Page 107 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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The Fourth Information Revolution
communication became abundant and readily accessible, what might be
the result organizationally and politically?
This is precisely the question raised by developments in contempo-
raryinformationtechnologysincetheearly1990s.AstheInternetbecame
commercialized and moved out of the exclusive domain of universities,
government agencies, and selected corporations, societies have grown
more information-intensive in nearly every area. The many functions
and characteristics of the Internet and associated new media are widely
discussed and need not be itemized. Five main aspects of information
intensiveness in the political realm are important, however. First, the new
information environment involves a multiplication of low-cost channels
for the distribution of information by political elites and organizations.
Candidates for office have new means for communication with voters
that are in some cases less costly than old ones. Electronic mail and web-
based communication provide a means of communication affordable
in principle to every candidate, not only those able to bear the expense
of direct mail, broadcast advertising, telephone banks, press offices, or
precinct walking. Not only are the new channels for communication
comparatively inexpensive, but they provide for a richer array of con-
tent and the possibility of greater control by candidates over the flow of
information. By the mid-1990s, candidates were offering issue papers,
biographies, video clips, and other carefully constructed information to
any interested citizen, group, rival candidate, or journalist anywhere in
the country, around the clock. In theoretical terms at least, this consti-
tutes a substantial change in the cost and structure of political commu-
nication. While it hardly makes old modes of communication obsolete,
the new media of the 1990s dramatically expand the possibilities for
candidates to distribute information. Technological developments of the
1990sbroughtsimilaropportunitiestointerestgroupsandotherpolitical
organizations. Virtually every major interest group and advocacy orga-
nization in the United States was operating some form of Internet-based
political communication system by the late 1990s. These new systems
permitted groups to offer to the public a wide array of policy statements,
reports, news items, video, endorsements, and the like.
A second feature of information-intensiveness is the capacity that new
technology provides to elites and organizations to acquire highly detailed
information at low cost. One of the most interesting technological de-
velopments is the spread of data-driven web sites, in which the candidate
or organization sponsoring the site solicits citizens to provide contact
information as well as details about political interests or preferences.

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