An ongoing debate surrounds the question of whether digital media can promote participatory democracy. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website promotes or discourages participatory democracy. For a rich analysis, the case study drew on various relevant theoretical perspectives, including the concepts of participatory democracy and digital democracy. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study found that my.barackobama.com promoted political knowledge and non-electoral participation, but failed to promote political discussion and community. Consequently, the recommendations highlighted the importance of an online public sphere. The findings of this case study add to the research literature about the political use of digital media, and they also add new information about Barack Obama’s digital media strategies.

An ongoing debate surrounds the question of whether digital media can promote participatory democracy. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website promotes or discourages participatory democracy. For a rich analysis, the case study drew on various relevant theoretical perspectives, including the concepts of participatory democracy and digital democracy. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study found that my.barackobama.com promoted political knowledge and non-electoral participation, but failed to promote political discussion and community. Consequently, the recommendations highlighted the importance of an online public sphere. The findings of this case study add to the research literature about the political use of digital media, and they also add new information about Barack Obama’s digital media strategies.

An ongoing debate surrounds the question of whether digital media can promote participatory democracy. A qualitative case study was conducted on Barack Obama’s campaign social networking site, my.barackobama.com, in order to investigate the ways in which the website promotes or discourages participatory democracy. For a rich analysis, the case study drew on various relevant theoretical perspectives, including the concepts of participatory democracy and digital democracy. The case study included a content analysis of the website and interviews with members of groups on the site. The study found that my.barackobama.com promoted political knowledge and non-electoral participation, but failed to promote political discussion and community. Consequently, the recommendations highlighted the importance of an online public sphere. The findings of this case study add to the research literature about the political use of digital media, and they also add new information about Barack Obama’s digital media strategies.

全球上網人數不斷增加，沒有電腦、沒有網路的生活對現今的許多人，尤其是資訊相關產業的工作者來說，實在難以想像。就像以前的人應也很難想像現在電腦網路所帶來的便利，這樣巨大的改變已完全形成現代人生活上的改變。許多企業因此不得不E化，即使E化所能帶來的好處尚難以估計，為了不輸在起跑點，投注大筆資金E化的企業並不在少數。 民意代表雖屬非營利組織，但其表現需接受選民定期的檢驗，用投票來反應，不是零就是一百的績效衡量方式，比一般企業所面臨的損益來得殘酷。為了拉近與選民的距離，以網際網路做為媒介是個不錯的選擇。究竟民意代表經營網站能為其帶來多少支持的選民，甚而轉化為支持的選票，值得探討。上民意代表網站的瀏覽者行為特性如何，網站經營者可如何發揮以吸引瀏覽者，增加瀏覽人次？ 本研究以Howard的消費者決策模式(CDM)為基礎，配合本研究題目的特定範圍加以修正，利用路徑分析(Path Analysis)探討瀏覽者行為在數個構面上的影響關係，再以單因子變異數分析(1-way ANOVA)界定各構面在年齡、職業及區域上的差異，最後形成策略意涵。 根據研究結果，做成以下建議：以長期來看，民意代表經營專屬網站有助於爭取更多支持的選民；爭取學生族群的認同；台北市南區的候選人，目前適合搭配專屬網站作為整體的競選文宣。 / Nowadays there are more and more people going online. It’s unimaginable how people could live without Internet, especially for those who do their job using computer frequently through Internet. Just as we could not imagine what utilities Internet bring hundreds of years ago. It goes without saying that Internet has changed our lives. That’s why lots of business go online to be an E-business. Though the benefit brought by going on line can’t be clearly estimated, lots of corporate spend much money constructing their E-business because of avoiding lost in the beginning. Political websites are all nonprofit organizations. The way their performances are evaluated is election. It’s cruel that you are a survivor or getting nothing but crash otherwise. The Candidates want to be more closer to ’customers’, so they choose to setup a website and provide service. But How can they be sure that they are more possible to win the final campaign? The answer is in this paper. It is going to find out the behavior of those who visit the websites and make some suggestion about the strategies to promote the websites. The structure of this research is based on the CDM(Consumer Decision-Making) Model with some specific modification. The related dimensions are connected using Path Analysis, then the interactive relationship of these dimensions are clear. Accompanied by 1-way ANOVA, we can find the characteristics of the visitors’ on these dimensions, say age, occupation and where they live. According to the outcome, our suggestions are : it’s helpful for the candidates to win the campaign in the long run by providing services on websites ; ‘Student’ is apparently the group which is worth targeting when you want to promote yourself ; it’s now appropriate to concentrate on website if you are a candidate in the south area of Taipei.