1. Yoonjae Nam (Doctoral student) Department of Communication, State University of New York at Buffalo YennLee, Ph.D. Department of Health & Social Care, Royal Holloway, University of London Han Woo Park, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Media and Communication WCU WebometricsInstitute, YeungNamUniversity, South Korea Web Ecology of the 2010 Regional Elections in South Korea Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
2. Outlines Web ecology Inter-relationship among websites by the human activity of using the Internet in information ecology Observing integration and changes of diverse information behavior during the campaign period of the 2010 regional elections in South Korea Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011 Public opinion & Campaign Issues Web ecology
3. Elections and Internet Use Politicians use Internet because… Large amounts of information /Updated quickly Opportunity to set their own agenda Multimedia, More interactive, & Less dependent on the journalist-controlled traditional media Mobilizing voters, Encouraging donations, & Enabling immediate transactions and recruitment Hyperlink system Allowing users to generate content -Public participation Interactive feedback functions, Discussion boards & SNSs. Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
4. Web ecology and elections - 2 Information ecology is “a science which studies the laws governing the influence of information summary on the formation and functioning of bio-systems, including that of individuals, human communities and humanity in general and on the health and psychological, physical and social well-being of the human being; and which undertakes to develop methodologies to improve the information environment.” - Eryomin (1998) Integration of diverse types of information Recognition of evolutionary change Observation and Description Focus on people and information behavior Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
5. RQs RQ1: Can web ecology provide a clearer understanding of people’s information behavior during election campaigns? RQ1a: Are there differences in the dynamic structure of the web ecology of various elections as a result of differences in the types of positions (e.g., mayor/educational superintendent), peoples’ interest in those positions, and other related issues? RQ1b: How do people maintain the web ecology of political campaigns? producing and disseminating information by posting, tweeting Referring information –by hyperlinking Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
6. Methods -1 Hyperlinking co-occurrences (By Yahoo colink search) Hyperlinking co-occurrence Candidate B Candidate A Hyperlink Hyperlink User, Voter (Blog, SNS etc.) Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
7. Methods -2 Name mentions Web mentions of individual candidates’ names were collected from blogs, news articles & Twitter Measuring the level of word-of-mouth communication in the three different spheres Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
8. Result - 1 Mayors Educational superintendents Time (from 24th May to 2nd June) Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
12. Discussion Inter-relationships between people and the information environment encompassing information strategies and information-seeking behaviors for politics Web ecology can be influenced by not only its surroundings, but also by other adjacent web ecologies in a superordinate system web ecologies of both educational superintendent and mayoral elections are sub-ecologies in a superstructure, which co-evolve interdependently. Analysis of name mentions illustrate the relations between keystone species and their habitat in the web ecology SNSs would be a revolutionary tool for connecting politicians and voters directly. The information retrieval methods tracing the trend of information seeking behaviors do not require contacting voters individually a complementary tool for polls. Web Ecology - 2011 ICA 5/29/2011
