Research Projects & Tools

Where do issues in virtual public spheres come from during an election? This research project aims to examine the movement of issues through media over time via coding, archival and analytical research into online media processes, understood as code politics. When and how do parties set the agenda, or do they? How does the blogosphere deploy new media formats such as embedded video or RSS, and how do aggregators (such as www.YouTube.com) that provide these formats influence agendas? What is the relationship between political parties, mainstream media, bloggers and the blogosphere?

How is the internet changing provincial politics in Ontario. This research project tracks both official and unofficial online campaigning for the Ontario Election 2007. The research investigates politics in a variety of formats including YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, and the blogosphere. During the election, the Infoscape Lab will be posting weekly updates.

Research Workshop (dates and participants to be updated soon)

One of the critical implications of Web 2.0 and the proliferation of
social networking platforms is the displacement of site maps in lieu
of me-centric navigational structures. The emergence of new technical
tools to represent our-selves and our networks from first-person
vantage points, not only on the Web but equally on gaming platforms and
wireless handheld devices, has political, economic, ethical, legal, and cultural
consequences. In many ways our selves are increasingly being coded and

This workshop brings together some of the most renowned and accomplished international researchers in the field of media globalization. Building upon research conducted in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, the workshop will develop an international agenda and cluster of research on the theme of 'migrating media', film and TV productions that have historically been produced in southern California.

This research project tracks on a weekly and monthly basis blog and news coverage of candidates in the Leadership race for the Liberal Party of Canada. The research is investigating the relationship between a candidate’s coverage in the news compared to the less formal blogosphere. Do some candidates receive proportionally more coverage in one sphere than the other? How do political events, controversies, and policy statements effect the news and blogosphere?