Sophistication 68
What Users Search For 70
Search Engine Agreement 78
How Wide a Gate? 80
Chapter Five: Online Concentration 82
Barriers to Entry 83
Distribution, Not Production 86
Online Concentration 90
Comparative Data, Comparative Metrics 91
A Narrower Net 99
Chapter Six: Blogs: The New Elite Media 102
Blogs Hit the Big Time 103
Bloggers and the Media 105
So You Want to Be a Blogger 113
Blogger Census 118
Bloggers and Op-Ed Columnists 125
Rhetoric and Reality 127
Chapter Seven: Elite Politics and the "Missing Middle" 129
The Limits of Online Politics 131
A Narrower Net 133
Political Organizing and the Missing Middle 139
New Technology, Old Failures 141
Appendix: On Data and Methodology 143
Support Vector Machine Classifiers 143
Surfer Behavior and Crawl Depth 150
Hitwise's Data and Methodology 151
References 155
Index 173
What People are Saying About This
Hindman provides a serious, informed, and methodologically conscientious argument in favor of the position that the Internet has not fundamentally changed the elitist and concentrated structure of the public sphere typical of mass media. He produces significant evidence against both fears of fragmentation of discourse and hopes that we are seeing a more egalitarian and democratic networked public sphere. The contribution is important, and anyone working in this area will have to contend with his data and analysis.
— Yochai Benkler, Harvard University
Many authors make claims about the Internet and politics on the basis of some piece of the problem—by looking just at Web sites or blogs, or by examining link structure, or evaluating some aspect of campaigns for office. Hindman has drawn together many pieces of the puzzle into a coherent whole. This is an ambitious book, and it delivers.
— Bruce Bimber, University of California, Santa Barbara
"An outstanding combination of theoretical and empirical work. Hindman has produced one of the very few best books, ever, on the relationship between the Internet and democracy. Indispensable reading."—Cass R. Sunstein, author of Republic.com 2.0"Hindman provides a serious, informed, and methodologically conscientious argument in favor of the position that the Internet has not fundamentally changed the elitist and concentrated structure of the public sphere typical of mass media. He produces significant evidence against both fears of fragmentation of discourse and hopes that we are seeing a more egalitarian and democratic networked public sphere. The contribution is important, and anyone working in this area will have to contend with his data and analysis."—Yochai Benkler, Harvard University"Many authors make claims about the Internet and politics on the basis of some piece of the problem—by looking just at Web sites or blogs, or by examining link structure, or evaluating some aspect of campaigns for office. Hindman has drawn together many pieces of the puzzle into a coherent whole. This is an ambitious book, and it delivers."—Bruce Bimber, University of California, Santa Barbara"This book makes a significant contribution to the study of political communication. Hindman's approach provides an extensive and multifaceted view of online political content, its producers, and its audiences. This book breaks new ground in important ways, and is likely to become a modern classic in the field of the Internet and politics."—Diana Owen, Georgetown University
This book makes a significant contribution to the study of political communication. Hindman's approach provides an extensive and multifaceted view of online political content, its producers, and its audiences. This book breaks new ground in important ways, and is likely to become a modern classic in the field of the Internet and politics.
— Diana Owen, Georgetown University
An outstanding combination of theoretical and empirical work. Hindman has produced one of the very few best books, ever, on the relationship between the Internet and democracy. Indispensable reading.
— Cass R. Sunstein, author of "Republic.com 2.0"