#democracysausage

1. Queensland University ofTechnology
timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
t.highfield@qut.edu.au
Bangers
and
mash-ups
Collaborative
information-gathering,
political participation,
and #democracysausage
Tim Highfield
ANZCA, Queenstown, NZ: 8-10 July 2015!
!
Image by Miss Dilettante for Democracy Sausage (democracysausage.org)

2. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
02
Bangers and mash-ups
E L E C T I O N R I T U A L S
“…the queue outside the local primary school, the eye-searing welter of
bunting and how-to-vote cards, the floppy-hatted volunteers, and
the customary fund-raising sausage-sizzle by the exit door…”
(Meikle,Wilson, Saunders, 2008)
“Over the course of today about 13 million people will walk or drive to the
nearest polling booth, politely collect more how-to-vote cards than they
intend to use, make small talk in a schoolyard or a church hall, and
possibly queue at a sausage sizzle or a cake stall. In the orderly, laconic
fashion with which Australians generally go about their business, they will
play their part in deciding which party will govern the nation for the next
three years.”
(The Age, 2004)

3. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
03
Bangers and mash-ups
SOCIAL MEDIA POLITICS
Adoption ofTwitter, Facebook, as campaign and informative channels by
politicians, parties, and more
@mentions of politicians, journalists…
The ritualised hashtags
#qanda
#auspol
#ausvotes (and their state-specific counterparts)
Political commentary, including through irreverent forms (memes…)

4. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
04
Bangers and mash-ups
ELECTION DAY EXPERIENCES
Twitter on election day:
Transitions from the individual and personal experiences (during the
day) to the mass responses to common contexts (during the results
and speeches)
Documenting various forms of political engagement – the act of voting,
voting as event, commentary, analysis, reaction – through a common
platform and popular markers
Social mediation of the personal and the political

5. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
05
Bangers and mash-ups
CROWDSOURCED PROJECTS
Booth Reviews: boothrev.net
Election Sausage Sizzle Map [#snagvotes]: electionsausagesizzle.com.au
The Hungry Voter: thehungryvoter.com
Democracy Sausage: democracysausage.org

6. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
06
Bangers and mash-ups
# D E M O C R A C Y S A U S A G E
‘Launched’ the night before the WA state election in March 2013
An impromptu suggestion onTwitter – tweet about presence or absence of
sausage sizzles at polling places, using #democracysausage
On the day,Twitter users contributed information, others drew upon this
volunteered data to create maps of election day sausage sizzles
Following the WA election, a domain – democracysausage.org – andTwitter
account - @DemSausage – registered ahead of future elections
Project active for all state and federal elections since March 2013

7. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
07
Bangers and mash-ups
A D H O C O R I G I N S
WA state election: 9 March 2013!
345 #democracysausage tweets from 151 users (as collected using yTK)
75 different polling places featured, of which 42 (56%) had sausages (or
other foodstuffs)
Predominantly Perth-centric data; only three regional divisions represented,
each through one single polling place
60% of polling places featured from ten divisions (Maylands and Nedlands
both had six polling places, out of nine and 13 respectively (and with 4 and
3 sausage sizzles)

8. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
08
Bangers and mash-ups
A D H O C O R I G I N S
!

9. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
09
Bangers and mash-ups
N A T I O N A L C O V E R A G E
Australian federal election: 7 September 2013!
1233 #democracysausage tweets from 845 users
505 polling places featured, predominantly from capital cities
VIC (146 polling places, w/ all 37 divisions featured), NSW (129, 43/48),
WA (88, 14/15), QLD (75, 21/30)
most extensive coverage: Melbourne (19/29 polling places, 13 sizzles)
ten further electorates had at least 10 polling places featured,
from Sydney (2), Brisbane (2), Melbourne (3), and Perth (3)
Only two rural(ish) electorates had seven or more results:
Bendigo, Corangamite (bothVIC)

10. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
10
Bangers and mash-ups
N A T I O N A L C O V E R A G E

11. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
11
Bangers and mash-ups
WAV OT E S T H E S E C O N D
WA Senate re-run: 5 April 2014!
335 #democracysausage tweets from 213 users
172 different polling places featured (of 732 total polling places)
126 with sausage sizzles, 75 with cake stalls (66 with both)
each of the Perth metropolitan divisions had 10 or more results
less coverage of regional electorates (Durack: 1/93 polling places)

12. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
12
Bangers and mash-ups
WAV OT E S T H E S E C O N D

13. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
13
Bangers and mash-ups
AS INFORMATION-SHARING…
#wavotes (2013): 46 / 102 original tweets w/ polling place info (45%)
#ausvotes (2013): 117 / 663 (17.65%)
#wavotes (2014): 57 / 136 (41.2%)
47 tweets across entire dataset w/ geodata (lat+long)
also w/ explicit polling place info in:
#wavotes (2013): 2 / 5
#ausvotes (2013): 10 / 32
#wavotes (2014): 4 /10

14. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
14
Bangers and mash-ups
…OR DE FACTO PUNCHLINE?
Minimal outright campaigning using #democracysausage
Occasional co-occurrence w/ campaign hashtags (#green13)
including campaigns about how to vote (#votebelowtheline)
Coverage of polling place foodstuffs without providing location info
Metacommentary on trending status, quintessential Australianness
Topical commentary about vegetarianism and the meat farming industry
lack of vegetarian options, implied meat bias of #democracysausage
Phallic co-option of #democracysausage with inappropriate and
misogynistic comments

15. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
15
Bangers and mash-ups
ONGOING PARTICIPATION?
Across three datasets, 1209Twitter users contributed tweets
18 active on all three election days (combined 176 tweets)
45 active on two of three (including @DemSausage)
Even in the WA-specific votes, only 28 common users
Fleeting engagement rather than continued participation the initial norm?
Tweeting with #democracysausage also a suggestion of concurrent
coverage of the election overall (using #wavotes/#ausvotes)
But, reverse less apparent (most active #wavotes/#ausvotes users not
necessarily participating in #democracysausage).

16. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
16
Bangers and mash-ups
B E Y O N D T W I T T E R
Use of #democracysausage on other social media, such as Instagram
Social mediation of the election experience
no polling place info but an image of a sausage sizzle
Mutation of #democracysausage from specific signifier to de facto election
marker
Highlights the informal nature of hashtagged political talk, range of practices
and purposes for which hashtag used beyond its initial information-sharing
context.

17. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
17
Bangers and mash-ups
B E Y O N D T W I T T E R
!
#qldvotes #snagvotes
#democracysausage
#democracycake
#democracymuffins
#democracycoffee
instagram.com/timhighfield
(31 January 2015)

18. @timhighfield
ANZCA 8 July 2015
18
Bangers and mash-ups
C O N C L U S I O N S
Democracy Sausage as collaborative, information-sharing project ostensibly
about political themes – tangential to election in general but indicative of
Australian engagement with the voting context
Willingness of users to contribute info – whether motivated by
participation, play, altruism – shows engagement with the rituals of voting
and of social media
Electoral impact might be minimal to none but does not negate their
significance of such projects:
confirm Australian political rituals – and through repetition, become
part of new, extended rituals themselves

19. timhighfield.net
@timhighfield
t.highfield@qut.edu.au
Acknowledgements!
Keith Moss +
Helen Ensikat
http://democracysausage.org
Thanks!
Questions and such:
Image by Miss Dilettante for Democracy Sausage (democracysausage.org)