Political blogging may have little effect as a 4th estate

Some interesting research coming from Patricia Audette-Longo, the political affairs reporter for the Edmonton Journal.(via the Polis summer school) on the effect of political blogs on democratic discourse in Alberta, Canada.

But it is her opening gambit which I particularly liked

The makings of a global community do not rest on fast access to international content-sharing websites or the immediate gratification of creating a blog housed for free by Google. Without context, knowing an unlimited amount of information is just a mouse-click away does no more to enhance your sense of community than purchasing a used Christmas ornament on eBay.

Patricia finds that

while bloggers reach to effect change, and hope to shift the “ways citizens and politicians practice politics” simply by changing the model of sharing information, their work is rarely read outside small circles of fans and vehement detractors.