NEW MEDIA CAMPAIGNS AND THE MANAGED CITIZEN

WEB CAMPAIGNING. Kirsten A. Foot and Steven M. Schneider. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006, 272 pages. , by Kristen A. Foot and Steven M. Schneider NEW MEDIA CAMPAIGNS AND THE MANAGED CITIZEN. Philip N. Howard. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2006, 286 pages. by Philip N. Howard The new media facilitate both general and targeted political communication. The dissemination of general messages has never been more efficient as one message posted on the Web can be immediately accessible to a potentially unlimited audience at minimal cost. The dissemination of targeted messages has never been more efficient, as data compilation and user recognition in the new media allow a customized message to be transmitted at low cost. How are political advocates taking advantage of thisuniqueopportunityavailablethroughthe new media? In Web Campaigning, Kirsten Foot (University of Washington) and Steven Schneider (SUNY Institute of Technology) provide a compelling perspective on Web campaigning, emphasizing communication with general messages.Theauthors tie their contentanalysis of publicly accessible campaign Web sites to user expectations: “Although it is common knowledge that campaigns produce different messages for different audiences in offline media, such as advertisements for particular television markets, Web users expect to see a unified, coherent message on a campaign site” (p. 199). Examining thousands of campaign Web sites over the last decade, they describe four key functions of online campaigning. Campaignsengage in informing, involvingvisitors in campaign affiliation, connecting visitors to a third party, and mobilizing visitors to activate others. The book emphasizes the pursuit of these functions through techniques that entail coproductionwith anotherentity, linking to other Web objects, and convergence with the offline world. After providing an up-to-date portrait of Web campaigning, they explain what characteristics make campaigns more or less likely to employ the various functions. Lastly, they reflect on existing trends and the future of Web campaigning. In New Media Campaigns and the Managed Citizen, Philip Howard (University of Washington) examines the effect of technology on politics with an emphasis on targeted messages. Howard expressly ties new media to targeting: “The production of political content through hypermedia technologies is a process of tailoring content not for mass consumption but for private consumption” (p. 184). Howard begins by describing the e-politics community. He finds that they are often separate from the partisan tracks and have some shared values. One consensus value is that political actors will find the voters that they want to communicate with based on the data shadow that they have generated. Howard describes how databases are compiled and then ultimately used for political purposes. He explains how the information flows of e-politics impact the structure of campaign organizations. Howard concludes with a consideration of hypermedia’s democratic implications and a call for more government oversight of how campaigns use personal information. Asked to consider these two books together, I find them an intriguing pairing. One book focuses on general messages and the other fo-