Mundane Internet Tools, Mobilizing Practices, and the Coproduction of Citizenship in Political Campaigns

Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

Abstract

The internet’s potential for political mobilization has been highlighted for more than a decade, but we know little about what particular kinds of information and communication technologies are most important when it comes to getting people involved in politics and about what this means for the active exercise of engaged citizenship. On the basis of ethnographic research in two congressional campaigns in the USA, I will argue that specific mundane internet tools (like email) are much more deeply integrated into mobilizing practices today than emerging tools (like social networking sites) and specialized tools (like campaign websites). Campaigns’ reliance on mundane internet tools challenges the prevalent idea that sophisticated ‘hypermedia’ turn people into ‘managed citizens’. Instead, I suggest we theorize internet-assisted activism as a process for the coproduction of citizenship and recognize how dependent even well-funded political organizations are on the wider built communications environment and today’s relatively open internet.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftNew Media & Society
Vol/bind13
Udgave nummer5
Sider (fra-til)755-771
ISSN1461-4448
DOI
StatusUdgivet - 2011
Udgivet eksterntJa

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