MatthewHindman.com: Political science, political communication, and Internet politics http://www.matthewhindman.com Mon, 20 May 2013 07:30:51 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.matthewhindman.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.matthewhindman.com MatthewHindman.com: Political science, political communication, and Internet politics http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2010091954/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Berkman.html This academic year I will be a faculty associate at the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/) at Harvard. I won’t be in residence—I’m teaching courses at GWU this fall and spring—but I will be coming through Boston on a regular basis. I’m mostly working on my next book project, which is on the political economy of the online public sphere. Look for much, much more to come on that front. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:28:59 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2010083153/Research/Moving-to-George-Washington-University.html It’s now official: I have moved to Washington, DC, to take a faculty position at The George Washington University. I am excited about the move, though I will miss many things about Arizona—especially my colleagues at ASU. I was blessed to have such smart and supportive fellow faculty, and it was personal rather than professional issues that inspired me to consider leaving. But if it is bittersweet to leave Arizona, I am grateful to have landed at GWU, which is a fantastic place be a scholar of political communication. Very few institutions have such an impressive constellation of scholars whose interests overlap with my own. One of the best things about DC is that lots of people come through town. If that includes you, drop me a note. Research - Research Tue, 31 Aug 2010 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2010052352/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Myth-of-Digital-Democracy-Wins-Donald-McGannon-Award.html I’m tremendously pleased to report that The Myth of Digital Democracy has won the 2009 Donald McGannon Award (http://www.fordham.edu/academics/office_of_research/research_centers__in/donald_mcgannon_comm/book_award_33998.asp). The award is given out by the Donald McGannon Center for Communication Research (http://www.fordham.edu/academics/office_of_research/research_centers__in/donald_mcgannon_comm/index.asp) at Fordham University to the year’s best book on the social and ethical dimensions of communication policy. As with the Goldsmith Award, the greatest part of this honor is just to be spoken of in the same breath as previous winners. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Sun, 23 May 2010 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2010020151/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Myth-of-Digitial-Democracy-Wins-Harvard-s-Goldsmith-Prize.html I'm thrilled to learn that The Myth of Digital Democracy has won the 2010 Goldsmith Book Prize (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/news_events/archive/2010/goldsmith_finalists_01-29-10.html). Awarded by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/index.html) at the Harvard Kennedy School, the Goldsmith Prize seeks to recognize the year’s best book on the intersection of the press, politics, and public policy. It is a great honor to be listed alongside the previous winners (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/prizes_lectures/goldsmith_awards/book_prize.html)—a group that includes many scholars I have long looked up to. I will count myself lucky if my book has half the influence that previous winning titles have enjoyed. This project benefited in countless ways from the ideas and work of others, and this is a good moment to thank, again, everyone who contribued to the book’s success. Thanks are also due to Chuck Myers and the entire staff at Princeton University Press, who where terrific to work with at every step along the way. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009100950/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Sold-Out-On-Amazon.html Score one for old media. In the wake of the book being featured on last week's On The Media (http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2009/10/02/05), it is sold out on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Digital-Democracy-Matthew-Hindman/dp/0691138680/), at least for the next week or two. Those eager to read it should know that there are still plenty of copies available: click here (http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8781.html) to order the book directly from Pirnceton University Press. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:30:51 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009092843/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy-Featured-on-NPR-s-On-The-Media.html About a year ago, driving home from Tucson, I heard one of my grad school professors on NPR talking about his latest book. Boy, I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could go on NPR to talk about my book once it comes out?Be careful what you wish for. A couple weeks ago I got a call from James Hawver, a producer for On the Media (http://www.onthemedia.org/), NPR’s weekend media affairs program. He had read Ben Carlson's piece (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909u/professional-bloggers) in the Atlantic, and so he ordered a copy of the book. Long story short, this Monday I went down to KJZZ for a half-hour interview with Brooke Gladstone. In part, the interview was a lesson in humility. Brooke is very good at what she does. Naturally enough, the hosts of OTM often adopt a skeptical tone and press their guests hard on points of disagreement. And I have very little experience in front of a microphone or a video camera.This made for a couple of awkward moments. Early on in the interview, after I talked about online news readership being more concentrated than print readership, Brooke said that she doubted that this was the appropriate comparison.... The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009092044/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Social-Media-So-What.html That was the entertaining title of my panel at the Oxford Social Media Conference (http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/2009/07/29/the-oxford-social-media-convention-2009-assessing-the-evolution-impact-and-potential-of-social-media/). In my opening remarks I strenuously disagreed with other presenters’ claims that the Internet provides for “low barriers to entry.” Different barriers to entry? Sure. Low barriers in 1995? Of course. But low barriers today? Not in any of the mature part of the Web, and certainly not in the niches that I study. Most online news remains the product of print or TV or radio outlets, and new outlets like the become highly professionalized (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909u/professional-bloggers), with few new bloggers rising to prominence over the 2008 election cycle. Moreover, just gaining “entry” doesn’t mean very much, if a broader class of entrants don’t really expand the pool of winners. Any golfer able to win a regional qualifying tournament can gain entry into the U.S. Open (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Open_%28golf%29), while other events (such as the Masters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_masters)) are strictly invitational. But cheesy Kevin Costner movies (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117918/) aside, the folks who win the U.S. Open are full-time pros, not guys who play a few rounds on the weekends.Still, an edifying conference filled with smart people doing interesting things. Thanks to the... The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009091045/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Me-in-The-Atlantic.html For those of you interested in political blogging -- and who among my readers isn't? -- it's worth checking out Ben Carlson's new article (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200909u/professional-bloggers) on the professionalization of online political commentary. I had a long talk with Ben about the piece, and he was kind enough to quote me in it. Any day where I’m quoted alongside Nick Carr (http://www.roughtype.com/), Ezra Klein (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/), and Matthew Yglesias (http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/) (who might be my favorite political blogger) is a good day.My lines: The era when political comment on the Web is dominated by solo bloggers writing for free is gone, and “There is a difference between speaking and being heard.” The first quote comes from the article I presented at Penn’s Democracy Citizenship and Constitutionalism seminar this spring, titled “The Closing of the Frontier: Political Blogs, the 2008 Election, and the Online Public Sphere (images/docs/hindman_closing_of_the_frontier.pdf).” Click on the title to read the full piece. The second quote comes from my book (http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Digital-Democracy-Matthew-Hindman/dp/0691138680/), which of course you should all buy and read if you haven’t already. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009081947/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Review-in-Political-Communication.html Diana Owen (http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/owend/) has a very, very kind review (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a913649540) of the book in the latest issue of Political Communication (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713774515~link=cover). The review even goes so far as to call the book a “landmark work in political communication.” That is hard praise to live up to. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009081646/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Netroots-Nation-Who-s-Left-Out.html I was lucky enough to attend the Netroots Nation (http://www.netrootsnation.org/) conference at the invitation of Campus Progress (http://www.campusprogress.org/). The panel title was “Who’s Left Out? Taking a Critical Look at Online Organizing (http://netrootsnation.org/node/1136) .” To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure how my book would be received. I had a testy email exchange with one prominent blogger about the book, and I have often had audiences get upset when I suggest that there are limits to the online meritocracy. But it ended up being one of the most interesting and enjoyable panels I’ve been on. Click here (http://www.netrootsnation.org/node/1328) to view video of the panel. Much of the credit for the way the panel went goes to Erica Williams (http://www.campusprogress.org/events/1702/speakers-erica-williams) (also from Campus Progress), who did a great job in directing the discussion. But I was also blessed with excellent co-panelists: Eszter Hargittai (http://www.webuse.org/) (whose work many of you know), Biko Baker (http://tba2007.confabb.com/users/profile/bbaker) , Xavier Lopez-Ayala (http://allianceminnesota.org/page/community/blog/xavier) , and Jenifer Fernandez Ancona (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jenifer-fernandez-ancona) . Thanks also to Katie Andriulli (http://www.americanprogress.org/aboutus/staff/AndriulliKatie.html) for organizing the session. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009032948/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Oxford-Keynote.html I was privileged to attend the joint conference at Oxford put together by Harvard’s Berkman Center (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/) and the Oxford Internet Institute (http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/) . I was even invited to give the keynote address kicking off the event. You can find video of that presentation here:p9kV8QLpYC8I’ve rarely felt more jetlagged than I did the day I presented, but I remain excited about the dynamic models of Web traffic I present here, which come out of my work with Bruce Rogers (http://mathpost.asu.edu/~rogers/). The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Sun, 29 Mar 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2009032549/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Nature-Reviews-The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy.html A very positive review (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v458/n7237/full/458409a.html) of the book in the latest Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html), by Richard Allan (http://www.richardallan.org.uk/), a former British Member of Parliament and all around interesting guy. The review is quite well written (particularly for such a short article), and does a good job of both describing the book and offering Allan’s own insights. Worth a read no matter what you think of my own work. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:00:00 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008112042/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Obama-s-Final-Web-Fundraising-Numbers.html Half a billion dollars (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html) in online donations over 21 months. $100 million of that in September alone.For years I was told that I was overestimating the potential of the Web to change the way that campaigns are funded. I don't think I'll hear those complaints again. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:21:43 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008111741/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/The-Book-Now-Released-into-the-Wild.html I am pleased to announce that The Myth of Digital Democracy is published (http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Digital-Democracy-Matthew-Hindman/dp/0691138680/). If you order the book through Amazon right now, it will be in your hands by the end of the week. (Feel free to test of Amazon's logistical prowess by ordering multiple copies.)This website has lain dormant for the past few months, as I’ve been preoccupied with final editing on the book and a host of post-book projects. But that's about to change. I’ll be updating this site at least once a week during the coming year. Partly, I want to clarify and expand on the arguments I make in the book. Academic publishing has a long lead time. When writing about a fast moving topic like Internet politics, years-long delays can be downright annoying. I’ll also be responding to inevitable criticisms, and talking about the continuing evolution of media politics in the 21st century.So stay tuned.PS: After some early hiccups, the RSS and Atom feeds of this website seem to be behaving themselves. You can make sure that you don’t miss any updates by subscribing using the links on the bottom left of this page. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:19:36 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008073040/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Competing-Against-Google-is-Hard.html Just ask the folks at Cuil.com (http://www.cuil.com), a new search engine which launched last week. Reviews of the new search engine have not been good (http://www.crn.com/software/209800399). Google has thousands of employees doing research and development; Cuil.com has 18. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:58:14 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008071739/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Gastronomical-Googlearchy.html Here is a real-world example of how winners-take-all algorithms (such as Google's PageRank) are shaping offline behavior. The new iPhone has an application called Urbanspoon whereby, by shaking the phone, the hip and hungry urbanite is directed to a nearby restaurant.Problem is, the New York Times reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/dining/16note.html), the phone only picks restaurants that already have a wealth of positive reviews: If Urbanspoon users haven’t visited and taken a shine to a place, you’ll be shaking your way to carpal tunnel syndrome before it pops up. Googlearchy: it's not just for Web sites any more. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:58:39 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008070938/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Debating-the-Power-of-Political-Email.html The Politico's Ben Smith (http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/) has a story on Hillary Clinton's e-mail list (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11532.html), and its ostensible power. For political scientists, data on the effectiveness of political e-mail has been mixed at best. Recent field experiments by campaign scholars have found that, compared to control groups, supporters who received candidate e-mail were not more likely to support the candidate, or to turn out on election day. But despite my initial skepticism, traffic data suggests that e-mail has indeed become a powerful force in the 2008 presidential election. Consider the chart below. The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:43:30 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008070737/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/-I-Hate-the-Bloggers.html John McCain on our (supposedly) fragmenting media environment: wset9i4b0b4 Two comments: The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:48:11 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008070736/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/-The-Only-Criterion-for-Membership-Is-a-Modem.html Several aspects of online political discourse never cease to surprise me. Foremost among these is the inability of extremely bright people to understand that they themselves are not ordinary citizens. Andrew Sullivan had a minor classic of the bloggers-are-just-ordinary-folks genre recently. Referring to David Brooks' New York Times op-ed piece (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/opinion/27brooks.html) about a group of young right-leaning writers, Sullivan commented (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/06/the-next-conser.html) that Like the blogosphere itself, it's an open group. And the only criterion for membership is a modem. Um, no. Take a closer look at exactly who is on this list: The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:01:06 +0100 http://www.matthewhindman.com/index.php/2008070131/The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy/Announcing-The-Myth-of-Digital-Democracy.html I'm very pleased to announce that my book will be published this winter by Princeton University press. The title: The Myth of Digital Democracy. Over the coming months, I'll be using this space to discuss the book's themes and central findings. Here is the blurb from the Princeton catalog: The Myth of Digital Democracy - The Myth of Digital Democracy Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:03:32 +0100