Internet e campanhas eleitorais: experiências interativas nas cibercampanhas presidenciais do Cone Sul

Abstract

In this thesis we develop an analysis aiming to understand the new formatting of politics in the era of Web 2.0. The overall objective was to investigate "if" and "how" the Internet's potential for human interaction was used by the candidates and coalitions in recent presidential campaigns in the Southern Cone and "if" and "how far" the interactive tools on websites electoral were used to strengthen ties with the electorate during political campaigns and increase the quality of democratic processes. In this thesis we seek to allow two levels of analysis: the formal structure of the website and political action that it develops. We analyze the logic of the candidates' campaign coordination in the use of discussion forums for government proposals, the constraints and incentives to encourage participation of ordinary citizens and the level of control exercised, and on the other hand, the way they interacted with Internet campaigns, with candidates and each other from these tools, the form and content of discursive exchanges held there and the nature of the proposals that resulted from this interaction. We start from the assumption that the availability of online discussion forums create an opportunity structure that can increase the possibility of political action of ordinary citizens to communicate their preferences, perform inputs, participate in the construction of political projects, as well as compel the candidates to conceive with more clearly their political platforms. However, the type of product is the result of the design of the interface and how the Internet and using the candidate technology, rather than a pre-determined by it, ie, depends on how the rules are articulated objective, strategies election, the political interest and the ability of the actors involved. We tested six corollaries specific empirical contexts and concrete objects of our investigation were the platforms for discussion and collaborative construction of government programs of four presidential candidates from Argentina, Chile and Brazil during the 2007 elections, 2009 and 2010, respectively, and the corpus of empiricalresearch in 2727 totaled posts analyzed. For purposes of this study, we performed a composition techniques that resulted in a specific methodological apparatus, including observation of interactions mediated by the computer, data collection and content analysis. The model consists of a first effort to develop a methodological research strategy discussion forums established in the electoral environment of websites. The evaluation of the quality of the discussions was undertaken according to eight dimensions of analysis based on methodological parameters DQI - Discourse Quality Index (Constraints and incentives for participation, inclusiveness and diversity, reciprocity debate, mutual respect, Identification, Degree of heterogeneity, thematization and effectiveness of content and interactive interface), which were operationalized into indicators, qualitative and quantitative.