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Information and Political Change
made a number of decisions about where to focus my efforts. I do not
pursue in depth the causes and consequences of technology in general.
The questions that this book explores are motivated by the fact that new
information technology is influencing the character of politics in the
United States; yet I am not concerned to any great extent with cataloging
and describing information technology. I often gloss over distinctions
between kinds of information technology, for example, between wire-
less and cable technology, bulletin boards and chat rooms, and so on.
Occasionally, such distinctions may be important. For instance, those
interested in how web sites can affect the campaign process may find
it very important to distinguish one-way information delivery systems
(from candidates to voters) from interactive techniques that permit vot-
ersorwould-bevoterstoexpressthemselvesandbecomeactivelyengaged
with a campaign. Indeed, “interactivity” is currently a hot topic among
political consultants helping candidates use new technology.
Instead of attending closely to technological matters and details of this
kind, I concentrate on the broad sweep of technological development.
In particular, I focus on the fact that various contemporary technolo-
gies are in many different ways creating a more information-rich and
communication-intensive society and polity. Terms such as “communi-
cationabundance”and“mediaabundance”areoftenusedtodescribethis
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phenomenon. Understanding the consequences and historical context
for media abundance is more important here than drawing connections
between any particular technology and political outcome.
Focusing on the forest rather than the trees has an important ad-
vantage. From a technological perspective, it avoids the consequences of
dwelling on specific technologies that are subject to frequent change or
obsolescence. Certainly, the meaning of “information technology” has
evolved rapidly. Thirty years ago, state-of-the-art information technol-
ogyentailedlarge,centralizeddataprocessingmachines,whichpermitted
rapid tabulation of polling data, generation of “computerized” mailing
lists and databases, and other centralized political functions. Up-to-date
communication technology meant fax machines, telephones, broadcast
television, and the like. Twenty years ago, interconnected computer sys-
tems had just became practical, but information technology still mainly
meant stand-alone data processing equipment, smaller computers, and
nascent computer networks, as well as telecommunication equipment of

36 E.g., see Jay G. Blumler and Dennis Kavanaugh, “The Third Age of Political Commu-
nication: Influences and Features,” Political Communication 16 (1999): 209–230.

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