FOR 1381: Political Communication in the Online World

从在线报纸和搜索引擎到博客和视频门户网站，在线媒体的普及在一定程度上改变了生活中各个领域的交流，其速度也是前所未有的。据信，这也适用于政治，特别是在竞选活动和公众参与方面。围绕关键字“Web2.0”有很多猜测，从一个极端到另一个极端：一端是拯救的预期，另一端是末日的预期。正是在这种背景下，研究股打算回答这样一个问题，即可以证明网络媒体在多大程度上改变了政治传播，而这反过来又对政治产生了什么影响。回答这个问题的框架是一个模型。该模式的核心是政治传播的变化--行为者群体(公共、政治组织和媒体组织)之间在社会、时间和空间方面以及在内容方面的传播关系的结构性变化。一个先决条件是媒体变革--由于利用互联网在公共、半公共和非公共传播中的潜力，媒体剧目在社会上的扩展。政治沟通的变化从个人、组织和社会的角度对政治产生了相关的影响，从而促进了政治变革。研究股确定了三个目标：(1)对政治传播发展的调查应采取经验性、纵向研究的形式，从而形成一个多方面的总体情况。这意味着，各种分析观点--个人、组织和整个社会的观点--以及不同的方法--特别是调查、内容分析和组织分析--需要相互关联。在这样做的过程中，将测试在线传播领域的一些理论方法，并将其合并为一个由许多模块组成的中程理论。(2)研究股是初级研究人员有资格进入国际政治传播研究领域的地方之一--以博士和国家博士的形式。(3)通过一个以专题为重点的研究人员网络，将对传播学等分成较小部分的学科测试一种创新的组织形式。研究股包括七个分项目。它们都会从专门的分析角度分析政治传播的变化、媒体变化和政治变化之间的关系，从而将整个问题变成一个更具体的问题。

The diffusion of online media - from online newspapers and search engines to blogs and video portals - has changed communication in every area of life to a degree and at a rate hitherto unknown. This is also believed to apply to politics, especially with respect to election campaigns and public participation. There is plenty of speculation around the keyword "Web 2.0", ranging from one extreme to the other: at the one end an expectation of salvation, at the other end an expectation of doom. It is against this backdrop that the Research Unit intends to answer the question in how far political communication can be proved to change due to online media and what impact this, in turn, has on politics. The framework for answering this question is a model. The centre of the model is the change in political communication - structural changes in the communication relations between the actor groups (public, political organisations and media organisations) with respect to social, temporal and spatial aspects as well as with regards to content. One prerequisite is the media change - the extension of the media repertoire in society as a result of the use of the potentials of the Internet in public, semi-public and non-public communication. The alteration in political communication has a relevant impact on politics from individual, organisational and social perspectives and thus contributes to political change. By the Research Unit, three objectives have been set: (1) The investigation of the development of political communication should take the form of empirical, longitudinal studies, which result in a multi-faceted overall picture. This means that various analytical perspectives - those of individuals, of organisations and of society as a whole - and different methods - in particular surveys, content analysis and organisation analysis - need to be interlinked. In doing so, a number of theoretical approaches in the field of online communication will be tested and combined into one middle range theory made up of many modules. (2) The Research Unit is one of the places where junior researchers are qualified for the international research field of political communication - in the form of doctorates and state doctorates. (3) By means of a thematically focussed network of researchers, an innovative form of organisation will be tested for disciplines that are divided into smaller sections such as communication studies. The Research Unit includes seven sub-projects. Each will turn the overall question into a more specific problem by analysing the relations between the change in political communication, media change and political change from a specialised analytic perspective.