Using the Issue Crawler to Map Gun Control Issue-Networks

Abstract:     
What can hyperlinkage analysis tell us about advocacy networks? This paper examines the pro and anti gun control movements in North America using hyperlinkage analysis. Hyperlinks benefit “issue-networks” because they represent the connections of one group to another. We use the Issue Crawler software to determine how gun advocacy networks are linked on-line. In examining the gun control community online we follow Noortje Marres’s definition of an “issue-network” (2006), rather than the original “issue people” definition (or lobbyists) derived from Hugh Heclo in 1978, to help address the deficiencies of hyperlinkage analysis on its own. We argue that hyperlinkage analysis of the pro gun control movement indicates that its strongest resources are not found, and its “issue-work” does not occur, online. Online there are not as many groups linked into the pro network, as the anti gun control groups. Therefore, a mixed methodology is required to determine the work being done that hyperlink analysis maps cannot illustrate.

Keywords: Advocacy, Gun Control, Hyperlink Analysis, Issue Crawler, Issue Networks

Working Paper Series