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The political communication environment worldwide with websites providing opportunities for affordable information dissemination and reception. Internationally, a party contesting an election without a website seems impossible exploratory study examines the today. use of websites by political parties during the 2009 South African This elections and investigates the functionality offered by the this functionality is websites delivered. The as study analysed well the websites of as both large how and small effectively political parties. It is worth noting that in spite of the lower Internet penetration rates in , the majority of political parties contesting the 2009 elections had websites. The study shows that the websites of the larger parties generally offer more functionality than those of the smaller parties, supporting the view of ‘normalisation’ of party competition in cyberspace. However, an analysis the normalisation effects. of the delivery of the content does not confirm of politic The campaign attracted approximately two million Facebook supporters, collected the email addresses of over 13 million people and the Obama.com website had more than two million registered users content will count for little if it is difficult for the target audience to use. Performing the study in South Africa, results in findings that are more applicable to other developing nations thanItaly Australia, previousJapan, UK, studies, US, the as (such countries developed in conducted been typically have which countries. and Germany) and do not factor in the low rates of Internet penetration prevalent in African Politics and the Internet Politicians have always used a wide range of methods to communicate with people get in their elected. quest Since to the 1990s, candidates have used websites and fund to their campaigns in the US (Greengard 2009; Schweitzer publicise 2005). Early Internet technology only their views, garner support provided one way communication, allowing candidates to report events and make partisan However, modern appeals. technology (i.e. blogs, wikis and social networking sites) allows for interaction with the electorate (Stanyer 2006; Greengard 2009). Barack campaign. his for support garner Obama’s and people with communicate to presidential Internet the by offered opportunities campaign leveraged the political parties (Conway & Dorner 2004; Schweitzer 2005). political parties (Conway & Dorner 2004; Schweitzer Exploratory studies on the use of Internet for South African political parties have highlighted the level of Internet penetration as a crucial difference between South Africa and developed countries, such as the UK and the USA. Whilst over 55 2009; Lusoli & Ward 2005), only approximately one in ten South Africans have access 2009). However, this is still a significant proportion of the people who vote (Lusoli 2005; News24 2008). (Lefko-Everett is there print, and television as such media, traditional utilise to continue will campaigning most Whilst groups certain reach to media electronic use to parties political African South for opportunity growing a of supporters (Lefko-Everett 2009). African South effectively how examines study exploratory this study, case a as elections 2009 the Using political parties use the Internet. It examines the functionality offered by the websites available as well as how effectively the websites deliver these functions. By looking at insight is gained as to the whether the channel was used functions to reach However, a wide voters. audience, available to with provide information interacting of online, way a as used was it not or whether and effectively cost and quickly the usefulness of the website will depend on the effectiveness of the delivery of the functionality as the The Internet has transformed the providing opportunities for affordable information dissemination political and reception (Gibson & Ward 2002; Internet without election communication an contest to party a for unthinkable is it world developing the In 2006). Stanyer presence; in fact, most parties now consider a website campaigning a necessary political tool for for campaigning Internet (Stanyer the 2006; of use the of example prominent recent A 2004). Dorner & Conway has been the Barack Obama presidential campaign. Obama Internet president’ due to the manner in which his campaign team exploited information technology to has been referred to as ‘America’s first period (Greengard 2009:16). interact with electorate during the campaign (USA) America of States United the on focused campaigning political for usage Internet of studies Early (Gibson & Ward 2000). However, subsequent studies have United Kingdom (UK) been (Jackson 2007), Japan (Tkach-Kawasaki conducted 2003), Australia (Gibson & in, Ward 2002), have amongst There 2005). (Schweitzer Germany others, and 2008) (Vaccari the Italy 2004), Dorner & (Conway Zealand New been recommendations that such research should be extended into analyses longitudinal should be studies undertaken in and other countries similar to build a broader picture of the use of websites by

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n SA Journal of A Department of Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. © 2010. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals at: http://www.sajim.co.za 12(1), Art. #453, 5 pages. 10.4102/sajim.v12i1.453 DOI: This article is available delivery of websites of political parties in South Africa’, Information Management How to cite this article: Crossland, M. & Chigona, W., 2010, ‘An evaluation of the functionality and Received: 19 Nov. 2009 Accepted: 12 May 2010 Published: 09 Nov. 2010 political parties; voter communication Dates: Keywords: dissemination; Information information reception; online campaigning; Commerce, University of , Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Postal address: Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Wallace Chigona email: [email protected] University of Cape Town, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa Correspondence to: Affiliations: 1 Information systems, Authors: Maria Crossland Wallace Chigona http://www.sajim.co.za Original Research Crossland & Chigona

(Greengard 2009). The campaign team began using the Internet The role the Internet has played for political parties in different early on and saw it as a way to make contact with people who parts of the world is affected, to an extent, by the prevailing were not engaged in the political process unfolding at the time political landscape. For instance, the role of the Internet in (Elsworth 2008). In the lead up to the election, 74% of American terms of politics in Japan is different from the role the Internet Internet users used the Internet to access election related news plays in democratic nations with multiparty systems and few items or to get involved in the political process (Smith 2009). media controls (Tkach-Kawasaki 2003). Despite government restrictions placed on the use of websites for political The use of the Internet as a campaign tool offers benefits to campaigning in Japanese elections, opposition parties and newer both the electorate and political parties. One of the benefits of parties in particular are making extensive use of electronic using technology for the electorate is that the Internet enables media. Conversely, in Russia where one party is also dominant, free flow of information as the information is no longer websites tend to be uninformative with limited functionality and controlled by the political parties, authority structures or media an amateurish look and feel (Oates 2008). organisations (Elsworth 2008). Internet campaigns are driven by the consumers rather than the producers (Lusoli & Ward 2005; The goals of political party websites Lusoli 2005). The Internet also adds transparency to campaign politics by providing the public with a platform to debate the According to Gibson and Ward (2000), political party websites claims made by political parties (Elsworth 2008). Internet search have five basic goals: engines make it easy for the public to validate politicians’ claims. • information provision - dissemination of information about For campaigners, the availability of information on the Internet the party’s identity and policies means that if used correctly, political parties can deliver 24 hour • campaigning – attempts by parties to recruit voters access to instantly updated information and campaign news, as • resource generation – raising funding and registering new well as instant rebuttals to attacks from other parties (Lusoli & members Ward 2005; Lusoli 2005). The Internet also offers a cost effective • networking – building and strengthening links within channel through which political parties can reach voters. the party and with external bodies through discussion applications and hyperlinks However, this technology also has the potential to damage a • promoting participation – encouraging people to engage in party’s image. Unless a party has a clear purpose behind their the political process by raising awareness of events and issues online activities, it is possible that the online activities may project and offering opportunities for interactive communication. a negative image of the party (Gibson & Ward 2000). Whilst the new level of transparency is positive for the electorate and The inherent properties of the Internet offer political parties an the political parties, there is always a danger that insignificant alternative channel for reaching potential voters and information issues can easily be magnified. Consequently, politicians using seekers. Increased bandwidth and new functionality mean technology to boost their campaigns could find themselves that large volumes of information can be made available to an open to more criticism than those who do not (Hartley 2009). It audience in a short time, in a manner that appears personalised can be said, therefore, that offering more participative options and offers opportunities for interaction (Gibson et al. 2003). on the party website, could open political parties to damaging However, research has shown that the available functions are abuse without necessarily providing a significant benefit not being utilised and the Internet is primarily used by political (Gibson, Margolis, Resnick & Ward 2003). The ease with which parties for information dissemination (Jackson 2007).

Article #453 unverified, doctored and incorrect information can be posted on the Internet also raises new challenges for political candidates A framework for evaluating political websites (McGinity 2007). Furthermore, seeing that the information is The criteria used to evaluate political websites are broadly based always available, political websites are a convenient option for on those used to evaluate general Internet resources (Conway & information seekers (Lusoli & Ward 2005). Dorner 2004). Gibson and Ward (2000) proposed a framework using 43 evaluation criteria to study the functionality and delivery SA Journal of Information Management SA Previous research has examined the possibility that the Internet of websites. Functionality focuses on the broad direction and type provides an opportunity for equalised competition between of information and communication flow (ICF). The direction of parties regardless of party size or resources available (Gibson the information could be upward (from organisation to user), & Ward 2002). The ‘normalisation’ view suggests that the downward (from user to organisation) and lateral (outwards inequalities seen in real world campaign activity are simply from the organisation to other bodies, or inwards to structures replicated on the Internet as financial constraints limit the within the organisation). Two-way or interactive ICFs are funding available for the development of a website (Schweitzer, characterised by input from users or from the organisation with 2005), therefore, larger parties will perform better in cyberspace either side expecting a response from the other. The delivery than smaller parties (Vaccari 2008; Gibson et al. 2003). The component of the framework examines the effectiveness opposing view suggests that the low cost of establishing a with which the functionality is delivered. The criteria used to website, the lack of external editorial control and the appeal of evaluate delivery are focused on data retrieval and presentation, independent non-establishment views to young people are all considering only the most basic aspects of navigability, factors that could be beneficial to smaller and less established accessibility, freshness and visibility and are focused on older parties (Gibson & Ward 2002). Apart from party size, a divide is Internet technology capabilities that are now widely available also seen between parliamentary and non-parliamentary parties on most websites. (Gibson et al. 2003). If the Internet is to be considered a communication tool rather Another interesting point in looking at the use of the Internet than just a data retrieval tool, modifications need to be made by political parties is the demographic profile of the potential to the Gibson and Ward (2000) model (Oates 2008). Gibson et users of such websites. It has been noted that the youth are more al. (2003) adapted the framework for use in their comparative likely to use the political party websites. Obama received strong study on Internet campaigning in the USA and UK; they added support from youth and first-time voters and credit for much of criteria such as conference information, privacy policy, article this support has been given to the campaign’s use of the Internet library and volunteer solicitation. In terms of delivery, Oates to reach these voters. Young Internet users are more likely to (2008) suggests augmenting the model to allocate points for vote than young people not using the Internet (Lusoli & Ward participatory items, such as the number of events listed, whether 2005). Further, it has been noted that websites with a multimedia users can post to a website (e.g. using blogs) and whether users format are attractive to young people (Gibson & Ward 2002; are able to access social networking sites. However, the original Lusoli 2005). model still works effectively for evaluating political websites in

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2 4 1 4 1 1 1 3 1 3 et al. Level (page number not for citation purposes) TABLE 1 TABLE Websites selected for inclusion in this study selected for inclusion Websites (2003) to conduct content analysis focused on the RESEARCH METHODOLOGY et al. that the study was exploratory, a limited number of Level indicates the level at which the party contested the 2009 elections: 1, National and Level indicates the level at which divided into five sections while the coding forbased five factors. site delivery is The coding scheme used in the study index which includes assigns a a score for multimedia use of video on a website. For this study, links to YouTube were given a score provided of any 1. information If in a a site language other than English, a positive score was given for Websites which included the blogs were foreign assigned a language score of measure. 2 interaction. for The websites of political parties contesting the were examined 2009 during elections April 2009. An initial list of the parties contesting the elections was obtained from the South Government African website (Provincial list of 2009 elections 42 2009). A web parties survey was to then used to contest establish the online presence of the parties national and contesting provincial the level. Of elections the at 40 parties elections contesting at the national and/or provincial level, 29 were found to have websites. Of the parties that did not have a website, nine were contesting provincial level elections only and contesting at national and provincial level. two were Seeing websites party The study. detailed the in included were websites small and large (1) of, variety a provide to selected were surveyed parties, (2) established and new parties, (3) parties contesting at national and/or provincial level as well Table election). 2009 the to (prior parties non-parliamentary and as (4) parliamentary 1 provides details of the political parties whose websites were selected for the study. political on updates and activity that indicates research Previous websites is at its peak immediately prior to and an times these between election activity of level in with difference significant a other times (Vaccari 2008; Gibson the websites for this study was done in the week immediately after the 22 April 2009 elections. The study used Gibson the shown adapted As websites. party political the coding of design and functionality scheme proposed by in Table 2, the section of the coding scheme on functionality is Party Name Research on the use of political parties is the still in Internet its infancy. There amongst are differing views South on how African effectively South African political parties are using the have parties prominent that found (2009) Lefko-Everett Internet. well established websites and are actively such using as applications Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. in the It media that has local politicians do been not understand the argued value of digital media or how to use it and are unwilling to funding to such initiatives (News24 2008). allocate A Party A African Muslim Party African National Congess (ANC) Cape Party Congress of the People (COPE) Alliance (DA) Democratic (ID) Minority Front (MF) Azania (PAC) African Congress of Pan Forward Women † 3, National and certain provinces only; 4, Provincial only all nine provinces; 2, National only; - one or more provinces. Vol. 12 No. 1 Page 3 of 5 Vol. CONTEXT framework and its derivatives have been used et al. mobilisation professionalism in terms of multimedia usage, accessibility, accessibility. update frequency and information which included information supply user- and participation, party-initiated including online interaction, resource elections at national level only, fourteen national parties level took as part well at as in one provinces and thirteen parties were involved at provincial or level more (but less than nine) only (in one or more provinces) (IOL 2009). There were 40 parties registered to provincial contest elections the held national on and the and election Assembly National the contested parties Eleven 22 April 2009 in provincial Elections in all nine South provinces. Two parties contested Africa. of candidates nominated by the various parties in parliament. However, in candidates during the campaign period. practice, parties promote their presidential province in which they reside. The country has responsibility of parliament to no vote for a president from the list direct presidential election. It is the party selects members to fill its parliamentary seats. There are two chambers of Parliament, namely the and the National Council of Assembly Provinces. Each voter casts two votes, for the national level and one for the Provincial Assembly of the one The country uses a proportional representation voting system (Government of South Africa 1996) whereby the electorate vote for a party; the number of parliamentary seats for a party is in direct proportion to the number of votes it received. A political To facilitate the understanding of the discussion, will this give section an overview of the Parliamentary South elections African political are context. held years in and all South nationals over Africa the age every of 18 five are eligible to vote. South African Political Process and use of the South African Political Process and Internet parliamentary parties but there were no significant differences between the minor and major parties. studies, political websites information and little use was being made of the tools available were mainly to make this information more accessible. Parties in used parliament to non- than websites their on functions of range wider a provided provide Conway and Dorner (2004) used an adapted version of Gibson and Ward’s (200) framework to study New Zealand’s political party websites shortly after the 2002 elections in that country. The study found that, similar to the Australian and German websites was one-way information provision taking with advantage of few the sites variety of applications available (Gibson & Ward 2002). multimedia or interactive related aspects of the websites media. An campaign activities to those being used in traditional as well as comparing online Australian study conducted outside of a pre-election campaign party political Australian of function main the that found period (2005) studied websites of German political parties in the lead- up to the country’s 2002 elections. functional and In formal aspects addition of the to websites (as evaluating proposed by Gibson and Ward (2000)), the study also examined the content The study confirmed the findings of earlier studies, that is, that party websites are still used mainly for Schweitzer environment. participatory information a establishing than exchange rather • • party websites used in the 2006 Italian election, Vaccari’s (2008) main groupings of variables: evaluation used three • tend to be less dynamic (Oates 2008). dynamic (Oates 2008). tend to be less The Gibson in a number of studies. For instance, for a study of political countries such as the UK and Russia where political websites http://www.sajim.co.za Websites of political parties in South Africa in South parties of political Websites