Code Politics: Ontario Election 2007

The Code Politics research project at Ryerson University Infoscape Lab has found that urban candidates from all the major political parties in the recent Ontario election were much more likely than their rural counterparts to integrate web 2.0 platforms (campaign websites, Facebook) into their election campaigns.

Web 2.0 sites typically integrate a higher degree of interactivity, allow for forms of social networking, and encourage the uploading of user generated content.

Nearly half (47%) of recent blog posts* on the Conservative "Blogging Tories" website lambasted Ontario PC leader John Tory. The vast majority of the negative posts made reference to Tory's proposal for funding religious schools. However, perhaps more disturbing for Tory are the numerous references to his liberal politics -- many bloggers complained that Tory would be no better than McGuinty.

Facebook

Facebook continues to be the platform of choice for MMP proponents and Green party supporters – we might say this new media format is supporting a certain type of new politics. The Green party saw their group add 358 members this past week, just slightly ahead of a group promoting the environment (which added 310 members to its ranks this past week). Two nastier groups entitled “Dalton McGuinty is an Idiot” and “John Tory is a douchebag” also made our top ten list of largest gains in group membership for the past week.

Campaign Websites

Post Debate Analysis: Blogger chatter, winners, losers, and video-campaigning

Blogosphere

Top Issues in the Blogosphere (Immediately after the Leaders debate*)

Sample: drawn from top 100 blogs, as determined by Google

Notes: “De Jong” were blog posts discussing the Green party’s exclusion from the televised debate. “MMP” blog posts mostly noted the omission of this issue during the debate.

Green Party sees gains across the Web

Facebook

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