Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Technological advances often cause political change, with the Internet’s impact on political parties and Senate candidates being no exception. Using qualitative analysis, this paper explores how state parties and Senate candidates utilized the Web in electoral strategy during the 2004 election. Based on in-depth interviews with 26 Web-oriented staff members, this research presents an insightful perspective on what purposes the Internet served, what Web-based tools were found most effective, and what tools were purposefully avoided. This study finds four common goals of party and candidate Web sites: mobilizing existing supporters, getting the message out, empowering existing supporters, and soliciting contributions. State parties stressed “party as service” through facilitating collaboration between constituency groups and serving as a pathway between constituents and government, while candidates stressed intimidating the opponent and communicating with the media. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: To test the hypothesis that voters punished Republicans due to charges of corruption, I analyze exit polling data from the 2006 midterm elections. Although I fail to find evidence that the issue of corruption in Congress directly affected voting behavior, the moral scandal involving Mark Foley’s improper behavior towards several congressional pages contributed substantially to the Democratic tide. Disapproval with the Republican leadership’s seeming indifference to Foley’s immorality not only aided Democrats running for Congress, but it also helped Democrats running for Governor. I conclude that the page scandal had unique and improbable qualities that allowed it to influence voters nationwide, but it probably made the difference in enough races to give the Democrats a solid majority in the House and majority status in the Senate.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines the effectiveness of home pages to discover which design features of organizational home pages are more attractive to users of different cultures by employing two theories that were developed for studying different aspects and contexts of personality: self-construal and the social responses to communication technology (SRCT). The results of the experiment showed that the independent self-construal group tended to rate low graphic web sites more positively than the interdependent self-construal group, and it took less time to complete tasks in low graphic web sites than in high graphic web sites. However, even though the independent self-construal group was more likely to evaluate high interactive web sites favorably than the interdependent self-construal group, evidence that the independent self-construal group would be more competent in completing tasks in high interactive web sties than the interdependent self-construal group was not found. Although some findings have shown that traditional cross-cultural differences are still valid in distinguishing between different perceptions and behaviors online, others were interpreted as indigenous social issues and the technical progression of the Internet.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In 1975 and 1988 the National Science Foundation funded $1.9 million studies of information technology in 42 US cities (URBIS I and II). These are the most studied cities in regards to IT or computer use and were intended to offer us a view of where cities would be moving in the future. But that future has become the past. Moreover, something has changed IT in the last fiteen years that represents and IT revolution in itself with broad ramifications for government and governance, which is the Internet. This paper returns to he URBIS cities and explores their use of e-government with contrast with several other data sets. Focus is put on how up to date the websites are, common features aacross websites, number of clicks on home page, and online transaction features.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: As students of 1920s U.S. culture know, advertising executive Bruce Barton scored a publishing coup with a revisionary portrait of the man Christians recognize as the Son of God. Scholars such as James D. Hart and Warren Susman have acknowleged the vast appeal of "The Man Nobody Knows" (1925). Yet the most recent attention paid, that of religious historian Stephen Prothero, insists on the nationalist import of Barton's hero. "American Jesus" (2003) defends this claim with reference to fan mail. But because the archive utilized includes fan mail from non-U.S. readers in Europe, South America and scattered parts of the British Commonwealth, I ask scholars to view "Man" in a less statist way that takes full measure of fans' insistence that, under the right leadership, Barton's book could spark a worldwide revival of Christianity.
A meld of "history of reading" scholarship and theories of reception, my paper shows that enthusiasts may dream of large-scale mobilization with a 'change the world' agenda. Other readers may (and actually did) demur, however, when a work of creative expression is as controversial as "Man." Guiding my project are 'fan studies' theorists such as M. Hill and E. Doss and historians of reading such as J. Radway and M. de Certeau. My current book is a study of fan mail that includes a chapter on "Man." Early work on this project led to ASA papers in 2000 and 2002; another for the Society of the History of Authors, Readers and Publishers in 2001; and an essay in "Reading Acts: U.S. Readers' Interactions with Literature, 1800-1950" (Tennessee, 2002).