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Methodologies for Mapping the Political Blogosphere: An Exploration Using the IssueCrawler Research Tool

Bruns, Axel (2007) Methodologies for Mapping the Political Blogosphere: An Exploration Using the IssueCrawler Research Tool. First Monday 12(5).

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Abstract

This paper explores methodologies for using the IssueCrawler research tool to map the interconnections of individual blogs in sections of the blogosphere. It uses the case of Australian-born Guantanamo detainee David Hicks as a case study, mapping the distributed discussions of this case in that part of the Australian blogosphere which is concerned with debating news and politics. Its findings indicate the presence of a strong and sustained engagement with this case by Australian political bloggers, and point to a tendency for discussions to cluster around a handful of sites which are defined by their political orintation. The network maps also suggest a lack of sustained coverage of the case by bloggers outside of Australia, and indicate only limited engagement between bloggers and the mainstream media.

Item Type:Journal Article
Status:Published
Keywords:blogs; blogging; methodology; IssueCrawler; politics; Australia; David Hicks; network mapping; hyperlinks
Subjects:400000 Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies > 400100 Journalism, Communication and Media > 400104 Communication and Media Studies
420000 Language and Culture > 420300 Cultural Studies
400000 Journalism, Librarianship and Curatorial Studies > 400100 Journalism, Communication and Media
ID Code:7832
Deposited By:Bruns, Axel
Deposited On:24 May 2007
Alternative Locations:http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_5/bruns/index.html
Copyright Owner:Copyright 2007 Axel Bruns
Copyright Statement:This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License