Party Websites Research Articles

Political Parties Online: Digital Democracy as Reflected in Three Dutch Political Party Web Sites

This paper examines how three Dutch political parties employ the Internet as a tool to enhance ‘digital democracy’. The potential of digital democracy is considered to be strongest in the sphere of collective action outside the domain of political institutions. In this article, however, attention is given to how institutionalized channels might be supportive of digital democracy. Three components of the democratic process – information provision, deliberation, and political decision-making – are examined in the content and user assessments of the web sites of the Socialist Party, the Christian Democratic Party and the Green Party. Minor differences were found in the party web sites regarding information provision; substantial differences were found regarding the degree and nature of political deliberation available on the sites. Indicators of the third component, political decision-making, were least evident on all three web sites. User assessments of the sites and opportunities for political deliberation followed, more or less, the general public images of the related political parties.

How the Bush and Gore Campaigns Conceptualized and Used the Internet in 2000

Political scientists and campaign professionals have been intrigued by the potential of the Internet as a tool for accessing and conveying political information since the mass marketing of the first Web browser in 1993. Optimists have pointed to the possibility for more expansive participation and more substantive, in-depth issue discussions. Pessimists have countered that universal access to the Internet is still years down the road, pointing out there is little reason to believe campaigns will use the Internet either to spice up or to elevate the national political conversation. Such long-term assessments are premature, but we can offer preliminary assessments of how candidates conceptualize and use the Internet. Relying on surveys of online registered voters and interviews with campaign operatives and Webmasters, I examine how the online electorate was perceived and approached by the Bush and Gore campaigns in 2000.1 find that (1) voters were unlikely to seek political information from candidate or party Web sites, (2) voters were skeptical of information presented on these sites, and (3) the campaigns understood this and therefore saw the Internet primarily as a vehicle for internal communication and grassroots activation.

A Proposed Methodology for Studying the Function and Effectiveness of Party and Candidate Web Sites

The growth of party and candidate activity on the World Wide Web over the past 5 years has provoked much comment and criticism. Although initially most assessments were descriptive and anecdotal, more recent studies have taken a more systematic and quantitative approach to this topic. This article builds on the existing literature by developing a coding scheme that addresses two basic questions applicable to all political Web sites: (a) what the purpose of the sites are, and (b) how effectively they deliver their contents. In doing so, this article attempts to standardize the study of party Web sites and to promote the growth of cross-national and longitudinal comparative research in this area.

British political parties and their web pages

The General Election of 1997 was marked by much political activity on the web. An analysis of 20 party web sites a year later on shows that most parties have kept a web presence although few are really capitalising upon the web technologies. Sites are too often stale, out of date and predictable. In no way can cyberdemocracy be seen to have arrived; the web is too often just a publishing vehicle and communication is largely one way. The smaller parties are proving to be the most innovative.

U.K. Political Parties and the Internet

This article reports the results of a study that examined the effects of U.K. political parties' use of the Internet on intraparty democracy and interparty competition. Using party official questionnaire data and content analysis of party Web sites, the study explored the extent to which parties are using the World Wide Web (WWW) and email to promote their members' views and examined whether the Internet provides minor parties with more equal access to the electorate compared with the traditional media. The findings indicate that parties do recognize the Internet's potential for increasing internal party debate; however, it is used primarily as a tool for downward information dissemination. In terms of interparty competition, minor parties are leveling the communications field in the quality of their WWW sites, although limited Internet use by the electorate prevents the medium from being exploited to its fullest extent.

Pengaruh Online Travel Agent terhadap Pemesanan Kamar di Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta

The development of increasingly sophisticated and rapid technology has made people's lifestyles to change, one of the most striking things is the tendency to do activities in cyberspace, such as purchasing tickets online. Online hotel ticket purchases can be made through the E-Commerce site on the hotel's official website or through third party websites. E-Commerce is known as an Online Travel Agent, with the existence of an Online Travel Agent, prospective guests have a very diverse choice of hotels according to their wants and needs. Prospective guests can directly book hotel rooms and change their bookings easily. The aim of the author is to examine changes in guest behavior, especially guests who previously directly booked a room directly to the hotel, switch to using an Online Travel Agent and find out what promotional strategies hotels should do to increase the number of room bookings through Online Travel Agents. Promotion strategy analysis using SWOT analysis such as SWOT Matrix, IFAS, EFAS, Cartesian Diagram, Internal and External Matrix. The results of the analysis of internal factors and external factors show that the Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta hotel has a strong market competitive position in competition with other five star hotels. This shows that the hotel must continue to make efforts to improve product quality, facilities and services as well as maximize product sales.