Critical Voices in the Australian Political Blogosphere

Critical Voices in the Australian Political Blogosphere Assoc. Prof. Axel Bruns, Tim Highfield ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology Brisbane, Australia a.bruns , [email_address] – http://snurb.info/ , http://andthentheworld.wordpress.com/ Lars Kirchhoff, Thomas Nicolai Sociomantic Labs Berlin, Germany lars.kirchhoff , [email_address] – http://sociomantic.com/

A New Approach to Blog Mapping
Process stages (cf. ISEA 2008 , AoIR 2008 papers):
data gathering and processing
track large number of (broadly) political Australian blogs through RSS feeds
scrape blog content for newly posted entries
separate blog post content from ancillary materials / separate discursive links from other link types
(grow master list of blogs as required)
content analysis
combine extracted blog post content (per blog, per cluster, per timeframe, …)
automated analysis to identify key themes and keywords
currently using Leximancer
network analysis
combine extracted link information (overall, per timeframe, per cluster, …)
automated network mapping to identify lead blogs and clusters
currently using VOSON, Pajek, and UCINet
combined analysis
e.g. comparative content analysis for lead blogs and clusters in the link network
e.g. correlation of blogosphere patterns with external factors (parallel themes in MSM, etc.)
(First iteration Nov. 2007 to Jan. 2008; second iteration Jan. 2009 to present)

Australian Politics Online in 2009
Key themes:
Global financial crisis and federal government response (throughout 2009)
Obama inauguration (20 Jan. 2009)
Devastating bushfires in Victoria (early Feb. 2009)
Queensland state election (23 Feb. – 21 Mar. 2009)
Federal budget (12 May 2009)
‘ Ozcar’ or ‘Utegate’ affair (June-Aug. 2009)
Underlying background:
Well-established Labor government, mid-way through first term
Approval ratings high for PM Rudd, low for Opposition Leader Turnbull
Large stimulus spending: Australia only developed nation not in recession
Substantial debate about global warming policies (esp. carbon reduction targets)
‘ Rusted-on’ conservative commentariat in some MSM outlets

Overall Patterns of Activity (Jan.-Aug. 2009) Bushfires Budget Artefact Qld Election New Sites Added

MSM Patterns of Activity (Jan.-Aug. 2009) Bushfires Budget Artefact Qld Election Utegate Pt. 2?

Blog Patterns of Activity (Jan.-Aug. 2009) Bushfires Budget Artefact Qld Election Obama Utegate Pt. 1 Utegate Pt. 2

Opinion Patterns of Activity (Jan.-Aug. 2009) Australia Day Budget Qld Election Obama Utegate Pt. 2 Artefact

Top Posters (Blogs and Opinion Columns)

Bushfires in Victoria (~ 7-12 Feb. 2009)
‘ Black Saturday ’ bushfires:
Caused by intense heatwave (> 45°C+ or 110°F)
Triggered by arson, downed powerlines, lightning, …
Started on Saturday 7 February 2009
173 deaths recorded, 2000+ houses destroyed
4500 km 2 burnt
Kinglake / Marysville area worst affected
Substantial displacement of residents
Questions raised over emergency alert systems and bushfire preparedness
Final fires put out in mid-March
(Images: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Victorian_bushfires )

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 7 February 2009

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 7-9 February 2009

‘ Ozcar’ Affair
‘ Utegate ’ (~ June to August 2009):
2007: car dealer John Grant donates a ‘ute’ (utility vehicle) to Kevin Rudd’s PM election campaign
February 2009: Grant enquires about federal assistance under the ‘Ozcar’ financial stimulus scheme
4 June 2009: Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull alleges that Rudd asked Treasury for preferential treatment of Grant, also implicates Treasurer Wayne Swan
4 June 2009: Treasury official Godwin Grech testifies in Senate enquiry, claims pressure from superiors
19 June 2009: Opposition Senator Abetz reads from alleged email from PM advisor to Grech during Senate enquiry
19 June 2009: Turnbull accuses Rudd of corruption and lying to parliament
22 June 2009: Federal Police raid Grech’s house and find email
22 June 2009: Email found to be fake, created by Grech
July: Claims Turnbull and Abetz coached Grech’s Senate testimony (unsubstantiated)
July: Turnbull’s approval rating as Opposition Leader plummets to record lows
4 Aug. 2009: Grech admits forging email
4 Aug. 2009: Auditor-General’s report finds no wrongdoing by PM or Treasurer
(Image: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/24/2606943.htm )

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 19 June 2009

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 19 June 2009 (detail)

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 4 Aug. 2009

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 5 Aug. 2009

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 19-24 June 2009

Key Themes in the Blogosphere 4-5 August 2009

Analysis
Victorian Bushfires:
Tracking the growth of a story
Limited engagement from the blogosphere due to lack of first-hand access to information, holiday season
Shift towards wider issues: climate change, emergency alert systems
Utegate:
Distraction from major themes
Cynics: opposition attempt to disrupt coverage of government’s budget stimulus and opposition’s inaction on carbon reduction policy
Ute backfire:
Turnbull linked ever more closely with affair, no traction on other issues
Rudd central to other political coverage, increasingly distant from Utegate issues
Main blogosphere coverage remains focussed on economy, climate change

Further Research
Deeper analysis:
Comparison between MSM and blogosphere coverage
Examination of concept rankings and relations
Link network analysis
Analysis of further events and issues
Comprehensive longitudinal examination
Refinement of overall methodology
Background information:
“ Network and Concept Maps for the Blogosphere ” (Bruns, Kirchhoff, Nicolai, Wilson, Saunders, Highfield, 2008)
Utegate as told by LOLCatz

http://snurb.info	37
http://blog.sociomantic.com	15
http://testwww.sociomantic.com	2
http://www.slideshare.net	1
http://60.241.213.139	1

Critical Voices in the Australian Political Blogosphere

by Axel Bruns on Oct 04, 2009

Accessibility

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

5 Embeds 56

Statistics

Critical Voices in the Australian Political Blogosphere — Webinar Transcript