Academic Studies of the Netroots
This panel is a roundtable discussion among academics who have recently produced books, dissertations, articles and conference papers on the Netroots and blogosphere. It seeks to ground discussions of the Netroots and blogosphere in solid theoretical foundations supported by extensive research. This panel will take meta to a whole new level of rigor.
Chris Bowers has been the managing editor of Openleft.com since July 2007, and was a full-time editor at MyDD.com from May 2004 until June 2007. He is also the treasurer of BlogPac, a fellow at the Commonweal Institute, and holds a seat on the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee. Bowers is 35, lives in Philadelphia, and occasionally works as a netroots consultant for progressive candidates and organizations.
Most importantly, as of July 18th, Chris is now married to Natasha Chart!
Matthew R. Kerbel is professor of political science at Villanova University and author or editor of seven books on politics, the mass media, and the presidency, including "Netroots: Online Progressives and the Transformation of American Politics" and "If It Bleeds, It Leads: An Anatomy of Television News." He worked as a radio and television news writer for outlets including the Public Broadcasting Service in New York City, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Dave Karpf is a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University's Taubman Center for Public Policy, having recently completed his dissertation on the political netroots. His research on the political blogosphere has appeared in several publications and he maintains the Blogosphere Authority Index, a system for ranking and comparing the influence of elite political blogs. He is in the process of writing a book about the internet's impact on political associations. Outside of academia, Dave is a longtime Sierra Club leader and currently serves as Fifth Officer on the Sierra Club Board of Directors.
Antoinette Pole is an Assistant Professor of Political Science & Law at Montclair State University. After receiving her Ph.D. in Political Science from CUNY Graduate School and University Center, she was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. Her areas of expertise include information technology and politics, and state politics. Recently, she has written a book titled Blogging the Political: Politics and Participation in a Networked Society (Routledge forthcoming) and she has been interviewed by media ranging the Boston Globe to the Chicago Tribune for her cutting edge work on political blogs.
