Beyond the Borders of Red and Blue States: Google Maps as a Site of Rhetorical Invention in the 2008 Presidential Election

In 2008, Google site users accessed the expanding features of Google Maps to produce geographic images that challenged the traditional mass media and interpreted the presidential election through the depiction of alternative forms of data. These new media maps of the 2008 election demonstrated the varying levels of inventional freedom that individuals enjoy with new media technologies. When considered as rhetorical objections constructed by new media users, these maps constitute a collective social statement about the responsiveness of the electoral process to the act of voting.