We are pleased to announce a new working paper by Dr Michael J. Jensen.
Representation and Communication: The Internet and Communication Architectures in Local Governance
Abstract
This paper outlines the concept of a communication architecture and applies it to the study of policy communication flows between stakeholders and American elected local government officials. The paper begins by elaborating the relationship between communication technologies and architectures of communication. The first section outlines the concept of a communication architecture and the signatures of different architectures. The second section details the data, methods of analysis, and operationalization of the contrasting communication architectures. The third section empirically examines the impact of internet and email use on shaping the architecture of communication from the vantage point of local government elected officials. Finally, the paper concludes with some observations regarding the significance of the internet for empirical democratic practice. The key findings are that communication flows do not singularly follow a liberal interest aggregation communication architecture and that communication flows correspond more to an informational logic.
For previous working papers, click here.