Research Projects

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.

The World Class University Project is a program financed by the Korean government that invites international scholars with advanced research expertise to collaborate with Korean faculty members and establish new academic programs in key growth-generating fields. With a vision to enhance the competence of Korean universities, the WCU project seeks to improve the level of higher education in the country, thereby contributing to development of world-class research institutions in Korea.

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? The project will also track the emergence of political issues in both spheres.