In Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama, Daniel Kreiss discusses the use of new media in presidential campaigns and how it has transformed the way candidates conduct them. He studies the campaigns of Howard Dean and Barack Obama and discusses the change in infrastructure and tools used in campaigns that resulted from the introduction of new media. Kreiss is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In the first chapter, Kreiss provides some background information on the general topic of the book, which is “networked politics.” He discusses it in terms of both the use of computer networks to create an infrastructure for campaign purposes, as well as a method of organizing participation in electoral and campaigning activities.
Chapter 2 examines the beginning of Howard Dean’s use of the Internet and new media. As a result of blogs, Meetup (an online network that allows groups to easily organize) and a strongly developed email program, Dean gained a substantial amount of publicity from media outlets that were impressed with his use of the Internet to fundraise and campaign for the presidential primary.
The next chapter continues to explore Dean’s creative uses of new media tools and the organization of the Internet department within his campaign. Several of these creative tools include Deanspace and Deanlink, programs allowing for campaign supporters to easily collaborate and the ability to incorporate social media into the campaign.
In Chapter 4, Kreiss discusses the development of new media between campaigning periods. He examines Blue State Digital, the technology firm that helped transform the Democratic Party’s media strategy, and the work it did to help members of the Democratic Party campaign by using the Internet.
Obama and the New Media Division of his campaign are introduced in Chapter 5. This division was placed among the top divisions of his campaign’s organizational structure in order to stress its importance. Staffers in the New Media Division had enough autonomy and resources to create and implement new media tools, including blogging, an email program, and a strong focus on the content and symbolic design of Obama’s website.
The final chapter and conclusion discuss the impact of Obama’s New Media Division on mobilization, both in terms of supporting Obama and encouraging him to change his stance on certain policies, and on Democratic politics as a whole. Kreiss provides a final look at the changing organization of campaigns as a result of the use of the Internet and addresses the effects of this change on the future of politics.
Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama is an excellent resource when it comes to studying the influence of the Internet on political campaigns. It thoroughly examines the transformation of networked politics that began with Howard Dean’s campaign and contributed to Obama’s victory in 2008. This book provides valuable insight in the fields of new media, the Internet and political campaigning, and I recommend it to anyone interested in those fields.
Katie Wheeler
UNC-Chapel Hill
In the first chapter, Kreiss provides some background information on the general topic of the book, which is “networked politics.” He discusses it in terms of both the use of computer networks to create an infrastructure for campaign purposes, as well as a method of organizing participation in electoral and campaigning activities.
Chapter 2 examines the beginning of Howard Dean’s use of the Internet and new media. As a result of blogs, Meetup (an online network that allows groups to easily organize) and a strongly developed email program, Dean gained a substantial amount of publicity from media outlets that were impressed with his use of the Internet to fundraise and campaign for the presidential primary.
The next chapter continues to explore Dean’s creative uses of new media tools and the organization of the Internet department within his campaign. Several of these creative tools include Deanspace and Deanlink, programs allowing for campaign supporters to easily collaborate and the ability to incorporate social media into the campaign.
In Chapter 4, Kreiss discusses the development of new media between campaigning periods. He examines Blue State Digital, the technology firm that helped transform the Democratic Party’s media strategy, and the work it did to help members of the Democratic Party campaign by using the Internet.
Obama and the New Media Division of his campaign are introduced in Chapter 5. This division was placed among the top divisions of his campaign’s organizational structure in order to stress its importance. Staffers in the New Media Division had enough autonomy and resources to create and implement new media tools, including blogging, an email program, and a strong focus on the content and symbolic design of Obama’s website.
The final chapter and conclusion discuss the impact of Obama’s New Media Division on mobilization, both in terms of supporting Obama and encouraging him to change his stance on certain policies, and on Democratic politics as a whole. Kreiss provides a final look at the changing organization of campaigns as a result of the use of the Internet and addresses the effects of this change on the future of politics.
Taking Our Country Back: The Crafting of Networked Politics from Howard Dean to Barack Obama is an excellent resource when it comes to studying the influence of the Internet on political campaigns. It thoroughly examines the transformation of networked politics that began with Howard Dean’s campaign and contributed to Obama’s victory in 2008. This book provides valuable insight in the fields of new media, the Internet and political campaigning, and I recommend it to anyone interested in those fields.
Katie Wheeler
UNC-Chapel Hill