Brugge Blog

In a fascinating paper, “Googlearchy: How a Few Heavily-Linked Sites Dominate Politics on the Web”, the authors put forth their research findings that web sites of political groups seem to have the same type of visibility characteristics as other categories of web sites - that is, that a few big, well-known sites are visited and referred to, and most others are seldom seen. The implications of this are that the common view of the web as a great leveler by providing an outlet for the individual voice doesn’t mean much, since people will still largely see and read only a few large voices.

Meanwhile, there’s a discussion going on over at Lessig’s blog over a tiny piece called “more please” that merely points to what he refers to as a “citizen blogger.” One thread of the debate is whether small-scale citizen bloggers such as this who provide political commentary are part of a growing movement that could change the landscape of political power, or whether they are just pissing into the wind, as far as affecting the thinking of any sizeable portion of the voting public. While I want to think that this type of blog is an important development of the utility of the web, this research seems to show what forces it is up against.

Googlearchy, though, doesn’t address how sites get to where they are in terms of influence, it simply points out the data that show few non-traditional sites do. But how does that scale down to politics in the local? What good is it if a small community tries to be better informed and have discussions online. One of the commenters on the Lessig post points to their efforts to create a citizens blogosphere in Northfield, MN, Northfield Citizens Online. While it may never make it on to the radar of anyone searching Google, will it make a difference in Northfield? I don’t know, but it has lots of interesting possibilities and questions.