Information Politics on the Web Richard Rogers Information Politics on the Web Information Politics on the Web Richard Rogers The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2004 Richard Rogers All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email
[email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 5 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142. This book was set in Sabon by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rogers, Richard, 1965– Information politics on the Web / Richard Rogers. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-262-18242-4 (alk. paper) 1. Information technology—Social aspects. 2. Information technology— Political aspects. 3. Web search engines—Political aspects. 4. Web portals— Political aspects. 5. Civil society. 6. Knowledge, Sociology of. I. Title. HM851.R65 2005 303.48¢33—dc22 2004050458 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii 1. Introduction: Behind the Practice of Information Politics Back-end Information Politics 3 Front-end Information Politics 9 Towards Web Epistemologies and Ontologies 14 Information Instruments Doing Politics 19 Political Instruments for the Web 22 The Lay Decision Support System 22 The Issue Barometer 25 The Web Issue Index of Civil Society 27 The Election Issue Tracker 28 Towards a Politico-epistemological Practice with the Web 1 30 2. The Viagra Files: The Web as Collision Space between Official and Unofficial Accounts of Reality 35 Introduction 35 Knowledge Itineraries and the Web 35 Exposing Viagra for Wh