Social policy on the web: The online institutional structure of social policy domains in the UK

Our traditional image of government is often of the Parliament or of bricks and mortar government service delivery offices, such as NHS hospitals or Benefits Agency sites. However, in an online world, government is increasingly seen and experienced through the internet. Moreover, in the online world, government websites can be readily connected into hyperlink networks. What do the online 'footprints' of social policy domains look like? And how do these online social policy networks relate to equivalent offline networks? This paper examines these questions in relation to three policy domains in the United Kingdom, namely: foreign affairs, health and education. It draws on large-scale web crawls and sophisticated web-metrics and Social Network Analysis techniques to map and compare the shapes of these different policy domains. It explores the shape, nature and make-up of these various online networks and the participants in them, including the relevant contribution of non-government and commercial websites. It considers whether or not online networks may reflect or contribute to social policy networks, or government ambitions of 'joined-up' service delivery, and whether jurisdictional boundaries are evident in the online world. In examining these topics, this paper seeks to provide an empirical and conceptual contribution to understanding 21^st government and service delivery.