Papers by Fenwick McKelvey
Political parties rely on digital technologies to manage volunteering, fundraising, fieldwork and... more Political parties rely on digital technologies to manage volunteering, fundraising, fieldwork and data collection. They also need tools to manage web, email and social media outreach.
Canadian Journal of Communication, Aug 4, 2009
Abstract: Through three case studies of online political activism on Facebook, this article conce... more Abstract: Through three case studies of online political activism on Facebook, this article conceptualizes the deployment of issue publics (Lippmann, 1993; Marres, 2005) on Facebook. We argue that issue publics on Facebook come into being through a specific set of double articulations of code and politics that link and reshape informational processes, communicational constraints and possibilities, and political practices in different and sometimes contradictory ways. Using Maurizio Lazzarato's exploration of immaterial ...
Fibreculture, Jan 1, 2009
At the 2007 International Communication Association Conference, Web 2.0 was highlighted as an eme... more At the 2007 International Communication Association Conference, Web 2.0 was highlighted as an emergent topic of research with a keynote panel entitled'What's so Significant about Social Networking? Web 2.0 and its Critical Potentials'. One of the thought-provoking moments during the panel was the juxtaposition of two very different and at first, contradictory theoretical approaches to the relationships between Web 2.0 and user-generated content. While Henry Jenkins focused on the democratic potential of online ...
Journal of …, Jan 1, 2009
ABSTRACT This article builds upon current hyperlink mapping research to determine the degree of p... more ABSTRACT This article builds upon current hyperlink mapping research to determine the degree of party loyalty and partisanship in the Canadian political blogosphere. The article develops a hyperlink-based method of determining blogger endorsements as a means of tracking cross-party recommendations. The article concludes that bloggers affiliated with the governing Conservative Party of Canada exhibit the most cohesive ideological and party loyal set of blog recommendation links.
First Monday, Jan 1, 2007
Abstract This paper discusses early findings and methodological pitfalls of a study of a hyper���... more Abstract This paper discusses early findings and methodological pitfalls of a study of a hyper���mediated election campaign in Canada. Web logs���or ���blogs������serve as the primary object of study. The paper focuses on possible sources of large scale data (aggregated blogger posts) and methods of determining the political influence of bloggers. A series of methodologies are proposed to resolve the over���reliance upon information aggregators and blog search engines provided by Google and Technorati.
International Journal of Communication, 2015
In a historical review focused on digital piracy, we explore the relationship between hacker poli... more In a historical review focused on digital piracy, we explore the relationship between hacker politics and the state. We distinguish between two core aspects of piracy—the challenge to property rights and the challenge to state power—and argue that digital piracy should be considered more broadly as a challenge to the authority of the state.
We trace generations of peer-to-peer networking, showing that digital piracy is a key component in the development of a political platform that advocates for a set of ideals grounded in collaborative culture, nonhierarchical organization, and a reliance on the network. We assert that this politics expresses itself in a philosophy that was formed together with the development of the state-evading forms of communication that perpetuate unmanageable networks.
Algorithms increasingly control the backbone of media and information systems. This control occur... more Algorithms increasingly control the backbone of media and information systems. This control occurs deep within opaque technical systems far from the political attention capable of addressing its influence. It also challenges conventional public theory, because the technical operation of algorithms does not prompt the reflection and awareness necessary for forming publics. Informed public deliberation about algorithmic media requires new methods, or mediators, that translate their operations into something publicly tangible. Combining an examination of theoretical work from Science and Technology Studies (STS) with Communication Studies–grounded research into Internet traffic management practices, this article posits that mediating the issues raised by algorithmic media requires that we embrace democratic methods of Internet measurement.
Television and New Media
The Facebook page of the anti-copyright The Pirate Bay (TPB) explains much about the group in few... more The Facebook page of the anti-copyright The Pirate Bay (TPB) explains much about the group in few words. “We like copies,” it explains, “just don’t let the others fool you.” The paradoxical phrase reveals the contradictions of TPB. Their use of “copies” deliberately chaffs with their opponents who equate piracy with theft of intellectual property. Pirates copy digital bits; they do not steal intellectual property. Championing copying is problematic for a group at the center of the Piracy Movement. The warning that “others [might] fool you” acknowledges the tensions brought about by celebrating copying while depending on their privileged voice. This article addresses these contradictions by describing TPB as an assemblage defined by conflicting forces of centripetal pull and centrifugal push. Understanding the contradictions of TPB offers greater insights into the challenges faced by other Hacktivism groups as they struggle for political change and legitimacy.
Sent as a walking advertisement of Canada's technology sector, I arrived in Argentina to help a w... more Sent as a walking advertisement of Canada's technology sector, I arrived in Argentina to help a women's rights organization develop a new website. My exchange program, short on training, left me without the technical skill to do so. In desperation, I began using the Drupal content management platform to construct the site. Its interface brought me into the rarified world of web programming. My experience provides a way of entry into the Drupal platform - a unique case for the critique of web2.0. Where critiques of web2.0 platforms to date have focused on commodification, privacy, and labour, studying Drupal questions how a platform renders the 'variable ontology' of its code. Most platforms suppress this variability. Drupal, on the other hand, surfaces the variability of its code to users. This surfacing happens though its modularity: its code is broken into discrete chunks for users to enable and disable through the interface. Its modularity offers a platform for users, like me, to articulate their preferences into variations of code. Modularity must be understood as a process, not a state. The platform constantly changes through the interplay between the articulations of users and the variations of code. Drupal, then, is a platform forming through variations and articulations. The theory of transduction elucidates processes of modularity and theories of articulation acknowledge the involvement of users in this process by the interface. The theoretical synthesis flips the critique of web2.0 platforms on its head - focusing on the processes of becoming a platform, rather than the platform as a final state.
The Internet in Canada is an assemblage of private and public networks. A variety of institutions... more The Internet in Canada is an assemblage of private and public networks. A variety of institutions and networking codes manage these networks. Conflicts exist between these parties despite their interconnection. Tensions heightened when commercial ISPs began managing traffic on their network using sophisticated routing algorithms. Concerned parties demanded legislation based on a network neutrality principle to prevent undue discrimination. While the network neutrality controversy has been addressed as a question of public policy, the controversy also includes a conflict between various codes constituting networks in Canada. The conflict between codes involve two key networking software that manifest incongruous networks. Their algorithms, the logics embedded in code, differentiate the different types of networking code. The two types of algorithms are Quality of Service and End-to-End. These algorithms treat different modalities of Internet communication differently, in part due to their deployment by different institutions. Quality of Service allows for the tiering of traffic by carriers. Commercial carriers have popularized this algorithm to promote value-added services and prevent network congestions. End-to-end algorithms, on the other hand, enforce a strict equality between modalities of communication. Peer-to-peer applications have popularized an extreme version of the end-to-algorithm, treating all nodes as equals. The popularity and growth of both these algorithms pulls the Internet in different directions, creating conflicts over its future. Through an extended review of these two algorithms and their intersection, this paper confronts how code plays a role in the network neutrality controversy.
Code politics investigates the implications of digital code to contemporary politics. Recent deve... more Code politics investigates the implications of digital code to contemporary politics. Recent developments on the web, known as web2.0, have attracted the attention of the field. The thesis contributes to the literature by developing a theoretical approach to web2.0 platforms as social structures and by contributing two cases of web2.0 structurations: Drupal, a content management platform, and The Pirate Bay, a file sharing website and political movement. Adapting the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe on articulation theory, the thesis studies the code and politics of the two cases. The Drupal case studies the complex interactions between humans and code, and addresses how Drupal functions as an empty platform allowing its users to reconstitute its digital code. The Pirate Bay case demonstrates how a political movement uses code as part of their political platform. Not only does the group advocate file sharing, they allow thousands of people across the world to share information freely. At a time, when most web2.0 platforms act as forces of capitalism, the two cases demonstrate alternative, commons-based structurations of web2.0.
Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Jan 1, 2009
ABSTRACT This article builds upon current hyperlink mapping research to determine the degree of p... more ABSTRACT This article builds upon current hyperlink mapping research to determine the degree of party loyalty and partisanship in the Canadian political blogosphere. The article develops a hyperlink-based method of determining blogger endorsements as a means of tracking cross-party recommendations. The article concludes that bloggers affiliated with the governing Conservative Party of Canada exhibit the most cohesive ideological and party loyal set of blog recommendation links.
First Monday, Jan 1, 2007
Abstract This paper discusses early findings and methodological pitfalls of a study of a hyper���... more Abstract This paper discusses early findings and methodological pitfalls of a study of a hyper���mediated election campaign in Canada. Web logs���or ���blogs������serve as the primary object of study. The paper focuses on possible sources of large scale data (aggregated blogger posts) and methods of determining the political influence of bloggers. A series of methodologies are proposed to resolve the over���reliance upon information aggregators and blog search engines provided by Google and Technorati.
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Papers by Fenwick McKelvey
We trace generations of peer-to-peer networking, showing that digital piracy is a key component in the development of a political platform that advocates for a set of ideals grounded in collaborative culture, nonhierarchical organization, and a reliance on the network. We assert that this politics expresses itself in a philosophy that was formed together with the development of the state-evading forms of communication that perpetuate unmanageable networks.
We trace generations of peer-to-peer networking, showing that digital piracy is a key component in the development of a political platform that advocates for a set of ideals grounded in collaborative culture, nonhierarchical organization, and a reliance on the network. We assert that this politics expresses itself in a philosophy that was formed together with the development of the state-evading forms of communication that perpetuate unmanageable networks.