Do the Political Geography on the Net Virtual Field Trip (15-20 minutes)

Discussion Questions

• What do the sites that you looked at do?
• How do the sites encourage communicative exchange among citizens either online or offline?
• To what extent do these sites transform elections and the democratic process? How do they transform the democratic process?
• How are the advertising and the campaign materials on these sites different than TV advertisements? So the same strategies that work on TV seem to work on the Internet?
• What is geographical about the use of the Internet for the campaigns highlihgted in the wired articles?
• How does the Internet alter the geogrpahy of campaigning?
• What effect did the Internet had on the election?
• Do orgs like Moveon.org actually change anything? Or are they just a different way of doing the same thing?
• Do these uses of the Internet make political participation more accessible? Less accessible?
• What is the role of community building in politics?
• What are the scale implications of the Internet for political campaigns? Does the Internet provide a tool for effective local organizing as well as reaching large national audiences?
• How does the internet alter local politics? Is the impact the same as in well financed national campaigns?

Move On article

• "How does a large collection of citizens influence a great national campaign without succumbing to a fatal dependence on a small cadre of professionals? " Is technology the answer?
• How is moveon.org's method of raising awareness and cash different than traditional methods? To what extent is MoveOn.org effective in organizing "real world" action? To what extent does the activism promoted stay online?
• Is popular rationality fatally flawed as the author argues? Can Internet campaigning work when voters are "disengaged and poorly informed?"

The New American Idol

• Do you believe the claim that "The political barriers to entry are dropping across the country, even for candidates who happen not to be rich action heroes trained to shrug off chains." If not, why isn't the Internet working in this way?
• California just passed significant global warming policies. Is this an indication that the author is correct that this means that politicians will arrive in office less compromised and more open to fresh thinking or is California simply fulfiling its traditional role as a leader in political change?
• Does the Internet allow peole to see the nuance and mixed viewpoints that people really have in contrast to the picture of a polarized electorate promoted in the media?

Kerry Net Strategy Now on Voters

• Was Kerry's internet strategy successful, compared to Bush? Was the Net as powerful as the traditional media in this campaign?
• How was geospatial technology being used in elections?

The Dean Machine Marches On (and accompanying profiles)

• How did the internet help Mitch Daniels to get elected? Would he have been successful without it? Will it help him get re-elected?
• How did the Internet help Tony Knowles in Alaska campaign?