As the Internet has become a more important source of information for citizens and consumers, politicians in a number of nations have employed the Web as a tool to facilitate contact with constituents and supporters. One of the least understood phenomena in the new ecology of political communication, however, is the use of hyperlinks to build public recognition, to demarcate ideological spaces and to reflect political alliances. The purpose of this paper is to examine the political hyperlinks established by the National Assembly members in South Korea, in order to ascertain their functions. This paper examines the communicative agendas of politicians as represented by their (out)linking practices. Hyperlink data obtained from the homepages of South Korea's National Assembly members during June of 2003 was collected. A hyperlink network analysis revealed that outlinks to political parties were the most common type of link. The next most preferred target websites were those maintained by the National Assembly, local governments such as city hall, and central government bodies, including Ministries. Websites rarely hyperlinked to civic and advocacy groups compared to other categories. In summary, there were more navigational outlinks for informative content than ideological affiliations. The results are discussed from the perspective of Asian values underlying political communication as well as online culture. Finally, this study performs an important role in contributing to the small but growing literature on how the Internet is affecting the practices of nations outside of the established democracies of the West.

This study critically examines the ways in which technological modernization and religion co-exist and mutually reinforce one another within the Singaporean context. Interviews with religious leaders of a diverse set of faiths in Singapore about how they understand the role of information technology in religious practice reveal a broad-based acceptance of the Internet and other information technologies and little sense of a danger to religious faith. Contrary to the proposals of secularization theory, these findings suggest that various religious communities have adopted and in some cases embrace the Internet as part of their contemporary religious mission and strategy for growth. The findings further contribute to historical research on the social construction of technology and lend support to emergent research on the spiritual shaping of Internet technology by religious communities seeking to integrate the Internet into their everyday social and religious practices in wired contexts such as Singapore.

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In contrast to the common view of blogging as a highly narcissistic activity

The rapid development of the Peoples' Republic of China has put increasing strains on an overwhelmed administrative and bureaucratic structure that was already hobbled by persistent inefficiency and corruption. In addition to anti-corruption and professionalization campaigns, the government has devised a system of e-governance with the goal of adding stability and order to a chaotic governing process. This includes re-establishing the control of the governing authorities, including improving the quality of surveillance and data gathering and hence policy-making; the elimination of corruption; and ultimately, the re-legitimation of the Communist Party of China. This paper discusses the critical administrative and political problems facing the government, demonstrates ways in which e-government has been designed to meet these, and discusses the problems presented by a reliance on e-government in a developing country.