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Outputs (27)

Socially Networked Heterogeneity: The Influence of WhatsApp as a Social Networking Site on Polarisation in Kenya (2019)
Journal Article

Using a cross-sectional survey of two sampled counties in Kenya, this article analyses whether social networking sites reflect social network heterogeneity. It then examines how social network heterogeneity influences polarisation in Kenya. Three typ... Read More about Socially Networked Heterogeneity: The Influence of WhatsApp as a Social Networking Site on Polarisation in Kenya.

Out with the old in with the new? The media campaign (2018)
Journal Article
Ward, S., & Wring, D. (2018). Out with the old in with the new? The media campaign. Parliamentary Affairs, 71(S1), 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsx057

The 2017 General Election will likely be remembered as the campaign where the once dominant forms of TV and print journalism were challenged by digital platforms. This chapter analyses this development while also acknowledging that social media netwo... Read More about Out with the old in with the new? The media campaign.

Digital campaigning (2017)
Book Chapter

It is now over 20 years since political parties began to move online and fight elections using new internet technologies, although in most established democracies it took another decade, or more, before internet access spread to the majority of voter... Read More about Digital campaigning.

MPs, Twitter & the EU referendum campaign (2016)
Presentation / Conference
Ward, S., Mcloughlin, L., Gibson, R., & Southern, R. (2016, September). MPs, Twitter & the EU referendum campaign. Presented at Elections Parties and Opinion Polls Annual Conference, University of Kent, UK

In the UK, as in many democracies there has been a rapid rise of MPs using Twitter over the past six years. From being a relative novelty in 2010, over one parliamentary cycle, the technology had been normalized by 2015 with 576 MPs having Twitter ac... Read More about MPs, Twitter & the EU referendum campaign.

Introduction : the importance of method in the study of the ‘Political Internet’ (2014)
Book Chapter
Sudulich, L., Wall, M., Gibson, R., Cantijoch, M., & Ward, S. (2014). Introduction : the importance of method in the study of the ‘Political Internet’. In Analyzing social media data and web networks (1-21). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137276773_1

In this introduction, we outline our understanding of the ‘political Internet’ and present the methodologically focused approach that we take to the topic in this volume. We then discuss the growing social and political relevance of the Internet and... Read More about Introduction : the importance of method in the study of the ‘Political Internet’.

The Australian public and politics on-line: Reinforcing or reinventing representation? (2008)
Journal Article
Gibson, R., Lusoli, W., & Ward, S. (2008). The Australian public and politics on-line: Reinforcing or reinventing representation?. Australian Journal of Political Science, 43(1), 111-131. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361140701842607

Fears for the health of representative politics in advanced industrial
democracies have gained prominence in recent years with observers pointing
to a growing body of evidence that citizens are disengaging from formal
politics. One of the solution... Read More about The Australian public and politics on-line: Reinforcing or reinventing representation?.

UK politics and the internet: the first decade (2006)
Journal Article
Ward, S., & Vedel, T. (2006). UK politics and the internet: the first decade. Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 226-235. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsl005

WHEN the tenth anniversary of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was celebrated in 2004, visionaries and sceptics alike turned to reflect on what has been and what will be the reality and impact of the Internet in everyday life.1 Since the early beg... Read More about UK politics and the internet: the first decade.

UK politics and the internet: the first decade (2006)
Journal Article
Ward, S., & Vedel, T. (2006). UK politics and the internet: the first decade. Parliamentary Affairs, 59(2), 226-235. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsl005

WHEN the tenth anniversary of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was celebrated in 2004, visionaries and sceptics alike turned to reflect on what has been and what will be the reality and impact of the Internet in everyday life.1 Since the early beg... Read More about UK politics and the internet: the first decade.