Research Results
Directory of representatives' websites: UK and Australia
A comprehensive inventory of representatives' website was compiled using
multiple sources. The tracking considers lower chambers only, and is updated
yearly.
Directories of websites
Table 1. Comparative statistics
|
|
November 2003 |
December 2004 |
|
|
|
Total websites |
% of
MPs with a Website |
Total websites |
% of
MPs with a Website |
|
|
Westminster (HoC) |
389 |
64 % |
499
|
76 % |
see Table 2 for party details
|
|
Scottish Parliament |
48 |
38 % |
75 |
58 % |
see Table 3
|
|
Welsh Assembly |
22 |
44 % |
30 |
50 % |
see Table 4
|
|
Australian Parliament (Reps) |
72 |
48 % |
90 |
60 % |
see Table 5
|
|
Victoria Assembly |
39 |
44 % |
45 |
51 % |
see Table 6
|
|
Queensland Assembly |
10 |
11 % |
12 |
13 % |
see Table 7
|
Sources
A range of official and non-official source have been used to compile the
directories. In the case of the Westminster Parliament, the UK parliamentary website was
used as an authoritative source of information on whether MPs have a website.
Assembly sites were used as a starting point. Additional sources were used to verify the accuracy and completeness of the
parliamentary database. In the UK, we used:
For the Conservatives and the
Liberal Democrats, the national party sites
were consulted, as they provide website address for individual MPs. For the
Labour party, such list in not posted on the national website. We used two
independent sources: Tom Watson MP
list of Labour MPs
sites & the directory service
toxic lemon. For other parties we use the national party site, where such
information was available.
A similar procedure was followed for Australian assemblies and the Scottish
and Welsh assemblies.
All sites are listed regardless of their nature, i.e. whether they are proper
MPs site, constituency party sites or, for instance, micro-sites on Epolitix.com.
The list is as accurate as the sources used. Regardless of how extensive the search was, sites might be outdated or down. The
figures report a measure of the public visibility of sites rather than websites'
nature and status.
The directory is updated yearly. Next issue: December 2005.
Reference
If you need to reference this tracking research, please use the following template:
Ward, S., Lusoli, W., & Gibson, R. K. (2004, December). Directory of
representatives' websites: UK and Australia [Web Document]. Salford: ESRI. Retrieved from the World Wide Web:
http://www.esri.salford.ac.uk/ESRCResearchproject/assemblies.php
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