Friday, October 7, 2022

How does the collection of personal information by political parties affect elector engagement?

My new article with Julia Kalinina, Elizabeth Dubois, and Nicole Goodman, "Privacy and Canadian Political Parties: The Effects of the Data-Driven Campaign on Elector Engagement," is now available Open Access in the Canadian Journal of Political Science

Datified campaigning brings concerns about surveillance, divisiveness, digital redlining and elector autonomy. This article asks whether awareness of parties’ data collection practices affects willingness to engage with campaigns. 

We surveyed Canadians to answer this question, and found: 

  • that respondents are not fully aware of political parties’ data collection practices,
  • that awareness of parties’ collection of personal information may reduce electors’ willingness to interact with political parties online, and 
  • respondents support the application of privacy law to political parties.  

Our team wrote about some of these findings in an article published in The Conversation in 2021, "Electronic tracking of voters is a thorny topic in a tight federal election race."

The Algorithmic Distribution of News: Policy Responses


My new edited collection with James Meese, The Algorithmic Distribution of News: Policy Responses, examines regulatory responses - and the responses of journalism organizations -  to the distribution of news by algorithms. It examines how news recommenders and aggregators like Google News and the Facebook news feed have challenged the traditional news gatekeepers and the revenue flows of news organizations.  Countries around the world have come up with a broad range of policy responses. The spectacular array of authors in this book book provide both reflections on these initial responses, as well as some food for thought about future directions.