World Wide Internet: Changing Societies, Economies and Cultures
World Wide Internet: Changing Societies, Economies and Cultures Editor-in-chief Cover Designer Coordinator Publisher
Printer Print-run Date of publication
Gustavo Cardoso, Angus Cheong and Jeffrey Cole Casber U Publications Centre, University of Macau University of Macau Avenida Padre Tomás Pereira, Taipa, Macau, China Tel: (853) 28831622 Fax: (853) 28831694 Website: www.umac.mo Email:
[email protected] Tipografia Futat 500 July 2009
Published and printed in Macao.
© University of Macau / Universidade de Macau / 2009 All rights reserved. ISBN 978-99937-986-4-4
Contents
List of figures List of tables List of contributors Acknowledgments
page vii xvi xxii xxvii
Introduction: From World Internet Project to World Wide Internet
1
Gustavo Cardoso, Angus Cheong, Jeffrey Cole
I The Internet as a Media: from digital ecologies to networked communication 1 Out of Information and into Communication. Networked Communication and Internet Usage 23 Gustavo Cardoso and Vera Araújo
2 The Internet as a Complement to Traditional Media: A Cross Country Comparison 51 Olle Findahl
3 Understanding the New Digital Ecology in Mexico: The Organization and Arrangement of Complex Media Environments
75
4 The Internet under a Changing Media Environment: Japan
93
Fernando Gutiérrez and Octavio Islas
Shunji Mikami
iii
Contents
iv
5 A Longitudinal Examination of Internet Diffusion, Adopter Categories, and Ramifications of Internet Usage on the Importance of Newspapers Robert Lunn and Michael Suman
110
II To Use or Not to Use the Internet: from digital exclusion to social inclusion 6 The Evolving Pattern of Digital divide: An Investigation of Individual Level of Divides 129 Angus Cheong and Jianbin Jin
7 Understanding the Links between Social and Digital Exclusion in Europe ELLEN J. HELSPER AND ANNA GALÁCZ
8 Internet access and Test Scores in Argentina: Exploring the Evidence
Marcela Cristini and Guillermo BermÚdez
146
179
9 Users, Non-users, and Internet Connectedness: The case of Cyprus 201 Nicolas Demertzis and Vassilis Gialamas
10 Social Inclusion Through ICT La Boquilla Colombia
Alejandro Gutierrez and Ana Maria TrimmiÑo
228
11 Opportunity and Digital Literacy: Media Consumption and Digital Tool Usage Status Groups in Hungary 241 Anikó Bernát, Zoltán Fábián, Anna Galácz and Bence Ságvári
III The Cultures of Internet: producing for new screens 12 Creative Dynamics of the Broadband Internet: Australian Production and Consumption of Cultural Content 268 Scott Ewing and Julian Thomas
Contents
v
13 New Screens and Young People’s Appropriation of Entertainment Content
296
14 Media Practices, Connected Lives
331
André H. Caron and Letizia Caronia
Carlos Tabernero, Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, Daniel Aranda and Imma Tubella
IV The Politics of Internet: political expectations and elections 15 Internet Usage, the Media, and Political Expectations: Results from WIP Chile 2003-2008
359
Sergio Godoy-Etcheverry
16 The Internet and The 2007 French Presidential Election Still The Time of Old Media? 388 Thierry Vedel
V The Internet in Daily Life: we are all consumers and patients 17 “Consumers Involvement in Organizations in the Era of Social Media: Open Research Questions”
413
18 Health and the Internet: Autonomy of the User
434
Andreina Mandelli and Silvia Vianello
Rita Espanha and Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva
VI The Internet and Social Life: from sociability’s to social behaviour 19 Internet Use, Family Relations and Conflict Resolution 463 Alfred Choi
20 ICT’s for Interpersonal Communications in China
Guo Liang and Gai Bo
504
Contents
vi
21 Effects of the Internet on Our Social Lives
526
22 Comparing Addictive Behavior on the Internet in the Czech Republic, Chile and Sweden
544
Yair Amichai-Hamburger
DAVID ŠMAHEL, PETRA VONDRACKOVA, LUKAS BLINKA AND SERGIO GODOY-ETCHVERRY
VII The Internet and Social Change: from the global to the local 23 From “Locals” to “Expats”: Patterns of Internet usage in UAE, a Multi-Group Society
583
24 From nowhere to somewhere? – The Development of the Information Society in Hungary
601
25 Internet Use in New Zealand: Implications for Social Change
624
Index
656
Ilhem Allagui and Tim Walters
Tibor Dessewffy and Anna Galácz
Ian Goodwin, Nigel Smith, Kevin Sherman, Charles Crothers, Jennie Billot, and Philippa Smith.
Figures
1.1
1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 3.1
Broadband impact on selected Internet activities, selected OECD countries (Difference, in percentage points, between broadband and narrowband users, 2006). page 31 Gender differences for selected Internet activities in selected OECD countries (2005). 33 Selected online activities by level of education in Sweden (2003-2006). 34 Evolution of Internet penetration, by level of education in Portugal (2003-2008). 36 Selected daily uses of the Internet in Portugal per age group – 2008. 39 Selected daily uses of the Internet in Portugal, by gender – 2008. 40 Internet Usages around the Globe. 44 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Internet and Morning + Evening Newspapers 1996-2006. 57 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Morning Newspapers and Internet 1996-2006. 57 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Internet and Television 1996-2006. 60 Proportion of the population using Internet for traditional media. 62 Television viewing: Daily reach 1996-2006 (share of population, per cent) 63 Television viewing: Total daily viewing time 19962007 (minutes). 63 Newspaper readership: Daily reach 1996-2006. 64 Media Consumption In Mexico (2008). 77
vii
viii
3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8
List of figures
Media As Extensions Of Other Media. Internet Extends Media Reach In Mexico (2006). Internet Penetration In Mexico (2008). Internet Use By Age Ranges (2008). Internet Use By Socioeconomic Level (2008). Reasons For Not Going Online (2008). Favorite Places For Internet Connections And Tim Spent Online (2008). 3.9 Popular Internet Activities In Mexico (2008). 3.10 Internet As A Source Of Information (2008). 3.11 Places Where Users Access The Internet In Mexico. (2006). 3.12 Internet As A Source Of Entertainment (2008). 3.13 Internet Accounts (2006-2008). 3.14 Distribution Of Advertising Investment In Mexico (2007). 4.1 Number of Subscribers to Wired Broadband Services in Japan (in millions). 4.2 Internet Usage Rate by Terminal Type (JWIP surveys:2000-2008). 4.3 Importance of Media as Information Sources Internet Users Aged 18 or Older Ranking the Media as “Important” or “Very Important”. 4.4 How Much of the Information on the Internet is Reliable? Internet Users Age 18 and Higher. 5.1 United States Internet Diffusion Over time. 5.2 Patterns of Internet Use Diffusion by Year. 5.3 S-Shapes Curves Fitted To Average Hours Per Week By Four Adopter Groups. 5.4 Rate of Change of Hours of Internet Use by Time For Two Adopter Groups. 5.5 Percentage Age Groups by Adoption Groups. 5.6 Percent Income Less Than 50K by Adopter Groups. 5.7 Percent Four or More Years of College by Adopter Groups. 5.8 Stated Reason for Not Using the Internet or For
78 79 81 82 83 83 85 85 86 87 88 89 90 95 97 104 106 113 115 116 117 119 119 119
List of figures
Dropping Internet Usage. Average Rate of Decrease (slope) in Dependence on Newspapers as a Source of Information by Internet Diffusion Groups (Average Months Online). 6.1 The Key Components in the Conceptualization of Digital divide. 6.2 Internet Divides in Macau between 2002 and 2008. 7.1 Relationship between the percentage of broadband subscribers in a country and the Gini coefficient (Highlighting Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the UK). 7.2 Age distribution in EU WIP countries (in 2007). 7.3 Gini and digital divide distribution (use high income/ use low Income) for WIP 2007 countries. 7.4 Principal component analysis of the links between use, access and social inclusion in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden and Britain. 7.5 Principal component analysis of the links between digital engagement and social inclusion in Czech Republic, Hungary, Sweden and Britain. 8.1 Math Test Scores, Difference to average score, Selected Characteristics – ONE 2000. 8.2 Language Test Scores, Difference to average score, Selected Characteristics – ONE 2000. 8.3 Computer and Internet Access Math and Language Test Scores, Difference to average score – ONE 2000. 8.4 Math and Language Test Scores, Difference to average scores, Selected Characteristics – ONE 2000. 8.5 Math and Language Test Scores, Difference to average scores Internet Access at School, Selected Characteristics – ONE 2000. 9.1 Users and non-users of the Internet. 9.2 Current Internet use by Age. 9.3 Self-rating of ability to use the Internet N-475. 5.9
ix
121 122 131 142
151 155 156 161 167 185 186 187 189 190 210 211 225
x
9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 10.1
List of figures
IT involvement in 2 levels by Age. IT involvment in 2 levels by Income. Frequency of usage by Gender. Internet use history by Area. Current Internet use by Education. Percentage of household with products. Urban vs. Rural 2008. 10.2 Evolution of members the “No más FARC!” group. 10.3 PC uses. 2008. La Boquilla – Colombia. 10.4 Internet usage. 2008. La Boquilla – Colombia. 11.1 The proportion of groups by digital literacy (ABC), 200. 11.2 The averages of the financial status, the household ICT infrastructure and mobile phone usage in the ABC groups of digital literacy, 200. 11.3 The averages of cultural capital, TV and radio, print media and sociability-network indexes in the ABC groups of digital literacy, 2006. 11.4 The composition of the clusters according to the ABC groups of digital literacy. 11.5 The individual digital opportunity in the ABC groupsof digital literacy: the average points of the IDO index by groups. 12.1 Importance of Internet to current way of life, by access type, Australia 2007. 12.2 Impact of the Internet on related activities, by access type, Australia 2007. 12.3 Importance of various media for entertainment, by access type, Australia 2007. 12.4 Impact of Internet access on creative endeavours, by access type, Australia 2007. 12.5 Importance of the Internet for the current way of life, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. 12.6 Importance of the Internet for entertainment, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. 12.7 The Internet enables me to share creative work I
225 226 226 227 227 232 234 238 239 245 248 249 252 259 273 274 275 277 278 280
List of figures
12.8 12.9 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4. 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 15.9 15.10
like with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. The Internet enables me to share my creative work with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. The Internet has encouraged me to produce my own creative work and share it with others, by gender and access type , Australia 2007. Importance of the Internet for entertainment, by age and access type, Australia 2007. The Internet enables me to share creative work I like with others, by age and access type , Australia 2007. The Internet enables me to share my creative work with others, by age and access type, Australia 2007. The Internet has encouraged me to produce my own creative work and share it with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. The Information Economy in Chile, the US, and South Korea. Web users in Chile according to age (2006). Percentage of web users in Chile according to income quintiles 2000-2006. Users and non-users in Santiago, 2003-2008. Hours per week of TV viewing in selected WIP countries, 2007/2008 (users and non-users). Hours per week dedicated to offline media by web users, 2003-2008. Hours per week dedicated to offline media by web non-users, 2003-2008. Hours per week dedicated to offline media and the Internet by users and non-users, 2008. Weekly hours of TV viewing by web users and non-users 2008, according to age. Weekly hours of radio usage by web users and
xi
282 283 284 286 290 291 292 364 365 366 367 368 369 369 370 371
xii
List of figures
non-users 2008, according to age. 15.11 Weekly hours of newspaper reading by web users and non-users 2008, according to age. 15.12 Percentage of users and non-users who consider different media as ‘important/very important’ sources of information, 2006-2008. 15.13 Percentage of users and non-users who consider the Internet as an ‘important/very important’ source of information, 2003-2008 (with log scale). 15.14 Percentage of users and non-users who consider different media as “important/very important” sources of entertainment, 2006-2008. 15.15 Percentage of users and non-users who consider the Internet as an “important/very important” source of entertainment, 2003-2008 (with log scale). 15.16 Percentage of users who believe most/all contents from different online sources, 2006-2008. 15.17 Percentage of users who have suspended regular subscription to a newspaper or magazine because of the availability of the same contents online, 2008. 15.18 Percentage of users/non-users who agree/agree strongly with different statements about political empowerment due to the use of Internet, 2006/08. 15.19 Percentage of users in selected WIP countries who agree/agree strongly with different statements about political empowerment due to Internet use, 2006/08. 17.1 Top Social Networking Sites by Unique Visitors February 2009. 17.2 World Internet Penetration Rates by Geographic Regions. 19.1 Conceptual Model of Internet Use, Family Conflict and Conflict Resolution. 20.1 Usage of various communication tools among Internet/mobile phone users. (Internet users N=1309, Mobile phone users N=1756) 20.2 Proportion of heavy use of mobile voice calls by
371 372 373 375 376 377 378 379 381 382 414 414 491 507
List of figures
20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 20.10 20.11 20.12 20.13 20.14 20.15 20.16 20.17
relationship. Proportion of heavy use of mobile text message (6 average message sent/receive per day) by relationship. Proportion of email users who frequently use email to communicate with different social relations. Proportion of MSN users who frequently use MSN to communicate with different social relations QQ (ICQ). Proportion of Internet users who frequently use QQ to communicate by social relationship. The scope of MSN communications and QQ communications (NQQ=912, NMSN=407) Communications with different groups of people. Heavy use of different tools for communicating with parents. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with children. Heavy use of different communication tools to communicate with cohabitant spouse or boyfriend/ girlfriend in a stable relationship. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with siblings. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with relatives. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with current colleagues, classmates, people within the same profession and business connections. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with non-cohabiting lovers or boyfriends/girlfriends. Heavy use of different communication tools to communicate with close friends. Heavy use of different tools to communicate with casual friends. Heavy use of different communication tools to communicate with neighbors.
xiii
509 509 511 511 513 513 514 515 516 517 517 518 519 520 521 521
xiv
List of figures
20.18 Heavy use of different tools to communicate with online friends. 20.19 Use of different communication tools in contacting different social relationships. 21.1 Internet Use: Effect on Contact with People Who Share Users’ Hobbies or Recreational Activities (Internet Users Age 18 and Older). 21.2 Internet Use: Effect on Contact with People Who Share Users’ Political Interests.(Internet Users Age 18 and Older). 21.3 Internet Use: Effect on Contact with People Who Share Users’ Religion (Internet Users Age 18 and Older). 21.4 Internet Use: Effect on Contact with People Who Share Users’ Profession (Internet Users Age 18 and Older who are Employed). 21.5 Internet Use: Effects on Contact with the Users’ Family (Internet Users Age 18 and Older). 21.6 Internet Use: Effects on Contact with the Users’ Friends. (Internet Users Age 18 and Older). 21.7 Time Spent Socializing Face-to-Face with Friends Outside of School or Outside of Office Hours (Internet Users vs. Non-Users Age 18 and Older: Weekly Hours). 21.8 Time Spent Socializing Face-to-Face with Friends Outside of School or Outside of Office Hours (Internet Users vs. Non-Users Age 18 and Older: Weekly Hours). 22.1 Conflict with family, friends or partners according to the age. 22.2 Conflict with family, friends or partners according to the gender. 22.3 Mood modification due to impossibility to be online. 22.4 Mood modification due to impossibility to be online. 22.5 Dangerous and practical activities online in compared countries.
522 525 535 536 537 537 538 539
539
540 562 562 564 564 566
List of figures
22.6
Frequencies of items on addictive behavior on the Internet. 22.7 Prevalence of dimensions of addictive behavior on the Internet. 22.8 Prevalence of addictive behavior on the Internet. 24.1 The diffusion of the Internet and the DVD player in Hungary between 2001 and 2005. 24.3 Internet penetration in the WIP countries in 2007. 24.3 Rate of Internet users in different demographic groups (education, financial status, age, place of residence), 2001-2007. 24.4 Popularity of different forms of Internet usage in different countries, 2007. 24.5 Reasons for not using the Internet, 2007. 24.6 Path model explaining Internet use. 25.1 Years of Internet use amongst NZ Internet users. 25.2 Effect on Internet users “if they lost all Internet access tomorrow” 25.3 Comparative importance of media as an information source. 25.4 Proportions of users posting online. 25.5 Frequency of financial transactions online. 25.6 Comparison of effect of Internet on general and face-to-face contact time. 25.7 Perceptions of Maori and Pasifika users on whether the Internet helps keep their languages alive. 25.8 Proportion of population who use the Internet by age. 25.9 Importance of the Internet in daily life by ethnicity. 25.10 Self-rated ability to use the Internet by gender.
xv
567 568 569 606 607 609 609 611 612 634 635 636 638 640 641 642 644 645 646
Tables
1.1 1.2 1.3 2.1
Top 10 researched expressions on the Interne. Top 10 uses of the Internet. Top 10 daily uses of the Internet, selected countries. Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Newspaper reading (Proportion of Internet users). 2.2 Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Evening paper reading (Proportion of Internet users). 2.3 A comparison of average reading time between those who are using and not using the Internet, without control of age. 2.4 A comparison of reading time in seven age groups between those who are using and not using the Internet, without control of age. 2.5 Comparison of the habits of newspaper readers, year 2000 to year 2007. 2.6 Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Television viewing. 2.7 A comparison of TV viewing time between those who are using and not using the Internet. 2.8 A comparison of television viewing in seven age groups between those who are using and not using the Internet. 4.1 Internet Penetration Rates by Demographic Factors (2002,2005,2008). 4.2 Logistic Regression Models Predicting PC Internet and Mobile Internet Use (2002 - 2008). 4.3 Comparison of the PC and Mobile Internet Usage of Various Contents on the Internet. xvi
37 38 45 54 55 55 56 58 60 60 61 98 99 99
List of tables
4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.1 5.2 5.3 6.1 7.1 7.2 7.3 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 9.1 9.2 9.3
Rates and Frequencies in the Use of E-mails , News Sites and Online Communities from PC and Mobile. Factor Analysis of the Usage of Various Internet Services. Regression Models Predicting Average Frequency of the Internet Contents. Regression Model Predicting the Importance of Internet and TV as Information Sources. Regression Model Predicting the Importance of Internet and TV asEntertainment Sources. Regression Model Predicting the Reliability of the Internet, TV and Newspapers. Internet Diffusion Groups. Six Randomly Selected Intermittent Internet Users Pattern of Usage. Factor Analysis of Stated Reasons for Not Using the Internet. Internet Divides in Macau between 2002 and 2008. Research design and methodology in the four countries. The average adult Internet user by gender, age, life stage and experience (months of use). Distance matrix for adults in relation to use access. Math and Language Difference in Test Scores Between students with and without Home Computer By Mother and Father’s level of Education. Math and Language Difference in Test Scores Between students with and without Home Computer By Socioeconomic Scale of Household (SES). Math Test Score – Multivariate Analysis ICT variables at the ONE 2000. Language Test Score – Multivariate Analysis ICT variables at the ONE 2000. PC, Laptops and Internet penetration rates. ICI mean value by gender and age category. Current Internet use.
xvii
100 102 103 105 105 107 114 116 120 140 154 158 163 188 188 194 195 203 209 212
xviii
9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 10.1 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4
List of tables
Reasons for starting the Internet by gender, income, education and age. ICT Involvement by gender, income, education and age. Time use by gender, education and age. Internet history by gender, income, region, education and age. Multiple regression analysis of ICI on a set of 10 predictors: Unstandardized & Standardized regression coefficients, standard errors and significancea. Contact with people (Has your use of the Internet increased or decreased your contact with the following groups?) Sociodemographics data. Urban vs. Rural 2008. The “ABC” groups of digital literacy, 2006. Breakdown of the sample by age, economic activity and digital literacy categories, 2006 - The segments of the ABC groups by digital literacy. The average index points of the respective clusters in the examined seven dimensions and the percentage proportion of the clusters. Composition of clusters by age and settlement type . The construction of the Individual Digital Opportunity index. The factor weight (main component analysis) of the Individual Digital Opportunity (IDO) index. The composition of the media consumption and ICT clusters as per the average points and categories of individual digital opportunity (IDO). Mean hours of television watched per week, Internet users by access type, selected countries, 2007. Posting content, by access type, Australia 2007. Downloading activities, by access type, Australia 2007. Impact of the Internet on related activities, by
213 216 217 218 219 222 232 245 246 253 254 256 258 260 273 275 276
List of tables
12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 12.10 15.1 15.2 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 17.1 17.2 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4
gender and access type, Australia 2007. Posting activity, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. Downloading activities, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. Impact of the Internet on related activities, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Maintaining blog or website, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Posting activity, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Downloading activities, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. Details of the WIP Chile samples 2003-2008. Selected WIP countries ranked according to UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) and other welfare indicators. Proportion of spending on Internet activities in total campaign expenditure by all candidates*. Functional and technical scores of the candidates web sites as of April 2007. First and second sources of information on the election. Socio-demographic and political profiles of Internet users, by web usage. Top Social Networking Sites by Unique Visitors February 2009. Three forms of intentional social action in consumer behavior. Use of the Internet in Portugal to search for medical/ health information. Internet use in Portugal to search for medical/health information according to age groups. Internet use frequency in Portugal to search for medical/health information. Medical/health information search recipients in
xix
279 280 281 286 287 288 289 361 363 392 393 400 400 415 419 444 444 445
xx
18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 18.10 18.11 18.12 18.13 18.14 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7
List of tables
Portugal. Medical/health information search reasons in Portugal. Medical/health information search in Portugal. Medical/health information search characteristics in Portugal. Medical/health information themes Internet search in Portugal. Medical/health information search on Internet in Portugal. A typology of Internet users (Non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis, final clusters centres). Characterization of the typology of Internet users (Frequency of online activity, % affirmation, chi-square test). Characterization of the typology of Internet users (Gender and Age, chi-square test). Characterization of the typology of Internet users (Country, chi-square test*). Characterization of the Online Health related information seeker (Gender and Age, chi-square test). Internet Use and Family Relations (All Respondents). Internet Home Use and Family Relations (among Internet Users). Regression Analysis on Time Spent Socialising Face-to-face with family members (Dependent Variable). Regression Analysis on Family Satisfaction (Dependent Var.) Time Spent with Family Members after Using Internet. (All Internet Users) Changed in Time Spent with Family Members Face-to-face after Using Internet (Home Users). Family Categories – Usage, Awareness, Style of Parenting and Conflict.
446 447 448 448 449 450 453 454 456 457 458 476 477 479 480 481 482 485
List of tables
19.8 19.9 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 22.9 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 24.1
Relationships Between Usage, Awareness, Parenting Style and Conflict. Consolidated Depiction of Family Conflicts and Resolutions. Review of surveys on the prevalence of addictive behavior on the Internet. Country profiles of three countries for comparison. Factors of addictive behavior on the Internet. Basic information about sample and data collection in the three countries. Sample description. Percentages of Internet users in the relevant sample groups. Average hours spent weekly online at home on wired computer. Do you ever argue with your close ones (family, friends, partners) because of the time you spend online? Do you feel unsettled or irritated when you cannot be online? UAE subgroups having the Internet as a source of information for current Affairs dealing with. UAE subgroups having the Internet as a source of information for UAE social issues dealing with. UAE subgroups having the Internet as a source of information for Entertainment. UAE subgroups having the Internet as a source of information for Business news. Scale distribution for entertainment activities. Results of the linear regression model.
xxi
486 490 553 553 556 557 558 558 559 560 563 592 593 594 595 597 619
Contributors
Alejandro Gutierrez Sánchez, MEcon, Project Professional, CINTEL-Centro De Investigación De Las Telecomunicaciones, Mexico Alfred Choi, Associate Professor, Department of Applied Social Studies of City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, PRC Ana Maria Trimmiño Villa, Project Manager, CINTEL-Centro De Investigación De Las Telecomunicaciones, Mexico André H. Caron , Bell Chair in Interdisciplinary Research on Emerging Technologies and Full Professor, Department of Communication, University of Montréal, Canada Andreina Mandelli, SDA Professor, Marketing Bocconi University, Milan, Italy Angus Cheong, Project Director of Macao Internet Project; Assistant Professor, University of Macau, Macau SAR, PRC Anikó Bernát, Researcher, TÁRKI Social Research Institute, Hungary Anna Galácz, Senior Researcher, ITHAKA - Information Society and Network Research Center, Hungary Bence Ságvári, Managing Director, ITHAKA - Information Society and Network Research Center, Hungary xxii
Carlos Tabernero, Researcher, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) – Open University of Catalonia (UOC); Associate Professor of History of Science, Centre for the Study of History of Science (CEHIC) – Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Spain Charles Crothers, Professor, School of Social Sciences, AUT University, New Zealand Daniel Aranda, Associate Professor, Information and Communication Science Studies - Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain David Šmahel, Editor of Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace; Associate Professor of Institute for Research on Children, Youth and the Family; Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Ellen J. Helsper, Survey Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK Fernando Gutiérrez, Chairman of Department of Communication at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de México; Coordinator of World Internet Project in Mexico (WIP), Mexico Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Dr., Lecturer at Open University of Catalonia; Researcher at Internet Interdisciplinay Institute (IN3),;Member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group on ICTs (i2TIC), Spain Gai Bo, Research Assistant of China Internet Project, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; PhD Candidate, School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, PRC Guillermo Bermúdez, Economist, Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL), Argentina Guo Liang, Associate Professor, Director of China Internet Project, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, PRC xxiii
Gustavo Cardoso, Research Director of (LINI) Lisbon Internet and Networks Institute; Professor of Technology and Society at Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE), Portugal. Ian Goodwin, Lecturer, School of English and Media Studies, Massey University, New Zealand Ilhem Allagui, Assistant Professor, Mass Communication Department, American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates Imma Tubella, Professor & Researcher; President of Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain Jeffrey Cole, Director of Center for the Digital Future, USC Annenberg School for Communication, US Jennie Billot, Research Director of World Internet Project New Zealand (WIPNZ); Deputy Director of Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication, AUT University, New Zealand Jianbin Jin, Professor, Beijing Tsinghua University, PRC Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, Associate Professor, Information and Communication Science Studies - Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Spain Julian Thomas, Researcher, Institute for Social Research (ISR) at Swinburne University, Australia Kevin Miguel Sherman, PhD Candidate; WIPNZ Researcher, Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication, AUT University, New Zealand Letizia Caronia, Professor, Department of Education, University of Bologna, Canada
xxiv
Lukas Blinka, Research Fellow, Institute for Research on Children, Youth and the Family; Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Marcela Cristini, Senior Economist, Latin American Economic Research Foundation (FIEL), Argentina Michael Suman, Research Director, USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, US Nicolas Demertzis, Professor, Political Communication, University of Athens, Cyprus
Sociology
and
Nigel Smith, Research Coordinator, World Internet Project, Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication, AUT University, New Zealand Octavio Islas, Chairman of “Cátedra de Comunicaciones Estratégicas y Cibercultura” at theTecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de Mexico; Director of ALAIC (Latin-American Association of Communication Researchers), Mexico Olle Findahl, Research Manager, World Internet Institute Sweden, Sweden Petra Vondrackova, PhD Candidate; Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic Philippa Smith, PhD Candidate; WIPNZ Researcher, Institute of Culture, Discourse and Communication, AUT University, New Zealand Rita Espanha, Professor of ISLA-Lisboa and researcher at CIESISCTE, Portugal Robert Lunn, Senior Research Analyst, USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future, US xxv
Scott Ewing, Researcher, Institute for Social Research (ISR) at Swinburne University, Australia Sergio Godoy-Etcheverry, Head of Research & Postgraduate Studies, School of Communications, Universidad Catolica de Chile; Director of WIP Chile project, Chile Shunji Mikami, Professor, Department of Media and Communications ,Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan Silvia Vianello, SDA Assistant Professor, Marketing Bocconi University, Milan, Italy Thierry Vedel, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Political Research (CEVIPOF) at Sciences-Po, Paris, France Tibor Dessewffy, Associate professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary Tim Walters, Associate Professor of Mass Communication Department; Head and Associate Dean of College of Arts and Sciences American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates Vassilis Gialamas, Associate Professor, Statistics, University of Athens, Cyprus Vera Araújo, Researcher, Observatory), Portugal
OberCom
(Portuguese
Media
Yair Amichai-Hamburger, Research Center for Internet Psychology (CIP) Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel Zoltán Fábián, Director of Data Archive, TÁRKI Social Research Institute, Hungary
xxvi
Acknowledgments
This book and the works it describes are part of the efforts from partners of the World Internet Project. The editors wish to thank all the contributors for their brilliant contribution and consistent help throughout the project. We would also like to thank the University of Macau for its generous funding and Prof. Rui Paulo Da Silva Martins for his continuous support to make this publication possible. We also thank Vicky Chan, Athena Seng, Sherry Chang, Candy Fong, and David Chu, who have been of great help to the Macau Internet Project. Above all, the book project would not have been completed without the considerable efforts of Moon Zhou, who has done tremendous coordination throughout the editing process, as well as Casber U, who expertly brought the whole manuscript up to a publishable standard. We also thank Joanne Zhong for her hard working on proofreading all the texts in a very short period of time. Our gratitude also goes to Dr. Raymond Wong from the Publication Center and Dr. Mei Wu from the Department of Communication of the University of Macau for their help and encouragement. Individual contributors’ acknowledgments appear as footnotes in their respective chapters.
xxvii
Introduction: From World Internet Project to World Wide Internet
Introduction
3
From World Internet Project to World Wide Internet
The book you are now reading is the product of a research project launched almost 10 years ago. The World Internet Project is made up of many national reports written by different research teams in recent years. We have also been able to deliver to the academic community and society at large international reports that address the comparative dimensions tapping cross-national and crosscultural similarities and differences in the uses of the Internet. But this is the first time the data gathered by the World Internet Project are published with the aim to develop new hypotheses regarding the role of the Internet in changing our lives and societies. In the pages that follow, we will share with readers various insights on the role of the Internet in changing our societies, economies and cultures. Contributions to this book come not just from different countries but also from different scientific fields and different scientific cultures. In this introduction, we would like to offer a brief historical account on the development of WIP and walk readers through a roadmap of the ideas behind the organization as well as the content of the different chapters in this book. The World Internet Project (WIP) The World Internet Project was founded upon a belief that we lost a great opportunity understanding the impact of television and that the ultimate influence of the web and other forms of digital
4
introduction
communication will eclipse that of television. The WIP was designed for scholarly understanding of the economic, political and social impact of digital technologies. Fostering collaboration among dozens of countries around the globe, the project has established benchmarks for attitudes and behaviors in the digital era. During the last decade, the project has been committed to sharing high-quality and innovative data and insights with academics, governments, journalists, corporations, and general public around the world. The World Internet Project originated at the UCLA Center for Communication Policy (now the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future) and was founded with the NTU School of Communication Studies in Singapore and the Osservatorio Internet Italia at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. Since its inception, the project recognized the increasing influence of digital technology and the power of the Internet as a true international phenomenon. It has always been on the project’s agenda to expand to include all the regions of the world. While it was important to find partners among developed countries before they grow too acclimated to the web, it was considered equally important for us to work with developing countries as they began to move on-line. We believe that the Internet (in whatever format of distribution: PC, television, wireless or some yet to be developed systems) will transform people’s social, political and economic lives. We also believe that the influence and importance of the Internet would dwarf that of the most important instrument of cultural influence of the past 50 years: television. Potentially the Internet represents change on the order of the industrial revolution or the printing press. With that belief in mind, the World Internet Project was designed to get in on the ground floor of that change and to watch and document what happens as households and nations acquire and use the Internet. The main objective of the World Internet Project is to explain how the Internet is changing the world – today and tomorrow. The project was the first wide-scoped, longitudinal exploration of how life is being transformed by computers and the Internet, with year-
Introduction
5
to-year comparisons of the social and cultural changes as people use this extraordinary technology. The studies were also the first to answer such broad questions about the Internet on a global scale. While the methodological and international collaboration process is complex, the rationale behind the project is remarkably simple: track households as they go on-line and continue to follow them as their usage increases and becomes more comprehensive. The USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future conducts the survey in the United States and coordinates the international partner projects. Independent teams in each country direct the implementation of the international partner projects with the goal of finding the most qualified teams in each country or region from distinguished universities or research centers. As of 2009, the project has attracted approximately 30 national or regional participants. Each year the researchers meet in one location to share results, explore common issues and concerns and continue to refine the methodology and scope of the work. The U.S. research team became interested in this project while doing extensive work in the 1990s on television. In 1998 television viewing by children under the age of 14 in the United States dropped for the first time in the medium’s 50-year history. For the very first time children found something more appealing: computers and the Internet. While television has had an unprecedented influence on culture, its influence has been primarily in the domains of entertainment and leisure. It is now becoming clear that computers and especially the Internet are producing effects comparable to television’s on work, school and play. Believing that the importance and influence of computer technology and the Internet will dwarf that of television, project designers hope to achieve in research what should have been done on television in the 1940s. The research plan calls for drawing a truly random and representative national sample of computer and Internet users and non-users. Each year the project carries out an extensive survey of the sampled households and then, using standard longitudinal methods for retention, tracks the process whereby non-users become users and users become more advanced
6
introduction
and comfortable users. The use of the Internet will continue to grow (though probably through wireless and television devices rather than computers) until it reaches the television-level of consumption of 98.3%. Using a combination of well-accepted social scientific survey methods and techniques, the different research teams conduct longterm longitudinal studies on the impact of computers, the Internet and related technologies on families and society. In each country researchers follow the growth and change patterns in computer and Internet use and non-use in more than 1,000 households. The households are surveyed year after year, as computer and Internet use evolves. As important as tracking Internet use, possibly even more so, is surveying non-users. We regularly track social and cultural behaviour of non-users to see if and how attitudes and actions change as households obtain computers and Internet access. This project intends to determine why non-users do not participate and what their sense of the connected world is. In so doing, we hope to learn what compels many of them to become users later on and how their established patterns of media use, child-rearing, economic and political behavior and other activities change. When, for example, household penetration of the Internet reaches 90%, we will be able to determine who the 10% non-users are, why they remain non-users and how they do off-line what most of the world is doing on-line. In short, this project looks at the hundreds of factors that are likely to change and remain vigilant. In addition to providing reliable information about who is on-line and how and why, the project traces whether a situation of information haves and have-nots develops and the ways in which our social, political and economic lives are changing. Our objective has been to coordinate a truly international effort in the long run to understand how both industrialized and nonindustrialized countries are affected by the use of information technology. With this book we intend to move beyond our founding objectives and contribute to the development of the scientific field
Introduction
7
of Internet research by gathering in a single volume knowledge acquired by more than 30 research teams in countries and regions spanning Asia and Europe, the Middle East and South America, North America and Oceania. World Wide Internet This book focuses on the social, economical and cultural changes brought about by our appropriation of a given technology: the Internet. Although being born almost 40 years ago, the Internet only reached the current technological maturity a decade ago. This book focuses specifically on that time frame and on the different geographical spaces that constitute the research ground for the teams involved. Gathering such a huge number of researchers and themes in a common volume posed some challenges. The way we chose to address the issues was to allow each team to focus on its own research, the only common rule being the use of data gathered under the WIP research and, whenever possible, complemented by other available data. The book is organized in seven parts, each a cluster of research around a common theme. The first part of this book focuses on the Internet as a medium and its role in changing our digital ecologies and communicational models. The first chapter by Gustavo Cardoso and Vera Araújo suggests that the Internet has moved from being a space of keepers of knowledge into a space mainly built around the communication activities that configure the archetype of the communicator. Cardoso and Araújo examine common traits we find between words written about the Internet before 1997 and actions performed by the users of the Internet in 2007. In this chapter the authors argue that although we could frame the primordial studies about the Internet in the fundamental opposition of uses between information spaces and social spaces or communities, after a decade of Internet usage, communication has emerged as the major driving force in our daily uses of the Internet. The second chapter, by Olle Findahl, looks at the Internet as a complement to traditional media. Findahl states that there are many
8
introduction
signs of difficult times for traditional newspapers and broadcast television, especially in US. However, a more thorough analysis of readers and viewers in countries with high Internet penetration and high newspaper reach like Japan and the Nordic countries does not support that conclusion. Findahl suggests that the habits of reading newspapers in paper format have changed very little since the Internet was introduced even if reading a newspaper online is one of the most popular activities among the users of the Internet in all ages in those countries. Also time spent viewing TV seems also to be constant during the last 10 years when the use of the Internet has increased. The strong tradition of reading a daily newspaper and watching broadcast television seems to have survived at least the first 10 years of the Internet in countries with high newspaper reach and high Internet penetration. Findahl argues then that the development of traditional media is not the same in all countries. The third chapter, by Fernando Gutiérrez and Octavio Islas, looks at the new digital ecology in Mexico. The authors argue that Mexico, as in other parts of the world, has witnessed the rise of a new media ecology. This new ecology carries particular characteristics that have been altering the environment and contributing to the formation of new societies. The Internet is one of its most essential components. In their chapter, Gutierrez and Islas show how environments are changing in Mexico and how the Internet gives a fresh perspective to traditional activities in this North American society. The fourth chapter, by Shunji Mikami, focuses its attention on the role played by the Internet under a changing media environment in Japan. Since the mid-1990s, new media such as the Internet, mobile phones, and digital TV services began to spread in Japan, fostered by government policies and severe market competition, resulting in a diversified media environment. The Internet in Japan is characterized by penetration of the FTTH broadband and mobile service. Judging by the users’ evaluation, the Internet is not highly regarded as sources of information or entertainment, compared with traditional mass media such as TV or newspapers. Another look at the newspapers consumption and industry ends
Introduction
9
the first part of this book. Looking now at the United States of America, Robert Lunn and Michael Suman focus on the analysis of the Internet users and the possible relationship with newspaper readership. Lunn and Suman follow a longitudinal examination of Internet diffusion, using adopter categories and ramifications of Internet usage in order to discuss the importance of newspapers to the American society. Lunn and Suman argue that existing literature shows that the technology diffusion process is inherently complex, usually involving heterogeneous populations, and is correspondingly under-conceptualized through the use of single summary percent utilization figures. In their examination of data from the longitudinal Digital Future Project, Lunn and Suman examine how United States Internet diffusion, including attitudes, opinions, and behaviours for the same 453 subjects, varied over a seven year period (2000 - 2006). Lunn and Suman identified the existence of several Internet usage dimensions: distinct adoption, non-adoption, discontinuance, and intermittent usage patterns. The chapter ends with the argument that membership in different Internet adoption groups might be related to a systematic decline in the importance of newspapers as a source of information over time in the US. Part two of this book is dedicated to the dichotomy of use visà-vis non-use of the Internet and how digital exclusion and social inclusion are related with the use of the Internet. The chapter by Angus Cheong and Jianbin Jin examines the evolving pattern of the digital Divide. Cheong and Jin’s work sheds new insight on one of the frequently ill-defined concepts in social science: digital divide on the Internet. Guided by previous conceptualization and operationalization of the concept, Cheong and Jin adopt the methods researchers have been using for the purpose of quantifying the magnitude of the digital divide. They argue that previous research efforts have been largely descriptive, inevitably yielding diverse presentations and interpretations. They propose the adoption of a standard measure of distribution inequality, i.e., Gini coefficient, under a defining framework which encompasses three key constitutive components: levels of analysis, inequality
10
introduction
types and types of ICT, in the studies of digital divide. Following that path, Cheong and Jin explore the dynamic nature of the digital divide by constructing six digital divide indexes from the survey databank of seven probability surveys over a period of eight years collected in Macau. Cheong and Jin’s research suggests the existence of a “dynamic disequilibria” of digital divide in which different evolutive patterns between access divide and usage divides at the individual level exist. Turning to four European countries Britain, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Sweden, Ellen Helsper and Anna Galácz discuss the links between social and digital exclusion. They argue that social exclusion is linked strongly to digital engagement. The groups at a general disadvantage in society tend to also be at a disadvantage in relation to ICT access, skills and have lower levels of engagement over a breadth of activities. Although this has been shown in a variety of different studies, Helsper and Galácz point out the near total absence of insight on how the links between digital and social exclusion vary between countries. Their chapter looks at the similarities and differences in the links between social disadvantage and digital engagement in four European countries. The two researchers hypothesized that countries with higher levels of socioeconomic inequality will show stronger links between social and digital exclusion and that countries with higher rates of diffusion have highly concentrated unified social exclusion in relation to digital exclusion. Helsper and Galácz conclude that the four European countries are very similar in the ways in which digital and social disadvantage are related. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that countries with high socioeconomic inequality show stronger links between social and digital exclusion. However, overall wealth in a country was as important as inequality in determining average levels of disengagement. In the two countries with low diffusion rates, the Czech Republic and Hungary, different types of social exclusion were grouped together more closely in their relation to different types of engagement than they were in the high diffusion countries, Britain and Sweden. This suggests that a diverse approach to tackling digital disengagement in different
Introduction
11
groups is necessary in high diffusion countries while a more unified social intervention is suitable in low diffusion countries to counter links between social exclusion and digital disengagement. The third chapter, by Marcela Cristini and Guillermo Bermudez, focuses on Internet access and secondary school test scores in Argentina. The analysis of the individual test results was then correlated with the socioeconomic status of households and to their Internet access at home and school. Through the use of econometric measures, the authors discover a significant positive effect of Internet access on test performance in a broader context of the equality of opportunities in Argentina. The fourth chapter, by Nicolas Demertzis and Vassilis Gialamas, looks at Cyprus users, non-Users, and Internet Connectedness. Treating Cyprus as an information society in the making, Demertzis and Gialamas argue that in spite of the recent progress in information and communication technologies (ICT), Cyprus is torn by digital divides across gender, education, age, region and income. Apart from the split between the haves and the have-nots, there are divides in access as well. Most of the Cypriots are not Internet users. The authors detect a substantive group of people which seem to be either immune to ICT or are peripheral Internet users. These are people who do not posses a PC, are not connected to and have never used the Internet, are unwilling to use it in the near future or have used in the past and are likely to continue to use it. According to the authors, Internet penetration in Cyprus will not follow a steadfast course unless youngsters get connected in great numbers rapidly. However, the authors have reasons for expecting that in the mid- and long run, Internet penetration will grow and the digital divide between Cyprus and other developed countries will diminish. The fifth chapter by Alejandro Gutierrez and Ana Maria Trimmino discusses social inclusion through information and communication technologies (ICT) in La Boquilla, Colombia. Gutierrez and Trimmino argue that ICT’s are currently on the business, governments and citizens’ daily agenda, for their capacity to improve the communication and transportation of information for
12
introduction
the building of a modern society. Through the ICT and especially through the adoption and Internet use, there is an opportunity to prevent some people from being excluded from social development processes and products. Further, Gutierrez and Trimmino argue that, through the use of impact measure, the Internet and computer use could stimulate the community participation in the short term. This second part of the book ends with a chapter by Anikó Bernát, Zoltán Fábián, Anna Galácz and Bence Ságvári who examine digital literacy in Hungary. The authors prepared in 2007 a study that aimed to segment and present social groups in Hungary from the point of view of digital literacy in order to support policy action. According to their analysis results, digital literacy is closely correlated with socio-demographic attributes as well as other factors such as culture and media consumption. People in the higher-level groups are mostly digitally literate, while the digitally illiterate members of the middle groups form the most important target groups of policy actions. To measure the chances of becoming digitally literate, the authors introduced a complex indicator, the Individual Digital Opportunity (IDO) index. The third part of this book addresses the Cultures of Internet. The first chapter, by Scott Ewing and Julian Thomas, examines the creative dynamics of the broadband Internet in Australia, focusing on the production and consumption of cultural content. The focus of this chapter is on what Ewing and Thomas call the ‘creative Internet’, uses ranging from relatively straightforward usergenerated content such as posting photographs to the distribution of more complex amateur-produced material. The aim of this chapter is to outline the knowledge, the motivations, incentives, and authorial practices which sustain production and consumption of cultural content. Ewing and Thomas begin by considering the relationship between the development of the ‘creative Internet’ and broadband access. They then turn to some of the social dynamics of this creative activity, considering first gender and then age in relation to broadband access. Ewing and Thomas offer us a tentative approach as to the profile of the producer and consumer of cultural content in the Internet.
Introduction
13
The second chapter, by André Caron and Letizia Caronia, addresses the so-called new screens and young people’s appropriation of entertainment content. Caron and Caronia state that although new information and communications technologies have become extremely dynamic, content has been fairly controlled and regulated. It is now much easier to access on the Internet and is increasingly independent from any formal institutional framework. Images on screens, which used to be viewed on different platforms in specific locations and at predictable times, now transcend space and time, particularly for the younger generations. The question asked here is: how do young people appropriate and evaluate movie and video game content? Are rating systems still relevant in these new media environments? In order to begin answering such questions, Caron and Caronia suggest that we need to better understand the needs, expectations and skills of today’s youth. Some consider young people to be passive, easy to manipulate, unaware of their values and entirely lacking in critical thinking skills, whereas others see them as active users able to interpret, judge and choose, and, consequently, capable of using knowledge and competencies. Caron and Caronia chose a qualitative approach designed to take young people’s everyday environment into account in the construction of their relationships with these images on the new and traditional screens to which they now have access. The study included family interviews (semistructured interview guides), logbooks and digital video cameras that were used by the young participants to gather information on this topic. Findings shed new insights on the cultural dimensions of youth consumption and production. Part three ends with the contributions from Carlos Tabernero, Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, Daniel Aranda and Imma Tubella who investigate the relationship between media practices and connected lives of young people in Catalonia and Spain. The authors argue that the widespread diffusion of ICT’s, particularly the Internet and the explosion of global mobile communication, has brought about a new turn in the rules under which mass communication has been run to date. For one thing, ICT’s have opened the door
14
introduction
to direct participation and thus, while appropriated by individuals into their everyday lives, to the emergence of user-driven participatory/collaborative culture(s). In this context, the young, as their lives unfold in an increasingly media- and technology-rich environment where ICT’s are gradually becoming paramount, play a fundamental role as conducive to socio-cultural transformations linked to media and communication practices. Among these, online social networking stands out as a powerful change factor, both as a multimodal form of cultural consumption and a specific ever renewing set of media practices identity formation, status negotiation and peer-to-peer sociality. Part four addresses the politics of the Internet, particularly elections, political expectations and political efficacy. Two chapters comprise this part, one addressing the Chilean environment and another France. Sergio Godoy Etcheverry connects Internet usage, the media, and political expectations in Chile from 2003 to 2008. He describes how the Internet affects usage and expectations about traditional media in Chile since 2003. This chapter also discusses the influence of the Internet on political expectations of Chileans relative to other countries. Three quarters of Chileans get their perceptions about reality from TV, one of the two media aside from radio which has universal penetration. Besides, newspapers are highly influential on defining the news agenda of all the other media. Godoy argues that if the web affects newspapers and television, it may also affect political perceptions of empowerment since users can circumvent these gatekeepers of information for mass mobilization and public opinion expression. In other words, Godoy invites the reader to accompany him in a preliminary examination of whether the Internet is the drivin force behind the irreversible and dreamatic social change. The second chapter focuses on the Internet and the 2007 French Presidential Election. Thierry Vedel analyzes the event and the uses of the Internet and raises questions about the fate of traditional media. Vedel’s chapter is about the place and role of the internet in the 2007 French presidential election and more specifically the study of how the internet was used by candidates and voters. Did
Introduction
15
the internet intensify the process of electoral competition? Did it help to pull more citizens into the campaign process and contribute to a diversification of their information sources? Vedel argues that the literature on the topic offers two conflicting views. The mobilization thesis sees the Internet as a tool for revitalizing politics and empowering citizens, whereas the normalization thesis holds that the Internet mostly reinforces established powers and existing levels of political engagement. This chapter is organized in two parts. The first part focuses on the supply side of the campaign and documents how the Internet was used by presidential candidates, based on a qualitative analysis of their online strategies and a content analysis of their web sites. The second part scrutinizes the sources voters used to get information about the election and how voters used the political online resources available during the campaign. Vedel’s findings both support and challenge the normalization theory. The Internet was only a marginal component in the strategies of candidates who took advantage of TV for direct contacts with voters. The content analysis demonstrates a strong gap in online activities between main and minor candidates, which reflect inequalities in resources and, to a lesser extent, ideological differences However, while the Internet has not yet become an essential part of French politics, its usage during the presidential campaign illustrates the increasing role of activation methods (by opposition to mobilization) in modern campaigning as well as the aspiration for new forms of political activism Because of the interlinked nature of the Internet and of its modus operandi, people who are not interested in politics and/or are not especially active in offline or conventional politics may engage in some kind of political activity online. Part five of the book focuses on the role played by Internet in our daily routines and our common human trait as potential consumers and patients. Andreina Mandelli and Silvia Vianello bring to our attention the consumers’ involvement in organizations in the era of social media. This chapter is concerned with the increasing customer involvement in organizational roles through consumer
16
introduction
communities whose importance has been augmented over the last few years, due to the diffusion of the Internet for business and brand-related activities as well as increased consumer activism and participation in content production and exchange. Mandelli and Vianello highlight the importance of the diffusion of the so-called social media where user-generated content and user participation become central. Mandelli and Vianello’s chapter aims at exploring research questions on these new consumption phenomena and the changed role of branding in new interconnected markets. In their chapter, Rita Espanha and Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva deal with the health content of the Internet and how its usage affects the autonomy of the user through the transformation of social status from consumers to patients. Espanha and Villanueva point out that information access and dissemination are growing and the ways in which this information and knowledge democratization occur are many, scattered and diverse. If that is true, then what concerns individual health and its daily management on the Internet may also be true, because they never involved as much information as nowadays. The aim of this chapter is to identify and characterize the role of daily information and communication practices for health management in Portugal and to identify and characterize some trends on a global scale of the Internet use for health purpose. Espanha and Villanueva propose an e-readiness index to the Network Society, by considering all Internet activities within WIP database for 2007. Results of cluster analysis show that citizens of poor health are also more likely to be less e-ready. They may even drop out of the Internet. Parallel to the “informed patient” concept, Espanha and Villanueva suggest that when looking at the health dimensions of the Network Society, we must consider the “generational divide” and the “e-readiness divide” concepts. Part six is devoted to the Internet and Social life, focusing on a wide range of dimensions from sociability to social behavior. The first chapter by Alfred Choi looks at the Internet use in family relations and conflict resolution. Choi reminds us that the Internet is widely believed to have huge impacts on individuals, families, and society at large. But he also states that differences in opinion
Introduction
17
exist with regards to whether or not the Internet is beneficial or harmful to family and social relationships and activities. In this chapter Choi reviews two conflicting perspectives on this issue and employs both quantitative and qualitative research to determine whether or not Internet use has effects on family relations. The quantitative part fo the research involves multivariate statistical analysis on a national random sample of 1,000 survey respondents. The qualitative part involves in-depth interviews and observations of 10 nuclear families with teenage children. The ethnographic analysis included objective measurements of the child’s Internet use (as recorded in personal diaries provided), and data obtained from in-depth interviews on parental awareness and parenting style, level of parent-child conflict, and parents’ method of conflict resolution. By means of this multi-method triangulation, Choi’s findings are twofold. The quantitative research did not support the pessimistic view of negative effects of Internet use on family relationship. But the qualitative research showed that the interaction of Internet use, parental awareness and parenting style influence the level of conflict and the method of conflict resolution shapes the outcome of the parent-child conflict. The second chapter takes readers to the issue of Interpersonal Communication in China. Guo Liang and Gai Bo address how different social ties, such as family, friends, colleagues or classmates, are using different ICT tools, such as landline phone calls, mobile phone calls and SMS, Internet email, QQ/ICQ and MSN. Guo and Bo attempt to provide a detailed picture of how people use the new media in their daily interactions in China. They argue that both mobile call and SMS are widely used for personal purposes among mobile phone users in China. However, email and ICQ/QQ are more popular than MSN in daily interpersonal communications. Besides, face-to-face communication plays a more important role in maintaining parent-child and spousal relationships than in maintaining other social ties and work ties. Guo and Bo also suggest that new media are more likely to reinforce the social ties outside family and help people extend their social networks. In the third chapter, Yair Amichai-Hamburger addresses the
18
introduction
effects of the Internet on our social lives. The author starts by discussing the leading psychological components that influence people’s behavior on the net and moves on to describe the debate between those who believe that the Internet is conducive to an active social life and those who argue to the contrary. The results of the World Internet Project, as they pertain to the Internet-social life connection, are assessed in order to recommend an approach for further research in this field. The fourth chapter is the responsibility of a multi-national team of researchers, David Smahel, P. Vondrackova, L. Blinka and Sergio Godoy-Etcheverry, which focus on the comparison of addictive behavior on the Internet. This chapter presents data on the prevalence of addictive behaviour on the Internet in the Czech Republic and a comparison of two addictive behavior dimensions (conflict and mood modification) among users in Chile, the Czech Republic and Sweden. Findings suggest that Internet users in the Czech Republic and Chile scored similar and higher than Swedes in dimensions of conflict and mood modification. Swedes had a lower incidence of “dangerous” online activities (visiting chat rooms, playing online games) and greater tendency to carry out “practical activities” (bank services). In terms of the prevalence of addictive behavior on the Internet in the Czech Republic, results show that a total of 3.4% of Internet users could be described as Internet addicts. This book ends with Part Seven whose theme revolves around the role of the Internet in social change and how such a network configuration influences both the global and the local. The first chapter is written by Ilhem Allagui and Tim Walters and focuses on the United Arab Emirates and the Patterns of Internet usage, in a multi-group society, from “Locals” to “Expats”. In their analysis, Allagui and Walters describe the socio-technological transformation that the UAE has witnessed in the last decade. The UAE Internet users show diversity and difference in their Internet usage patterns that vary by ethnicity, origin and education level. This chapter portrays the social integration of the Internet in UAE as well as its political, economical and cultural implications.
Introduction
19
The second chapter by Tibor Dessewffy and Anna Galácz addresses the development of what is suggested to be the Information Society in Hungary. Dessewffy and Galácz argue that over the last decade, Internet diffusion and usage have shown some interesting characteristics in Hungary. After the changes at the end of the 1980’s – the so-called dual transition – one of the important questions facing Hungary was how the country could join the flow of technological transformation taking place over the world. Despite some promising signs, the Internet proved to be a technological innovation taking off very slowly in Hungary. In this chapter Dessewffy and Galácz investigate this phenomenon and offer some possible explanations. The authors find it inevitable to take into account the cultural background and the role of values into consideration when explaining technological change and of technological adoption processes as socially embedded. The book ends with the contributions of Goodwin, I., Smith, N., Sherman, K., Crothers, C., Billot, J., & Smith, P. on the Internet use in New Zealand and its implications for social change. In this chapter, the authors draw on the findings from the first World Internet Project survey undertaken in New Zealand to examine the implications of Internet use for social change. It is argued that in a rapidly transforming global environment, monitoring the impact of technological change informs possible interventions aimed to alleviate social inequalities at both the micro and macro levels. The chapter first discusses existing Internet research in New Zealand before presenting major World Internet Project New Zealand (WIPNZ) results. Key trends currently shaping New Zealanders’ Internet use are highlighted and the chapter also briefly sketches the nature of the ‘digital divide’ within the country. The findings provide insight into the broad contours of Internet use and their relationship to key social transformations in New Zealand. Changing societies, economies and cultures The seven parts that build this book address many of the uncertainties of current societies and the role of Internet adoption
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introduction
and use on coping with uncertainty. But we like to think that this is not just a book about the countries and regions participating in the World Internet Project. It is our belief that much of the themes here addressed and conclusions reached could be helpful for other scholars and decision makers in other parts of the World that are not yet members of this research network. The main motive behind this book is to share knowledge with others who share with us the same concerns or simple curiosity and to understand the times we are living in and the future being built today. We hope to live up to the expectations that this introduction might have fostered. Gustavo Cardoso, Angus Cheong and Jeffrey Cole
I The Internet as a Media: from digital ecologies to networked communication
The Internet as a media
23
1 Out of Information and into Communication. Networked Communication and Internet Usage Gustavo Cardoso and Vera Araújo
Internet: Informational, Social or Communicational Space? Back in 1997 a book titled “Internet Dreams. Archetypes, Myths, and Metaphors” was published by the MIT Press. Its author, Mark Stefik, argued that one should take into account not just the limiting metaphor of “the information superhighway,” (Stefik 1997) but also other four archetypes in order to better understand the unfolding evolution of the Internet. Those four metaphors and archetypes were the digital library (The Keeper of Knowledge), electronic mail (The Communicator), the electronic marketplace (The Trader) and the digital world (The Adventurer). More than a decade has passed, what archetypes are we left with? Or, to rephrase the question, where is the Internet leading us or what do we see when Internet mirrors our societies? In reality, what we propose in this analysis is to return to the fundamental relationship between representations and practises (Giddens, 2006), namely what common traits are we able to find between the words spoken about the Internet, before 1997, and the actions performed by Internet users in 2007? Our main argument is that the Internet has moved from being a space of keepers of knowledge and into a space mainly built around the communication activities that configure the archetype of the communicator (Stefik, 1997). Although we could frame the primordial works, or studies, about the Internet in the fundamental
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Chapter 1
opposition of uses between information spaces and social spaces or communities (Sproul & Faraj, 1995), we believe that after a decade, communication has emerged as the major driving force in our daily uses of the Internet. The following analysis is rooted on the ongoing empirical research performed by several research networks worldwide that shows us an increasingly clear picture of the importance of mediated communication in our societies (Cardoso 2008). The Networked Communication Society “Are my networks different from yours?” This is a question that makes sense if we think that networks are a form of social organization that is as old as mankind, or that at least can be traced back some millennia (Castells, 2006). But it is also true that even with similar trends the reason why things happen in a particular way might be different between societies and even within the same country. Nevertheless, we would still like to argue that comparative transnational research between different countries, like the one present in the World Internet Project or the OECD, allows us to understand some common traits that can be found everywhere around the world and that such commonalities allow us to better understand the foundations of contemporary social change. So our starting ground is to ask what Internet usage tells us about the role of the Internet in communication, and whether this knowledge can help us characterize the communication models in our societies. In light of the assertions made by Ortoleva (2004), Colombo (1993), and Meyrovitz (1985), we believe that in the very same way sociologists need to examine the relationship between representations and practices to understand society at large, communication rersearchers need to understand media diets (what we do with the media) as much as media matrixes (what social roles do we ascribe them). Over the last decade, we have witnessed tremendous changes taking place in the media landscape. These changes occurred not only because of technological innovations in mediation devices
The Internet as a media
25
themselves, but also because of the ways users chose to socially domesticate these innovations and, consequently, how they have built new mediation processes (Cardoso, 2008). We have an unprecedented variety of communications at our disposal and also an unprecedented choice between apparently equivalent mediation devices (Eco, 2001; Silverstone, 2005), giving communication a leading role in the contemporary world. The society in which we live today is itself the product of the historic confluence of developments that took place in diverse areas of human activity (Castells, 2000). But that moment of confluence is also an arrival point for a process that began early in the 20th century: the centrality of communication in our societies (Silverstone, 2006). The centrality of communication is a relatively recent phenomenon, for up until the late 19th century (Rantanen, 1997), the idea of communication as an autonomous and independent entity within the more general concept of transport (just like the idea of media as something distinct from other instruments useful for exchange or travel) was not generally discussed (Ortoleva, 2004; Winston, 1999; Richeri, 1996; Silverstone, 2005). The births of the new means of communication — such as cinema, radio, the comic book, the gramophone, and the telephone line — were not seen, at the time, as unitary phenomena that could be grouped together in one single concept (Silverstone, 2005; Ortoleva, 2004). However, the idea of communication and information not only imposed itself in its specificity and autonomy, but also asserted itself as a central idea of social life, before becoming in the late 20th century an objective in terms of economic development (Cardoso, 2006). Giddens (1999) and Castells (2000) point out that much of what we have witnessed over the last three decades is a consequence of the networking of different technologies, i.e., the information technologies, communication technologies and computerization. Their economic and social appropriation results in an interesting relationship between the market and democracy. Although the economic dimension of globalization is fundamental, it must not be seen as an economic phenomenon only, but also as a
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communicational one (Giddens, 1999; Lull, 2007). When we live in a world in which the news takes on an almost instant character (Sparks, 2007;Mazzoleni et al., 2004; Tremayne, 2007; McPhail, 2005; Silverstone, 2006; Shoemaker, 2006; Volkmer, 1999), and in which the diversity of information contexts is the rule (see, for example, the differences in the satellite television coverage of the Iraqi insurrection of April 2004 by CNN and Arab television channels such as Al Jazeera), we have to accept that globalization also means a change in the communication systems. That change transforms the people’s lives at the same time as it modifies the economic structure of life itself (Lash, 2007; McPhail, 2005). As a consequence, we should no longer be thinking of something called an “information society” but rather a “communicational society”, because it is in our communication with each other that ICTs intrude most directly into the core of social existence (Silverstone & Osimo, 2005). But how is this communicational society structured? How does it articulate mediation processes and technologies? We believe we are witnessing the rise of a new communicational model. this can be described as the fourth model. The three preceding models can be chronologically ordered in terms of their social affirmation cycles (Ortoleva, 2004). The first is interpersonal communication, characterized by the bi-directional exchange between two persons or several persons within a group. The second model, likewise deeply rooted in our societies, the one-to-many communication in which one single individual sends one single message to a group of people of a limited number. And a third model, with which we have the least experienced in terms of historical time, is mass communication, in which, thanks to the use of specific mediation technologies, one single message is directed to a “mass” of people, i.e., it is sent to an audience whose real dimension is unknown and, as such, not delimited in advance (Thompson, 1996). What is argued here is that we have gone beyond a communication model based on mass communication and into a fourth model – one based on networked communication (Cardoso, 2008). A communicational model shaped by three main features: first, the
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27
globalization of communication process; second, the networking of mass and interpersonal media and consequently networked mediation; and third, interactivity usage of different degrees (Cardoso, 2008). That is to say, our society’s communicational model is shaped by the combined leverage of worldwide communicational globalization processes, together with the networking of mass and interpersonal media by the media users (using, among other devices, the Internet and mobile phones), and, consequently, the rise of networked mediation. The organization of uses and networking of media within this model seems to be directly connected to different degrees of interactivity usage afforded by the current media technology. To illustrate, the Internet features a high degree of interactivity, while television offers low interactivity. Examples of this new communication model can be found anywhere in our everyday life. Our daily routines combine mass media and interpersonal media, with the latter also emulating the former. If we look at how our youngster appropriate the media, we can imagine instant Messaging (IM) network systems increasingly being used as a professional tool to schedule one’s daily activities and social life and also as a meeting place in itself. In fact, it is increasingly common to hear people say “I met him/her on messenger”, just as one would hear “I met him/her in the local coffee house”. An SMS, is often sent not just to one person, but to a group of friends setting a Messenger meeting at a given time. On the other hand, social networks such as Facebook or Hi5 (the most used in Portugal) are being used to keep friends aware of one’s social life. These tools can also go beyond the maintenance of friendship to foster interest-driven contacts. They can be a link between an author’s book and his/her next book, by providing him space to write on a very intense and personalize way as, for instance, in the case of writer Neil Gaiman who writes in Twitter. Twitter and other tools allow anyone to be part of a mass media network, either by providing news or by just free flowing what you have been doing or are doing at the moment you write as well asyour current state of mind. And it is now possible to access IM networks or social
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networks while on the move (through cell phones), contributing to the ubiquity of these applications. Furthermore, IM networks allow users to manage a contact list and to visually see the presence and status of other members (whether they are busy, away, etc.). This “presence awareness” reinforces the idea of constant connectivity, allowing people to be in permanent virtual presence of each other (Plant, 2001; Licoppe e Heurtin, 2002), as the explicit will of perpetual contact seems to be the reason for the great success of Internet communication networks. The networking of mass media has been with us for some time before the Internet made its first appearance: We only need to remember the time when a soccer game was being watched simultaneously on television in many living rooms, with the sound turned off and with the radio on. But the Internet and mobile phones offer novelty by (i) allowing mass media to be shared – people can network with others in an individualized way; (ii) allowing the user to interact with the content of the mass media; and (iii) allowing the user him/herself to be engaged in “hypertext”. That is, allowing a person to choose to watch a movie on TV and later use the very same screen to play in a console a game based on the movie and perhaps, on another screen, follow the new releases of a fan website, the Wikipedia page or the new webisode, thus making the content the common feature, the users the node, and the different technologiesthe “hypertext”. In conclusion, the communication model generated in information societies, where the prevailing social organization model is the network, is a model of networked communication. It is about networks of technologies, the way people use these technologies and the mediation processes. This model is characterized by the fusion of interpersonal communication and mass communication, connecting audiences, broadcasters, and publishers under a matrix of networking media devices (from newspapers to videogames) and giving newly mediated roles to users. It, however, does not replace existing models, but articulates them, producing new forms of communication and new ways to empower both individuals and facilitate communicative autonomy (Cardoso, 2008a; Castells, 2000).
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29
With this “networked communication model” as our framework, we conducted an analysis of contemporary use the Internet. We attempt to find answers to questions such as: What are the key uses of the Internet and how have they evolved over the years? What is the importance of communication-related activities in the ambit of the networked communication model? What web activities do people carry out as part of their everyday life communication process? Departing from our analysis within the Portuguese context and based on our previous research and literature review, we argue that there has been a diversification of Internet usages in the last few years, with a special focus on communication and social usage (i.e. daily use of the Internet). In order to confirm or reject this hypothesis, we will analyse a set of empirical data from national and international sources, as well as the results of the extensive World Internet Project Portugal survey of 2008.1 Internet Usages: from Information, to Entertainment and into Communication The way people use the Internet has been evolving ever since this technology was first introduced. As we previously argued, networked communication has acquired a leading role in our time as people have appropriated new communication technologies, specially the Internet. We can identify six factors contributing to this evolution. First, we may look at the demographic diversification of Internet users. In the beginning, the Internet was mainly used by “early adopters”, who belonged to very specific socio-demographic groups, namely, young men highly interest in technology. The massification of the Internet brought in new types of users - people with other specific interests and aims. These newcomers helped widen the application of the Internet, acting as innovators: “the main trend is that, while the Internet has spread to larger numbers of users, the use of Internet has become more nuanced and varied. 1
This survey is the third edition of a project OberCom (Portuguese Media Observatory) has been developing since 2001 in collaboration with ISCTE (University Institute of Lisbon).
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New possibilities and services have evolved” (Findahl, 2007). For example, older and younger Internet user would give rise to new demand for online services. Internet uses between 35-44 years of age gave a new life to e-banking services and promoted the use of the Internet to pay bills and make purchases. In fact, within a short period of time, the Internet became a major shopping venue for people in Great Britain, as shown by the rapid increase between 2000-06 in online shopping (or ordering) of tickets, merchandises and services (OECD, 2007; Dutton and Helsper, 2007). Also, online transactions of goods and services rise rapidly as consumers develop their own trading activities, bypassing traditional intermediaries (OECD, 2007). A second factor contributing to the diversification of Internet use was the explosive growth of opportunities provided by the tool itself, namely those introduced by the mass deployment and use of broadband. As shown below, the impact of broadband depends not only on the frequency and duration Internet use, but also on the variety and diversity of use (OECD, 2007). In fact, broadband plays a role of accelerator for various online activities, as demonstrated by the research in Australia led by Ewing and Thomas (2009) or that in Sweden by Findahl (2009). In addition, the shift towards broadband connection has not only drawn a wide range of social and individual entertainment functions into the scope of Internet use, but also made the traditional forms of recreational electronics accessible online – from listening to and downloading music to a wide range of radio and television programs. Furthermore, people with home access to broadband are much more inclined to undertake online activities compared to those without. And the differences are highly remarkable: In 2006, compared with narrowband users, 30% more broadband users listened to radio or watched TV programs via PCs in Norway, 20% more read or downloaded online newspapers or newsmagazines in the US, and 20% more purchased or ordered goods or services in Spain and the US (OECD, 2007).
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Figure 1.1 Broadband impact on selected Internet activities, selected OECD countries (Difference, in percentage points, between broadband and narrowband users, 2006). Source: OECD, 2007.
A third factor, in parallel to the development of broadband, is the emergence of “Web 2.0”, which has opened the door to innovative applications - user-generated usages of the Internet. Web 2.0 applications made it possible for users to create virtual networks revolving newly generated contents and to exchange comments with regard to these contents, acquiring a classic and even more important role in social communication. On top of that, Web 2.0 provides a way to consolidate social networks: “social networking adds to existing online communication opportunities by allowing for instantaneous interaction and networking around online material, and by facilitating the production of audiovisual content for private use, as well as storage and narrative broadcast uses with mass audiences. These applications have been labeled ‘Web 2.0’ applications by many” (Dutton & Helsper, 2007). In fact, one of the major changes in the way people use the Internet since 2005 has been the rise in popularity of social networking sites. This has enhanced existing possibilities for communicating and interacting with others, such as e-mailing, chatting and blogging, contributing to the increasing centrality of communication.
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A forth factor contributing to the widening of usages is the multiplication of the context of Internet use. In the beginning years of the 21st century, the Internet entered the home, escaping its original places of usage - namely, Internet cafes and school. More recently, with the proliferation of portable computers and Internet applications in mobile phones, the contexts of Internet use have expanded again, providing an opportunity for the development of innovative uses of the technology and simultaneously increasing the time available to be spent online. And return, the increase in time online is likely to again help widen the range of Internet usages. This increase in time of usage has also an impact on the improvement of peoples’ digital skills, leading us to a fifth factor contributing to the widening of Internet usages, the increase in digital media literacy. While people are increasingly experimenting with Internet’s tools, the tools themselves are also becoming more and more user-friendly, allowing users to continually improve their digital skills, in parallel to the augmentation of formal education initiatives related to digital literacy. Moreover, Internet is now more useful due to the increase of updating performance and consequently greater accuracy. In fact, in the early days of this technology, web pages were not updated as often as today and the information tended to be dated. Today, web pages change fast and the information available there might not be found anywhere else. Therefore, besides being the traditional frount of information, the Internet has become “an encyclopedia an aid for finding timetables, schedules, and addresses; a dictionary and language resource; a market place; and a place to find news and peruse magazines” (WIP, 2008). This constitutes a sixth factor contributing to the widening of Internet usages. The conjunction of these several factors led to the expansion of Internet usages, although in different scales for the various socio-demographic groups. In fact, as it has been shown in Finland (Sirkiä et al., 2005), the range and variety of Internet uses is highly differentiated according to age. According to the OECD (2008), young people use the Internet in considerably more varied ways
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than older people. In 2004, 6 out of 10 of those aged 15-29 years old listed eight purposes of Internet use, against only 1 out of 7 in the 50-74 years old groups. In addition, less than 5% of Internet users aged 15-29 used it for only 1 or 2 purposes, compared with nearly 20% of those aged 50 or more (OECD, 2008). Similar effects of age on use have been observed in Canada in 2005: People aged 18-34 were found to be using the Internet for significantly more purposes. More than 45% of them have 12 and more different purposes, compared with only a third of those aged 35-44, and significantly less in older age brackets (OECD, 2008). In the Netherlands, it has been similarly noted that the frequency of Internet usage is much higher among younger than among older people, and this also holds for the variety of use. Users with 10 Internet activities averaged 32 years old, in contrast to 1 activity for those averaging 49 years old (OECD, 2008). Similar tendencies have been found both in Italy and Portugal in generational studies of the Internet and TV usage (Cardoso, 2006; Aroldi & Colombo, 2003).
Figure 1.2 Gender differences for selected Internet activities in selected OECD countries (2005). Source: OECD, 2007.
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Figure 1.3 Selected online activities by level of education in Sweden (2003-2006). Source: OECD, 2007.
Moreover, it should be highlighted that age has an impact not only on the diversity of online activities, but also on the type of Internet usages. For example, it has been highlighted for France and Australia (Ewing & Thomas, 2009) that entertainment-related uses – namely, playing online videogames or downloading music and movies – are especially relevant to young people. In France, 60% of Internet users aged 18-25 years have used peer-to-peer (P2P) networks for exchanging media files, against only 27% of those aged 40-59 years. In contrast, people in the 25-45 age brackets show higher levels of e-banking and e-commerce usages (Credoc, 2005). Although the impact of gender on the variety of Internet usages is
The Internet as a media
35
of a lesser extent when compared to age, there is a slight tendency for men to use the Internet in more ways than women, especially for certain applications, such as downloading software. Educational background is also an important variable to consider, as the more one is educated, the higher the propensity he/she shows towards conducting more activities online, as can be seen, for example, in Sweden (see Figure 1.3). To sum up, “if Internet usage in the mid-90’s, somewhat exaggeratedly, could be distinguished by mostly e-mail and a few web pages with information, that picture doesn’t fit anymore. Internet has become a medium for communication, information and entertainment, where to a certain extent the users themselves create the contents” (Findahl, 2007). However, this evolution in Internet usages has lead to a new divide: the digital use divide (Sciadas, 2003). Although the digital access divide is decreasing and differences in access among various social groups are declining, a second digital divide, now focused in use, can be found and is based on inequalities of use and socioeconomic factors. Such a digital usage divide can be observed indirectly through the variety of Internet use and the very diverse abilities of individuals to find information efficiently online (Hargittai, 2002; Pénard & Suire, 2006). From the Global to the National: Internet Usages in Portugal, 2003-2008 Not only usages have been evolving. The user profile has also been changing as the Internet becomes more and more widespread. Internet users in Portugal now represent 39% of the population, against 36% in 2006. Although the gender gap has been diminishing in several countries, there is still a difference between men and women, as only 37% of the women in Portugal are Internet users, compared to 41% of men. In terms of age, 90.9% of the individuals aged 15-18 are Internet users, as well as 78.3% of the people aged 19-24, 59.9% of those in the 25-34 age brackets, 33.2% of those aged 35-54, 18.2% of those
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between 55-64 years old, and 3.7% of respondents of 65 years or older. Although the age gap is still considerable in Portugal, it should be highlighted that Internet penetration in older groups has been rising notably over the last three years. In terms of the relationship between education level and Internet use, we observed that Internet use has been increasing strongly since 2006 for individuals that had only the basic education. In 2008, more than half of respondents of this low educational background (52.5%) are Internet users, up from 25.1% in 2006. 85.2
89.1
79.4 77.1
75.1
64.8 52.5
25.1 17.7
!"#$% '()%"*+,
-'%+,("./ '()%"*+,
2003
2006
0$12'. '()%"*+,
2008
Figure 1.4 Evolution of Internet penetration, by level of education in Portugal (20032008). Source: WIP Portugal 2003, 2006 and 2008.
The analysis of Internet users’ profile provides us the necessary framework for the study of the evolution of Internet activities. If we look at technology-based studies, the top 10 of the most researched expressions on the Internet in Portugal in 2008 includes 5 communication-related expressions (Hi5, Gmail, Hotmail, TMN and Vodafone – Portuguese mobile operators), whereas the top 10 researched expressions in 2003 and 2006 were more related to informative and entertainment related features, suggesting growing importance of communication-related applications.
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Table 1.1 Top 10 researched expressions on the Internet. Source: Marktest, Netpanel. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2003 Portugal Download Lisboa Free Porto Natal 2003 CD Sexo DVD
2006 Gmail Sexo Jogos Google Emule Hi5 Sapo Fnac Páginas Amarelas Euromilhões
2008 Youtube Hi5 Gmail Sapo Wikipedia Hotmail TMN Vodafone Jogos Meteorologia
Similar results are observed in users’ studies. Considering the top 10 uses of the Internet in Portugal in 2008, it can be noted that many of those uses are communication related, namely the use of Email, IM (Instant Messaging) networks or sites of social networks such as Hi5 or Facebook. Data from previous WIP surveys (WIP 2003 and WIP 2006) allowed us to discern some emerging trends. In fact, a comparison of data between 2003 and 2008 reveals an increase in the importance of the Internet as a communication mediation technology. Email usage rose from 73.3% to 89.4%, instant messaging became the second most performed activity, and social networks are now used by more than half of the Internet users in Portugal. But analysing only the top 10 activities is not enough to characterize the everyday usages of the Internet in the country. Our analysis of the frequency of usage suggests that communicationrelated online activities are being carried out on a daily basis. Information-related usages (look for news, check facts, look for definitions, look for travel or health information, etc.) are more or less present in the different frequency intervals considered, whereas entertainment uses (download music or videos, play online games, browse the web) appear to be mostly weekly usages.
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38 Table 1.2 Top 10 uses of the Internet (% of Internet Users). Source: WIP Portugal 2003, 2006 and 2008.
2003
2006
2008 (n=404)
1
Email
73.3
Email
70.7
Email
89.4
2
Browse the web
64.9
Browse the web
53.9
74.5
3
Online encyclopedias, dictionaries or atlas
47.9
Online encyclopedias, dictionaries or atlas
41.2
Instant Messaging Look for news
4
Chats
39.8
Look for news
35.4
5
Look for news
39.3
Chats
34.8
6
Download music
34.1
schedule meetings with friends
30.5
7
Look for show related information
30.7
Play online videogames
28.4
8
Download software
28.8
28.0
9
Look for sports news
28.5
Contact friends when feeling down Look for sports news
10
Look for travel information
28.4 Look for show related information
27.6
Browse the web Check facts Look for information about products Look for a definition of a word Use social networks
Download/ listen to online music 27.4 Download/ watch online videos/ Look for health-related information
74.5
69.6 68.6 67.6
59.2
52.0 49.0 43.6
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Figure 1.5 Selected daily uses of the Internet in Portugal per age group – 2008 (% of Internet users). Source: WIP Portugal 2008.
As noted in our literature review, age is a major variable to consider when analysing Internet usages. Therefore, we decided to compare the main daily usages of individuals from two age groups, 15-18 years old and 35-44 years old, with the general population in order to highlight the eventual differences. As can be seen from Figure 1.5, there are several differences in the way these two age groups use the Internet al. though for both categories email and instant messaging (IM) appear as the most performed daily activities, a significantly larger proportion of those in the 15-18 age brackets use it than the general Internet population, whereas people of 35-44 years old use these applications slightly less compared to the total Internet users. A second element that draws our attention is the heavy Internet use by 15-18 year olds for entertainment - namely, playing online
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games and downloading music and video contents - as well as for social networking. Social network sites are visited by 50% of this group on a daily basis, compared to only 20% in the 35-44 age category. However, information-related use – seeking news, product or travel information – are more common among the 35-44 age group. In fact, as suggested by previous research, life stage should probably be more of a consideration than age (Dutton & Helsper, 2007; Cardoso 2006), given that in addition to time available to spend on the Internet other elements such as personal interests, hobbies and lifestyle also have impact on Internet use.
Figure 1.6 Selected daily uses of the Internet in Portugal, by gender – 2008 (% of Internet users). Source: WIP Portugal 2008
We now take a look at the impact of gender on Internet use. Although men tend to generally perform more activities online than women do, it should be highlighted that the gap narrows
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when the activity is communication-related, namely, in the case of social networks. For example, the gap between men and women in daily use of social networks is only 3 percentage points (27% for men and 24% for women), whereas the proportion of men downloading or watching video on a daily basis is twice that of women (12% against 6%), and men play online games more than twice as much as women (19% against only 9%). It should also be noticed that the gap between men and women is the smallest for information-related activities (such as seeking news or travel information, or checking facts). In fact, women use the Internet more than man toseeking school-related information or look for definitions. A Worldwide Trend? Internet Usages around the World The main advantage of performing an extensive international study such as the WIP is the possibility to make comparisons between nations while keeping in mind regional and contextual differences. In this ambit, and using the WIP 2007 data, it is possible to highlight the top 10 daily Internet activities in selected countries from different continents to acquire a global perspective of Internet use. This kind of comparison has of course some limitations. Internet penetration varies significantly across the world. While Internet users in some countries may be suitably described as digital elites or early-adopters, those in others may distinguish themselves only by the different purposes for using the technology and consequently thedifferent Internet activities. In addition, some online activities are important only for people in some countries (or at least, not in a homogenized way) – namely, the use of social networks – which would render the comparison invalid. Also, there are cultural, historic and socio-demographic variables that must be taken into account when looking at the results of such a comparison, as data must not be interpreted out of context. Nevertheless, and in spite of such limitations2, this kind of Note that the countries we selected for the present analysis were those that presented a complete dataset for the variables that we have considered.
2
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comparison is rewarding as presents the possibility for us to spot some worldwide trends and differences. A preliminary analysis of the data allows us to highlight the importance of email for the different countries considered, as it is the most used application anywhere except in China. As the Chinese WIP report explains, “this lesser use of email in China than in the West probably has an explanation in Chinese cultural traditions and communication habits: Chinese prefer instantaneous, confirmable communication, as demonstrated by high use of instant messaging in China as well as low use of answering or message-leaving machines in general” (Liang, 2007). Nevertheless, email usage has grown considerably in China, passing from 69% of onliners in 2005 to 80% in 2007. The importance of communicationrelated uses is also clear if we consider IM networks, as this is the second or third most performed activity in all countries, except for the US, where it ranks the fourth. As the WIP 2008 general report highlights for the case of Britain, “communication is the most popular online activity, with e-mailing leading since the first OxIS survey (in 2007, 93% of Internet users). Instant messaging (60%) and chat room participation (29%) are other consistently used communication services”(WIP, 2008). It should also be noted that 20-30% of the people in most countries use IM on a daily basis, more than 50% do so in Bolivia and China. In fact, as highlighted in the Australian WIP report, despite the fact that more than one fifth (20.8%) of the onliners use IM at least once a day, a clear majority of internet users do not (58.7%), with a further 20.2% of respondents messaging weekly or less often (Ewing & Thomas, 2008). Other applications, such as social networks, are in the same stage of evolution in different countries. For example, in Britain, although social networking has generated much media coverage and excitement, only 17% of users had a profile on a social networking site as of March 2007 (WIP, 2008). By contrast, in the US, membership of online communities has more than doubled in just three years. More than half of the online community members (54%) log into their virtual communities at least once a day,
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and 71% say their communities are very important or extremely important to them (WIP, 2008). Portugal also differs significantly from Britain. WIP Portugal (2008) found that 52% of Internet users visit social network sites and more than 74% use IM. Information seeking (e.g. getting news, checking facts, looking up information for school or word definitions) is a common activity in all the countries studied. Countries with relatively high e-commerce penetration, such as Britain and the US, also present high proportions of users looking for product information. Nevertheless, according to WIP Britain (2007), a significant shift took place in the way people look for information online. In 2005, Internet users were more likely to use both search engines and specific pages they might bookmark to look for information. In 2007, they were found to be much more inclined to use search engines only (Dutton & Helsper, 2007). In addition, the Internet is an increasingly important source for all types of information, especially leisure-related information, such as that about travel and local events. Between 2005 and 2007, the percentage of people looking for health information online increased markedly (OxIS, 2007). With regard to entertainment-related Internet use, the most common activities across countries are listening/downloading music and videos and playing online videogames. These activities rank high places in the list of top 10 uses in China: listening/ downloading music ranks the fourth (even ahead of emailing), playing games ranks the sixth, and watching/downloading videos the seventh. As the general WIP 2008 report highlights, in 2005 “the Internet played the role of ‘entertainment highway’ more strongly than that of ‘information highway’ in China. This year’s survey results also show that although the percentage of Internet users who used the Internet to look for information had increased, the most fully used function of the Internet was still its entertainment function” (WIP, 2008). The importance of entertainment-related usages can also be seen as more than 30% of users say the Internet is an important or very important source of entertainment, with China (76%) and Colombia (72%) in the lead. The growing
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importance of entertainment has also been noted in other countries such as Colombia – “the most popular Internet activities in Colombia are e-mail and instant messaging; however, there are an increasing number of users who demand entertainment content, such as games, music, and video” (WIP, 2008). To sum up, the selected countries can be divided into four broad groups based on Internet usages. The first would include Portugal, Bolivia and Colombia. This group is characterized by a remarkable focus on communication-related activities such as email, IM and social networks. A second broad group would be represented by China, where the differentiating element is the focus on entertainment-related activities. A third group, encompassing the US and Australia, could be characterized by the popular use of service-related applications(e-banking, etc.) and the importance of the Internet for its communication, information and entertainment applications. Finally, a forth group would be composed of Sweden and Britain, where information-related activities are the staple for users. Latin America and South Europe
China
Communication Driven Usage
Entertainment Driven Usage
USA and Australia
Sweden and Britain
Triumvirate Driven Model (Comm-Info-Enter)
Dual Driven Model (Comm-Info)
Figure 1.7 Internet usages around the globe.
Look for news
Instant Messaging
E-banking
Browse the Web
Information for school
Checking a fact
Listening/ downloading music Looking up for a definition
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
Watching/ downloading video
Email
1
9
Australia
Watching/ downloading video Look for news
Checking a fact
Information for school
Browse the Web
Listening/ downloading music Looking up for a definition
Instant Messaging
Chat rooms
Email
Bolivia
Look for a job
Information for school
Watching/ downloading video Checking a fact
Play games online
Checking a fact
Listening/ downloading music Email
Listening/ downloading music Watching/ downloading video Look for health information
Look for news
Looking up for a definition
Browse the Web
Information for school
Instant Messaging
Email
Colombia
Look for news
Instant Messaging
Browse the Web
China
Table 1.3 Top 10 daily uses of the Internet, selected countries. Source: WIP 2007.
Play online games
Make phone calls
Look for a job
Listening to online radio
Listening/ downloading music Checking a fact
Browse the Web
Instant Messaging
Look for news
Email
Sweden
Make phone calls
Information for school
Listen to online radio
Play online games
Listening/ downloading music Information for school
Information about products
Checking a fact
E-banking
Play online games
Checking a fact Information about products
Instant Messaging
Look for news
Browse the Web
Email
USA
Look for news
Instant Messaging
Browse the Web
Email
UK
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Country segmentation is useful for highlighting some of the differences among countries and to serve as a ground for the model building of usage trends. Nevertheless, the segmentation is exploratory and needs further contextualization and generalization. Furthermore, the statistics should be complemented with qualitative analysis, especially when evaluating something such as ICT daily uses. Therefore, this research constitutes not an arrival but a starting point for further analysis. Information out and Communication in? Analyses presented here allow us to highlight three important conclusions. First, Internet usages have been evolving considerably over the years in Portugal, oriented more and more towards communication activities, which serves as a ground for the development of the Networked Communication Society. Secondly, although the increment of the Internet usage is a global phenomenon, other countries present some specificities. Some focus more on entertainment, and others present higher levels of information-related activities or web services. Country Internet usage seems to be organized either be highly focusing in a set of common activities, usually communication or entertainment, or by a shared approach, either dualistic or triumvirate driven. In the shared model approach, communication and entertainment rather than Information led usage activities are always present. As the WIP 2008 general report points out, “the most important change will probably be a shift to using the Internet as the first port of call for communication as well as information. This is likely to be bolstered by a growth in Web 2.0 social networking and “Web 3.0” co-creation applications (WIP 2008). Thirdly, more and more people are not only using the Internet for communication related activities, but they are also increasingly doing it on a daily basis, highlighting the importance of such usages in people’s everyday life. In the last pages, we tried to address three different, although interconnected, questions. The first being: can we say that we have
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moved out of Information and into Communication in terms of Internet usage? Our interpretation of the available data is that, although information seeking seems to be always present in every use of the Internet, it no longer leads in an absolute way. Information activities are sharing more and more their lead in user’s hierarchy of performed online activities with communication, and also to a lesser degree with entertainment. The second question dealt with the relationship between the representations of yesterday’s thoughts on the Internet and today’s practices. In that domain, we suggest that the Internet has moved from being a space of keepers of knowledge into a space mainly built around the communication activities that configure the archetype of the communicator (Stefik 1997) and introduced a new archetype based on the role of entertainment in daily lives, that of the creator. The third analytical dimension pursued in this analysis focused on what the Internet usage might tell us about the role of Internet in communication and how that could help us to characterize societies’ communication models. It is our view that the use of a given technology more intensively towards communication itself must have a significant importance in the shaping of the communication model. The more we use technologies of mediation to communicate the more we increment the role of some of the features of a given communicational model. In the case of the networked communicational model, the more the Internet is used to communicate, the more we are to expect that some of the features inherent to interpersonal communication will be developed alongside experimentation with the mass media characteristics and own driven experimentation. When the two dimensions of a given model are both fuelled by individual and organizational experimentation and innovation, the model is able to foster its own evolution and to pass from an embryonic phase into an institutionalized one, which might be the case with Networked Communication.
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References Aroldi, P., & Colombo, F. (2003). Le Età della Tv, Milano: VP Università. Castells, M., (2006). “Connectivity in Antiquity — Globalization as Long-Term Historical Process,” in Connectivity in Antiquity Globalization as LongTerm Historical Process. Edited by O. La Bianca and S. A. Scham. London: Equinox. Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society, Oxford: Blackwell. Cardoso, G. (2008). From Mass to Networked Communication: Communicational models and the Informational Society, in IJOC (International Journal of Communication), Annenberg School of Communication, University of South California, vol. 2 2008, available online http://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ ijoc/article/view/19/178 Cardoso, G. (2006). The Media in the Network Society : browsing, news, filters and citizenship, Lisboa, Portugal: CIES. Colombo, F. (1993). Le Nuove Tecnologie Della Comunicazione, Milano: Bompiani Credoc (2005). La dynamique des inégalités en matière de nouvelles Technologies, available online http://www.credoc.fr/pdf/Rech/C217.pdf Dutton, W. and Helsper, E.J. (2007). The Internet in Britain: 2007. Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK). Available online http://www.worldInternetproject.net/ Eco, U. (2001). Il Medium Precede Il Messaggio, Available Online: http://www. espressoonline.kataweb.it/ESW_articolo/0,2393,12424,00.html Ewing and Thomas (2008), The Internet in Australia, ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation, Austtralia, available online http:// www.worldInternetproject.net/ Ewing, S and Thomas, J. (2009). Creative dynamics of the broadband Internet: Australian production and consumption of cultural content, in Cardoso G., Cheong Angus, Cole Jeffrey (2009) World Wide Internet. Changing Societies, Cultures and Economies, University of Macau Press, Macao, PRC. Findahl (2009). The Internet as a complement to traditional media. An international comparison of countries with high newspaper reach. in Cardoso G., Cheong Angus, Cole Jeffrey (2009) World Wide Internet. Changing Societies, Cultures and Economies, University of Macao Press, Macao, PRP. Findahl (2007). The Internet in Sweden, World Internet Institute, Sweden,
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available online http://www.worldInternetproject.net/ Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology (Fifth Edition), Polity Press, Cambridge. Giddens, A. (1999). DNW Interview met Anthony Giddens, Available Online: http://www.vpro.nl/programma/dnw/download/Interview_Giddens.shtml Hargittai, E. (2002). Second Level digital divide. Differences in people’s online skills, First Monday, available online www.firstmonday.dk Lash, S., & Lurry, C. (2007). Global Culture Industry. The Mediation of Things. London: Polity. Liang, G (2007). Surveying Internet Usage and its Impact in Seven Chinese Cities, Research Center for Social Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, available online http://www.worldInternetproject.net/ Licope, C. and Heurtin, J (2002). France: preserving the image, in KATZ, J. e AAKHUS, S. (2002), Perpetual Contact, Mobile Communication, Private Talk, Public Performance, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Lull, J. (2007). Culture on Demand: Communication in a Crisis World, Oxford: Blackwell. Mazzoleni, G., Kelly, M., & McQuail, D. (eds.). (2004). The Media in Europe, London, Sage. Mcphail, T. (2005). Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders and Trends, Oxford: Blackwell. Meyrovitz, J. (1985). No Sense of Place. The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press. OECD (2007). Information Technology outlook 2007, OECD, available online http://www.oecd.org/ OECD (2008). Information Technology outlook 2008, OECD, available online http://www.oecd.org/ Ortoleva, P. (2004). O Novo Sistema dos Media, in Paquete De Oliveira, J.M., Cardoso, G., Barreiros, J., Comunicação, Cultura e Tecnologias de Informação, Lisboa: Quimera. Pénard, T. and R. Suire (2006). Le rôle des Interactions sociales dans les modèles economiques de l’Internet, available online www.marsouin.org Plant, S. (2001). On the Mobile: the effects of mobile telephones on social and individual life, Motorola. Rantanen, T. (1997). The Globalization of News in the 19th Century, in Media, Culture & Society, Nº 3, pp. 605-620. Richeri, G. (1996). La Storia dei Media, Available Online: http://www. mediamente.rai.it/home/bibliote/intervis/r/richer04.htm
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Sciadas, G. (2003). Monitoring the Digital Divide and Beyond, Orbicom, available online www.orbicom.uqam.ca Shoemaker, P. (ed.). (2006). News Around the World: Content, Practitioners and the Public, New York, Routledge. Silverstone, R. (2005). The Sociology of Mediation and Communication, in Calhoun, C., Rojek, C., & Turner, B.S. (eds.), The International Handbook of Sociology. London: Sage. Silverstone, R., & Osimo, D. (2005). Interview with Prof. Roger Silverstone, Communication & Strategies, nº 59, 3rd quarter 2005, p. 101. Silverstone, R. (2006). Media and Morality: on the Rise of Mediapolis, Oxford: Polity. Sirkia, et alia (2005). Finnish People’s Communication capabilities in Interactive Society of the 2000s, part 2, Statistics Finalnd. Sparks, C. (2007). Globalization, Development and the Mass Media, London: Sage. Sproull, L. and Samer Faraj. (1995). Atheism, sex, and databases: The net as a social technology. In Brian Kahin and James Keller (eds.), Public Access to the Internet: 62-81. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Stefik, M. (1997). Internet dreams: archetypes, myths and metaphors, MIT Press, Cambridge. Thompson, John B. (1996). Political Scandal. Power and Visibility in the Media Age, Cambridge: Polity Press. Tremayne, M. (2007). Examining the Blog-Media Relationship, in Tremayne, Mark (ed.), Blogging, Citizenship and the Future of Media, New York: Routledge. Winston, B. (1999). Media Technology and Society. A History from the Telegraph to the Internet, London: Routledge. WIP (2008), The World Internet Project 2009, WIP, available online for purchase http://www.worldInternetproject.net/
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2 The Internet as a Complement to Traditional Media: A Cross Country Comparison Olle Findahl
Changing Mediascape The Internet has existed as a mass medium for more than 15 years and has become an important part of everyday life for a lot of people. There are now 1.5 billion Internet users around the world (Internet World Stats, 2008) who are spending more and more time online. The issue is not only about minutes and hours people spent online in lieu of reading, listening or viewing. It is also about content. Information, news, music and film can be found on the Internet where users can read newspapers and watch TV for free, whenever they want. What are the effects of these changes in the media landscape on traditional media? Hard Times for Newspapers and Broadcast Television Signs of hard times for newspapers are everywhere, especially in the US: Philadelphia Daily News, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, among others, have been forced to make fundamental changes. And the world’s most revered dailies like the New York Times, Le Mond in France and The Independent in UK, have had severe economical problems. This is also true of newspapers in many other cities- from Los Angeles to Frankfurt, Glasgow to Toronto. No doubt, the newspaper industry has got problems trying to adapt to a changing media landscape with new platforms and new business models. Traditional TV networks suffer too. The three American
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Networks have lost viewers during the last years. Is the web biting into the TV viewing market? Yes, say analysts Jupiter Research: Many are turning away from TV (BBC, 2004). And in Europe the public service television and the major TV channels have had declining audiences during the last 10 years. The loss of audience for newspapers and television were anticipated by many technology experts (Negroponte, 1996) and media researchers (Kraut et al. ,1998; Haythornthwaite & Wellman, 2002; Nie & Erbring, 2000). They predicted that hardcopy newspapers and television were going to disappear along with increased access to the Internet. And these predictions seemed to be confirmed when a simple comparison of users and non-users of the Internet showed that the former read less newspapers and watched less television than the latter. In many countries the nonusers spent 50% more time than the users reading newspapers and watching television (WIP, 2009). But it can be premature to blame the Internet for the decline in television viewing. We know that older people watch more television than younger people who use the Internet more (Findahl, 2007). Thus, the loss in time spent watching television among the Internet users can be an effect of age rather than the nature of the medium. After controlling for age, these differences disappear. The explanation is that the Internet users are, on average, much younger than the non-users. And young people read less newspapers and watch less television with or without the Internet. This state of affairs existed long before the Internet (Findahl, 1986). However, the newspaper and television industry have got problems restructuring and adapting to the new media landscape. It is unclear as to what is happening with the audience. Statistics show that the situation for traditional media is not the same in all countries. In some countries, like the US, newspaper sales are down, in other countries sales are up and in many countries there have only been small changes during the last years (WAN, 2007). In most countries the size of TV audience has not declined (Int. TV Exp Group, 2009). Evidently there are different opinions based on different statistics about what has happened to audience of the
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traditional media. Let us now examine differences between countries, comparing those with a high level of Internet penetration. If the Internet has any effect at all on traditional media, then the effect should be most manifest in countries where a majority of the population are Internet users. We can then look at countries where newspaper readership was high before the Internet was introduced and observe what has happened after the introduction of the Internet. If the use of the Internet is high and users are spending a lot of time reading news online, the hypotheses is that the Internet has an aversive effect on newspaper reading, especially when newspaper reach is high in the country. A similar negative relation should be expected between TV viewing and Internet use when people spend more and more time online during the evenings. Here we will focus on countries with a strong tradition of newspaper reading and a high Internet penetration. Japan and Norway have, for many years, been at the top among countries with high newspaper reach, and with the highest sales per thousand (WAN, 2007). That holds also for the other Nordic countries: Sweden, Finland and Denmark, even though the newspaper reach is a little lower in Denmark. In all of these countries the Internet penetration is high. Around 80 percent of the population are users of the Internet. In the case of Japan the rate of Internet penetration is also high if we combine the use of Internet by both PC and mobile phones (Mikami, 2004). We obtained first hand data in Sweden, which we will compare with the other Nordic countries, followed by a look at the development in Japan where the reach of both newspaper and TV is high. We will also look at Canada, where the Internet penetration is high but the newspaper reach is moderate like in the US. Newspapers in Sweden Swedes have a long tradition of reading newspapers that dates back a hundred years. Among adults more than 80% were daily readers before the introduction of the Internet. Most people subscribe to a
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local newspaper. The question is: Does the increase in number of Swedes who have started to use the Internet negatively influence this strong tradition? 55% of the population were following news online at least once a week or more often and 47% were reading newspapers online 2007 (Findahl, 2007). Subjective Judgements The suspicion of the negative effects of the Internet is reinforced by the answers provided by the Internet users themselves. They were asked in what way the Internet use had influenced their traditional newspaper reading. Most of the users answered that they were reading like before, but 5-10 percent reported much less and 10-15 percent somewhat less. Among the heavier Internet users, more people answered that they were reading much less. There is also a difference between morning newspapers and evening papers. The negative influence at the reading of evening papers is much stronger, according to the subjective judgements of the Internet users. And the younger generation (18-29 years) is more influenced by the Internet then the older generations. Table 2.1 Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Newspaper reading (Proportion of Internet users). Much less Somewhat less 2000
5
10
2005
7
17
2007 (18+ years) 2007 (18-29 years)
6 13
13 39
Time Estimates In addition to subjective judgements, we can look at how much time, in hours and minutes, that people say they spend reading newspapers. A simple comparison between users and non-users of the Internet in 2007 shows a clear difference between the two groups. Internet users read newspapers, on average, two hours and 49 minutes a week, compared to four hours and three minutes
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for those who are not using the Internet. There is also a similar difference when it comes to reading tabloids, evening papers. Table 2.2 Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Evening paper reading (Proportion of Internet users). Source: World Internet Institute 2007. Much less
Somewhat less
2000
9
20
2007 (18+ years) 2007 (18-29 years)
12 21
16 51
2005
10
25
Table 2.3 A comparison of average reading time between those who are using and not using the Internet, without control of age. Source: World Internet Institute 2007. 18+ years, N= 2017
Reading Newspapers
Reading Evening Papers
Non-users of Internet
4 hours 3 minutes
1 hour 5 minutes
Internet users
2 hours 49 minutes
39 minutes
However, this is not a fair comparison, as there are more old people among those who are not using the Internet, and old people spend more time reading newspapers. If we make the comparison within each age group, the result is different. In all three age groups, the Internet users are reading more newspapers, in three age groups there are no differences and in one age group (65-75 years) the Internet users are reading less. But when it comes to evening papers the simple comparison holds for most age groups. We could draw a tentative conclusion that the use of Internet has a negative influence on the reading of evening papers, but not the reading of the daily newspaper.
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Table 2.4 A comparison of reading time in seven age groups between those who are using and not using the Internet, without control of age. Source: World Internet Institute 2007 Internet users read more
No differences
Internet users read less
Newspapers
3 age groups
3 age groups
1 age group
Evening papers
1 age group
2 age groups
4 age groups
Another way to analyze what has happened is to study changes over the years. From our own data (World Internet Institute 2007) we find that 83 percent of the Swedes were reading a newspaper daily in 2000. Seven years later, 87 percent say that they are daily readers. From this figures we cannot say that the introduction of Internet has had a negative influence on newspapers. But people are perhaps reading less today? Or, they read newspapers like before but do not spend so much time reading? As we can see from the diagrams, people are spending more and more minutes using Internet. During the last 10 years there has been an increase from zero to nearly 60 minutes a day (average among all adults). The major increase has happened during the last years when the broadband penetration has accelerated. Today 86% of the Internet users have a broadband connection. Let us first look at the competition for time. There is a steep increase in the use of Internet but the minutes people are spending reading newspapers are about the same from 1996 to 2006. It seems, however, that there is a decrease in newspaper reading (the upper diagram) in the beginning (1996-2002) and a small decrease during the last years (2005-2006), but no decrease when it comes to reading of morning newspapers (the lower diagram). So the influence of Internet use is manifested in a lesser interest in evening newspapers, tabloids, during the last years..
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Minutes a day Population 9-79years
60
50
Newspaper reading 40
30
20
Internet use 10
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 2.1 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Internet and Morning + Evening Newspapers 1996-2006. Source: Mediabarometern 2006.
Minutes a day Population 9-79years
60
50
Internet use
40
30
Morning newspaper reading 20
10
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 2.2 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Morning Newspapers and Internet 19962006. Source: Mediebarometern 2006
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Looking closer at the way people are getting their traditional newspapers we can see that, although more people are reading newspapers today, there are small decreases in how many are buying single copies, reading free newspapers, reading newspapers at work and even a small decrease in subscription. Buying less single copies and reading less newspaper at work is a general phenomenon, but it is limited among the young . They are, however, reading more free newspapers, contrary to the others who have become less interested in those. But on the whole, the habits of reading newspapers in paper format in Sweden have changed very little since the Internet was introduced. Exception is found among the young (18-25 years). Seven years earlier more than half of them (59%) subscribed to a newspaper. Today the figure is close to one third (38%). They are reading more of free newspapers instead of buying single copies and do not read as much newspaper at work as before. In total 71 percent of young people are reading a traditional daily newspaper in paper format. That is exactly the same figure as seven years ago. Table 2.5 Comparison of the habits of newspaper readers, year 2000 to year 2007. Source: World Internet Institute 2007. Daily reader of a newspaper
Subscribe to a newspaper
Buy single copies
Read free newspaper
Read newspaper at work
2000
83%
76%
13%
12%
22%
2007
87%
72%
6%
9%
12%
N= 2000
Swedish population
Daily newsreaders
Daily newsreaders
Daily newsreaders
Daily newsreaders
The tradition of reading a daily newspaper seems to have survived the first 10 years of the Internet. That is remarkable as reading a newspaper online is one of the most popular activities among the users of the Internet in all ages and most Swedish newspapers have a net version of their newspaper (Findahl, 2007).
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Focusing on the young adults, where some changes have happened, we can note that 90 percent of them are using the Internet and 72% read a newspaper online at least daily or a few times a week. That is the same figure as we noticed earlier for reading the paper format of a traditional newspaper. So even among the youngest adults the online format and the paper format exist more like a complement than a displacement. From whence the extra time comes for the new media, it is not so clear (Robinson, et.al. 2000). One problem with the interpretation of results is that the subjective judgements from tables 1 and 2 are not compatible with the audience statistics and the time measures. Heavy Internet users have a feeling that they use traditional media less than before, but impressions emerging from the audience statistics prove otherwise. Television in Sweden Television viewing is a more time consuming activity than newspaper reading. And even if the Swedes do not spend as much time in front of the TV set as the Americans, the Japanese or the English, television viewing should be an activity that could be affected if many people start to use the Internet in the evenings. Daily TV viewing online is still too restricted to have any effect (Findahl, 2008). Studying the audience statistics (Figure 2.3) we can see that the time for TV viewing seems to be constant during the last 10 years when the use of Internet has increased. This diagram does not fit so well with the subjective judgments of the Internet users. Already seven years ago more than one quarter of the Internet users said that they were watching less television since they started to use Internet. This proportion of users is still about the same, even if the time people are using Internet has trebled. A simple comparison between users and non-users supports the claim. Internet users watch television, on average, 12 hours and 38 minutes a week, compared to 14 hours and 38 minutes for nonusers.
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120
TV watching
Minutes a day Population 9-79years
100
80
60
40
20
0
Internet use
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure2.3 Daily use (9-79 years) in minutes of Internet and Television 1996-2006. Source: Mediabaromenter 2006 Table 2.6 Subjective judgement of the influence of Internet use at Television viewing. Source: World Internet Institute 2007.
Proportion of Internet users
Much less
Somewhat less
2000
7 5 4 8
24
2005 2007 (18+ years) 2007 (18-29 years)
17
17 29
Table 2.7 A comparison of TV viewing time between those who are using and not using the Internet. Source: World Internet Institute 2007.
18+ years, N= 2017
No use of Internet
Internet users
Watching television during a week
14 hours 38 minutes 12 hours 28 minutes
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Table 2.8 A comparison of television viewing in seven age groups between those who are using and not using the Internet. Source: World Internet Institute 2007.
Internet users watch more Television 2 age groups
No differInternet users ences watch less 3 age groups 2 age group
This simple comparison is flawed. Those who watch TV the most are older and tend to be non-Internet users. If we compare the amount of time users and non-users spend watching television in the same age group the comparison will be more unbiased. Consistent with the audience statistics, the time people spend watching television is about the same today as seven years ago. In two younger age groups the Internet users watch more television and in two older age groups they watch less. In three age groups there are no differences. So there is no strong evidence that the use of Internet has a negative influence on television, even if the subjective judgements point in that direction (Findahl, 2007b; Nielsen, 2006). Traditional Media Online in Sweden There has been a lot of attention to the possibility of watching television online. But very few are watching television on a daily basis. The Internet has become a new platform where one can find television programs and videos, although the Internet has not replaced traditional television viewing. Reading newspapers online has become much more common and a majority of Swedes are doing this daily or nearly daily. But the same people still subscribe to a daily newspaper in the traditional paper format.
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70 60 50 30 40 30 weekly 20
28 30
26 19
10 0
Read newspaper
6
4
2
Listen/download Music
Listen to radio
Watch Video
15
daily
1 Watch TV
Figure 2.4 Proportion of the population using Internet for traditional media. Source: World Internet Institute 2007.
The Nordic countries Like Sweden, the other Nordic countries - Denmark, Norway and Finland – all have a high Internet penetration rate with a high newspaper reach and a moderate to low TV reach. The question is if the same has happened in the other Nordic countries where newspaper reading and TV viewing remain rather constant during the diffusion of the Internet. Television in the Nordic countries In Sweden the TV reach remained constant during the same period when the time people spent on the Internet has trebled. The situation, as shown in diagram 13, is very similar in the other Nordic countries. The TV reach was 70-75 % 1996 and the same 10 years later. There is a small decrease in Sweden. During the same period, viewing time has somewhat increased from 150 minute to more close to 160 minute a day (Diagram 14). A closer look reveals that this small increase refers to Sweden and Finland, while there has been a small decrease in Norway.
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Finland
Norway
Sweden
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 2.5 Television viewing: Daily reach 1996-2006 (share of population, per cent)
Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Figure 2.6 Television viewing: Total daily viewing time 1996-2007 (minutes).
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Newspapers in the Nordic Countries From our own data (WII 2007) we could see that 83 percent of the Swedes read a newspaper daily in the year 2000. Seven years later 87 percent say that they are daily readers. From those figures we cannot say that the introduction of Internet has had a negative influence on newspapers. Below, we will use media statistics from Nordicom, a mediacenter that gather statistics from all the Nordic countries to make comparisons. Denmark
Finland
Norway
Sweden
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 2.7 Newspaper readership: Daily reach 1996-2006 (per cent).
The newspaper readership is still nearly as high as before even in Denmark, Norway and Finland. The strong tradition of reading a daily newspaper seems to survive at least during the first 10 years of the Internet in the Nordic countries. There are, however, some differences. In Norway and Denmark there is a decline (nearly 10%), while the newspaper readership in Sweden and Finland is unchanged. To sum up: Television viewing and newspaper reading in Norway and Denmark have declined during the last 10 years when more and more time has been devoted to the Internet. However, the observed relationship is more correlational than causal. The
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decline in newspaper reading in Denmark, for example, started long before Internet became popular (Jauert & Prehn, 2001). The Nordic countries are known to have a very strong tradition of newspaper reading. In terms of number of copies sold per capita Norway is at the top. There are two reasons for that (Östbye, 2001). One is the historical tradition of public education and widespread literacy. The other is the country’s topography and history, which have produced a tri-level press structure, with local papers, strong regional papers and a nationally distributed press. The result is that many readers have both a local or regional paper as well as a national newspaper. Also Finland is traditionally a land of newspapers, and ranks third after Japan and Norway when it comes to newspapers circulation relative to its population (Jyrkiäinen & Sauri, 2001). The long tradition of reading and the strong position of the local newspapers in their markets are said to be the base of the Swedish daily papers (Weibull, 2007). Denmark is the only exception. Its newspaper readership is the lowest, so is the newspaper circulation, which decreased already during the 90’s (Jauert & Prehn, 2001). The tabloid press was hit hard with a decrease to almost half of the circulation during the 1980s. Japan Internet penetration in Japan is high when the use of the Internet via mobile phones is added to the use of Internet via computers. Newspaper readership is high with a daily reach of 92.5% and even among the youngest group 15-19 years the daily reach is 86%. There has been no decline in readership during the last five years when the minutes spent daily with the Internet has increased from 50 to 90 minutes (WAN, 2007). Neither have there been any changes in minutes spent per day reading a morning paper. The TV reach, that was high when the Internet was introduced, is still very high and has not declined during the last five years. Even after controlling for age, there are no differences between users and non-users of the Internet (Mikami et.al., 2004).
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Canada Canada is also a country with a high Internet penetration. The country’s TV reach is moderate, as well the newspaper reach, which means that the readership is more moderate compared to the Scandinavian countries and Japan. However, contrary to what happened in US, newspaper readership in Canada remains strong, according to the newspaper audience databank 2007/2008 (Tcholakian, 2008). The current news/information diet is still quite varied, and even if the importance of the Internet as an information source among the younger generations is increasing, the exposure to a variety of sources among this group is significant (CMCR, 2008). In the Canadian WIP-study, Zamaria and Fletcher (2008) observed that television viewing has remained constant between 2004 and 2007 as well as newspaper reading. Because Internet users are likely to use all media, traditional media are not being replaced by online activities. Instead the use of new media tends to supplement the use of old media. “It can’t be assumed that the Internet has replaced other media”. They conclude that Canadian youth are not rejecting traditional media but rather adding new things to their media menu and consuming old media in new ways. US In the beginning of this article we described the problematic situation for many newspapers in US and mentioned the decline of the three major television networks (Webster, 2005). Looking closer at the decline of the major broadcast networks, the trend started in the 80s and has continued ever since then. So the decreasing audience of the traditional TV Networks cannot be ascribed to the rise of the Internet (Pew, 2006). The decline is more a logical result of the cable networks and the increasing number of available TV channels. The more channels the less share for each channel. At the same time there are recent findings that show that TV viewing is not decreasing at all. Nielsen Co. presented data, as
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late as February 2009 that TV viewing was on the rise: Americans watch more television than ever. When it comes to newspapers in US, there has been a drop of around 10 percent in readership since 2000 (Pew, 2009). But this decline also begun before the Internet, and most exposed has been the evening papers. The expectation is that circulation will continue to decline in coming years (Pew, 2009). “Where four out of every five Americans in 1964 read a paper every day, today, only half do (Nichols & McChesney, 2009). The Internet has become the main source for information for many users in not only US, but also in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada (WIP, 2009). And when it comes to news, the Internet has overtaken newspapers as a source of national and international news, but television is still the main source (Pew, 2008). Nichols & McChesney (2009) argue that the declining readership in US is not an Internet problem or an audience problem but a quality and credibility problem. The economic collapse and Internet have greatly accentuated and accelerated a process that can be traced back to the 1970s, when corporate ownership and consolidation of newspapers took off. It was then that managers began to balance their books and to satisfy the demand from investors for ever-increasing returns by cutting journalists and shutting news bureaus. Philip Meyer (2004) had a diagram in his book that showed that the daily newspaper readership in US has decreased at a rate of 10% every 10 years, from 1970: 70%, 1980: 60%, 1990: 50% and 2000: 40%. If this line of declining readership was to continue there would be no newspapers left 2040. Meyer is widely cited, and as the name of his book is “The Vanishing Newspaper” he is used as evidence to strengthen the assumption of the disappearing newspapers. But the full name of the book is “The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age”. The last part of the title is often omitted. Meyer is making a complex analyse of the situation for US newspapers, with a lot of quantitative data. And he does not believe that straight-line trends continue forever.
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He is arguing for the importance of quality and credibility and that newspaper should focus more on the long-term health than the quarter-to-quarter earnings (Meyer, 2008). Summary and Discussion The diffusion of Internet has continued rapidly in many countries. In Sweden, and in the other Nordic countries, today 80% of the population are using the Internet. With access to broadband connections, people are spending more and more time online. The questions we have attempted to answer are: What are the consequences of this advancement of a new media for the traditional media - newspapers and television? Will there be competition and rivalry when the Internet as a newcomer tries to get a position in the old media world? Technological advancement has, over the last 100 years or so, given rise to and introduced to human society three new forms of mass medium – namely, the radio in the 1920s, television in the 1950s and the Internet in the 1990s. However, this last time it is not only about new and old media competing for people’s time and attention or competing for advertising revenue. It is also bringing upon us a profound change in economical conditions. The price of bandwidth and storage is dropping, coming closer to the price of digital distribution that already is close to zero. That means that the marginal costs, the charge in total costs that arises when the quantity produced changes by one unit, is quickly decreasing. According to economical theory, goods will be sold at their marginal cost of production if there is no monopoly allowing a producer to maintain prices above marginal costs, if consumers are sensitive to prices, or if the supply of the product is limited. Even if the old actors of yesterday still try to maintain their monopolistic positions, the supply of content – news, information, entertainment – is not limited and the consumers are very sensitive to the prices (Findahl, 2006; Selg & Findahl 2006; Findahl, et.al., 2006). The general assumption is that traditional newspaper reading will decline as there are a lot of newspapers available online for
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free. And television viewing will also decline because people will not have time watching television when they are busy using the Internet. At first sight, these assumptions are in accordance with common sense. A simple comparison of those who use and not use the Internet shows that Internet users are reading less traditional newspapers and watching less television. Their subjective judgements support this finding. But a more thorough analysis reveals that this is a spurious correlation and that it is dangerous to rely on old common sense when media are changing. Holding age constant, the correlation disappears. The same result appears using audience statistics, following the audience figures during the last 10 years. However, there are ongoing changes in media habits among the young generation, but these changes are slow and not as profound as generally assumed. To better understand what is happening over the years, there is need for longitudinal data. In this study, we focused at countries with a high Internet penetration and also a high newspaper reach before the Internet was introduced. The countries were Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Japan. In these countries the newspaper reach is still high and the TV reach has not changed during the last 10 years. The long tradition of newspaper readership has not been broken. There are however some differences. In Norway and Denmark, there are signs of a decrease in readership and TV viewing. A comparison of what is happening in other countries shows that the development of traditional media is not the same in all countries (Findahl, 2004; Findahl, 2007b). In some countries the newspapers are severely affected, in others, sales have been rising. Obviously there are many factors other than the Internet – economic, cultural, journalistic, to name only a few – that influence the development of the traditional media. What is happening in the US does not have to happen in other countries. The decline of newspaper reading started in the US back in the 1960s, when newspaper circulation was on the rise in many other countries, while television was introduced. Today the World Association of Newspapers (2008) declears that newspapers are alive and well. Our conclusion, so far, is that the Internet has been more of
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a complement to the traditional media than a competitor and that displacement effects are hard to find. There are, of course, individual cases that point to another direction, but they are still rare. Our sample, however, consists of only countries with high newspaper reach and high Internet penetration. There are several other countries with high Internet penetration but more moderate newspaper reach. The Danger of Media Centrism There are many factors other than competition between media that affect the decline or rise of a new or old medium. The media landscape is evolving and media researchers, quite naturally, have a tendency to focus on inter-media rivalries and disregard other major factors that are important to the well-being of both traditional and new media, like trust and quality. It is not up to the Internet if the traditional newspapers will survive and the long tradition of newspaper readership will remain strong. It is up to the newspapers themselves and how well they will serve the needs of their readers. The young generation, up to 30 years, generally have a different relation to the Internet than the older generations. They are used to looking for news and information online, and they rate the Internet as their most important source of information, more important than television and newspapers. But, as we have seen, this does not mean that they have abandoned traditional media. They include them together with the Internet in their daily media habits. If so, is it a media mix related to the young generations, or a more permanent mix portending a major shift that would undermine the importance of the traditional media? That remains to be seen. Anyway, it will take time, and until then the old tradition of newspaper readership will prevail.
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References CMCR, (2008). Online Canadians and News Study. Canadian Media Research Consortium (CMRC) Future of News Summit 2008. May 2008 Findahl, O. (2008). Svenskarna och Internet 2008. Gävle: World Internet Institute. Findahl, O. (2007). The Swedes and the Internet 2007. Gävle: World Internet Institute. Findahl, O. (2007b). Tio år med Internet. Ingår i Ulla Carlsson & Ulrika Facht (red) Mediesverige 2007. Göteborgs universitet , Nordicom-Sverige. Findahl, O. (2006). Trends in downloading and filesharing of music. Musiclessons – Deliverable 5. xml.nada.kth.se/media/Research/MusicLesson. Findahl, O. (2006). Thieves or Customers? File-sharing in the Digital World. In P. Cunningham & M Cunningham (eds.), Exploiting the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications, Case Studies. Amsterdam: IOS Press Findahl, O. (2004). Internet i världen. En internationell jämförelse av Internettillgång och användning mellan länder inom World Internet Project. World Internet Institute. Findahl, O., Eriksson, L-E., Selg, H., & Wallis, R. (2006) The IPR regime and the Open Source/Open Content movement – an alternative stimulus for creativity or on a collision course? In P. Cunningham & M Cunningham (eds.), Exploiting the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications, Case Studies. Amsterdam: IOS Press Galacz A, Kuo E & Mahel D (2006). Information Society from a comparative perspective. Some results of the World Internet Project. Brno. November 2006. Haythornthwaite, C & Wellman, B. (2002). The Internet i Everyday Life. An Introduction. In B.Wellamn & C. Haythornthwaite (Eds.), The Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford: Blackwell. International Television Expert Group (2009). Television 2008. International Key Facts. www.ip-network.com/tvkeyfacts Internet World Stats, 2008. Internet Usage World Stats – Internet and Population Statistics. www.Internetworldstats.com/ Jauert, P & Prehn, O (2001). The Danish Medialandscape. Structure, Economy and Consumption. In U. Carlsson & E. Harrie (Eds.), Media Trends 2001. Nordicom 2001. Jupiter Research, (2004). Many are turning away from TV. BBC, 2004
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Jyrkiäinen, J & Sauri, T (2001). The Finnish Media Landscape. In In U. Carlsson & E. Harrie (Eds.), Media Trends 2001. Nordicom 2001. Kraut, R., Lundmark, V., Patterson, M., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? American Psychologist, 53 (9), 1017-1031. Meyer, P. (2008). The Elite Newspaper of the Future. American Journalism Review, October/November 2008. pp. Meyer, P. (2004). The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age. Columbia: University of Missouri Press. Mikami et.al (2004). Internet Usage Trends in Japan. The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology. Tokyo. Negroponte N (1996). Being Digital. New York: Vintage books. Nie, H & Erbring L. (2000). Internet and Society: a preliminary report. Http:// www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/ Nielsen (2006). US TV viewing still rising, says Nielsen. UK: Digital TV Group, 25.09.06 Nielsen (2009). Americans watch more television than ever. Associated Press, Feb 23, 2009 Nichols, J & McChesney, R (2009). The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers. The Nation, March 20, 2009. Nordicom (2007). Mediebarometern 2006. Medienotiser, nr 1, 2007. Göteborgs universitet , Nordicom-Sverige Nordicom (2008). Mediabarometern 2007. Nordicom-Sverige,Göteborgs universitet Pew (2009). The State of the News Media 2009. Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Pew (2008). Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, Dec 15-22. Pew (2006). Network TV Audience Trends. 2006 Annual Report. Journalism. org/node/1197 Robinson JP, Kestnbaum M, Neustadtl A, Alvarez A. (2000). IT, the Internet, and time displacement. Paper presented at American Association Public Opinion Research, Portland OR, May 2000. Selg, H., & Findahl, O. (2006). File Sharing and Downloading - Actors, Motives and Effects. MusicLessons, Deliverable 4. Stockholm: xml.nada.kth.se/ media/Research/MusicLesson Tcholakian, G. (2008). The Newspaper Audience Databank 2007/2008. Sep 17
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2008. WAN, 2008. World Press Trends 2007. World Association of Newspapers (WAN). Webster, J.G. (2005). Beneath the Veneer of Fragmentation. Journal of Communication, June 2005. pp 366-382. Weibull, L (2007). Dagspress. In U. Carlsson & U. Facht (eds.), Mediesverige 2007. Statistik och analys. Nordicom-Sverige, Göteborgs universitet. WIP, 2009. World Internet Project: International Report 2009. University of Southern California. Zamaria, C., & and Fletcher, F. (2008). Canada Online. The Internet, media and emerging technologies. Uses, attitudes, trends and international comparisons 2007. Toronto: Canadian Internet Project 2008. Östbye, H (2001). The Norwegian Media Landscape. In In U. Carlsson & E. Harrie (Eds.), Media Trends 2001. Nordicom 2001. AUT (2007). 2007 Benchmark Survey: Interim Report. The institute of culture, discourse & communication. AUT University. December 2007. World Internet Project New Zealand. Beilock & Dimitrova (2003). An exploratory model of inter-country Internet diffusion. They found that the relation is not linear. Non-economical factors seem to play a more important role in comparisons between wealthy countries. EU (2007). Statistics in Focus, 119/2007. Eurostat. mellan länder inom World Internet Project. Gävle: World Internet Institute Findahl, O. (2007). Svenskarna och Internet 2007. World Internet Institute. Findahl, O. (2007). Internet i ett internationellt perspektiv. Del 1. Sverige i Europa. World Internet Institute. Findahl, O. (2008). Internet i ett internationellt perspektiv. Del 2. Sverige i Världen. World Internet Institute. Findahl, O. (2006). Trends in downloading and filesharing of music. MusicLessons, Deliverable 5. Stockholm: Musiclessons (updated version) Findahl, O. Eriksson, L-E., Selg, H., & Wallis, R. (2006) The IPR regime and the Open Source/Open Content movement –an alternative stimulus for creativity or on a collision course? In P. Cunningham & M Cunningham (eds.), Exploiting the Knowledge Economy: Issues, Applications, Case Studies. Amsterdam: IOS Press Findahl, O. (2004). Internet i världen. En internationell jämförelse av Internettillgång och användning
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Human Development Report 2005. UNDP, 2005. Hofstede, G. (2007). Cultural dimensions, 2007. www.geert-hofstede.com. Se också Geert Hofstede (2002), Dimensions do not exist: A reply toBrendan McSweeney. Human Relations, 55 (11). Huang, H., Keser, C, Leland, J. & Shachat, J (2002). Trust, the Internet, and the digital divide. IBM Systems Journal, VOL 42, NO 3, 2003 Inglehart, R (1997). Modernization and Postmodernization. Princeton, 1997. ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database 2007 Nordicom (2007). Mediabarometern 2007. Nordicom-Sverige, Göteborgs universitet Sauri, T (2006), Radio, TV and Internet in Finland. In E. Harrie (ed.), Mediatrends 2006. Radio, TV & Internet. Nordicom, 2006. Selg, H., & Findahl, O. (2006). File sharing and downloading - actors, motives and effects. MusicLessons, Deliverable 4. Stockholm: Musiclessons, KTH (updated version)
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3 Understanding the New Digital Ecology in Mexico:The Organization and Arrangement of Complex Media Environments Fernando Gutiérrez and Octavio Islas “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us” (McLuhan & Fiore: 1967).
Understanding changes in media In their book titled Remediation, also a term they coined and defined as the formal logic by which new media refashion prior media forms, Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin have the following to say: “Like other media since Renaissence –in particular perspective painting, photography, film, and television- new digital media oscillate between immediacy and hypermediacy, between transparency and opacity. This oscillation is the key to understanding how a medium refashions its predecessor and other contemporary media. Although each media promises to reform its predecessors by offering a more immediate or authentic experience, the promise of reform inevitably lead us to become aware of the new medium as a medium. Thus immediacy leads to hypermediacy. The process of remediation makes us aware that all media are at one level a play of signs, which is a lesson that we take from poststructuralist literary theory.” (Bolter & Grusin, 1999, p. 19)
According to Bolter and Grusin (1999), to understand media, it is also important to comprehend two concepts: immediacy and hypermediacy. The first one is transparency, the absence of mediation. It is the notion that a medium could erase itself and leave the viewer/reader/listener in the presence of the objects represented, so that he/she could know the objects directly and
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have the feeling that the experience is authentic. In contrast, hypermediacy is opacity, suggesting that knowledge comes to us through a medium. The viewer/reader/listener knows that he/she is in the presence of a medium and receives information and learns through acts of mediation. “New digital media are not external agents that come to disrupt an unsuspecting culture. They emerge from within cultural contexts, and they refashion other media, which are embedded in the same or similar contexts.” (Bolter & Grusin 1999, p. 19)
New digital media are the product of remediation, the result of oscillation between immediacy and hypermediacy. When a new medium is created, it will eventually overtake its predecessor’s content. The older medium becomes a ground upon which the new medium stands, as a more noticed figure. Marshall McLuhan suggested this idea in his book Understanding Media: The extensions of man. In the history of mass communication, no new medium has yet made an earlier one obsolete, despite the reiterated predictions at the time of each new arrival. ►► ►► ►► ►►
Photography was supposed to mean the end of painting Film was supposed to mean the end of the novel Radio was supposed to mean the end of newspapers Television was supposed to mean the end of film and radio
What did happen was that the new medium changed its predecessor but did not replace it. The older medium always adapted itself to fit into the new mix of competitors redefining itself according to its intrinsic strengths. According to Alejandro Piscitelli (2005) a new communication technology can’t eliminate or erase the previous technologies, but can alter the amount of use and the dominating power it has had in everyday life and, therefore, everyday cognition.
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Figure 3.1 Media Consumption In Mexico (2008).
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Today, media compete strongly for our attention. As Paul Levinson (2004), suggests “every time we decide to go out to the movies rather than stay at home and watch television, read a book rather than watch a video, talk on the cell phone rather than send e-mail, we are making a tiny contribution to the rise and fall of media.” (p.12) In Darwanian terms –Levinson thinks- we are acting as if we are selecting the environment for species of media. The survival of the fittest media means the survival of media that fits our needs the best, or show more integration capability.
McLuhan said that media are extensions of our human senses, bodies and minds. It is also interesting to point out that in Civilization and its discontents (1930), Sigmund Freud had already taken note of the possibility to consider tools as an extension of man: “with tools, mankind perfects its organs (...) With the camera, it has created an instrument that transfixes fleeting optical impressions, a service that the record player renders to the no less fleeting auditory impression, both constituting its innate faculty to remember, that is, its memory. With the help of the telephone, it hears from distances that even fairy tales would respect as unachievable. Writing, originally, is the language of those who are absent; housing, a substitute for the maternal womb, the first abode whose nostalgia perhaps still persists among us, where we felt secure and well.” (Freud, 1930, p. 34)
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To this respect, Douglas Rushkoff wrote in Media Virus: Hidden agendas in Popular Culture: “We should understand the media as an extension of a living organism. Just as ecologist now understand the life of this planet to be part of a single biological organism. Media activists see the datasphere as the circulatory system for today’s information ideas, and images.” (Rushkoff, 1996, p.7)
Media can be understood as extensions of man as well as extensions or remedies of other media, deriving from an integration process – or convergence, as Henry Jenkins (2006) calls it – to describe the full context of media change that redefines our media environment.
Figure 3.2 Media As Extensions Of Other Media.
Internet at the center of the New Digital Ecology The Internet is currently at the center of the integration of a new media ecology which again transforms the structural relations among older media such as print, film, radio, and television. It works as an extension for other media industries, not their replacement. Traditional media are using the Internet to identify what the public wants, to interact with their readers/audience, to amplify their own technical capabilities, and to advertise. The Internet has been said to steal audience from other forms of media. However, there are studies showing that people use other forms of media in conjunction with the Internet to maximize their engagement with other media.
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For instance, after reading an article in the newspaper or magazine, we may become curious and decide to find out more by surfing the Internet. People read stories in magazines, then go online to get multiple angles on the stories they just read. They watch a TV series, and then go online to get character bios, scripts, behind-the-scenes information, and more. This kind of behavior shows a much deeper and richer experience with print and broadcast media. We can observe the same situation with other traditional media (film, photography, radio). In this sense, the Internet is also complimentary to for conventional media – it extends the functions of traditional media as well as the power of users. Since 2005, in Mexico, the AMIPCI (Mexican Internet Association) has been observing how the Internet extends the power of some traditional media (TV, Cable TV, Newspapers, Magazines and Movies). Figure 3.3 shows the contribution of the Internet to conventional media, in terms of reach.
Figure 3.3 Internet Extends Media Reach In Mexico (2006).
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Based on the above figure, we can argue that, for some media (Magazines or Newspapers), Internet brings great benefits. These conventional media can reach more audience (readers) thanks to the Internet. Again, the Internet extends the traditional human abilities to see, to speak, and to manipulate. The revolution is not so much one of content but of distribution. Computers allow the manipulation of old content and old media in unanticipated ways. But as Neil Postman (1993) explained, a new media does not merely add something to the culture; it changes everything. The Internet has contributed to the formation of new societies with particular characteristics that differ from the general culture of which it is a part. When a new technology like the Internet acquires importance in a culture in a given location, certain elements of the society begin to be redefined. In this sense then, the society becomes the result of the new technology. For Postman, the consequence of technological change always comes fast. It is often unpredictable and largely irreversible. The technology is always shaped by the social, political and economic systems in which it is introduced. In any medium, what passes for critical discourse is not independent of the medium in which it is produced and circulated. Media change, therefore, is far more than just a new piece of equipment. It affects all of our technologies The Internet, for example, once more gives a new coloration to every institution. In the past, newspapers, radio and television changed society. Today, the Internet is doing something similar. With its introduction, everything changes: political campaigns, homes, schools, churches, and companies. The invention of the Internet has altered the world we live in. Not since the industrial revolution have we seen such profound change in the way we work, shop, receive news, or conduct businesses. The changes can be observed in any country. In the following pages, we will illustrate the impact of Internet in Mexico through data and examples for a better understanding of how this new media is reshaping some important aspects of contemporary life and how our media environment is changing.
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Internet in Mexico According to E-marketer (2008) projections, Mexico ranks the 10th place in the world in terms of the number of Internet users. The top 10 are: 1. China (216.0 million); 2. The US (193.9 million); 3. Japan (90.9 million); 4. Germany (50.4 million); 5. India (40.7 million); 6. Russia (40.3 million); 7. Brazil (38.8 million); 8. UK (38.1 million); 9. France (36.1 million); 10. México (27.4 million). Our last national survey, conducted in late 2008 using the World Internet Project (WIP) methodology, found there are roughly 25 million Internet users in Mexico. Internet penetration in the country is shown in the figure below.
Figure 3.4 Internet Penetration In Mexico (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
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Mexico City has the largest concentration of Internet users (6.6 million), followed by the northwestern region (5.1 million) composed of seven states (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Nuevo León, San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas). In terms of gender, we found that men make up a slightly larger portion (58%) of Internet users than women (42%). The highest penetration of this medium is among people aged 25 years or younger (64%) and almost 80% of users are under the age of 40. The following figure shows Internet penetration across all age groups in Mexico.
Figure 3.5 Internet Use By Age Ranges (2008).Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
According to our survey, Internet users in Mexico are young, with the largest group (37%) being 12-18 years old. For them the Internet has become part of daily life. In Mexico, as in some other countries, Internet users gravitate towards groups of high and middle socioeconomic levels. Internet penetration is highly correlated with the socioeconomic level, as can be seen in the next figure.
15’720.0
13’100.0
24’890.0
2’475.9
9’314.1
17’423.0
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7’467.0
7’205.0 5’895.0
10’532.4
5’187.6
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11’790.0
Figure 3.6 Internet Use By Socioeconomic Level (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
Figure 3.7 Reasons For Not Going Online (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
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While it is reasonable to expect falling costs and better educational opportunities to raise Internet penetration among people of low socioeconomic status. However, we found another important reason for not getting online: Lack of interest is the most cited reason for not using the Internet in all socioeconomic groups, including the lower-level ones. More access to information may not neccsarily lead to better problem-solving capabilities, as it might seem to be the case. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard believes that the Internet creates a terrible world to the person who is not capable of supporting all the information he is given. The advantages and disadvantages of new technologies are never distributed evenly among populations. In terms of access, Mexican users get their connection from any location. Most people access the Internet from outside the home (e.g., Internet cafes, work, schools, and libraries). In our recent survey we found that 69% of Mexican users access the Internet from cafes, libraries and friends’ houses. But they spend more time online from work (12.6 hours per week). In the Figure 3.8, we can observe time spent online and favorite places to access the Internet. According to our survey, Internet users spend most of their time online checking e-mail, using chatting services (e.g., MSN), and looking for school information. In general terms, these are regular activities on the Internet that still show a non experienced user. In the next chart, we show, in order of importance, a list of activities Mexican users are engaged in. As in many other countries, e-mail is the most popular activity when measured by either the amount of time spent or frequency of online use. Figure 3.9 indicates that Mexican users are still heavily involved in the most basic online activities. Although some have been attracted to more advanced services (blogs), the number is still small. But it can be expected that interest in more advanced services will grow going forward.
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Figure 3.8 Favorite Places For Internet Connections And Time Spent Online (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
93%
CHECK E‐MAIL
83% 83% 80% 78% 78% 77% 75% 73%
USE INSTANT MESSAGING SEND DOCS BY E‐MAIL SCHOOL WORKS LOOK FOR NEWS
48% 44% 42%
LOOK FOR DEFINITIONS DOWNLOAD AND UPLOAD MUSIC FIND OR CHECK A FACT LOOK FOR HEALTH INFORMATION LOOK FOR JOKES TRAVEL INFORMATION READING BLOGS
Figure 3.9 Popular Internet Activities In Mexico (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
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The Internet occupies a large portion of daily life in Mexico. According to our survey, users spend an average of 7.8 hours per week online, which is more than 1 a day. Time online is near the amount spent on television (9.0) and radio (10.3) and almost double the time spent reading newspapers (3.9). For most users (78%), the Internet is a more meaningful source of information than conventional media (television, radio and newspapers), as we can see in the figure below.
Figure 3.10 Internet As A Source Of Information (2008). Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
The Internet’s different tools favor communication and information exchange among a mid-sized user group, allowing individuals to develop close contact. The function of the Internet as a place for people to share certain hobbies and pastimes or relate to each other on the basis of common interests has filled a void uncovered by conventional mass communication media. In 2006, the Mexican Internet Association (AMIPCI) began to study the amount of time people spent online and the places they make the access. Since then, we have been observing how the Internet occupies important spaces that other media cannot fill for
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different reasons. The following figure reveals where Mexicans get online in weekdays in 2006. Figure 3.11
Places Where Users Access The Internet In Mexico. (2006). Source: AMIPCI
(2006) “Estudio Anual de Hánitos de los Usuarios de Internet en México”. Avaliable at http://www.amipci.org.mx/estudios.php
As we mentioned before, people in Mexico can use the Internet at schools, libraries and cybercafes. The Internet and traditional media rarely occupy the same physical space. For instance, the opportunity to watch television outside a home environment is less common. There are more public places for people to get online than for them to watch television. Today, the Internet is used more for informational purposes, while television is more of a medium to get entertainment and relaxation. But Internet access at home may be displacing television viewing as well as reducing leisure time spent with some other communication agents. After television, the Internet is the most important medium for entertainment purposes, but the difference between these two media is insignificant (1%).
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Figure 3.12 Internet As A Source Of Entertainment (2008).Source: “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologies asociadas”. WIP México, 2008. Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus de México.
As shown in Figure 12, 57% of users say the Internet is ‘extremely important’ or ‘very important’ for entertainment purposes. The competition between television and the Internet is largely happening at home. Some users think it is difficult to watch television and go on the Internet at the same time, especially given the amount of interactivity and involvement needed for this new media. That’s why they have to decide to which of the two media they will give their attention. And the fact that the Internet is changing the media business has prompted many traditional media companies to develop digital strategies. In Mexico, people are watching less television and reading fewer newspapers since they began using the Internet. But radio’s niche in the actual media ecology is, in many ways, modest. It survives because it reaches places other technologies do not reach. And people can go online while playing the radio in the background. In this sense, there is a positive relationship between Internet and radio use.
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We believe that the Internet will gain greater prominence in Mexico as broadband connection increases, allowing more people to access it through different devices, such as cell phones or some other PDAs. Mobile phone subscribers in Mexico tallied 70.6 million in 2008, according to Federal Telecommunications Commission (COFETEL, 2008), with the penetration rate being 68.3%. But according to the Mexican Internet Association (AMIPCI, 2007), only 29% of all cell phones in Mexico had Internet access in 2007. In the same year, Select and AMIPCI announced that there were more than 6 million broadband subscribers across the country, accounting for 93% of all Internet connections. The figure below gives the number of accounts (Dial Up, E1, Broadband).
Figure 3.13 Internet Accounts (2006-2008). Source: Select “Estudio Trimestral de Compuradoras Personales en México, April 2008.
The number of broadband subscriptions is expected to increase in the next few years, increasing access to more sophisticated and useful Internet services. This is important because we believe that fast access to the Internet is necessary for individuals as well as institutions to function effectively and fully in the 21st century. In order to remain competitive in this digital environment, people need not only available technologies, but also evolving techniques
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and skills to adapt to changes as they happen. However, according to a recent research by the Marketing Communication Confederation Industry in Mexico (CICOM, 2007), despite an observed increase of Internet connections and considerable penetration (in terms of time spent online), advertising on the Internet accounts for only 2% (75.87 million dollars) of the total advertising revenue in Mexico. The same study also revealed that of the 50,041 million Mexican pesos spent in advertising, nearly 60% went into television, as shown in Figure 3.14. Media Television Radio Newspaper OOHi Cable TV Magazines Internet Cine Other Total
% 59.9% 9.0% 8.7% 8.7% 5.7% 4.1% 2.0% 1.6% 0.4% 100%
Total Investment (000) 29,956 Mexican Pesos 4,505 Mexican Pesos 4,335 Mexican Pesos 4,332 Mexican Pesos 2,859 Mexican Pesos 2,066 Mexican Pesos 1,008 Mexican Pesos 788 Mexican Pesos 192 Mexican Pesos 50,041 Mexican Pesos
i:OOH “Out of home advertising”
Figure 3.14 Distribution Of Advertising Investment In Mexico (2007). Source: CICOM. (2007). “Estudio del valor del mercado de la comunicación comercial en México” [Avaliabl at: http://cicom.org.mx/]
We expect to see a significant increase of advertising revenue for the Internet in the next few years, as it has happened in many other countries. Some final thoughts about this technological revolution We live in a world that’s being transformed constantly by developments in technology and science. Given the fast pace of
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change, the huge amount of information available, and the influence of technology on life in general, people need to develop new skill sets to face and thrive in this changing environment. It is not until recently that educators have recognized that while the tools of instruction change, the problems of learning, ingesting and applying information remain the same as always. The Internet is not the panacea, it is only a tool to help solve problems. People should use this technology rather than being used by it. The Internet presents new possibilities, and these new possibilities awaken new desires. Intelligent use of the Internet could favorably modify our way of learning and communication. The unique characteristics of the Internet, in particular its interactivity and formidable transmission capacity, make it possible for people to access this new communication medium. It is not far-fetched to say that a true “global community” is coming into form with the help of the Internet technology.
REFERENCES AMIPCI. (2006). “Estudio Anual de Hábitos de los Usuarios de Internet” [Available at: http://www.amipci.org.mx/estudios.php] AMIPCI. (2007). “Estudio Anual de Hábitos de los Usuarios de Internet” [Available at: http://www.amipci.org.mx/estudios.php] Bolter, J. & Grusin, R. (1999). Remediation. Cambridge:The MIT Press CICOM. (2007). “Estudio del valor del mercado de la comunicación comercial en México” [Available at: http://cicom.org.mx/] Comisión Federal de Telecomunicaciones (COFETEL), “Telefonía Móvil,” August 2008 eMarketer: Mexico Online. January 2009 Freud, S. (1930). Civilisation and its Discontents. London: The Hogarth Press Ltd. Jenkins, H., (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of man. New York:
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New American Library, Times Mirror. O’Malley, G. (2006). “Teens Online Doing Homework, Text Messaging and Watching TV”. New York: AdAge.com [Available at: http://adage.com/ mediaworks/article?article_id=109872&search_phrase=%2BTeens+% 2BOnline+%2BDoing+%2BHomework%2C+%2BText+%2BMessaging+ %2Band+%2BWatching+%2BTV] Postman, N. (1993). Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. New York: Vintage Books Piscitelli, A. (2005). Internet la Imprenta del Siglo XXI. Barcelona: Editorial Gedisa Rushkoff, D. (1996). Media Virus: Hidden agendas in Popular Culture. New York: Ballantine Books Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Estado de México. (2008). “Estudio 2008 de hábitos y percepciones de los mexicanos sobre Internet y diversas tecnologías asociadas”. WIP México. [Available at: http://www.wipmexico. org] Wendell, B. (1990). What are people for? San Francisco: North Point Press
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4 The Internet under a Changing Media Environment: Japan Shunji Mikami
Introduction After World War II, the media environment in Japan changed drastically, thanks to the development of new communication technology. The first major change was brought about by the launch of TV Broadcasting service in 1953. Along with surging economic growth, declining cost of TV receivers, and successive occurrence of historical, national events such as the Olympic Games, television rapidly penetrated the daily life in the early 1960s. The average time of TV watching reached three and a half hours per day in 1975. However, in the mid-1990s, driven by Japan’s promotive telecommunication policy and severe market competition, advanced information and communication media such as the Internet, mobile phones and digital TV services began to spread among citizens, and media environment has changed gradually. Although Internet penetration in Japan was less than 20% by 1999, we expected diffusion to be rapid in the near future and its impact should be enormous on everyday life and society as a whole. The World Internet Project (WIP), initiated by Prof. Jeffrey Cole at UCLA among others, fit our view on the issue and our firwst participation in this project took place in 2000. In collaboration with the Communications Research Laboratory (CRL) and the University of Tokyo, the first Japanese WIP (JWIP) survey was
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conducted in October 2000 , using WIP common questionnaires. Successive surveys were conducted in 2001, 2001, 2003 and 2005 using nationally representative samples in Japan. Annual reports have been published on the JWIP website, which provides historical data on Internet diffusion in Japan (JWIP , 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006). After a hiatus of three years, JWIP survey using new WIP common questionnaire was conducted in 2008 with a smaller sample of urban residents in Tokyo. With a penetration rate of over 70% (as of 2008), the Internet has become one of the major forms of media in Japan. At the same time, traditional media such as television and newspapers remain dominant. The media environment in Japan is becoming increasingly diversified. This paper attempts to locate the Internet in a changing media environment from the user’s point of view, by analyzing JWIP data over the past decade. Growth of the Internet in Japan The Internet was first introduced to Japan in 1984. A network called JUNET connected computers in three universities in Tokyo. In 1986, it was linked to the CS Net in the U, giving Japan its first international connection through the Internet. Commercial service of the Internet was initially offered in 1992 to the general public. Until the mid-1990s, Internet connection was limited to computers only. In 1997, it became possible to exchange e-mails with @address between mobile phone users and PC Internet users. In February 1999, NTT Docomo launched the first wide platform for mobile Internet services called “i-mode”, providing e-mail, browsing, downloading and other services on the Internet for the first time in the world. Mobile phone has since helped expand Internet access rapidly. According to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the number of Internet users from mobile phones and other handheld devices surpassed the number of users from (desktop or laptop) computers in 2007.
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Figure 4.1 Number of Subscribers to Wired Broadband Services in Japan (in millions). Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (2009).
In 2000, the Japanese government launched the “e-Japan” Priority Policy Program which aimed to make Japan the world’s most advanced IT nation within five years. The IT Basic Law (Basic Law on Formation of an Advanced Information and Communication Network Society) was enacted in 2001, and the policy promoting the construction of broadband networks, enabling everybody to enjoy the benefit of IT, reforming economic structure and strengthening global industrial competitiveness, was accelerated. As a result of the collaborative effort between government and private industries, the infra-structure of the broadband Internet became the top level of the world by the year 2004. Although the penetration rate of the broadband Internet is a little behind the other advanced countries now, the number of FTTH (Optical fiber network) subscribers has already surpassed DSL subscribers and remains top of the world (see Figure 4.1). Succeeding the e-Japan policy, the Japanese government launched the “u-Japan” Policy in 2004, which aims to construct a seamless ubiquitous network, enabling people to receive wide variety of services without being conscious of the network (wired or wireless) in everyday life.
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The media environment in Japan has been diversified and digitized through rapid expansion of the Internet, Mobile Phones and the digital broadcasting services. The digital terrestrial broadcasting service started in 2003, and it has become possible to be watched through mobile phones since 2006. The number of mobile phones enabling to watch digital terrestrial TV is more than 41 million, as of August 2008. The functions of the mobile phones in Japan are quite diversified, including voice communication, receiving or sending e-mails, browsing websites, music playing, performing transactions, playing games, and using GPS. Internet Usage Trend 2000-2008 Under changing media environment, especially the rapid diffusion of the Internet in Japan, the usage of the Internet has been changing year by year. We have conducted six surveys on the use of the Internet, applying the common questions of WIP (World Internet Project) teams around the world, in order to explore the Internet usage trends and their impact upon the media use, daily life and social consciousness of the public. The respondents of the surveys from 2000 to 2005 were representative national samples, and the respondents of the survey of 2008 were the representative sample of the Tokyo metropolitan district. Therefore, it should be noted that the strict comparison is difficult between the surveys of 20002005 and the survey of 2008. According to the JWIP surveys, the penetration rate of the Internet in Japan has been increasing rapidly and reached over 72 percent in 2008. The increase of the mobile Internet users is especially prominent. In 2008, 23 percent of the Internet users access only from mobile phones and 45 percent access from both mobile phones and PCs (personal computers), as shown in Figure 4.2.
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Figure 4.2 Internet Usage Rate by Terminal Type (JWIP surveys:2000-2008).
Closing Digital Divide Although the Digital Divide still exists, the difference of the Internet usage rate among various demographic groups are closing steadily in the past decade (Ishii, 2008). Table 4.1 shows the association of the Internet penetration rates with main demographic variables, comparing the JWIP 2002, 2005, and 2008 survey data. This table shows that the Digital Divide has been gradually closing in terms of gender, age, education, income and job status. Comparison of the PC and Mobile Internet Usage As shown in Figure 4.2, the penetration of the mobile Internet has been rapidly increasing in Japan. The question here is whether there are any differences in demographic characteristics between the mobile Internet users and the PC Internet users. Table 4.2 shows the result of the regression analysis predicting PC and mobile Internet usage. In each of the three survey data, the rate of using PC Internet is higher with men than with women, while the rate of using mobile Internet is significantly higher with women than with men. It is interesting to note that there are “reverse Digital Divide” regarding gender in Japan. The table also shows that the Digital Divide still exists over age, education and income in both PC and mobile Internet use, the difference among different job status is closing now.
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Table 4.1 Internet Penetration Rates by Demographic Factors (2002,2005,2008). Source: JWIP surveys (2002, 2005, 2008). 2002 Variable
2005
Values N
Internet Rate (%)
2008
N
Internet Rate (%)
N
Internet Rate (%)
Gender
Male Female χ2 value
1128 1168
54.8 46.2 16.8(***)
925 1074
61.9 59.9 0.9(n.S.)
278 282
73.4 71.6 0.2(n.s)
Age
12 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 - 59 60 - 69 70 – χ2 value
254 323 415 412 432 342 118
76.0 77.4 68.2 56.1 32.6 15.2 6.8 532.2(***)
208 226 399 362 436 368 -
83.2 85.0 832. 66.9 42.0 25.5 445.5(***)
19 83 110 89 76 85 98
89.5 97.6 99.1 93.3 80.3 47.1 15.3 277.9(***)
Education
Junior high school High school College University χ2 value
377 1121 316 442
25.2 45.7 60.4 77.1 245.1(***)
230 1028 321 414
32.6 54.3 75.4 81.6 199.3(***)
49 249 90 150 538
20.4 69.9 87.8 86.7 94.3(***)
Household Income
Less than 2 million yen 2-4 million 4-6 million 6-8 million 8-10 million 10-12 million More than 12 million χ2 value
191 507 503 366 209 110 113
31.4 33.1 54.3 57.9 63.6 66.4 71.7 145.5(***)
154 481 499 352 188 85 80
36.4 48.6 63.3 68.5 71.8 71.8 81.3 105.5(***)
65 133 138 116 40 12 15
47.7 62.4 75.4 84.5 85.0 83.3 93.3 42.4(***)
Job
Full-time Part-time Housewife Student Unemployed χ2 value
1071 331 352 274 245
58.5 46.2 31.3 79.2 17.1 281.6(***)
925 355 321 228 170
65.1 56.1 51.7 85.1 32.4 135.8(***)
254 100 83 41 78
84.3 80.0 57.8 95.1 29.5 112.7(***)
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Table 4.2 Logistic Regression Models Predicting PC Internet and Mobile Internet Use (2002 - 2008). Source: JWIP surveys 2002,2005 and 2008 The analysis here followed the Ishii (2008) partly.
The figures in this table show the standard parameters B (*p 9:8
17
26
45
79
66
4
9
Dial‐up
Bband
64 51
4
4
12
12
Dial‐up
Bband
Dial‐up
Bband
Figure 12.2 Impact of the Internet on related activities, by access type, Australia 2007.
As Figure 12.3 illustrates, just over a third of broadband users rate the Internet as an ‘important’ or ‘very important’ entertainment source compared to a quarter of dial-up users. There was little difference between the two groups in their rating of television, magazines or radio as sources of entertainment. Table 12.2 shows the results for various forms of posting content. Quite small proportions of our sample maintain a blog of their own (7.9%). Those with broadband were more likely to have a
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blog. Numbers of respondents who kept a personal website were higher and here broadband access was a major factor. Fourteen percent of those with broadband access worked on a personal website compared to 5.6% with dial-up access. No one with dialup access said they worked on their website daily (3% of those with broadband) while 6.5% of those with broadband said they updated their website weekly compared to 2.1% of those with dialup access. Not important at all Important Internet 12
Not important Very important
Somewhat important
Television
17
17
17
38
34
22
26
31
19
12 6
12 5
Magazines 4 6 14 14
13 16 21
25
26
27
30
Radio 16
11 31
34
26 30
24
Dial‐up Bband
30 31
29
26
8 11
Dial‐up Bband
Dial‐up Bband
17 11
Dial‐up Bband
Figure 12.3 Importance of various media for entertainment, by access type, Australia 2007. Table 12.2 Posting content, by access type, Australia 2007.
Dial-up Broadband
Own blog Participate At least weekly 4.9 2.1 8.5 3.9
Own website Participate At least weekly 5.6 2.8 14.3 9.9
Post photos Participate Dial-up Broadband
21.0 26.9
At least weekly 9.9 12.6
Post video Participate 1.4 6.1
At least weekly 0.0 2.4
Post messages Participate At least weekly 14.9 8.5 26.2 16.1
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Broadband users were slightly more likely to have a blog (8.5% to 4.9%) and those that did were slightly more likely to update them more frequently. More than twice the proportion of broadband users had a personal website (14.3% to 5.6%) and again were more likely to update them regularly. Having broadband did not make our respondents a lot more likely to post pictures or photos (21.0% of dial-up and 26.9% of broadband) and had no real impact on frequency. It did affect posting videos however with only 1.4% of dial-up users undertaking this activity compared to 6.1% of broadband users. Downloading activity is reported in Table 12.3. Those with broadband were much more likely to download video (35.7% to 11.2%) and to do so frequently with 23.6% of broadband users downloading at least once a week compared to just 5.6% dial-up. Broadband connection made users more likely to download music (55.7% to 30.8%) and twice as likely to do so at least weekly. Broadband users are about twice as likely to listen to radio online and almost four times more likely to do so frequently. Listening to podcasts is also related to broadband access, with more than double the proportion of people downloading or listening to podcasts. They were also much more likely to do so frequently. Connection type was not related to respondents’ likelihood of surfing or browsing the web with no specific purpose, nor how often people did this. Table 12.3 Downloading activities, by access type, Australia 2007.
Dial-up Broadband
Download video Download music Listen to radio Participate At least Participate At least Participate At least weekly weekly weekly 11.2 5.6 30.8 14.7 15.4 3.5 35.7 23.6 55.7 30.5 30.4 11.0 Podcasts Participate
Dial-up Broadband
8.4 20.2
Surf
At least Participate weekly 2.1 56.6 7.2 58.7
At least weekly 35.0 41.0
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Figure 12.4 sets out respondents’ attitudes to sharing and creating content online. A clear majority of those with broadband connections at home agreed that the Internet enables them to share content that they liked with others (55.2%) with 38.5% of those with dial-up access agreeing. When we asked people about sharing their own creative work, a surprisingly high proportion of respondents agreed that the Internet had enabled this. Almost 40% of broadband users and 38.5% of dial-up users agreed, with a fifth of broadband users agreeing strongly. We then asked people whether Internet access had encouraged them to produce their own creative work and share it with others. Over a quarter of broadband users and 15.7% of dial-up users agreed that it had.
Disagree Share creative work
Neither
Share my creative work
Agree Produce and share my creative work 16 27
39
39 50
57
21 17
22
27
17 17 34
Dial‐up
64 39
26
Bband
Dial‐up
56
33
Bband
Dial‐up
Bband
Figure 12.4 Impact of Internet access on creative endeavours, by access type, Australia 2007.
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2. Women, Creativity and Broadband The preceding analysis reveals a close positive relationship between the diffusion of broadband services and what we are describing as creative uses of the technology; as we would expect, there is also a concomitant decline in the consumption of traditional media. But how does the ‘creative Internet’ map onto the uneven social landscape of Internet access? It is only possible in this paper to highlight some aspects of the issue. This section examines how gender combined with access type influences creative uses of the net. It is notable that while broadband access is related to how important both men and women consider the Internet to be to their way of life, it does seem to have a greater impact for women (Figure 12.5). Women with dial-up access are less likely to consider the Internet to be very important to their current way of life (31.7% to 36.1%). This pattern is reversed when looking at broadband access, women are more likely to answer ‘very important’ (59.4% to 52.1%). Very important
Important
Not important Men
Women
15
15 33
31 25
33 31
37 59
52 32
Dial‐up
36
Bband
Dial‐up
Bband
Figure 12.5 Importance of the Internet for the current way of life, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
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Figure 12.5 presents data on people’s perceptions of the impact of home Internet access on ‘offline’ media consumption. Internet access decreases the amount of television people watch and broadband increases this impact. The effect is greater for men than women. Over a third of men with dial-up access (36.1%) claim they watch less television since gaining access compared to 28.0% of women while almost half of men with broadband access (48.3%) say they watch less television compared to 39.8% of women. The interaction of Internet access (and type) and gender with book reading is complex. Men are slightly less likely than women to say they read less since gaining access and more likely to say they read more. Access type has little impact on men’s reading while it makes women more likely to read less (17.1% up to 24.4%) and less likely to read more (9.8% to 7.5%). Men are more likely than women to say that they read newspapers more following connection (6.6% to 2.4% for dial-up and 11.2% to 5.5% for broadband). Similar proportions of men and women say they read newspapers less since they gained home-access with around a quarter of both men and women with broadband connections spending less time reading newspapers off-line. Table 12.4 Impact of the Internet on related activities, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Female dial-up Female Bband Male dial-up Male Bband
Television More Less 2.4 28.0 4.7 39.8 4.9 36.1 3.8 48.3
Reading books More Less 9.8 17.1 7.5 24.4 13.1 19.7 14.3 21.7
Reading papers/mags More Less 2.4 17.1 5.5 24 6.6 14.8 11.2 25.5
Figure 12.6 shows that broadband access has a bigger impact on women’s rating of the importance of the Internet as a source of entertainment than it does for men. The proportion of men who describe the Internet as either an important or very important source of entertainment is 31.1% for those with dial-up, which increases to 37.4% (an increase of around 20%) while for women the corresponding figures are 19.5% and 29.1% (an almost 50% increase).
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People’s access to broadband does make them less likely to consider television and radio as important sources of entertainment but there is little difference for men and women.
Very important
Important
Somewhat important
Not important
Women
54
Men
44
38 56 25
26 27 13
6 13
16
Dial‐up
Bband
13 19 21 10
Dial‐up
18
Bband
Figure 12.6 Importance of the Internet for entertainment, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. Table 12.5 Posting activity, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Female dial-up Female Bband Male dial-up Male Bband
Own blog Own website Post photos Participate At least Participate At least Participate At least weekly weekly weekly 2.4 0.0 1.2 1.2 13.4 4.9 11.0 5.9 12.2 9.1 28.0 12.2 8.2 4.9 11.5 4.9 31.1 22.9 6.3 2.0 16.1 10.7 25.9 11.8
In terms of activities involving posting content, such as maintaining blogs and websites or posting photographs, participation by women appears to be much more influenced by access type than men’s (Table 12.5). Very few women on dialup connections kept a blog (2.4% compared to 8.2% for men) whereas 11.0% of women with broadbrand had a blog (for the men the figure actually decreased slightly to 6.3%). This pattern is repeated for personal websites: only 1.2% of women with a dial-up connection had a website (11.5% of men) but this figure increased
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to 12.2% for women with broadband (16.1% for men). While only 1.2% of female dial-up users updated their website daily, 9.1% of broadband users did so. Posting pictures and photos provides a good example of this pattern. Only 13.4% of women with a dial-up connection report posting pictures at all, compared to 28.0% of women with broadband. The proportion of men posting photos actually decreases slightly in the broadband group (31.1% compared to 25.9%). Regarding regular posting of photos, 4.9% of women with dial-up post weekly or more often, compared to 12.2% broadband female users. The results to this question present an anomalous finding that more than one in five male dial-up users post photos weekly compared to slightly less than one in ten broadband users. Table 12.6 Downloading activities, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Female dial-up Female Bband Male dial-up Male Bband
Download video Download music Surf the web At least At least At least weekly weekly weekly Participate Participate Participate 4.9 2.4 23.2 7.3 54.9 31.8 29.5 18.5 48.4 27.2 53.1 34.7 19.7 9.8 41.0 24.6 59.0 39.3 41.3 27.9 62.2 33.5 63.6 46.5
Downloading videos exhibits the same pattern (Table 12.6). Six times the proportion of women with broadband relative to dial-up downloaded videos while for men the proportion doubled in the move from dial-up to broadband. Only 2.4% of women on dial-up connections downloaded weekly (vs. 9.8% for men) while 18.5% of women with broadband did so (men 27.9%). Downloading or listening to music again shows a bigger difference in behaviour between women with dial-up or broadband compared to men. While 7.3% of women with dial-up connections download or listen to music at least weekly (men 24.6%), the figure jumps to 27.2% for women with broadband, well over double the proportion (increases for males were around 40% and 34.5%, respectively).
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Surfing or browsing the web without a definite purpose does not change greatly for either men or women, by access type and there is not a great deal of difference between men and women for this activity. Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree
Agree Disagree Men
Women
15.9
13.0
11.5
14.6
18.0
10.8 14.0
19.5 16.1 21.6 31.1 26.8 37.4 32.7 23.0 29.3 18.1 8.5
Dial‐up
Bband
16.4
Dial‐up
21.7
Bband
Figure 12.7 The Internet enables me to share creative work I like with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Figure 12.7 shows that in terms of attitudes to the Internet and creative activities, men are overall slightly more positive than women and those with broadband slightly more optimistic than those with dial-up connections.
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Just under four in ten men (39.4%) with dial-up connections felt that the Internet enabled them to share creative work they liked, while 37.8 % of women did. For those with broadband connections, the figure rises to 59.1% for men and 50.8% for women. Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree
Agree Disagree Men
Women
17.1
15.0
13.1
16.9
24.6
20.7
12.6
20.3
15.7
22.5 19.6 26.8
30.4 28.3
24.6
16.9
18.0
21.0
Bband
Dial‐up
Bband
28.0
7.3
Dial‐up
Figure 12.8. The Internet enables me to share my creative work with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Figure 12.8 demonstrates that connection type did not have such a big influence on whether people thought that the Internet enabled them to share their own creative work with others (as opposed to creative work they liked). More than four in ten males (42.6%)
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with dial-up agreed with this statement compared to 35.3% of women. Just over half of the men with broadband (51.4%) agreed while 45.2% of women did. Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree
Agree Disagree
Women
31.7
Men
27.6
21.3
31.1 26.4
23.1
33.2
37.8 20.1
29.5
16.7
17.0 18.2
18.5 11.5 12.2
7.5
6.6
8.7
Bband
Dial‐up
Bband
1.2
Dial‐up
Figure 12.9 The Internet has encouraged me to produce my own creative work and share it with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Interestingly the pattern of response to the statement ‘the Internet has encouraged me to produce my own creative work and share it with others’ was similar to that for activity based questions — there was a bigger difference between women on dial-up and broadband
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than there was between men (Figure 12.9). The proportion of women with broadband connections agreeing with this statement was double that of those with dial-up connections (26.0% and 13.4%) while the corresponding increases for men approximately halved (18.1% and 26.9%, respectively) 3. Age, Creativity and Broadband Here we consider the impact of the interaction of age and type of home access on people’s online activities. To do this we have split our sample into three broad age groups: the young group (age 1829 years), the mid-aged group (30-49) and the older group (50 and above). Age does not seem to make a big difference in whether people feel that the Internet is important to their way of life. Having broadband makes one more likely to describe the Internet as ‘very important’, although the impact is less for older age groups. Table 12.7 sets out people’s perceptions of the impact of home Internet access on off-line media consumption. More than six in ten of the younger group with broadband connection say that they watch less television since being connected to the Internet (34.5% for those with dial-up). The pattern is similar for those in the mid-age range although off a lower base (43.3% with broadband, 25.4% with dial-up). In the oldest age group the proportion claiming to watch less television is higher for those with dial-up connections (37.8%, relative to 31.1% for those with broadband). Internet access has more impact on younger people’s reading habits than older groups’, but shifting to broadband was only important for those aged 30-49 (10.4% of dial-up users spent less time reading compared to 23.7% of those with broadband). Just under a third of persons aged 18-29 said they read less since being connected to the Internet at home (31% of those with dial-up connections and 32.6% with broadband). Broadband connectivity is related to less reading of newspapers and magazines for the first two age groups. For the youngest age group, 13.8% of those on dial-up say they spend less time reading newspapers and magazines since gaining home connection (the same proportion that say they read more), compared to 30.4% of
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those with broadband. For the 30-49 age group the figures were 13.4% and 27.3% respectively. For older people the proportion fell between dial-up (20.0%) and broadband (15.2%). Table 12.7 Impact of the Internet on related activities, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Television More
Reading books More Less
Less
Reading papers/mags More Less
18-29 dial-up
13.8
34.5
13.8
31.0
13.8
13.8
18-29 Bband
2.9
60.9
12.3
32.6
9.4
30.4
30-49 dial-up
0.0
25.4
10.4
10.4
1.5
13.4
30-49 Bband
4.9
43.3
11.4
23.7
9.8
27.3
50+ dial-up
2.2
37.8
11.1
20.0
2.2
20.0
50+ Bband
4.6
31.1
9.9
12.6
6.0
15.2
Very important Somewhat important Not important at all 18- 29
Important Not important
30-49
50+
4.3 13.8 14.5
22.4
18.8 35.6
10.3
32.5
19.6 20.7
27.5 32.8 31.8
24.1
30.6
21.0
37.8
25.4 16.6 17.1 31.0
32.6 9.0
Dial‐up Bband
15.6
10.4
10.6 13.9
Dial‐up Bband
6.7 4.4
8.6
Dial‐up Bband
Figure 12.10 Importance of the Internet for entertainment, by age and access type, Australia 2007.
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Table 12.8 Maintaining blog or website, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Own blog Participate At least weekly
Own website Participate At least weekly
18-29 dial-up
20.7
6.9
13.8
10.3
18-29 Bband
20.3
11.5
24.6
19.5
30-49 dial-up
0.0
0.0
1.5
0.0
30-49 Bband
4.9
1.6
13.5
7.7
50+ dial-up
2.2
2.2
6.7
2.2
50+ Bband
4.0
0.7
6.6
5.2
For young people the Internet is an important source of entertainment regardless of access type (Figure 12.10). Over half of the young group say that the Internet is at least important for entertainment, and a slightly higher proportion of those on dialup connections reported this (35.1% for dial-up and 53.6% for broadband). On the other hand, only 19.4% of the mid-aged group and 12.1% of the older group with dial-up consider the Internet an important source of entertainment. These proportions increase with broadband connectivity, to 31.0% and 20.2%, respectively. Young people with broadband connections are no more likely to keep a blog than their peers on dial-up but they are more likely to update their blog regularly (Table 12.8). While 6.9% of dial-up users in this age group updated a blog at least weekly, 11.5% of those with broadband at home did. Nobody aged 30-49 on dial-up keep a blog while just under 5% with broadband did. Access type has little impact on whether older people keep a blog (2.2% and 4.0% respectively). A similar pattern was found in relation to working on personal websites although higher proportions of people kept a personal website. Young people with dial-up were much more likely to have personal websites (13.8%) than those aged 30-49 (1.5%) or 50-plus (6.7%). Almost a quarter of young people with broadband keep a personal website (24.6%) compared to young people on
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dial-up, and a greater proportion (19.5%) of broadband users in this group update weekly, in contrast to 10.35% among dial-up youths. Table 12.9 Posting activity, by age and access type, Australia 2007. Post messages Participate At least weekly
Post photos Participate At least weekly
Post video Participate At least weekly
18-29 dial-up
27.6
17.2
27.6
20.7
0.0
0.0
18-29 Bband
40.6
29.7
45.7
26.1
11.6
5.8
30-49 dial-up
11.9
4.5
17.9
9.0
0.0
0.0
30-49 Bband
25.7
14.5
19.6
6.5
6.1
2.0
50+ dial-up
11.1
8.9
22.2
13.3
4.4
0.0
50+ Bband
13.9
7.9
21.9
8.6
1.3
0.0
Table12.9 sets out respondents’ posting activity broken down by age and home access type. In relation to posting messages, the impact of broadband seems most pronounced on those in the middleage bracket with 11.9% of dial-up users ever posting compared to over a quarter of those on broadband connections (25.7%). There’s little difference between older dial-up users and broadband users. But young people on dial-up connections are more likely to post than those aged 30-49 with broadband connections (27.6% to 25.7%) with usage increasing to 40.6% for those on broadband connections. Frequency of use increases for both the young and mid-aged group in the move from dial-up to broadband. Connection type is not related to whether the mid-aged group or older people post photos. Young peoples’ participation increases from 27.6% for dial-up to 47.7% for broadband and frequency increases (no young person posted photos daily on dial-up while 5.1% did with broadband. No young or mid-aged person with a dial-up connection posted video footage whereas 11.6% of the young and 6.1% of the midaged did. Only very small proportions of those aged fifty and over posted video on either form of connectivity. Broadband connectivity makes people more likely to download
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video content across all age groups and much more likely to do so frequently (Figure 12.10). For the youngest age group, 31.0% of dial-up users download video footage compared to 57.2% in the broadband section. The impact on the two older-aged groups is even more dramatic - the corresponding figures for mid-aged users are 9.0% and 36.7%, respectively; and for the older group, 2.2% and 15.9%, respectively. Just under one in five broadband users aged between 18 and 29 are downloading video footage daily (18.8%). Downloading and listening to music is related both to age and access type. While just under half of the youngest age bracket with dial-up connections (48.3%) download and listen, 83.3% of those with broadband do. A similar pattern is seen over the other two age groups but with lower overall rates of participation. Frequency also increases with broadband access with over one in five young persons listening or downloading daily (22.5%). Table 12.10 Downloading activities, by gender and access type, Australia 2007. Download video Participate At least weekly
Download music Participate At least weekly
Surf the web Participate At least weekly
18-29 dial-up
31.0
20.7
48.3
34.5
72.4
51.7
18-29 Bband
57.2
44.9
83.3
56.6
74.6
62.3
30-49 dial-up
9.0
3.0
35.8
13.5
58.2
29.9
30-49 Bband
36.7
22.8
54.3
29.0
58.0
40.8
50+ dial-up
2.2
0.0
11.1
4.4
44.4
15.5
50+ Bband
15.9
6.0
35.1
10.5
45.7
21.9
The proportions of people in each age group who ‘surf the web with out any definite purpose’ is remarkably consistent across the two access types with younger groups more likely to engage in this activity. However people with broadband access are more likely to do this frequently. For the younger age group, 72.4% of those with dial-up surfed compared to 74.6% of those on broadband. However, only 17.2% of dial-up users did so daily compared to 31.9% of those with broadband. The mid-range group had a similar pattern while those over 50 with dial-up were more likely to surf daily than those of this age with broadband (15.5% vs. 6.0%).
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Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree 18- 29
Agree Disagree 30-49
6.9
5.1
6.9
12.3
16.4
50+ 10.6
15.6
20.5
12.7 15.6
13.0 25.4
34.5
19.2
20.4
42.0
35.5
21.8
20.0
29.1
13.3
9.3
22.4 33.9
34.5 26.9 27.5 22.4
17.2 9.0
Dial‐up Bband
Dial‐up Bband
Dial‐up Bband
Figure 12.11 The Internet enables me to share creative work I like with others, by age and access type, Australia 2007.
Figure 12.11 shows that of all groups, the young with broadband access are most likely (68.5%) to agree with the statement that ‘the Internet enables me to share creative work with others’. For young people with dial-up, proportion is 51.7%. For the mid-range group the difference is even greater, with 35.9% of dial-up users and 56.3% of broadband users agreeing. There was not such a marked difference for the oldest group – 33.3% dial-up and 38.4% of broadband users agree.
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Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree 18- 29 6.9 6.9
Agree Disagree
30-49 5.8
13.8
50+
14.7
11.1
18.8
28.9
19.9
22.4
15.2
23.8
23.9
41.4
18.7 37.7
22.2 17.9
23.2 28.2
27.6
24.4
26.9
21.9
27.5 17.2
19.6 9.0
Dial‐up Bband
Dial‐up Bband
13.3
10.6
Dial‐up Bband
Figure 12.12 The Internet enables me to share my creative work with others, by age and access type, Australia 2007.
In relation to whether the Internet enables people to share their own creative work the pattern of response was similar (Figure 12.12). Young broadband users are the most likely to agree (65.2% compared to 45.8% of young dial-up users). The mid-range group had the same ‘broadband impact’ but with lower figures overall (35.9% of dial-up and 47.8% of broadband). Those aged 50 and above with a dial-up connection are more likely than those on broadband to agree (37.7% to 32.5%).
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Strongly agree Neither Strongly disagree 18- 29 13.8
30-49
50+
12.3 31.3
24.1
Agree Disagree
25.3
31.1
37.1
30.4 31.4
24.1 22.4
33.3
38.8
27.2
16.7 17.2 34.5
27.5
24.4 20.9
16.7 11.9
3.4
7.2
Dial‐up Bband
7.5 1.5
9.8
Dial‐up Bband
4.4 6.7
6.6
Dial‐up Bband
Figure 12.13 The Internet has encouraged me to produce my own creative work and share it with others, by gender and access type, Australia 2007.
Finally Figure 12.13 shows that the pattern of response to whether the Internet has encouraged people to produce their own creative work is very different. Young people with dial-up access are more likely than those with broadband to agree (37.9% vs. 34.7%), while for the other two groups broadband access was associated with a higher proportion of agreement. For dial-up users aged 30-49, only 9.0% agreed compared to 26.5% of broadband users; and for the oldest age group, the figures are 11.1% and 18.5%, respectively.
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Conclusion We briefly summarise our key findings: Australians with a broadband connection at home are almost twice as likely to consider the Internet as ‘very important to their current way of life’ and more likely to rate the Internet as a ‘very important source of entertainment’. In terms of activities, there is a stronger relationship between downloading activities than uploading activities. The additional time spent by broadband users online appears to come mainly from television viewing. There is evidence that broadband access has a bigger impact on women’s online activities than men. While this is not a conclusive finding given our sample size and other intervening variables, there are some interesting possible explanations that are worth exploring. It may be that dial-up is a more ‘technical’, even ‘fiddly’ technology that fewer women in general might be willing to engage with. If so, that may reinforce the conventional picture of the geek hobbyists who characterised the Internet in the early times. More significant may be the shared access associated with broadband technologies, which makes it easier for every member of a household to connect more. Our results in relation to age and access type indicate that the Internet’s role as an entertainment source is much stronger for those in the younger group and that this group is much more likely to be watching less television as a result of access. Younger people are more likely to be uploading and developing online content. Blogging is clearly a game for the young, with one in five in the young group with dial-up and broadband maintaining a blog. For the next biggest blogging group, those aged 30-49, the corresponding figure was one in 20. Younger people are also greater downloaders, and dial-up connections are not as big an inhibitor as for the older age groups. Our understanding of the creative Internet and its users requires a broader context. A striking feature of the Internet’s brief history in Australia is the comparatively rapid diffusion of dial-up services in the 1990s, followed by a slower uptake of broadband services
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in the new century. The reasons for this history are not the issue here; we are more concerned with understanding its consequences. At the level of policy analysis, many authors have seen the slow spread of broadband as a major bottleneck in the country’s national innovation system (see, for example Barr (2000)), preventing Australians from participating fully in the cultural, economic and political benefits of what Benkler calls the ‘networked public sphere’. While both the uptake and quality of Australian broadband services have not yet caught up with those in some other advanced liberal economies, we can now see that broadband is very closely linked to the emergence of the creative Internet. But how far will the benefits of that network and its extraordinary new economy extend? This paper suggests that the creative Internet bears some distinctive social features: an expanding user base, notably including more women, but nevertheless still slanted towards younger users. These are worth exploring further in upcoming surveys.
References Australian Bureau of Statistics, (2007). Household Use of Information Technology 2007-07 Cat No 8146.0 Australian Communications and Media Authority, (2007). Media and Communications in Australian Families 2007, ACMA, Canberra Barr, T., (2000). New Media.com.au: The Changing Face of Australia’s Communications, Allen and Unwin, Sydney. Benkler, Y. (2007). The Wealth of Networks, Yale University Press, New Haven. Broadband Services Expert Group Commerce in Content: Building Australia’s International Future in Interactive Multi-media Markets. Commonwealth of Australia, (1994). Creative Nation - Commonwealth Cultural Policy. Cutler & Company Pty Ltd. (1994). Commerce in Content - Building Australia’s International Future in Interactive Multimedia Markets
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Department of Communication, Information Technology & the Arts (DCITA) (2004), Household Broadband Adoption Report, DCITA: Canberra Ewing, S. and Thomas, J., The World Internet Project and its Australian component, Telecommunications Journal of Australia, Volume 56 No 3 & 4, Spring & Summer 2006 Given, J. (2003). Turning off the Television: Broadcasting’s Uncertain Future, UNSW Press, Sydney Lessig, L. (2004). Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity. Penguin Press. New York. Simons, M (2007). The Content Makers - Understanding the Future of the Australian Media, Penguin, Melbourne
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13 New Screens and Young People’s Appropriation of Entertainment Content André H. Caron and Letizia Caronia
Acknowledgements This study was supported by a number of organisations including: The Bell Chair in Interdisciplinary Research on Emerging Technologies, The Canada Foundation for Innovation, The Régie du Cinéma du Québec and the Centre For Youth and Media Studies (G.R.J.M.) Université de Montréal. Introduction New information and communication technologies have become extremely dynamic. They have permeated our everyday life in many forms, and provide highly accessible, flexible, interchangeable multimedia content, particularly via the Internet. While content has been controlled and regulated, it is now much easier to access freely, and increasingly independent of any formal institutional framework. Images on screens used to be viewed in specific locations and at predictable times. Now, different platforms and widespread Internet access have allowed these images to transcend space and time. Multimedia consumption may now be a more private affair far from adult control and supervision. This raises new challenges for us all, particularly for institutions that have a mandate to protect youth in society. We can then rightly ask: How do young people appropriate and evaluate this content, specifically,
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movie and video game content? Are rating systems still relevant in these new media environments? In order to properly investigate such questions we must explore how young consumers today perceive images displayed on these new and traditional screens and how they relate to different discourses in their daily lives as they are influenced by their relations with their parents and peers. We have to understand the values, cognitive skills and moral stances that today’s young people have and develop, especially given that they now live and have grown up in a hyper-media environment. Some consider young people to be passive, easy to manipulate, unaware of values, moral or developmental issues related to media consumption, and entirely lacking in critical thinking skills. Others see them as active users able to interpret, judge and choose, and able to use their knowledge and competencies. Consequently they consider this issue of consumption of media content in a control-free environment as relatively unproblematic. Both of these scenarios are partial and therefore suspect. If we accept that today’s teenagers are more media literate than their counterparts of only ten years ago, the landscape of media consumption has dramatically changed in terms of quantity, quality and accessibility. Internet behavior patterns related to streaming or downloading movies or playing on-line videogames create a universe of entertainment content appropriation that seems infinite and, thus, increasingly difficult to control. To address these issues we need to consider young consumers of these images as active subjects moving in evolving environments under the influence of constantly changing new technologies. Accessing screen images in everyday life Although limited data are specifically available on the question of movie downloading and streaming by young people, there are early indications of its prevalence. For gaming, more data exist because these usage patterns have been around for a longer time. Major studies, including the Pew Internet, the Kaiser Family
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Foundation and the Canada Online studies, have recently published findings on young people’s consumer habits in terms of Internet uses for movies and games. Yet data on actual movie streaming and downloading is still approximate. A study (Harris, 2007) involving a sample of 1,196 youths aged 8-18 years finds that 8% of American youth admitted to downloading movies without paying. The main reasons for hesitating to download digital copyright software from the Internet without paying were viruses (62%), legal trouble (52%), and spyware (51%). In other words, refraining from such behavior is motivated less by moral or legal terms and more by not wanting to corrupt one’s computer. In another American study, this time limited to adults, Ipsos MediaCT concluded that in 2008, 17% of their sample (n = 935) reported streaming movies and 11% downloading movies, whether free or paid for. In a national Canadian study (Zamaria & Fletcher, 2008), conducted in 2007 with a sample of 400 youth aged 12-17, it was found that 39% of Canadian youth reported having downloaded/ streamed and watched DVD/movies from the Internet, compared with only 18% of the adult population. Interestingly, 12- to 17-year-olds reported that they more often watch/listen/stream DVD/movies (33%) than download (18%) long form content. In terms of frequency of accessing movies and DVDs online only 3% of Canadian teenagers reported doing it daily or more frequently, 6% weekly and 30% monthly or less frequently . A recent study by Pew on video games and civics (Lenhart, Kahne, Middaugh, Macgill, Evans & Vitak, 2008), involving 1,102 American teenagers of 12-17 and a parent or guardian, finds that 97% of American teens played computer, web, portable or console videogames, and half of them had played these games the previous day. The percentage of teens having played video games was similar in the Canadian study (Zamaria & Fletcher, 2008). Almost three-quarters of American teens (73%) play games on a desktop or laptop computer. The Pew study reports that the most frequently played games in 2007 and 2008 were Guitar Hero (Rhythm), Halo 3 (first-person shooters), Madden NFL (sports, solitaire (Puzzle) and Dance Dance Revolution (Rhythm). One in three (32%)
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gaming teens report that at least one of their favourite games is rated Mature or Adults only. One in five (21%) teen gamers play massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs), which are online game spaces where multiple individuals play a game together. A variety of games are thus available on different platforms, as mentioned in the Pew report: “More importantly for regulators and parents, different ratings apply to games played in certain environments. Ratings apply to console, dedicated handheld gaming devices, and most computer-based games but are often not given to web-based games, MMOGs, or games played on cell phones.’’(p.12)
Regarding prevention filters for the Internet, the Pew survey Teens, Privacy and online Social Network (Lenhart & Madden, 2007) (n = 935, aged 12-17) reports that more then half (53%) of parents admitted they had filtering software on the computer the child uses at home and half the teens are generally aware that there are filters on their computers that keep them from going to certain websites . Two-thirds of parents report checking up on their teens after they go online. A majority of American parents (85%) of online teens say they have rules about Internet sites their child can visit, and television shows (75%) they can watch, and two-thirds (65%) restrict the kinds of video games their child can play . The Parents, Children & Media report of the Kaiser Family Foundation (Rideout, 2007) states that “the majority of parents say they are very concerned about the amount of sex and violence in the media and many believe such content has a real impact on young people’s behaviors. Two thirds say they would support government policies to restrict such content on TV” (p.4). A Canadian study (Zamaria & Fletcher, 2008) shows that 51% of parents say they often monitor their children’s activities online, but only 17% of teenagers say that adults often monitor their online activities. If we combine data referring to young people’s consumption of multimedia contents with parents’ concern about and supervision of their youth’s media uses, we gain an interesting insight into
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teenagers’ “moving culture” (Caron,Caronia 2007), actual media environment and how parents try to assume their role. The first set of data reveals that young people’s consumption of multimedia contents (movies and video games) is relatively high (all platforms included), and that in regard to videogames, one in three teenagers play “mature” or “adults only” games that are explicitly rated as such, or play web based videogames that are often unrated. These environments thus allow teenagers to access rated and unrated movies and videogames wherever and whenever they wish, to override filters if they want to, and to transgress by consuming “adults only” or “mature” contents in more accessible ways than they ever were capable of in the past. The second set of data reveals that parents express concern about their children’s multimedia consumption and try when possible to exert control or supervision by using ratings as a reference when they are made available. There clearly appears to be a “zone of discomfort,” a gap between parents’ attitudes towards performing as “good parents,” concerned with and committed to their children’s healthy media diet, and the fact that it is increasingly difficult for them to control the environment for such consumption. Given these new technological opportunities, we must take into account the possibility that the only filters teenagers use when accessing and consuming these cultural products is their own cognitive thinking, world views and moral criteria acquired through their socio-cultural experiences. Is this possible scenario a social problem? Does consumption of potentially age-inappropriate content necessarily put teenagers at risk? Many of these answers and questions depend strictly on the theoretical frame we adopt in investigating the relationship between young consumers and multimedia content presented on their everyday screens. If we adopt the traditional and almost commonsensical “effect approach,” the answer could only be “yes.” If, on the contrary, we adopt a more “active user” approach, then we need to explore the cognitive and moral attitudes of today’s teenagers in terms of these new screens.
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Fearing the effects of images: A history of common sense thought about media Shared ideas about children’s and teenagers’ vulnerability to media as well as public policies concerned with protecting minors from inappropriate media contents have a social and cultural history and an unavoidable inertia. They rest on data, studies and developmental theories that have been developed in the past, whose contemporary validity may be considered problematic. Moreover, these policies are rooted in a social, cultural and psychological portrait of “children and teens” that does not necessarily mirror the children and teenagers of today. An historical overview of the various discourses on the role of new technologies in society - for example, radio in the early 20th century or television in the 1950s - shows that discourses are always constructed around the same recurrent ideas. First, new media and its content are supposed to have a direct effect on the psychology of individuals and their social behavior. Every new technology gives rise to the same traditional fears: it will make people more aggressive, apathetic or hyper-sexualized, and upset the established order. Also, media consumption is thought to have negative effects on human physiology. Finally, the cultural value of content carried on new media is often considered to be of poorer quality than that conveyed by earlier media (Wartella & Reeves, 1983; Drotner, 1992). Rarely utopian and very often catastrophic, such forms of discourse are rooted in academic traditions, and still nurture common sense opinions. Between pessimistic paranoia and idealistic optimism, between fear and hope, social discourse shapes thought with fuzzy, ambiguous contours while building upon a selection of scientific discourses. Indubitably, the academic tradition that has had the greatest influence on common sense opinions on young people and the media is the “Media effect paradigm.” Theories belonging to this paradigm are generally divided into two types (Anderson & Bushman, 2001), (Gauntlett, D., 2001).
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Both traditions share an underlying causal-deterministic model that accounts for the influence of media on the minds and behavior of young people. At least within common sense reasoning and theories, media and media contents are presumed to determine not only children’s and teenagers’ behaviors but also their attitudes, relationships and even identities. Often echoed by media discourse and sometimes reinforced by references to simplified expert discourse, common sense reasoning and layman theories constitute a shared cultural system through which we make sense of media in our daily life. Although the deterministic approach has nurtured common sense theories more than any other approach, it is not the only one. The scientific landscape offers at least one other concurrent approach: the active user perspective. This theoretical approach emphasizes research that perceives media consumption as a social practice and considers that the analysis of cultural contexts and the users’ active roles are essential in understanding what people do with media (Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch, 1974; Arnett, Larsen & Offer, 1995; Sorensen Holmes & Jessen, 2000; Williams & Skoric, 2005; Jonhson, 2005). While the “effect approach” very often underestimates users’ competences and paints a picture of a helpless, vulnerable victim, the “active user” approach attributes to users and those close to them responsibility for their media consumption and construction
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of the meaning of images. This emphasis on the cultural context and the consumers’ active role in making sense of media and media content underscores the necessity to constantly monitor the ways in which a changing active audience copes with new multimedia products. Another aspect of society that evolves as well is it’s approache to child rearing. Such methods, shaped by scientific and public discourses on “media effects on children and teens”, have circulated, nurtured and shared media awareness, and changed adults’ media education practices over time, both in families and schools. Young people’s media experiences have also changed; teenagers have been socialized by images on screens since their early years, and computer-based videogames are part of the daily entertainment of many contemporary children. As a consequence of this changing media environment and of media education practices, we cannot automatically assume that children and teenagers are as vulnerable or illiterate as they are often presented to be in most common sense discourse. However, neither can we adopt a laissez-faire view that media exposure and content are irrelevant with respect to the cognitive, social and moral development of children and teens. As media are accessible semiotic tools (Lave & Wenger, 1991) situated in young people’s everyday developmental contexts, their consumption contributes to shaping children’s and teenagers’ sociocultural and psychological development. Rather than investigating “what these texts do to young people,” we chose to investigate what today’s teenagers do with media and media content and how they incorporate them into their everyday life. If we consider the everyday and often control-free consumption of movies and video games, if we take into account the growing accessibility of age-inappropriate content through Web access, if we consider parents’ concern about the need to supervise their children and protect them from inappropriate content (Wartella, Caplivitz, & Lee, 2004; Vanderwater, E., Park, S.E., Huang, X. & Wartella E., 2005), this issue becomes more and more relevant. How do adolescents interpret and evaluate movies and videogames? What cognitive and moral interpretive repertoires do
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they use when consuming such cultural products? Is there any way to provide them with evaluative skills they can apply regardless of the platform of consumption and ratings? Although it is relevant to know the specific context and platform of consumption (downloading streaming, web-based and online games, console or home computer, private consumption vs. shared use), we first need to investigate how teenagers perceive all media content in general, how they evaluate it as more or less appropriate for a given age, and the categories they adopt for such an evaluation. Investigating teenagers’ media interpretive repertoires: A qualitative study The present chapter is based on a larger study on the consumption of movies and videogames as a family practice involving developmental and therefore educational issues. Our research was based on the theoretical premise that media and media content do not determine the social, cultural and psychological development of young consumers, but, like any other text, they contribute in a significant way to the very essence of that development. In this study we investigated: — Family consumption of movies and videogames on all platforms as a rule-governed practice integrated in the daily routines of family members. — The uses family members make of these texts and the meanings they give them in their everyday environment and through everyday social interactions. — Parents’ perceived effects of such texts on their children, the extent to which these perceived effects activate concern about the quality and appropriateness of visual cultural products, and the role played by the rating systems in such an assessment. — Children and teenagers’ perspectives on the role of such texts in their own life and those of their peers.
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— The ways in which young people develop critical thinking skills with respect to such entertainment content, and how they understand and use crucial notions such as “content effect,” “youth protection” and “media awareness.”
The study was conceived in two parts. This first was ethnographically oriented and intended to explore family discourses and practices related to family members’ consumption of movies and videogames. The second part was a quasi-experimental investigation into how teenagers construct and develop their critical thinking about these cultural products. It consisted of structured evaluation workshops where teenagers were asked to evaluate a variety of movies and videogames. The complete corpus of data is comprised of recorded in-depth family interviews (averaging two hours) involving nine middleclass families having at least one child (age 8-16), data from a daily logbook filled by a member of each family for a one-week period, 15 hours of video-recording made by teenagers on their own and their friends’ consumption of movies and videogames, 40 hours of recordings of focus groups with fathers and mothers on specific topics related to movie and videogame rating systems, and video-recorded teenagers’ joint discussions about the quality and appropriateness of a sample of videogames and movies.1 A total of 78 young people and adults (31 girls and 25 boys; 12 mothers and 10 fathers) participated in this research. Some young people participated in more than one stage of the research (family interview and evaluation group), but played different roles in each case. While the sample was reasonably large for a qualitative study, it cannot purport to be representative. Instead, its purpose was to make sufficient exploration possible to be used as a starting point for future surveys, assessments, and educational and awareness 1 The
participants were recruited in the urban and suburban area of Montreal, Canada through popular events such as videogame festivals; university recruitment programs, parents associations and consultations with teachers. This provided us with a suitably diverse number of participants from varied socioeconomic and ethnic background.
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programs. Although based on the whole study, this chapter focuses primarily on a sub-corpus of data. Particularly those gathered during the last lag of the study, where teenagers were asked to participate in evaluation workshops. The evaluation groups comprising 12 young people aged 14-16 were created to explore a specific question: if teenagers were asked to assume the role of evaluators for their younger peers, what cognitive stance would they activate vis-à-vis these texts that could enhance their media awareness. All interviews and discussions were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Teenagers that participated in the workshops were asked to analyse three different action movies and two action video games, individually, in their homes, over a three-week period.2 They were also asked to code these products according to specifically designed grids, to rate them according to what they considered the age appropriate, and to evaluate them from the point of view of children or teens younger than themselves. In a subsequent session, the teenagers that evaluated the same products were asked to discuss their evaluations providing the reasons and criteria they used to rate content as they did. The evaluators’ analysis of these joint discussions, of the arguments and explanations given to support the evaluation and rating, and the conversational dynamics of agreement and disagreement, occurred during discussions of the texts. This provided us with a paramount insight into the rich and sophisticated interpretive repertoires teenagers adopt when exposed to images on screens. Research findings Movies, video games and related practices play essential roles in constructing the two social worlds in which children develop: 2
The titles we used were among the most popular and representative of the genres mentioned by young people. In the end, in compliance with ethical rules applying to research involving minors, we chose the movies Aurore, Domino and Final Destination 2, and the games Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Call of Duty 2: Big Red One.
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the family and the peer group. Within the family, while movies and video game images contribute to construction of a collective or even community dimension in family life, they also make it possible for each family member to set him- or herself apart from the others by constructing individual identities, family roles and different cultures. In peer groups, movies and video games are used to create a feeling of belonging to the group, internal social cohesion and a common shared culture. Nonetheless, our findings on young people’s evaluation of these images showed most of them had integrated family values well, because they feel the need to control consumption of these contents on the new screens. Thus, when they are made responsible for controlling content, they consider that respecting family values is necessary and essential to assessing the appropriateness of images for children younger than themselves. Proximity and narrative realism Realism appears to be an important factor in evaluating images, and is inherent in the notion of proximity, which refers to the degree to which the viewer identifies with the story, events and characters. According to the young evaluators we met, watching a movie takes on a whole new dimension when the images do not form only an imaginary or fictional narrative, but encroach on everyday life, real life. Young people consider that a cultural product that anchors some elements (e.g., story line, actors, actions, location) in reality and that resembles their everyday lives has a more profound effect on their sensitivity and emotions. The movie Aurore3 triggered diverse emotions. The fact that the main character in the movie is a child and that her story unfolds in a family universe sparked much empathy in our young evaluators. Although temporally distant from their daily life, this movie underlined the existence of potential acts of inhumanity in this At the start of the twentieth century in rural Quebec Aurore is a quiet but happy young girl. When her mother dies, her father immediately remarries a woman whom the child detests. Her stepmother retaliates by inflicting increasingly severe punishments.
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everyday environment. Our evaluators felt intimately touched, to an intense and lasting extent, by the brutality of this story. Rosalie, age 14, comments on Aurore: Well I wrote for an older audience because I found this hard for a movie, you know when you are little it might sound stupid, but when you are little it can traumatize because when I was little and I watched things like that, because I fell on some of the worst ones, movies on TV, and things like that really got to me more then when you’re older, it’s really hard.
In contrast, the movie Final Destination 24 inspired much disbelief. Although the images presented adolescents engaging in activities in a universe very close to their own, our young evaluators mainly stressed the extravagance of the story line and the absurdity of the scenes of violence. Martin, age 14, comments on Final Destination 2: It wasn’t really frightening, scary at the beginning but just a little distressing it would have been a better movie if the deaths had not been so absurd. Andrée, age 16, comments on Final Destination 2: There’s a lot of blood in this movie, and a lot of disgusting scenes too, but it’s so unrealistic that it didn’t scare me at all.
If the images often idealize a narrative or provide an unrealistic depiction of reality, the evaluators seemed to seek an exact resemblance to their daily life, their society. This realism, or rather this movement between entertainment and transmission of real information, allows the evaluators to judge the appropriateness of Thanks to a premonition, young Kimberly avoids a fatal accident, thus saving the lives of many motorists. Soon after, however, the survivors perish one by one in often horrendous circumstances
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the cultural product. The problem of truth and reality, of what is assumed to be real in the images, thus unveils the singularity that allows the evaluators to pass judgment on the content of images that society makes available to them. The attraction to or repulsion from the images is thus an expression of spontaneous intelligence related to a natural perception of events Thus, images of a real story or of a current or historical social or cultural fact affect the audience more than those of an extremely violent movie or video game in which there is no realism. The group interviews and evaluation grids clearly show that scenarios and scenes showing exaggerated violence do not always result in great discomfort, concerns or unpleasant impressions, but often rather in laughter, mockery and contempt. However, even our 1416 year old evaluators admitted that such movies can sometimes have destabilizing or traumatic effects on their younger peers. They thought that prudence is required, and did not believe that caricatured or exaggerated violence should be viewed by young people of all ages. Some young people, considering their level of maturity, social origins and education, might not be able to grasp all the subtleties of a script or distinguish exaggerated from realistic violence. Supervision by parents and older children was thus seen as essential by our evaluators. Some young evaluators said they were also troubled not only by the proximity of violent images but also by images that show disrespect for order and justice in society, sexuality and eroticism, in both movies and video games. They indicated that these contents should have a certain level of morality and intellectual quality. Elegance, sensitivity and appropriate clothing and manners, for example, were important factors in their evaluation of media products. Rosalie, age 14, comments on Domino5 You know, they’re not just swearing in this movie, it’s vulgar. 5
The daughter of English actor Laurence Harvey and model Sophie Wynn, Domino, a young dropout, decides to join bounty hungers Ed and Choco. The trio then participates in a reality television program that broadcasts their exploits live.
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It’s not pretty words. And you can’t find good values in this movie. Like, it’s only showing to people how fun it is to kill people and do that kind of stuff. And there are not values that you want to show to your kids for example courage or things like that.
They were well aware of how the images on new screens may affect the popular culture of young people and, consequently, became judges as rigorous as some parents. Images and Violence (explicit vs. implicit) Physical, verbal, sexual and psychological violence is the criterion most often used by young evaluators to judge a movie. However, they considered that the consequences on viewers were different depending on whether the violence was explicit or implicit. According to our young evaluators, it is brutal and upsetting to see depictions of violence that are so clear and precise that they leave nothing to the imagination, but such scenes are extremely common and unoriginal in movies today, including scenes of death, shootings and fights. Portrayed in an explicit manner, such scenes of violence do not produce the same reactions of fear and discomfort as scenes in which the viewer can only infer actions and consequences. An image that shows unequivocal violence leaves no room for the imagination because it defines the limits of the action: what happens is what the viewer sees on the screen. Our young evaluators said that implicit violence created greater reactions and distress because it gave rise to many different interpretations. Catherine, age 15, comments on Aurore: It’s because it’s your imagination that imagines the scene, because you see nothing then maybe it’s not like you imagine Denis, age 16, comments on Aurore: You know, at one point for example, the little girl gets burned, you know, like her step mother takes something from the fire
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place, puts it in the fire and burns her. But we can’t see what happens when the little girl gets burn, but we can understand what’s happening. You understand and you can even imagine more things. Andrée, age 16, comments on Aurore: Well I think, when you see it for real you feel the emotion directly when you see it, but when we don’t see it and we imagine it well the emotion you keep it for the whole movie. And all along you really feel bad for her because you keep it. After seeing the movie you still think about it well in my case I was still thinking about it.
The implicit violence therefore compels our young evaluators to play an active role. They insert themselves in the scenario to be able to understand by conjecture, assumption and intuition what the characters feel, what they experience at the time of the act. This interpretation of violence thus leads the evaluators to draw on their own referents and their own experiences with violence. This memory exercise makes scenes of violence more difficult to tolerate, because they are closely linked to their life stories. They evoke situations already perceived, events that marked their lives. Images and sexuality As mentioned above, the themes of violence and sexuality were central to our respondents’ reasoning when they evaluated these contents. While there were many references to violent scenes, and such scenes were described in detail, we found few detailed descriptions of sexual scenes by our young people. Our respondents made brief, modest reference to “making love,” “showing her breasts,” and “taking off her shirt.” When we asked questions on this subject, the discourse became problematic, ambiguous and often contradictory. The young evaluators stammered and did their best to avoid making comments. The uneasiness with
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respect to references to sexuality is a datum in itself and indicates that sexuality remains a taboo, at least in discourse. Speaking of violence and describing horrific scenes with almost clinical precision proved less problematic than referring to sexuality, even in a general manner. The few scenes with a sexual nature presented in the images evaluated attracted the evaluators’ attention, particularly the female ones. They often considered such scenes embarrassing and unpleasant. Further, these scenes often concerned the conduct of the female characters. When an actor bared parts of her body or behaved provocatively, the scenes were considered superfluous to the unfolding of the story: Rosalie, 14 years old, comments on Final Destination 2: It’s a motorcycle and she lifts her jacket. And she shows her breasts …] and it really had no reason in the movie.
The evaluators expressed their criticism of the images that idealize the constriction of feminine sexuality into stereotypes. There must be an elegant correction, a certain conduct and modesty, other strategies to overturn the old clichés of an objectified woman. The scenes must then be dictated by more rational motives or consideration, in order to enhance the cultural products. The evaluators hope to preserve certain conventional rules of seduction, sensuality and eroticism, and demand an image of themselves that is untarnished, free of moral flaws or corruption. Scenes of a sexual nature did not measure up to the ideal standards for quality of products directed at young audiences, at least not from the female evaluators’ perspective. Notably, the evaluators criticized the portrayal of conventional roles. Valérie, age 14, comments on Domino Yeah that’s it one time it can seem banal they are in a hotel room the guy just rented a porn video well it’s because in the camera shot you also see the movie. For sure the emphasis is not on that , it’s just to show what kind of guy he is But it isn’t
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it isn’t anyone that can watch that with no problem.
The liberalization of morals that is believed to be a fundamental issue for young people also occurs at a sensitive time for them, one of construction of practices and minds, passion and polemics. A time when for some of them, control is crucial to attain a balance and resolve difficulties. If the young women seem to have adopted the commonly accepted social discourse of the woman-object, the young men take another position and do not appear to be disturbed by scenes of licentiousness. They would pout approvingly and smile out of the corner of their mouths, which confirms that this behavior does not provoke the same attention and consideration. A group of peers is not an easy context in which to openly discuss discomfort with sexuality. If this theme is frequently cited as an essential component of the evaluation of the content of cultural products, young people feel ill at ease explaining why. Images and vulgar language The young evaluators also paid particular attention to the actors’ forms of expression. Improper language was another important evaluation criterion to judge the acceptability of a cultural product for a young audience. Mathew, age 13, comments on Domino: Interviewer: Did you watch it with your younger brother? Mathew: No. Interviewer: Do you think it would have been o.k. to watch it with him? Mathew: No I don’t think so. Interviewer: Why? Mathew: Well the language and things like that, the language and he is 20 months younger then me. He won’t see something and he might redo it well let’s say the language I think he doesn’t understands at least less then I do.
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Direct, crude, transgressive, provocative, sometimes vulgar language, is not, as might be presumed, a sign of belonging to a peer group. Its excessive side, like sexuality, clashes with the values of our evaluators. The language specific to youth, (cloaked in narcissistic behavior, identities, modes, forms of opposition, sometimes rebellion or even encryption techniques) was denounced, because they are aware that its content easily affects their younger peers. They confirm unequivocally that the tone used and the choice of words can have an influence, can be adopted and repeated by younger viewers. According to our young evaluators, children easily absorb vocabulary, more so than acts related to sexuality or violence, even if they do not fully understand it. Rosalie, age 14, comments on Domino Oh no, the language it’s bad for young children also because it’s not like actions you know kids are not going to do actions you know like if you see someone hit someone else even the parents will always be there to say don’t hit anyone and he will learn but language is a lot easier i think to imitate.
The evaluators thus examined psychological aspects of the emergence of the personality among youth, a phase where the intellectual and social apparatus is forming, and enables them to construct their own visions of the world, their own value systems and self concepts. If language is a refuge and defines a community, our young evaluators affirm it as a preferred vector of education and transmission of ideals. Language has a social resonance and can thus be configured for specific applications. It can then be perceived as a threat by the evaluators who are fully aware of the effects of new uses of language on the affirmation of identities and as a figurative forum for behaviors and interactions. Our young evaluators question the movie creators’ concept of youth, of the stereotypes that they perpetuate in their products. In their role of evaluator, young people no longer identify with carefree people that break with authority and society. The evaluators describe how cultural products construct their reality, their daily
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lives. They underline that the images are subject to construction, manipulation, structuring that mobilizes values, standards and presumptions. New ideas develop and are affirmed. For our evaluators, language contrary to these proper uses imparts a feeling of disappointment. Youth often view consumption of media products as a time for sharing. They expect that the content will not put them into uncomfortable situations vis-à-vis their peers. Games – A game is a game, or is it? The games Call of Duty 26 and Splinter Cell7 were evaluated in this study. These products are different means of expression from movies because they prompt creative interactivity in the user. However, their ludic nature and synthetic imagery make their worlds that lack natural characteristics and that seem to be dissociated from the human condition. According to our evaluators, although they can reflect a certain reality, they allow players to more easily distinguish between what is part of everyday life and what is not. They then become tools that deepen the distinctions between truth and imagination, between real and virtual, between plausible and implausible, between possible and impossible. Rosalie, age 14, comments on videogames in general: There’s always a part of your body, well a part of your brain that is going to react, even if you don’t notice it. If you kill bugs that are from another planet, in your head, you know that it isn’t real. But if you kill people, real people who exist for real. Not that they really exist but you really have the feeling that they do exist (…) You feel like it’s someone like you, You enjoy it less. Well normally I think you enjoy it less. You are in the midst of World War II, the leader of the Big Red One unit in COD2. On the battlefield, explosions are constant, planes crash a few metres away, the ground shakes and bullets whiz by…You and your unit can’t let down your guard for even a second 7 Sadono, a militia leader of Indonesian guerrillas, has no choice but to use bacteria warfare as a dissuasive tactic. Sam Fisher must face this new challenge. His objective: to counter the risks of contamination and disarm this particularly virulent terrorist faction! 6
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Being actors Users of video games are no longer merely passive beings connected by peripherals. They are actors that build meaning. Video games thus place individuals in a particular relation with the cultural product by making them actors of their lives. By taking an active part in their media environment, players acquire new data on the value of their skills and knowledge. They become skilled at producing plans and directing their actions toward a particular goal. By transforming themselves, they drive a change in their relation with the game. The subject thus evolves from the status of “spectator” passively absorbing a cinematographic context to that of actor “playing” their existence and future. This investment is translated by the evaluators through the use of first person pronouns to refer to the actions performed in the game Andrée, age 16, comments on Call of Duty 2: Everytime I kill someone Mathew, age 13, comments on Call of Duty 2: You’re almost dead Andrée, age 16, comments on Splinter Cell: That an enemy attacks me Denis, age 16, comments on Splinter Cell: I am very small in the train so I don’t know when they are going to shoot me.
All these examples illustrate the incarnation process of the players and the identification in which they are engaged when they play video games. The game becomes an allegory, a representation to which attributes and discourse are associated. The user is projected in the cultural universe and then assumes the role assigned in the game universe. The adoption of these virtual
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identities allows manipulation of the self. The users participate in permutations between the different roles they play: that of player and actor. They thus discover the pleasure of being able to be who they want, not only what they are required to be. They can exist in their every day life and take possession of a virtual space. Games – skills Entering this virtual space, making it their own and mastering it nonetheless demands skills. The criterion of skill is exclusive to games. Unlike a film viewer, who is mainly passive, players must possess or develop skills that let them progress in the video game. Video games are systems formed by rules (grammar) and elements to which these rules apply (lexicon). The evaluators perceive these systems as a natural language that lets them form an indefinite number of scenarios, to understand elements never viewed and overcome obstacles that arise. In this context, they acquire new functions and responsibilities. Young people become experts in this environment. Andrée, age 16, comments on Call of Duty 2: You must at least have a few abilities to play this game. Denis, age 16, comments on Splinter Cell: Younger than 13 I don’t think they would understand the game.
The evaluators consider it necessary to master particular skills to explore these virtual universes. First, there is hand-eye coordination, which they need to execute tasks in order to win the game. This type of skill is necessary in adventure video games in which the actions sometimes unfold so quickly that good reflexes are required to be able to advance through the levels. Contrary to what one might believe, this type of skill is not necessarily linked to age, because an adult may find it just as difficult to control the action of the video game as a child.
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Some games, especially those with a rich narrative content, also require cognitive skills. They are needed to grasp the objectives of the game. Role-playing games or puzzles, for example, require great mental involvement. The player must keep track of the story to fulfill the quests and solve the puzzles. Evidently, this type of skill implies more maturity from the player than mere hand-eye coordination; it also calls for analytical and reading skills. What about violence in video games? Both games and movies sparked much commitment in young evaluators’ responses. Those who think that the profusion of violent, sexual and vulgar images signified a fragmentation of the value systems, a precipitous decline in conventions and morality, have misjudged the situation. Similar to the images in movies, those in games engendered discourse and awareness of the way they affect the popular culture of young people. Nonetheless, games have a particular place in the universe of young people even if they regularly spark worry among educators and families. There is the attraction of virtual worlds and the imagination that is explored alone, but often with friends. Although marginal to the game, this practice brings to light original forms of sociability: meetings between friends, organizing of competitions, etc. Further, there is self-improvement, particularly related to technical skills and cognitive abilities. If the violent nature of some games and possible spillover exist, rather than objecting, the evaluators mention that young people generally distinguish between the fiction proposed in the game and their everyday reality. Violence remains confined to this virtual amphitheatre. “Combat games” have always existed in the universe of young people, particularly boys. These combats have also surfaced in the digital age in other forms. Just as boys and girls previously pretended to be cowboys and Indians, soldiers, princes, princesses and parents, they currently use games that prolong the existence of these mythical characters.
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Valérie, age 14, comments on games in general: You know when we play games when we are young there’s imagination, let’s say cowboys and all of that well you go with knowledge that is yours, what is it you do not know about the war, what do you know.and when you are going to play a videogame well maybe you are going to learn some tricks that it is there you will learn things you did not think you would see.
In the past, this violence took place out of adults’ view, in parks, fields, streets and backyards, at school or virtually anywhere. The shootings and killings on these improvised battlefields, the product of their imagination, were equally terrifying for people that perceive therein the darkest manifestation of humanity. However, these actions were considered by most adults as acceptable forms of amusement because they were only one element of the game, a normal part of their children’s recreation. For many of our young evaluators, the prime virtue of games was their ability to provide enjoyment. These games are a product of pure fantasy that involve a constant reference to the experience and the creation of another self, a disincarnate being from daily life, grounded in fiction. Denis, age 16, comments on games in general: I think it’s different. I don’t know. It’s different because you must always take into consideration the virtual side. OK. When you are playing a game you must not forget that it is virtual and you should not forget that it is not real you can’t let yourself be intimidated by the game. A person who is going to play San Andrea’s, he will understand that it is a fantasy and that you should not go into it. Andrée, age 16, comments on games in general: That’s exactly it. Would I let my child play it, I would tell my kid ,whether you are 18 or 21 I don’t care . Go find another game that is more interesting like for example Splinter Cell
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If the young evaluators reproduce a form of parental discourse whereby violence is unacceptable, they insist on the fact that the universe in which they function is only virtual and that the acts they perform are fictitious. Games have a ludic characteristic in which individuals reorganize their environment into a system of meaning that defines their myths, desires, needs, etc. However, the young evaluators demonstrate that the communication process specific to games may serve as a foundation for social relations. The games are their main leisure activity and contribute to this socialization. This is why they fear that younger children will imitate inappropriate behavior that they see on the screen. According to the evaluators, violence in games is a throwback to the past. Gamers perpetuate a collective habit of acting, a habit transmitted from generation to generation. Video games respond to a general desire among youths to “play war.” Games apply the rules of fabrication of common storylines in order to standardize and guarantee the functioning of children’s play universe. Violence is then considered simply content to develop one’s ability, and is devoid of exceptional qualities. Violence then becomes a form of capital tailored to the imaginations and aspirations of young people who explore these virtual universes. Andrée, age 16, comments on Splinter Cell and Call of Duty2: And it (Splinter Cell) encourages your logic. Call of Duty 2 I am a little divided it’s the real war, but its true young people like that. We are going to always like to kill and have a small gun and shoot I don’t want to take that away.
Nonetheless, for some users there is no doubt that playing video games can induce delinquent behavior. Even if they appropriate models of behavior contrary to society and the social order through their identification with heroes and their imitation of the actions in their games, this practice fosters intellectual acuity For the evaluators, video games, whether they be violent or not,
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encourage interpretation and analysis of environments, characters and actions, and require reasoning about future events, organization and development of singular strategies. Games are a fundamental tool to develop self-knowledge, skills and learning. Notably, they allow users to define the limits of their qualities and morality. Accordingly, the evaluators mentioned logic, perseverance, determination and patience. Playing a game allows users to possess certain virtues and mental dispositions. They can form a coherent chain of ideas. They can also adopt an attitude of determination and action without hesitation while remaining calm. Further, games are the best means to understand some dark chapters of human history. Rosalie, age 14, comments on Splinter Cell: It’s a really excellent game. Very realistic and with no blood. It is a little difficult but it encourages logic and perseverance. Denis, age 16, comments on Splinter Cell: I think with this game a thirteen year old can learn some small things about politics. Besides this game will encourage determination and patience to a young guy. Mathew, 13 years old, comments on Call of Duty 2: We can better understand about the Second World War. How it must felt to be a soldier.
Playing video games is a challenging exercise for users. They learn to refuse to bow and be submissive. This invitation to pit oneself not only against technology but also against adversaries is the very nature of the game and its practice. A nature that players must overcome in their exploration, evolution and learning process. A nature that is opposed to action and achieving success and victory.
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Violence and frustration in video games For children familiar with the world of video games, thoughts about violence and its consequences are more complex and highly nuanced. Evaluating the appropriateness of a video game requires players to take into account a number of aspects: the degree of realism of the game, the kinds of actions required, and the player’s psychological stability and level of involvement in the scenario. The game places the individual in a specific relationship with the cultural product, and that relationship makes it possible to create an original scenario, characters, actions and situations. Video games are by definition a fictional world. Killing human beings is not like killing “skeletons” or “pigs riding horses.” Generally, though in some video games young people “kill,” “commit assault” and “violate” laws and social conventions, the actions are not perceived in the same manner as in a movie or in reality. For them, the recreational dimension of video games can partly mitigate possible consequences of violence. However, our young evaluators reported that the violence in video games can sometimes affect young users’ behavior. The joy and pride of winning and meeting goals can be followed by frustration, aggressiveness, depression and worry about failure. Denis, age 16, comments on Call of Duty 2: That sequence was really distressing and frightening. I only had one life left and had 4 enemy tanks to shoot at. Mathew, age 13, comments on Call of Duty 2: I was frightened – I was almost dead.
A young evaluator told us about her brother’s aggressive behavior after playing the controversial game Grand Theft Auto. Valérie, age 14, comments on games in general: And he plays mostly Halo, Halo 2, Grand Theft Auto, I find it influences him a lot. And sometimes there is his brother that is
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younger then him and then sometimes they fight. And he beats him up pretty roughly. It’s only for play but still….
While the most widespread discourse is that video games themselves set limits on the forms of behavior that they encourage, in our society there is a strongly held belief that video games are responsible for some asocial forms of behavior. Thinking about possible relations between video games and behavior in these terms is one of the arguments used by our young evaluators in the way they classified video games. Our overall analysis thus shows a distinction between movies and games in the evaluation and classification of media products. Generally, movies evoke much more sensitive and affective aspects. Our young evaluators then pay particular attention to the representations and values that arise from their daily life, particularly violence, sexuality and language. Games, in contrast, are more intuitive and often evaluated according to the aptitudes of the players’ motor skills, their role of actor/explorer and the designers’ technological prowess. The story, characters and their actions, although important, are often perceived as secondary. Conclusions: The ecology of consumption
Violence, sexuality and vulgar language remained the primary concerns of our young evaluators when they were asked to assess the appropriateness of images on new and traditional screens. When we adopt the point of view of young people and observe their everyday lives, we can see how media and media content can be sources of concern but also means of learning forms of behavior, values (both positive and negative because they are intimately related to basic values and social consensus), knowledge, skills and tools for constructing identity and cultural belonging. Young people use entertainment media content primarily for recreation, excitement in a simulated or controlled environment
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(video games) and to experiment with emotions such as fear in fictitious situations (movies). They also use it to have the feeling of belonging to a shared “youth” culture, to develop and strengthen social networks, to experience competition, to face challenges and to free themselves of authority and family values. Media and media content on all screens, both new and traditional, are thus active parts of their culture. They do not determine the historical, social and cultural development of individuals, but rather play an active and significant role in that development. It is precisely this “fact” that underlines the importance of quality control and appropriateness of multimedia content. This link between ecology of consumption and social responsibility is therefore more than simply a concern of the experts: it is posed and even endorsed by parents and the young people themselves. The movie and video game rating systems are evidently the outcome of complex institutional assessment processes. These processes are sometimes invisible to consumers. The ratings posted on cultural products seem to erase the details and process that they are supposed to summarize and show. Some think, for example, that sexual content is necessarily linked with the aged based 13+ rating, while others speculate that this rating is mainly linked with portrayals of violence and drug use. These conjectures about ratings also seem linked with the many different rating systems circulating and crisscrossing in consumer spaces. For example, a number of television channels show the official governmental institution rating plus the broadcaster’s warning at the beginning and throughout the program. Audiences in Canada can also find three different ratings on some videocassettes and DVDs, including the American rating, a provincial one and the Canadian Home Video Rating System. These different ratings can create confusion. Evaluators naturally question the existing classification of products. By identifying their own viewing practices and their referents to determine the appropriateness of a cultural product, the young evaluators also call into question the forms and codes traditionally used in classification. They demonstrate a form of
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competence that allows them to consider methodological problems of classification. This exercise was also a process of hybridization of classification practices between the personal experience of youth and the institutional need to protect them. Indeed, the young evaluators underlined the need for “translation” of classification standards of media products. A new set of references is required. Adults are caught in the crossfire regarding the classification of media products, when facing the culture of youth whose language, referents and attitudes are different from their own. The value attributed to media products must be compatible with the “cultural foundations” of youth. It is then evident that this rift obliges evaluators to make decisions that must be questioned and adapted to achieve the desired communication effect. Young evaluators thus conserve a critical approach to examining existing classifications systems. For them, this classification system must be put into perspective with other references arising from their own experience, grounded in a social system such as education, and with others arising from discursive practices with their life story. Rosalie, age 14, comments on ratings in general: Well you have to be careful, even if there is a rating it does not mean that because you are 18 and that it is rated 18 that you can play it. I think you really have to be careful you have to know what we can take. You have to try and if you do not like it you have to stop. You cannot force it, force yourself to watch a movie for example at least that’s what I think. You should not solely rely on the ratings and you must be careful because even if it is 18+ he might not like it because even if he is 18 something similar happened when he was young he is not going to like it. It is going to remind him of that and he is going to be very sad and something bad could even happen.
The young evaluators never thought to question as such the
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pertinence of the classification system of movies and games. On the contrary, each participant recognized the importance of this classification for youth protection, to ensure that cultural products are fair and well suited to the audiences for which they were intended. Rating systems also lead adults to wonder about the possible impact of movies and video games on themselves as parents and educators, on their children and their children’s needs, identities and membership in a specific culture, and on society’s basic values. Parents thus have to reassert their roles constantly, for they are confronted with the cultural world of their children and their children’s peers. They are constantly rebuilding foundations and proving their relevance in a world of media that is always changing owing to new forms of behavior, visions of the world, thoughts, fashion, etc. Our study shows that movie ratings are not necessarily taken at face value. The audience reserves the right to perform a different evaluation, which defines a line of thought and challenges the institutionalized classification. For parents and children, the evaluation can result in an authorized “transgression” of the rating and the societal values that it represents. The fact that ratings are not complied with automatically could raise questions about their real effectiveness. Yet the system’s strength lies precisely in the gap between the classification and the decision, between the evaluation of others and one’s own action. Indeed, this gap guarantees that adults do not abandon their responsibility for emancipating and educating children and ensuring respect for family values. Movie ratings operate less like a highway code that defines what is permitted and prohibited, and more like a tourist guide that draws users’ attention to some products while giving them the freedom to choose them or not. The movie classification system has made it possible to construct shared knowledge and a culture of prevention well anchored in the family, and many parents are very knowledgeable about and are competent evaluators of movies. This enables them to form an idea about a movie from only a few details or rapid images, simply
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by zapping, scanning movie reviews and consulting synopses. Parents’ experience makes it possible for them to make decisions and resolve disputes concerning the appropriateness of media products for their children. However, in the realm of video games, parents who are not video game players admit that they do not know much about video game classification systems. Game ratings do not escape the culture of prevention. Even if parents are not aware of all the subtleties, many say they need a control mechanism adapted to the new media and its cultural context. Overall, parents and young people interviewed expressed a need for a descriptive movie and video game classification system that would take a number of dimensions into account, such as the level of violence, degree of realism, technical difficulty and narrative complexity. If a descriptive system is established to summarize the content of cultural products, it should contain information that would allow people to make wiser choices and encounter fewer surprises. Terminology that expresses levels with respect to controversial subjects and themes could make it easier to grasp what makes one product more appropriate than another. Descriptive complementary comments are considered strong solutions, and were mentioned by all participants in the study. While young people have adopted new screens almost instantly, because screens are active components of their cultural and social environment, they nonetheless live between two cultural worlds that are often in conflict: that of their peers, which is more open and often oriented toward transgression, and that of their families, which is often more defensive and anchored in stricter family values. So what does this tell about young people’s appropriation of entertainment content on new screens? Although Marshall McLuhan (McLuhan, 1967) is renowned for saying “the medium is the message,” with no offense to Mr. McLuhan, we should probably be more aware of and concerned about the content than about the medium, whether it is accessed on an iPhone, a home computer or an e-book. We all still need guidelines. Young people still refer to them although they might not always follow them.
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This need, given the new accessibility of these contents, does not diminish the responsibilities of parents and the industries. Underestimating the need for a new approach would amount to denying the primary feature of changes in both society and individuals, namely a process of co-determination between media and culture. This entails that young people’s development and well-being, as well as their cognitive and social fulfillment, identity and vision of the world, are dependent not only on their age, but particularly on the wealth of the social interactions specific to their experience and the mediation of surrounding semiotic mechanisms. Language, images, information conveyed in technology, texts, and so on are not simple backdrops, but rather are artefacts that make a difference in the progressive development of children as competent members of the community. For institutions concerned with protecting young people, it would thus be wise to consider the pertinence of information and intervention strategies, in schools, for example, in order to take into account young people’s most pressing needs with respect to media appropriation. Developing critical thinking and awareness training for older children with respect to consumption of images by their younger peers or siblings would, as our research has shown, be a promising avenue to explore, especially if it were combined with the involvement of parent and industry associations aware of the stakes in helping young people appropriate entertainment content on new and traditional screens.
References Anderson, C. A. & Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and pro-social behavior: A Meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12(5), 353-359. Arnett, J.J., Larson, R. & Offer, D. (1995). Beyond effets: adolescents as active media users, Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 24(5), 511-518. Brown, J.D., Halpen, C. & L’Engle, K. (2005). Mass media as sexual super peer for early maturing girls, Journal of Adolescent Health, 36(5), 420-427.
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Caron, A. H. & Caronia, L. (2007). Moving cultures: mobile communication in everyday life. Montréal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. Recommanded by the American Library Association. Drotner, K. (1992) Modernity and media panics. In Skovmand M. & Schrøder K. C. (Eds.), Media Cultures: Reappraising Transnational Media (pp. 4262). London: Routledge. Egenfeld-Nielson, S. & Smith J.H. (2004). Playing with fire: How do computer games influence the player? Göteborg: Nordicom, Göteborg University. Escobar-Chaves, L.S., Tortolero, S.R., Markham, C.M., Low, B.J., Eitel, P. & Thickstun, P. (2005). Impact of the media on adolescent sexual attitudes and behavior. Pediatrics, 116, 303-326. Gauntlett, D. (2001).The worrying influence of “media effects” studies. In M. Barker & J. Petley (Eds), III Effects: The Media/Violence Debate (2nd Ed.) (pp. 47-62). London & New York: Routledge. Greenfield, P.M. (1984). Mind and media: The Effects of Television. Computers and Video Games, London: Fontana. Harris Interactive for the Business Software Alliance (2007). Survey suggests parental rules matter in encouraging good Internet behavior. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from BSA website: http://www.bsa.org/country/News%20 and%20Events/News%20Archives/en/2007/en-05222007-harrisstudyyouthdownloading.aspx Ipsos MediaCT (2008). Longer form content (movie/tv show) streaming continues strong growth. Retrieved April 30, 2009, from Ispsos MediaCT’s website:http://www.ipsosmediact.com/knowledge/pressrelease. aspx?id=4215 Johnson, S. (2005). Everything bad is good for you: How today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter. New York: Riverhead Books. Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In J. G. Blumler & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives of gratifications research (pp. 19-32). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Lenhart, A. & Madden, M. (2007). Teens, privacy and online social network. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project. Lenhart, A., Kahne, J., Middaugh, E., Macgill, A. R., Evans, C & Vitak, J. (2008). Teens, video games, and civics. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project. McLuhan, M. (1967). The medium is the massage: An Inventory of effects. New
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York: Bantam Books. Nathanson, A.I. & Cantor, J. (2000). Reducing the aggression-promoting effect of violent cartoons by increasing children’s fictional involvment with the victim. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 44, 125-142. Pool, M., Van der Voort, T.H.A., Beentjes, J.W.J. & Koolstra, C.M. (2000). Background television as an inhibitor of performance on easy and difficult homework assignments, Communication Research, 27, 293-326. Rideout, V. (2007). Parents, children & media. Menlo Park, CA: Kaiser Family Fondation. Sherry, J. (2001). The effects of violent video games on aggression: A Metaanalysis, Human Communication Research, 27, 409-431. Sorensen Holmes, B. & Jessen, C. (2000). It isn’t real: Children, computer games, violence and reality. In C. van Feilitzen & U. Carlsson (Eds.), Children in the New Media Landscap, Göteborg (Sweden). UNESCO International Clearinghouse on Children and Violence on the Screen. Valkenburg, P. M., & Van der Voort, T. H. A. (1995). The influence of television on children’s daydreaming styles: A One-year panel study. Communication Research, 22, 267-287. Vandewater, E.A., Park, S.E., Huang, X. & Wartella, E, A. (2004). “No—you can’t watch that”: Parental rules and young children’s media use. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(5), 608-623. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge University Press. Wartella, E., Caplovitz, A.G., & Lee, J. (2004). From baby Einstein to Leapfrog, from Doom to the Sims, from instant messaging to Internet chat rooms: Public interest in the role of interactive media in children’s lives. Social Policy Report, 18(4), 3-19. Wartella, E., & Reeves, B. (1983). Recurring issues in research on children and media. Educational Technology, 23, 5-9. Williams D. & Skoric, M. (2005). Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of aggression in an online game. Communication Monographs, 72(2), 217-233. Zamaria, C. & Fletcher, F. (2008) Canada Online! The Internet, media and emerging technologies: Uses, attitudes, trends and international comparisons 2007. Toronto: Canadian Internet Project.
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14 Media practices, connected lives Carlos Tabernero, Jordi Sánchez-Navarro, Daniel Aranda and Imma Tubella
Introduction In the network society, more than ever, life revolves around communication. In industrialized societies, a minority of the population has been in control of information dissemination – the mass communication media. While this is still true today, the degree of concentration has been easing as communication technologies (ICTs) are clearly opening the door wider and wider to the participation of individuals. The architecture of traditional media, whereby the flow of information has been essentially, unidirectional, from one or a few to many, is giving way to multimodal, interactive and dynamic and locally and globally intertwined connections among people, whereby the information flow is from many to many.. This, in turn, allows information production and exchange to be swift, constant and efficient and enables an increasingly large number of people to broadcast anything (themselves included) anywhere anytime. In fact, ICTs are becoming a powerful tool for their users to experiment with and develop ever-renewing communication channels, sometimes so quickly that is seems but bewildering. As a result, the development of ICTs, particularly the Internet as well as the explosion of global mobile communication, has brought about a new turn regarding the rules under which mass communication has been run to date. For one thing, this emerging media context leads us to think about communication in relation to
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social practices where each individual not only receives, but also produces all sorts of content, or at least has the possibility of doing so. Indeed, we delve into the possibility of a new paradigm of media research which understand media, not as text or structures of production, but as practice. [… T]his paradigm aims to move beyond old debates about media effects and the relative importance of political economy and audience interpretation, at the same time as moving beyond a narrow concentration on audience practices, to study the whole range of practices which are oriented towards media and the role of media in ordering other practices in the social world (Couldry, 2004, p.115).
Within this framework, we consider communication practices and the media within them as key elements in the building of social and cultural features. We argue that predictably these technologies and their applications are becoming basic instruments of sociocultural change. Theoretical and research quandaries Upon the aforementioned initial premises, it seems nevertheless imperative to reflect upon the difficulties researchers and theoreticians face in order to assume the speed of changes taking place in the realm of communication. Undoubtedly, the approach appears to be, more than ever, interdisciplinary, collaborative and in the medium term. At the beginning of the 21st century, the long history of debates between different schools of thought within the fields of the social sciences, communication studies, media studies and cultural studies, provides us with the basic expertise to definitely overcome interpretations of the construction of human societies which establish their citizens’ utter submissiveness to a framework of all-powerful mass communication media. Insofar as these media are strongly rooted in the political, institutional and economic structure of these societies, their owners and
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managers are supposed to be able to guide people’s behaviours, needs and attitudes. Indeed, these deterministic readings, linked to the analysis of traditional media – the press, radio, movies and television – have been and sometimes still are common, more or less explicitly, in official (and) academic discourses. According to these perspectives, if people’s only possible intervention in the general processes of communication is the passive consumption of content, their way to perceive the world in which they live is unfailingly subjugated to the rule of those who control technology and media. However, there is no doubt that active participation of each and everyone within a given community through individualized and everyday use of media and technology is an essential feature in the process of social construction today. Media, insofar as tools for human interaction, are crucial for the shared generation and development of a wide array of interpretations and re-interpretations of the realities and representations upon which human communities are built and sustained. With this in mind, we may consider that [t]he interlinked possibility for Internet users to contribute as well as access and consume information and content defines a horizontal flow of communication […], in a way that the up-to-now considered as merely consumers also become producers, not requiring the mediation of any institutionalized media organization […] This inevitably leads to the ultimate refutation of the traditional assumption of a passive, nonparticipant, submissive and dependent audience (watchers, listeners, and readers in a traditionally vertical flow of information), yet faithful-to-the-mediator (that is, the producer, distributor, interpreter and/or knowledge administrator), on which devices and media at large (well-embedded in the political, institutional and economic structure) exert a wideranging array of effects, and fittingly to the consideration of media users as active participants in the whole of technologymediated communication processes (Tabernero et al., 2008, pp.274-275).
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Thus, with the swift development and ever-expanding use of ICTs, we have an opportunity, unimaginable till not so long ago, to explore in detail the particulars of these processes, above all in relation to the nature and extent of personalized and specialized contribution, both individually and collectively, on the part of each and every community and their respective members. Around ICTs, and their applications and technical traits concerning the possibility for ubiquitous, multimodal and interactive management of information and content, we may reformulate questions regarding the extent and features of the contribution to communication processes by the distinct actors involved. We may in fact probe into a less deterministic interpretation allowing individuals and the communities they belong to (i.e. the familiar, social, work, ideological, political, historical and/or cultural contexts where their lives unfold) the capability to appropriate available technology and media and contribute to communication processes at large according to their needs and interests, either personal or shared. Indeed, there is no question that the organization of broadcasting as arranged in traditional media, especially television, is strongly and reciprocally associated with the scheduling of people’s daily times (i.e. their lives). Yet, the increasingly personalized and specialized communication practices developed around ICTs may be embodying a far-reaching break with the role of mass media broadcasting as an everyday social structuring force (Tabernero et al., 2009a; Dickinson et al., 2001). ICT-linked interactivity places individuals’ participation in technology-mediated communication processes beyond the meagre possibility to switch on or off different pieces of equipment. Among other aspects, [individuals’ possibility to directly contribute to content management processes] also entails a increasing requirement by users of improved levels of interactivity, namely: from what we might denote as consumption interactivity, already available as regards traditional media, insofar as its defining trait is the steady increase in the choice of content through the multiplication
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of channels, platforms and devices; to its coexistence with an exchange interactivity, which allows a more active input regarding content management through the customized sharing of all kind of available content, in terms of interpersonal communication as well as within different kinds of social networks, such as those defined by P2P file sharing applications; and finally leading to the development of a production interactivity, which requires the contribution of users’ creativity in order to directly participate at the level of content generation (Tabernero et al., 2008, pp.285-286).
Thus, the rules under which mass communication has been run to date are most likely taking a new turn as ICTs, particularly the Internet, as well as the explosion of global mobile communication have brought about a whole new communication framework. These changes arise from the interactions between content, technology, media and users/audiences, which may work either jointly or in direct opposition. In this context, theoretical and research approaches cannot be confined to the exploration and analysis of the impact of ICTs on industrial development or on the evolution of traditional audio-visual and media sectors. Theoreticians and researchers must, more than ever before, address the specific contexts of the users. Yet, in these sense, there is indeed a need to endorse a definitive “shift from the exclusive focus on conventional quantitative divides regarding the Internet, based upon absolute access ratios according to socio-demographic variables, to the increasing consideration of use concerns, assuming the Internet’s gradually approaching across-the-board occurrence” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.275). The main distinction, given a trend of steadfast technological innovation, would then be “between the less experienced though mounting newcomers, who are not yet able to use these devices and applications at their full extent, and the long-connected, experienced users, who are able to make the most of technology, and, as it would seem, have successfully integrated Internet usage in their everyday lives” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.275).
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People’s everyday lives The multiple uses and functions people individually and collectively attribute to the Internet bring about significant modifications in the quantity and quality of people’s participation in communication processes. The overall increase of Internet uptake worldwide comes together with a conspicuous growth in the intensity of its use, which, in turn, logically results in an overall increase of user experience. There are numerous social, economic and technological factors contributing to these developments, yet they are primarily linked to the increase of home access. This is of particular importance among the young, for the spreading of home Internet access implies the adoption of the Internet at increasingly early ages. In this sense, the Internet “gradually becomes a constitutive element, and no longer a novelty, for the younger generations, as also arguably occurred with television for various generations of the second half of the 20th century” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.274). Furthermore, the growth of broadband connections, as well as of mobility and ubiquity of access, and the expanding development and supply of new services and applications also bring about a significant broadening of communication practices. These may range “from the opening out of innovative ways for multifaceted interpersonal communication as well as for the search and consumption of content and information of all sorts, to a noteworthy expansion of individual multimodal and multipurpose content creation, production and distribution practices” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.274). In this context, the Internet is not just as a competitor to traditional media broadcasting, as a source of information and entertainment, but a powerful tool. This tool is not only a means of access to ever-renewing channels and platforms (also provided, in some cases, by those same traditional media conglomerates). It is also available for multimodal contribution on a theoretically equal basis – notwithstanding sensible aim, economic, technical and expertise gaps – by all actors involved in technology-mediated communication processes at large, including administrations, businesses, media corporations and organizations, and individuals.
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Ultimately, it is ”[a]long these lines [that] the Internet, as an allround means of communication, and as it has been the case with many other widespread media, is swiftly becoming embedded in the general texture of experience (Dickinson et al., 2001), gradually yet seamlessly integrated in the natural processes through which human beings [individually and collectively] build and sustain their communities” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.274). Accordingly, it is essential to understand current patterns of transformation in communication practices in relation to the increasing incorporation of the Internet in people’s everyday lives. To begin with, as mentioned above, there is every indication that the rise of Internet access in the household environment plays a fundamental role in the development of this new framework for mass communication. In this context, a dynamic relationship between distinct social, technological and human communication factors takes place (Lin, 2003). Notwithstanding system and social factors, which provide the necessary social, political and economic structure for the diffusion of communication technology, it seems necessary to focus on audience, technology and use factors. These primarily revolve around the interconnection between people’s perception, comprehension, evaluation and adoption of communication technology according to their individual needs, beliefs and attitudes, and in terms of the perceived balance between expectations and gratifications in the use of any particular technology (Fishbein, 1980; Lin, 2003; Tabernero et al., 2008). We certainly know that the gradual intensification of the use of the Internet is bringing about changes related to the mounting range of possibilities for individuals’ contribution in a broad spectrum of technology-supported communication processes, yet we [need to find out] how these transformations are taking place (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.277).
Hence, a research approach exploring Internet usage from the standpoint of its bearing on users’ daily lives is crucial in order to fully understand the nature of the impact of the rise of Internet access on our societies.
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Revolution at home With all of the above in mind, and by probing a group of mostly experienced and intensive Internet users in a setting of intermediate Internet diffusion (Catalonia), we have shown (Tabernero et al., 2008) that regarding the different activities carried out online, users attribute a significant weight to the Internet as a source of information concerning immediate personal interests and in order to remain in touch with what is happening around. On the other hand, the high degree of aimless netsurfing (i.e. the unspecified, open-ended consumption of any kind of content online) and the remarkable use of the Internet as a tool for traditional media consumption also suggest a considerable importance given to the Internet as a source of entertainment. Furthermore, a trend towards efficient use of technical means offered by the Internet as a higher degree of individual contribution to the distribution and management of content has become apparent. It is also noteworthy the high level of activities based upon the direct and immediate contact with other people and groups who share the same type of interests or needs. Conversely, activities which imply a stronger will to actively contribute to communication processes, also requiring the development of a minimum of technical and content-generation skills, though not as common, are unmistakably significant. And finally, the increasingly intensive use of the Internet to carry out a wide range of daily tasks online, considered as a necessary control for the assessment of communication practices, confirms the growing importance of the Internet as a crucial tool for the execution of everyday responsibilities and practical chores. Taking all this into account, regression analyses considering the socio-demographic traits of the group, the participants’ Internet experience traits, and the participants’ answers on the activities carried out online, revealed an apparent correlation between intensity of Internet use, higher degrees of experience, and a more diversified and specialized contribution to communication processes. In this context, we were able to unmistakably identify the young (30-or-less participants) as more frequent and intense
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Internet users than their older counterparts. Moreover, according to our results, the young are leading in advanced use of Internet web 2.0 applications, which allow more active participation in content management. In view of the data, we argue that the introduction of ICTs and their related uses in the household environment implies a clash between the communication habits of the different family members, as a function of age (i.e. generation gap) and linked to individual and collective everyday scheduling and availability of time, as well as to the compatibility of the distinct activities (including both chores and leisure-related) that come into play within this setting. We may indeed situate in this context the complex relationship between the consumption of television and the use of computer/Internet, which we have designated as The War of the Screens (Tubella et al., 2008a). In this sense, together with, yet beyond interpretations bound to the displacement and enhancement hypotheses that are typically been used to address this complex scenario concerning people’s adoption of media and technology (Nie et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2006), we contend as well that: ►► the higher level of use of the Internet on the part of the young as a source of entertainment implies not necessarily a substitution, but a certain degree of modification of their elders’ previously established information and content consumption habits […]; ►► the young’s higher level of aimless netsurfing […] suggests that the Internet itself has become an ordinary, obligationfree source of entertainment, [and, in turn,] the epitome of a natural, constitutive way of introduction of this technology in everyday life […]; ►► [as opposed to] older-than-30 [users, who] have started their use of the Internet, and even brought it home, primarily in relation with their obligations and responsibilities, such as work-linked […]; ►► the young are also the forefront as regards the use of
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Internet applications allowing immediate contact with other users, as well as an active participation in the distribution and sharing of content, as in instant messaging, the sending of images, and the downloading of all kinds of content and applications, such as music, films, videogames and software, which entails, among other aspects, the use of P2P file sharing tools[…]; ►► [as opposed to users] living with their partners and children (i.e. mostly heads of households, parents) are the less active cluster among the participants concerning this kind of activities, while they lead the use of Internet as a substitute for the phone, once again linked to more strictly practical, daily communication habits […]; [and that] ►► the advanced use of the Internet for specific participation and content generation purposes comes out primarily as a function of age [where the young are also the forefront] (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.287). All in all, it appears that the young incorporate the Internet into their everyday lives in a seemingly constitutive and natural way, turning it, upon its technical traits and possibilities, into a “veritable media gateway, that is, both a window for them to the world and a window for the world to self-broadcasting, and always in accordance to their concerns and wants” (Tabernero et al., 2008, p.288). Consequently, given the prominence of technologymediated communication practices (i.e. including all kinds of media usage) in the socio-cultural evolution of modern societies, together with the increasing spread of ICTs worldwide and their relation with individual and collective interests and needs, we must, out of necessity, consider the significant input from the young to the development of innovative ways of content management. Young users’ patterns of media and technology appropriation of, always and naturally linked to “essential features of their daily endeavours, such as the development of social skills, identity traits and learning processes, and with regard to the self, the family and the different communities where their lives unfold” (Tabernero et
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al., 2008, p.288, discussing Bryant et al., 2006; Heim et al., 2007; Livingstone, 2003; McMillan & Morrison, 2006; Valkenburg et al., 2005; and Lee, 2005), are crucial for community development, on the one hand, for the information, communication and knowledge management processes they growingly contribute to through their use of ICTs, and of the Internet in particular, are fundamental for the construction and consolidation of the communities we live in; on the other, since their strong emergence as a widely diversified and efficient developing and modifying force of technology-mediated communication processes is nearly subversive, well understood: while they are citizens in their own right, they are usually left out of the social, economic and cultural management of our societies, as under aged, dependant, and somehow unproductive; and finally, because they develop their early communication practices in the home environment, where they may successfully question their elders’, and thus, society’s longestablished communication and cultural practices (Tabernero et al., 2008, pp.288-289).
Time management, the home and the young However, active participation takes time. In this sense, given that “[r]egardless of status and stature, everyone has only 24 hours in a day [, and so,] since time is a finite resource, many modernday innovations and services […] are aimed at helping people save time” (Lee et al., 2006, p.300), we need to take into account (Tabernero et al., 2009a) that: a. indeed, the incorporation of Internet usage in daily life takes place in a context where the value of time has an immense strategic importance, insofar as not widely available on account of necessary life activities (Nie et al., 2002); b. one main user expectation with adopted technology concerns
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improving the efficiency of communication, such as, among other aspects, in terms of saving time; c. another essential trait linked to the Internet-enhanced levels of personalization and specialization in communication practices lies on the generation and safeguarding of “free time”, theoretically “free” from obligatory demands (Mattingly & Sayer, 2006, p.206), e.g., for most people, in weekdays, the standard evening hours that lie between the two daily highest time-consuming activities, work and sleep, and correspond with the highest peak of television viewing at home, or prime time, which links the need for entertainment and media content consumption (Maslow, 1970; Blumler, 1979; as discussed in Lin, 2003). d. people’s incorporation of the Internet into their daily lives occurs in contexts already rich in communication technology and media, e.g., screens; e. Internet adoption, particularly in the household, takes place in a setting where the television screen has been paramount and largely unchallenged for decades; and that f. the usage of these technologies and media is reciprocally interconnected with an extensive and well-established array of habits, including, as abovementioned, the organization of broadcasting, e.g., around prime time (Bausinger, 1984; as discussed in Dickinson et al., 2001), within a typically highly-structured, activity-packed daily schedule. In this context, we may argue that the instruments, devices and technological applications we develop and eventually bring into play often carry a significant weight in our approaches to manage and arrange our daily times and spaces. In this sense, telecommunication technologies, in particular the Internet, may be considered as time-management tools, because speed, ubiquity, flexibility and simultaneity are some of the main traits usually and intuitively linked to their use. The ever-increasing use of the Internet and the associated relentless innovation regarding its multifaceted application to all sorts of communication processes
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may bear a momentous impact on time-related issues (Lee et al., 2006; Thompson, 1995; Castells, 1996). We have already mentioned the displacement and enhancement hypotheses that have typically been used to address people’s media and technology adoption patterns in a scenario like the one described above (Nie et al., 2002; Lee et al., 2006). Yet, polychronicity, or people’s preference for the carrying out different tasks as opposed to linear activities, which has been positively correlated with Internet use and skills and negatively associated with television viewing (Lee et al., 2006), may be alternatively probed, in terms of multitasking in communication practices, as a logical and expected outcome and solution within the empirical question of how the Internet is introduced in a media/device-rich, activity-packed milieu (Tabernero et al., 2009a). Moreover, in this sense, we must keep in mind, that the household, our main focal point thus far, is increasingly becoming a multi-screen environment, where displacement, engagement or multitasking in communication practices at large, may be referred to the capability to perform different activities at the same time using just one screen (e.g., the computer for multimodal, multi-faceted Internet use), or simultaneously in separate screens (e.g., multi-purpose Internet use in the computer, television viewing using the regular TV set, communicating or organizing one’s own agenda by means of the cell phone, etc.) In this context, as argued earlier, people’s adoption of technical innovations depends on the perceived balance between expectations and gratifications in the use of a particular technology. This in turn hinges on people’s needs, beliefs and attitudes within a wide array of well-established and highly-structured habits, as well related to people’s perception and interaction within and about media and their application for various tasks (Walther et al., 2005).
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Indeed, by weighing Internet-related multitasking skills and other media usage carried out parallel to with daily high time-consuming activities (traditional television viewing, essential from the media and the home environment perspectives, and work and/or study, as control), we shown, initially, that users draw on the growing need to utilize the Internet for the completion of daily obligations to experiment with its functional versatility. Interestingly, on the other hand, we observed a similar pattern with traditional television watching, which seems to have paved the way for the introduction to and experimentation with the flexibility provided by the technical traits of the Internet. These results show how the way that Internet use has been introduced, either at work or at home, shapes the patterns of experimentation and familiarization with its flexible application to each individual’s everyday life, starting with the times at first specifically allotted for its use within a highly-structured and activity-packed daily schedule (Tubella et
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al., 2008a; Tabernero et al., 2009a; 2009b). However, bearing in mind that communication multitasking practices come across as commonplace both while at work and while at traditional television viewing, some drawbacks are observed in relation to the simultaneous use of different devices. The lower level of simultaneous use of the Internet while at traditional television viewing, together with the fact that image-based content consumption does not seem compatible either with working or studying, or with the consumption of any kind of content through any other medium, underscores a certain degree of technical/use (in) compatibilities, involving mainly the management of imagebased content, particularly by means of simultaneous utilization of separate screens (Tubella et al., 2008a; Tabernero et al., 2009a; 2009b). Taken together, all these results illustrate that multitasking, beyond its consideration as a natural feature in Internetlinked personalization of communication practices, emerges as a measure of the balance between two interrelated aspects concerning technology-mediated communication processes. First, Internet user/experience attributes develop in relation to the way of the introduction to its use. In this sense, people’s incorporation of the Internet and its functional versatility to their everyday lives is primarily linked to the carrying out of responsibilities and the correlated scheduling of “free time” and media use, as it happens above all with older-than-30 users and their less-than-18 children. And second, technical/ use (in)compatibilities. These mainly involve the simultaneous utilization of separate screens and provide additional insights into the contradictions brought forward by the displacement and engagement hypotheses, concerning in particular the consumption of image-based content.
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All in all, these multitasking traits […] offer a detailed perspective on the complexity of individuals’ processes of adoption of technology [and their] relation to Internet and media practices. Indeed, considering the role of Internet use in the gradual modification of personal daily times and activities, it seems essential to delve into Internet- and media-associated issues pertaining to individual time management. By showing distinct media and communication multitasking patterns, the most experienced and intensive Internet users […] (those between 18 and 30 years old) point at their gradual attainment of a more interconnected, specialized and flexible use of both traditional media and the Internet. To delve into these users’ technology-mediated communication practices, particularly at home, […] undoubtedly help[s us] to further understand key issues related to the ever-increasing incorporation of the Internet in people’s everyday lives, such as, for instance, how and why “television would be the Internet greatest casualty” (Lee et al., 2006, p.304). (Tabernero et al., 2009a, p.17).
Indeed, to set these data accurately in context, and considering the role of Internet use in the gradual modification of personal daily times and activities, it is essential to look into users’ management of their daily communication and media practices. In this sense, it is fundamental to point out that television watching is no doubt the media practice that suffers most from the incorporation of habitual Internet operation in people’s daily lives. In this context, interestingly, we found that, although predominantly doing their traditional television viewing at prime time, Internet users show a significant degree of migration of this practice to an anytime schedule, linked above all to the most experienced, active and intensive Internet users within the group, and again to the young. In addition, most other media practices, especially non-image-based such as Internet use, fall primarily within the anytime schedule. Conversely, whenever Internet use is not described as a ubiquitous
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and flexible activity, it is significantly situated at work hours and/or at prime time in the household within the daily schedule, especially, in this case, by the not-so-young and least experienced, frequent and intensive clusters of Internet users among the participants (Tubella et al., 2007; 2008; Tabernero et al., 2009b; 2009c). Thus, our research shows that flexibility with Internet and media practices, as a solution to daily time constraints and to technology and media technical/use incompatibilities, comes once again as a function of experience, intensity of use and age. Indeed, we may add that, despite a certain degree of parent-driven structuring of children’s daily schedules, as children grow and become more autonomous, these factors naturally and gradually challenge their parents’ traditional and long-established media practices (Tubella et al., 2007; 2008; Tabernero et al., 2009b; 2009c). We have so far identified the household as one of the main stages where traditional and novel communication practices coexist and evolve. In a context where daily schedules are highly structured and television viewing consumes a bulk of leisure time, the multiplication of devices and (particularly screens) and the increasing and related demand for active participation in technologylinked communication processes pose a challenge to traditional everyday schedules and habits. Furthermore, as we have seen regarding the importance of age, the simultaneous appropriation of distinct technological and media devices by the youngest members of families, together with their swift adoption, active exploration and efficient use of the technical traits and applications of ICTs, effectively question their elders’ traditional media-related communication practices. The young’s preferred option is flexible, interactive, personalized and specialized management of all sorts of activities, particularly regarding media and communication practices, over the role of traditional mass media “as a structuring force in the routines and patterns of everyday life” (Dickinson et al., 2001, pp.241-242). In this sense, the young are the real driving force for transformation in this respect, albeit according to the logical negotiation with their parents in relation to the organization and overall management of their lives (Tubella et al., 2007; 2008;
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Tabernero et al., 2009b; 2009c). Participatory, collaborative cultures As we have been arguing along this chapter, it is essential to consider users’ patterns of appropriation of media and technology, as we have described so far, in relation to basic features of their daily endeavours. Directly related to media and communication processes, we may primarily focus on the development and unfolding of social, professional and learning skills, individual and collective identity traits, and play and leisure practices. In these sense, we have verified the importance of the Internet in daily home practices, insofar as the coupling computer/Internet is by far the first device/media they switch on when arriving home, if it is not always on. Upon double-checking that Internet-linked or Internet-compatible (i.e. not requiring the simultaneous use of another screen) media multitasking is predominant, we are able to determine that Internet users attribute to the Internet information, entertainment and practical functions traditionally divided up among different media, which they link, as shown before, with an anytime way of operation (Tabernero et al., 2009b). Given this multimodal and multipurpose use of the Internet, it also seems necessary to probe the level of trust that users place in different media, not only with regard to content consumption, but in relation to their participative practices. Interestingly, in our research context, where Internet users show moderate but significant levels of production and distribution of content, both interest-driven and friendship-driven (Ito et al., 2008) use (including participation in forums, wikis and professional or media-related blogs, the use of self-presentation services such as holding personal web pages or blogs, being members of virtual communities, participation in other people’s blogs, or holding personal profiles in online social networks), the Internet at large, and the more personal sites in particular, boast the lowest level of trust compared with institutionalized sources of information such as traditional media, cultural activities in general, or administration and education websites, notwithstanding face-to-face relations. Such results
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point at a set of socially-established perceptions that restrict but do not prevent users’ experimentation with and adoption of active participation practices in Internet-linked communication processes (Tabernero et al., 2009b). Nevertheless, these practices are relevant in relation to the emergence of participatory and collaborative cultures, regarding the multi-layered production, sharing, consumption and use of all sorts of content, information and knowledge. In the process, people incessantly rebuild their relationship with these technologies and media, naturally according to their own personal and communal interests (Tubella et al., 2008b; Tabernero et al., 2009b; SánchezNavarro et al, 2009). Indeed, mass media organizations will increasingly have to operate in a collaborative culture context. In this context, on the one hand, some traditional media producers may adopt a collaborative approach, encouraging audiences’ participation whilst taking advantage of consumer-generated content. On the other hand, other media organizations may take on an opposing stance due to apprehension of loss of control over content production and distribution channels. These established entities will attempt to somehow shield what they consider their intellectual properties. Yet, in all likelihood, most mass media corporations and conglomerates will try to find a stable position between both ends in their attempt to form a brand new relationship with their audiences so as to maintain their loyalty while setting limits to the space audience participation. Web 2.0 uses will inexorably drive media production companies to gradually incorporate their already waning audience participatory impulse. Online Web 2.0 services, at the other extreme, depend entirely on user-generated content (Tubella et al., 2008b). But this dynamics bears a cultural, collective, participatory and collaborative trait, linked to an increasing demand for interactivity, rather than a mere technological-economic and market-driven predicament. Indeed, in this context, online networking activities, which may epitomize these developments, are relentlessly growing prominent in the Internet. Taken as a whole, online social networks support self-presentation as well as contact establishment. They
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uphold interest- or friendship-driven activities and include immediate communication channels, while allowing the uploading, sharing and consumption of any kind of content, whether selfproduced or retrieved from other sources. All these features comprise the skills needed and developed around ICT usage, upon which the traits of an emergent participatory culture crystallize – multi-layered affiliations, wide-ranging expressions, collaborative problem-solving and multi-modal circulations (Jenkins et al., 2008). In turn, all these skills seem to bear most of the Internet features identified as valuable by Internet users, who, unsurprisingly, as we found, actively engage in online social network activities, in effect showing a trend from initial weekly or sporadic use towards daily or permanent use. When asked about specific goals of their using these tools and services, the most widely cited important functions include establishing and keep contact with other people, self-presentation and self-promotion.. However, interestingly, Internet users probed by our research give an overall priority to entertainment purposes, or “to pass the time”, lending to these tools and services an undeniable scent of renewed media uses and practices. Indeed, in addition, contribution of content - either audiovisual or text-based - is also mentioned as an essential feature of online social networks. And furthermore, users also point to online networking activities not only as complementary to face-toface relations, as far as social, practical and identity purposes are concerned, but also noticeably to traditional media, in connection with information and entertainment aims. These, together with the increasing intensity of their use, which evidently contributes to the users’ relentless redefinition of their functions and applications, pinpoint online social networks as an emerging transformation factor, with a noteworthy bearing on communication processes at large, and thus, on current patterns of socio-cultural change (Tabernero et al., 2009b; Sánchez-Navarro et al., 2009). Media practices, connected lives: Ongoing research
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As we have argued so far, the lives of children and teenagers today unfold in an increasingly media- and technology-rich environment, where ICTs are paramount. Tools, devices and services such as computers, videogames, digital cameras, cell phones and the Internet are integral to their everyday endeavours. For them, communication means, most importantly among other aspects, SMS, instant messaging, sharing through P2P services, creating and contributing to online social networks, blogging or micro blogging, searching information with the help of Google or Wikipedia, etc. In fact, an increasing number of them have created and are actively maintaining one or several online self-presentation, contribution and communication spaces of some sort (Aranda et al., 2009). There is no question that this kind of activities, necessarily linked to their patterns of appropriation of all these tools, devices and services, has a significant bearing on their attainment and development of social and learning skills, that is, on the way they communicate, collaborate, work, study and solve problems. And indeed, we may argue that, as a result, the young are actually developing a multi-layered participatory culture – is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created) (Jenkins et al., 2008, p.3).
In fact, the young acquire online network capital (i.e. knowledge) from and through contribution to the community, by sharing their experiences as well as their varying frames of mind, while obtaining more knowledge and support, sociability and recognition spaces (Rheingold, 2002). Moreover, as far as the young are concerned, online networks can be seen as friendship-driven or interest-
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driven, non-formal and affinity-based participatory/collaborative learning spaces, where popular cultures are truly addressed in depth by their contributors, as they are sustained by communal, all-inclusive efforts, regardless of socio-demographic distinctions (Ito et al., 2008; Gee, 2004). In all, online networking and, by extension, ICT usage at large, particularly as shaped by young users, may be understood as both a multi-modal form of cultural consumption and a specific, everrenewing set of media practices. This definition further verifies the strong link between shared media consumption habits and the creation and development social interaction network (Couldry and Markham, 2006). Hence, as participative, social and cooperative media-related activities playing a fundamental role in present-day community building, identity formation, status negotiation and peerto-peer sociality, ICT usage, particularly the use of the Internet and mobile communication (mainly cell phones but also videogames since playing is, as Aranda and Sánchez-Navarro [2008] put it, a social activity based on cooperation with others and forms part of a network made up of people, tools and technologies) must be considered as potential educational tools, mostly and precisely in relation to the young. In this sense, we are in fact developing a new research project with the aim of building up methodologies and dynamics that would eventually allow the integration of the digital screens and devices young people are currently using within settings and processes of non-formal, leisure-based education (Aranda and Sánchez-Navarro, 2008, p.388).
References Aranda, D., Sánchez-Navarro, J. (2008). Understanding the use of videogames in non-formal education in Barcelona. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology – ACE 2008. New York, ACM.
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Aranda, D., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Tabernero, C., Tubella, I. (2009). Los alumnos del siglo XXI y la alfabetización digital [21st century students and digital literacy]. 6th Congress of Education Inspectors in Galicia. Lugo (Spain), 2009. Bausinger, H. (1984). Media, Technology and Daily Life. Media, Culture and Society, 6 (4). 343-352. Blumler, J.G. (1979). The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratifications Studies. Communication Research, 6: 9-36. Bryant, J.A., Sanders-Jackson, A., Smallwood, A.M.K. (2006). IMing, Text Messaging, and Adolescent Social Networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 577-592. Castells, M. (1996). The Information Age. Economy, Society and Culture. Vol. I: The Rise of the Network Society. Oxford; Malden, MA: Blackwell. Couldry, N. (2004). Theorising Media as Practice. Social Semiotics 14(2). 115132. Couldry, N., Markham, T. (2006). Public Connection through Media Consumption: Between Oversocialization and De-Socialization? The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 608: 251-269. Dickinson, R., Murcott, A., Eldridge, J., Leader, S. (2001). Breakfast, Time, and “Breakfast Time”: Television, Food, and the Organization of Consumption. Television & New Media, 2(3), 235-256. Fishbein, M. (1980). A Theory of Reasoned Action: some Applications and Implications. In Howe, H., & Page, M. (Eds.). Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 27, 65-116. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Gee, J.P. (2004). Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of Tradicional Schooling. New York: Routledge. Heim, J., Brandtzaeg, P.B., Kaare, B.H., Endestad, T., Torgersen, L. (2007). Children’s usage of media technologies and psychosocial factors. New Media & Society, 9 (3), 425-454. Ito, M., Horst, H., Bittanti, M., boyd, d., Herr-Stepehnson, B., Lange, P.G., Pascoe, C.J., Robinson, L. (2008). Living and Learning with New Media: Summary of Findings from the Digital Youth Project. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation. . Jenkins, H., Purushotma, R., Clinton, K., Weigel, M., Robison, A.J. (2008). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education
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for the 21st Century. Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation. . Lee, L. (2005). Young people and the Internet: from theory to practice. Young 13 (4). 315-326. Lee, W., Kuo, E.C.Y.. (2002). Internet and Displacement Effect: Children’s Media Use and Activities in Singapore. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 7 (2). . Lee, W., Tan, T.M.K., Hameed, S.S. (2006). Polychronicity, the Internet, and the Mass Media: a Singapore Study. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11, 300-316. Lehman-Wilzig, S., Cohen-Avigdor, N. (2004). The Natural Life Cycle of media Evolution: Internet-media Struggle for Survival in the Internet Age. New media & Society, 6 (6). 707-730. Lin, C.A. (2003). An Interactive Communication Technology Adoption Model. Communication Theory, 13 (4), 345-365. Livingstone, S. (2003). Children’s use of the Internet: reflections on the emerging research agenda. New Media & Society, 5 (2), 147-166. Maslow, A.H. (1970). Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper & Row. Mattingly, M.J., Sayer, L.C. (2006). Under Pressure: Gender Differences in the Relationship between Free Time and Feeling Rushed. Journal of Marriage and Family, 68: 205-221. McMillan, S.J., Morrison, M. (2006). Coming of age with the Internet: a qualitative exploration of how the Internet has become an integral part of young people’s lives. New Media & Society, 8 (1), 73-95. Morley, D., Silverstone, R. (1990). Domestic Communication – Technologies and Meanings. Media, Culture and Society, 12 (1). 31-56. Nie, N.H., Hillygus, D.S., Erbring, L. (2002). Internet Use, Interpersonal Relations, and Sociability: A Time Diary Study. In Wellman, B., Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.) The Internet in Everyday Life (pp. 215-243). Malden: Blackwell Publishers. Rheingold, H. (2002). Smart Mobs. The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing. Sánchez-Navarro, J., Aranda, D., Tabernero, C., Tubella, I. (2009). Use and perception of online social networks. 5th International Congress Communication and Reality: Metamorphosis of the Media Space. Barcelona (Spain), 2009.
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Tabernero, C., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Tubella, I. (2008). The young and the Internet: Revolution at home. When the household becomes the foundation of socio-cultural change. Observatorio (OBS*) Journal 6: 273-291 . Tabernero, C., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Aranda, D., Tubella, I. (2009a). Screen Wars: Multitasking traits for Internet and television usage. International Journal of Communication (under review; draft pages: 1-18). Tabernero, C., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Aranda, D., Tubella, I. (2009b). Online networking as a growing multimodal and multipurpose media practice: a key factor for socio-cultural change. Webscience Conference 2009: Society On-Line. Athens (Greece), 2009 Tabernero, C., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Aranda, D., Tubella, I. (2009c). Evolving communication practices in increasingly multi-screen environments. 5th International Congress Communication and Reality: Metamorphosis of the Media Space. Barcelona (Spain), 2009. Thompson, J. B. (1995). The Media and Modernity: A Social Theory of the Media. Cambridge: Polito Press/Blackwell Tubella, I., Tabernero, C., Dwyer, V. (2007). Communication as a Change Factor in the Information Society: Internet in Catalonia’s Audiovisual Context. Barcelona: UOC. . Tubella, I., Tabernero, C., Dwyer, V. (2008a). Internet y Televisión: La Guerra de las Pantallas [Internet and Television: the War of the Screens]. Barcelona: Ariel. Tubella, I., Sánchez-Navarro, J., Tabernero, C. (2008b). Tàctiques i estratègies en els nous camps de batalla de la comunicació. Transformacions en l’ús, consum i producció de la informació a la societat xarxa [Tactics and strategies in the new battlefields of communication. Transformations in the use, consumption and production of information in the network society]. Tripodos 23: 119-133. Valkenburg, P.M., Schouten, A.P., Peter, J. (2005). Adolescents’ identity experiments on the Internet. New Media & Society, 7 (3), 383-402. Walther, J.B., Gay, G., Hancock, J.T. (2005). How Do Communication and Technology Researchers Study the Internet? Journal of Communication, 55 (3). 632-657.
IV The Politics of Internet: political expectations and elections
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15 Internet Usage, the Media, and Political Expectations: Results from WIP Chile 20032008 Sergio Godoy-Etcheverry
Introduction This article describes the impact of the Internet on media consumption and expectations, as well as on perceptions of political empowerment in Chile between 2003 and 2008, according to the local chapter of the World Internet Project, WIP1. We address questions such as how the Internet affects the usage of radio, TV, and newspapers; the factors that explain substitution and usage of these media and their credibility; and the influence of the web on fostering a more politically active citizenry. This will be done by analysing a selection of data drawn from the WIP Chile surveys from 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008, and will be compared to selected WIP countries with frequent distinctions between web users and non-users. Additional findings from the complementary Business and Information Technology Project (BIT) concerning the state of the information economy in Chile will also be discussed as background. WIP/BIT Chile Project, funded by the National Fundo f Science and Technology (Fondecyt project Nº1050769), and executed by the schools of Communication, Sociology, and Engineering at Universidad Catolica de Chile, in partnership with the Santiago Chamber of Commerce. The WIP Chile team is integrated by Dr Soledad Herrera (Sociology), Dr Marcos Sepulveda (Engineering), George Lever (CCS), and Aldo Myrick (CCS). Co-ordinator: Dr Sergio Godoy (Communications).
1
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The ultimate purpose of this analysis is to attempt to cross check, in a tentative way, the view of authors who propose a new world order (named Information Society, Information Economy, and the like) caused by digital information technologies (IT) in general, in which the Internet plays a crucial role (Apte & Nath, 2004; Castells, 2000; Porat & Rubin 1977; UNICOM, 2000). For this purpose we focus on two specific sections from the WIP questionnaire: influence on media and political perceptions. Although WIP covers a much broader range of subjects, we focused on these two due to their relevance: three quarters of Chileans get their perceptions about reality from terrestrial TV newscasts. Together with radio, television is one of the two media forms with universal penetration (additionally, radio has the highest prestige and credibility in the country according to several public opinion polls). Besides, newspapers are highly influential in defining the news agenda of all the other media (Godoy, 2003; McCombs & Pla, 2003; McCombs & Reynolds, 2002). If the web affects the way people use these media, it may affect also political perceptions of political empowerment since users can circumvent these gatekeepers of information in order to mobilize collectively, speak louder to governments and the like. The chapter will start by explaining the main methodological aspects of the WIP Chile survey. Then it will situate the country within an international comparative framework of socioeconomic development, which is supposedly advancing towards an Information Economy. Next, it will describe the main characteristics of web usage in Chile according to WIP Chile data since 2003. This is to be followed by a discussion of major findings concerning media usage, as well as expectations of their information and entertainment value and credibility. The final section presents the results in the area of political perceptions. Methodology of the WIP Chile surveys The WIP Chile survey, which shares a common questionnaire with 26 other countries worldwide, is done locally on a face-to-face
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basis. Most other countries rely on computer assisted telephone interviews. Given the broad scope of WIP, the highest value of the data lies on the wide variety of subjects covered, their longitudinal evolution, and their international comparability. The questionnaire was upgraded by partners’ agreement in 2006/07, so some of the questions are not comparable before that date. Table 15.1 Details of the WIP Chile samples 2003-2008.
Table 15.1 depicts the main characteristics of the surveys executed in Chile since the beginning of the project. It is a multistage, random sample. It has been done in four different years: Fieldwork Total interviews Age Reach*
2003
2004
2006
2008
Oct-Nov 1200 12-60 years Santiago and regions Yes
July-August 1003 12-60 years Santiago and regions Yes
June-August 1017 12-60 years Santiago
Sept-Nov 640 12-60 years Santiago
Oversampling Yes No of users** *Geographic reach considers the capital Santiago (40% of national population) and the main cities of regions V (Viña del Mar/Valparaiso) and VIII (Concepcion/Talcahuano) in 2003-04. As regional results were too similar to those from the capital **Extra funding in 2003, 2004, and 2006 allowed oversampling of high income households, where users where more likely to be found. Data were afterwards weighed according to population distribution, based on government census and web access surveys.
2003 and 2004 (as a panel) and again in 2006 and 2008 (almost another separate panel, since less than 250 respondents from the first panel continued in the second row). Panel data have been analysed elsewhere, such as a follow-up of both web users and non-users between 2003 and 2004 and their respective probability to fall into the opposite category from one year to the next (Herrera, 2005, 2006). Panel data were also processed in a deeper analysis of broadband usage patterns (Godoy & Herrera, 2008). In 2003 and 2004, the survey was applied in Santiago, the capital city where 40% of the nation’s population lives, as well as in the next two largest urban areas – Valparaiso and Concepcion.
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The sample was restricted to Santiago since 2006 because little difference was found between the capital and the other two regions. Budgetary restraints implied a reduction of the sample size from nearly 1,000 cases per survey to 650 in 2008. Chile’s socioeconomic background within the Information Economy Table 15.2 compares Chile to other WIP countries according to UNDP’s Human Development Index and other welfare-related indicators, such as gender empowerment, life expectancy, GDP per capita, and literacy percentage of web users drawn from WIP data and the World Economic Forum’s Network Readiness scores are also depicted. All these figures show a relatively advanced position of Chile and Argentina in the region, comparable to some Eastern European and Mediterranean nations. This is consistent to its overall characteristics as a middle-income, small Latin American country of 15 million inhabitants in contrast to the 40 million Argentineans, 196 million Brazilians, 45 million Colombians, and 109 million Mexicans. The indicators depicted in Table 15.2 are related as well to the increasing importance of information both in society and in the economy. This fact underlies concepts such as the Information Society or the Information Economy. Within the business and economics side of the WIP/BIT project in Chile, we measured the size and structure of the information economy and its recent growth in comparison to South Korea and the US (Aviles, Godoy & Sepulveda, 2008; Aviles & Sepulveda, 2008). This work was based on Apte & Nath’s updated version of Porat & Rubin’s classic study of the US information economy in the 1960s (Apte & Nath, 2000; Porat & Rubin, 1977). Porat and Rubin divided the economy into two different but inseparable domains. The first one was conceived as the transformation of matter and energy from one pattern into another, while the second was the transformation of information from one pattern into another. This second dominion corresponds to the information economy, which was based on the concepts of
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“information” and “information activity.” These authors defined information as “data that have been organized and communicated,” whereas “information activity” was “all the workers, machineries, goods and services that are used in processing, manipulating and transmitting information” (Porat & Rubin, 1977). Table 15.2 Selected WIP countries ranked according to UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) and other welfare indicators. Sources: UNDP, World Economic Forum. For Internet penetration, WIP Project and Internet World Stats (for data about Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, China, Russia, Spain, and Portugal).
HDI rank 2009
Country
Web Life penetration expectancy Network Readiness (% at Barth (years) Index 2006/07 population)
Store
Rk
HIGH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 15 USA 5.54 7
2008
2006
Adult literacy rate GDP per (% aged 15 capita (PPP and above) US$)
1999— 2006
2006
UNDP gender empowerment measure (GEM)
Rk
Value
72%
78.0
..
43,968
18
0.769
16
Spain
4.35
32
66%
80.7
97.4
29,208
12
0.825
20
New Zealand
5.01
22
77%
80.0
..
25,260
13
0.823
21
UK
5.45
9
66%
79.2
..
32,654
14
0.786
33
Portugal
4.48
28
73%
77.9
94.6
20,845
20
0.741
35
Czech Rep.
4.28
34
50%
76.2
..
22,004
31
0.650
38
Hungary
4.33
33
42%
73.1
98.9
18,154
54
0.586
40
Chile
4.46
31
48%
78.4
96.4
12,997
75
0.521
46
Argentina
3.59
63
49%
75.0
97.6
11,985
25
0.692
51
Mexico
3.91
49
25%
75.8
91.7
12,176
47
0.603
70
Brazil
3.84
53
21%
72.0
89.6
8,949
81
0.498
73
Russia
3.54
70
27%
65.2
99.5
13,205
65
0.544
MEDIUM HUMAN DEVELOPMENT 80 Colombia 3.59 64 23%
72.5
92.3
6,381
82
0.488
94
China
3.68
59
22%
72.7
93.0
4,682
72
0.526
132
India
4.06
44
7%
64.1
65.2
2,489
..
..
Sources: UNDP, World Economic Forum. For internet penetration, WIP Project and Internet World Stats (for data about Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, China, Russia, Spain, and Portugal)
Using Porat and Rubin’s framework, we found that information accounts for more than half of the aggregate Chilean economy. So, technically at least, it can be said that Chile belongs to the
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Information Economy. Yet this component remained almost static from 51.97% of GDP in 1996 to 52.42% in 2003. These results were lower and less dynamic than those in the US and South Korea (figure 15.1). Figure 15.1 The Information Economy in Chile, the US, and South Korea.
Thus Porat and Rubin’s say that the use of information in organizations and economies has marked a change in society as a whole. Economies have experienced a progressive transition from an industrial production model toward others based on the creation, processing, and application of knowledge. Our findings suggest that this proposal is occuring as well in a developing nation, and not only in the US (Aviles, Godoy & Sepulveda, 2009; Aviles & Sepulveda, 2008). Now we will check how far that assertion is consistent with people’s everyday life as studied by WIP. Main traits of the web usage in Chile Based on the CASEN governmental surveys complementary to WIP, we calculated that web users grew nationally from 18.7% in 2000 to an estimated 48% in 20082. As in the other WIP countries, web usage in Chile is biased towards the young (Figure 15.2) and 2 A web user is anyone who used the Internet at least once in the last 90 days, in any place.
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the wealthiest (Figure 15.3), a variable related to education. Our results since 2003 suggest that this income gap has been ameliorated by a series of public policy measures, notably an initiative from the Ministry of Education called Plan Enlaces, which consists on providing public schools (where the poorest attend) with PCs and Internet access: the poor and the young get access to the web both at public schools and/or public-access places such as cybercafés (Godoy et al., 2009). Figure 15.2 Web users in Chile according to age (2006).
This growth of Internet access is complemented by an important percentage of “proxy users”, non-users who rely on someone else (usually a close relative or friend) to check e-mails, download useful information, and the like. Given that proxy users get some degree of online experience, however imperfect, we have argued they are a relevant means to compensate the digital gap in Chile (Godoy et al., 2006, 2009). Figure 4 shows the evolution of users, proxy users, and wholly disconnected non-users since 2003 in Santiago, the capital. Being a proxy user is related to age and
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wealth: 5% of those aged 12-17 fall into this category in contrast to 59% of those aged 50-60, whereas the percentages for the richest ABC1C2 income group and the poorest D segment are 20% and 49% respectively (Godoy et al., 2009).
Figure 15.3 Percentage of web users in Chile according to income quintiles 2000-2006.
At the same time, broadband has been growing fast – especially among the lower-middle and lower income groups. In 2003, it reached 56% of household connections against 43% modembased ones. The corresponding proportions in 2008 were 81% and 12% respectively. Yet these figures should be handled with care: the definition of what exactly is “broadband” has been severely contested in Chile. Indeed, until fairly recently, many suppliers, as well as government agencies, considered broadband connections as slow as 128 Kbps instead of the 1.5 Mbps recommended by ITU and similar international entities. As respondents are unable to tell the difference when interviewed, we therefore prefer to speak about dedicated, “always on” connections, just as specialised regulatory agencies such as SUBTEL do (Godoy, 2008; Godoy & Herrera, 2008). In any case, the repertoire of online activities performed by the average user in Chile is predominantly related to entertainment, such as checking email, browse the web, or download music. Compared to countries such as the USA or Sweden, Chileans
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perform less frequently work-related activities and those oriented to make a more efficient use of time (Godoy et al, 2009).
Figure 15.4. Users and non-users in Santiago, 2003-2008.
Another important consideration to remember is that average Internet users are, as said previously, wealthier and more educated than those without access. That fact may explain many advantageous uses of the Internet we did not discuss in this article, such as productivity at work or school (which is not very evident, anyway. See Godoy et al., 2006). Wealthier users use a wider combination of technologies, such as sophisticated mobile phones, and are able to take more advantage of the web since most of them have broadband connections at home (a place of use in which technology can be better used, as it can be integrated to the most intimate space of persons). They also use computers actively at work, as their jobs are generally information-intensive. In contrast, poorer users access to cyberspace more frequently at school and at public places such as cybercafés than at home (Godoy et al., 2009), and perform jobs that require fewer information processing through computers and the web. Therefore many of the supposed advantages of the Internet can be in reality underpinned by preexisting socioeconomic advantages.
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Web usage and its impact on traditional media Despite the growth of the Internet as well as the online experience of users, the importance of traditional, “old” media cannot be underestimated. Aside from the fact that radio and television are present in all households and daily times of usage are among the highest of all type of activities except sleeping, more than two thirds of Chileans recur to television newscasts as the main source of news and information. Besides, many studies confirm an important influence of newspapers in the definition of the news agenda of the other media (Godoy 2003, 2004; Mc Combs & Pla, 2003). Figure 15.5 Hours per week of TV viewing in selected WIP countries, 2007/2008 (users and non-users). Sources: WIP Chile 2008, World Internet Project International Report 2009.
In any case, a few significant changes in usage and expectations concerning traditional media among web users and non-users have occured due to the growth of the Internet, while other factors have remained stable (Godoy 2005a, 2005b; Godoy & Herrera 2008, 2004). For instance, television viewing in Chile drops among users as elsewhere in the world. Yet from 2003 to 2008 exposure to all traditional media has increased in Chile –both among the online community and the disconnected (Figures 15.5 and 15.6).
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Simultaneously, weekly hours devoted to be online have also increased (Figure 15.7). In other words, users are devoting more time to all media, both “old” and “new”.
Figure 15.6 Hours per week dedicated to offline media by web users, 2003-2008.
Figure 15.7 Hours per week dedicated to offline media by web non-users, 2003-2008.
While data reveal substitution of radio and TV by the Internet since 2003 in Chile, there is no difference of exposure between web users and non-users concerning time spent reading newspapers offline. This is related to the fact that web users are, on average,
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wealthier and more educated than non-users and, thus, more prone to read, offline or online.
Figure 15.8 Hours per week dedicated to offline media and the Internet by users and nonusers, 2008.
Analysis according to age presented further distinctions between the two groups. Figure 15.8 compares exposure to TV by users and non-users according to age, while Figures 15.9 and 15.10 do the same for exposure to radio and newspapers, respectively. These data suggest that demographics seems to play a role of its own as well. Time devoted to radio and newspapers increases with age, while the opposite occurs with television – the young spend more time watching it than adults, despite the gap between web users and the disconnected of all ages. We will come back to this soon. As said in previous WIP Chile reports, contents also influence usage. A predominantly musical type of programming in radio broadcasting, such as Chile’s, is more likely to be substituted by the Internet, since downloading MP3 music files is one of the most popular online activities among Chilean users (Godoy et al., 2006; Godoy, 2005b).
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Figure 15.9 Weekly hours of TV viewing by web users and non-users 2008, according to age.
Figure 15.10 Weekly hours of radio usage by web users and non-users 2008, according to age.
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Figure 15.11 Weekly hours of newspaper reading by web users and non-users 2008, according to age. We cannot be sure if youngsters will keep their current media mix as they age, or if they will gradually modify it as lifestyles vary according to events such as marriage, or having children and taking care of them. On the one hand, it can be hypothesized that people used to a techology will stick to it throughout their lives. Yet there is also evidence of changes of media usage patterns depending on factors such as psychological development or changes of marital status. Additionally, the media and content creation industries are dynamic, and they need to adapt to changes in demand and new business models able to sustain them (Godoy & Herrera, 2004; Godoy 2007a, 2007b, 2007c).
Expectations about information, entertainment, and credibility Among other factors, usage of different media is related to expectations regarding the value of information and entertainment their contents provide, as well as the credibility they have in the eyes of the general public. This section examines these three aspects of media in a broad sense, contrasting radio, television, newspapers
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and the Internet as separate information and entertainment sources according to the WIP questionnaire, which also includes interpersonal relations in the comparison. Credibility is examined in a separate question. Due to changes in the way these questions were put to the subjects, we will compare results between 2006 and 2008 in most of the cases.
Figure 15.12 Percentage of users and non-users who consider different media as ‘important/ very important’ sources of information, 2006-2008.
We start with the information value attributed to these entities. From 2006 to 2008, the relevance of the Internet for non-users, as revealed by answering “important/very important” in a fivepoint Likert scale, fell from 63% to 44% (Figure 12). This does not necessarily mean a lower valuation of the web among the disconnected but rather a combination of factors, such as a more realistic assessment of the potentialities of this artefact, enhanced
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contents in other media, and/or a growing concentration of the people more reluctant to the Internet as non-users (as those better disposed to it become users over time). In any case, nearly 80% of users as well as non-users think that interpersonal relations is the most valued source of information. The two groups differ in regard to the second most important source: Users tick the Internet, while non-users choose TV. Another interesting point is a higher valuation of TV and newspapers by all respondents in 2008, while radio grew only among non-users. Users showed an increased appreciation of newspapers, the Internet, and TV in 2008, while their appreciation for radio and interpersonal relations stayed the same as in 2006. The differences in the information media mix between users and non-users is related to socioeconomic, education, and age factors. As said in previous WIP Chile reports, reading newspapers is positively correlated to higher incomes and levels of education in Chile, just as Internet access (yet there is a divergence concerning age: newspaper readers belong to older generations, and they may be gradually dying away without being replaced). Radio and television, which reach almost all households free of charge, overall offer contents that are more oriented to massive, popular tastes. In other WIP countries, and excluding interpersonal relations, the 2007/08 average user values the Internet most as a source of information (71%) followed by TV (56%), newspapers (55%) and radio (45%). Chileans are placed above those averages: 75% for the Internet, 59% for TV, 63% for newspapers, and 40% for radio (Godoy et al., 2009). But while a higher valuation of the Internet as a source of information is rather predictable among users, between 2003 and 2008 this perception declined in Chile for both users and non-users, as confirmed by the log scale line (Figure 15.13), although drop was more severe among the latter. Again, this may be caused by a more realistic assessment of the potentialities of the web by both groups, as well as the factors mentioned before.
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Figure 15.13 Percentage of users and non-users who consider the Internet as an ‘important/ very important’ source of information, 2003-2008 (with log scale).
As can be seen in Figure 15.14, there are some similarities between the valuation of the different media as sources of entertainment in Chile. First, interpersonal relations get the highest important/very important rates of response. The Internet comes next among users (rising from 17% to 58% between 2006 and 2008) and last among non-users (falling from 32% to 22% in the same period). Within non-users, the three “old” media improve their scores in 2008: radio and TV get nearly 70% each, and newspapers almost half of responses. Among web users, traditional media do not score badly. Although “other people” and the Internet are the most appreciated sources of amusement (they get nearly two thirds of mentions), both radio and TV show a strong increase over the two years. In
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Figure 15.14 Percentage of users and non-users who consider different media as “important/very important” sources of entertainment, 2006-2008.
contrast, newspapers lost a quarter of their appeal in 2008, perhaps unsurprisingly so as they are a traditional source of information and news. In contrast to its value as a source of information, the Internet’s entertainment value has increased among web users since 2003, as shown ini Figure 15.15 (which also illustrates the trend on a log scaled line). Non-users, on the other hand, have reduced their expectations in this respect.
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Figure 15.15 Percentage of users and non-users who consider the Internet as an “important/ very important” source of entertainment, 2003-2008 (with log scale).
Internationally, and excluding interpersonal relations, the averages shown by web users in the WIP countries in 2007/08 are 59% for television, 52% for the Internet, 43% for radio, and 32% for newspapers. In this case, Chileans are above the average concerning the web (58%, as in the USA) and radio (55%), and are below the average in terms of TV (57%) and newspapers (28%) (Godoy et al., 2009). Concerning credibility of different online sources, there are few changes since that question was added in 2006 (see Figure 15.16), except for those websites related to established communication media. The proportion of respondents saying that they “believe most/all” of the contents on these sites increased from 61% to 71%. Other changes are not statistically significant. In 2008, the most credible sources were the online encyplopedias /dictionaires
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(75%) and the search engines (74%), followed closely by news sites from traditional media, as mentioned above.
Figure 15.16 Percentage of users who believe most/all contents from different online sources, 2006-2008.
On average, the credibility of personal sites such as blogs (and fotologs, which have experienced a remarkable explosion in Chile) are well below these figures, with less than a fifth of mentions. This does not mean that some specific personal sites with a much higher credibility of their own may exist. It is rather that their main objective is related to self-expression and socialisation, rather than providing credible, verifiable, and impartial information. These figures may help explain why 23% of users say they have suspended a subscription to a newspaper or magazine given they can get the same content online. As this question was first included in 2008, it is hard to say if this percentage is high or low. Indeed most news organisations in Chile - newspapers and
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magazines included - provide the same contents online as they carry in their traditional means of distribution. This does not mean necessarily a cannibalisation of their conventional business model. For instance, Las Ultimas Noticias, an old tabloid belonging to the very traditional Mercurio newsgroup, not only turned its contents from crime and sports to local stars’ gossip and spectacles thanks to a very sophisticated administration and analysis of print and online readership, but has also maintained healthy advertising revenues by demonstrating its impact through both means of distribution – in fact, Las Ultimas Noticias deliberately presents the same contents in the two versions, by means of PDF files of each of its printed pages (Argandoña et al., 2008).
Figure 15.17 Percentage of users who have suspended regular subscription to a newspaper or magazine because of the availability of the same contents online, 2008. Source: WIP Chile, PUC-CCS.
In any case, loss of subscribers or churn is an old phenomenon both for print media and pay TV. Although churn figures in Chile are obscure, recent evidence suggests an increase in pay TV at least. Yet this phenomenon cannot only be related to the rise of the Internet as a substitute. Other very influential factors include restrictions on the public’s disposable income, poor customer service by providers, and/or their inability to keep an attractive portfolio of contents.
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Politics and the Internet The final aspect to comment in this chapter concerns the public’s perceptions of political empowerment due to their use of the Internet. They are measured by the degree of agreement or disagreement with a set of four questions that ask whether by using the Internet (a) politics will be better understood, (b) government will be more influenced by citizens, (c) public servants will care more for public opinions, and (d) individuals will gain more political power (in addition, a new question about the degree of interest for voting online was included in 2006). Considering wording consistency in the questionnaires, we will only compare the results from 2006 and 2008. At least in Chile, views on increase in citizen’s political control due to the web were more pessimistic in 2008 than in 2006, both among users and non-users (Figure 15.18). In contrast, interest for online voting grew from 22% to 67% of users, and was shared by 48% of non-users in 2008 (this question was not asked to this group in 2006). This strong interest for online voting may be related to recent discussions in Chile about a proposed new law ensuring automatic voter registration and non-compulsory vote. Nowadays it is the other way round: registration is voluntary for those aged 18 or older, yet voting is compulsory for those registered. If anyone fails to vote, they are fined. In recent elections, registration without really voting has grown so rampant that fines are impossible in practice. Online polls, however impractical in the real world, are therefore an attractive idea for everybody. Compared to other WIP countries, Chile seems rather sceptical about the ability of the Internet to empower citizens – especially compared to the results from urban China and Colombia (Figure 15.19). It is tempting to hypothesize about the influence of political factors such as instability (Colombia) or dictatorial experience (Hungary, Chile, China) in these perceptions about citizen political empowerment. Yet optimism or pessimism about the ability of the web to influence bureaucrats or governments is too varied: Hungary’s relative pessimism, for instance, is not far
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from traditionally democratic, wealthy Sweden. Optimism, on the other hand, is shared by very different countries such as Australia, China, Singapore, the US and UK, which lead the rankings in users’ positive response to questions about the Internet giving more political power to citizens. Figure 15.18 Percentage of users/non-users who agree/agree strongly with different statements about political empowerment due to the use of Internet, 2006/08.
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Figure 15.19 Percentage of users in selected WIP countries who agree/agree strongly with different statements about political empowerment due to Internet use, 2006/08. Sources: WIP Chile 2008, World Internet Project - International Report 2008.
Conclusions We analysed the influence of the Internet on both traditional media and people’s perception of political empowerment in Chile since 2003, in an attempt to check whether this technology is not only a tool that has changed society (and the economy) irreversibly and dramatically, but is also the main cause of changes. For this purpose we relied on specific questions from the rather descriptive, broad, and general WIP questionnaire. Despite some shortcomings, this survey has the advantage of
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being consistent over time and being internationally comparable. It also covers both users and non-users of the Internet. Many of the differences we found between these two groups of people, as well as other data we could not cover in this article, suggest a positive impact of the Internet,– perhaps unsurprisingly, as web users are wealthier than non-users, and the wealthier users generally take better advantage of new technology. Yet it is undeniable that IT is getting massive in Chile. Internet access reaches almost half of the population, one of the highest figures in the region together with Argentina’s. Mobile phones have grown even faster and reach almost 90% of the Chilean, a percentage quite similar to the addition of proxy users to those who access directly to the Internet. Broadband has grown very fast as well and thus represents 81% of domestic connections, the average bytes-per-second rate is well below the 1.5 Mbps recommended by ITU and probably would not qualify as broad enough except for the fact that they are “always on” links. Analysis of media usage and political expectations presented mixed results. We had expected web users to circumvent the traditionally centralised media as the main sources of information, while acquiring a stronger feeling of empowerment vis a vis politicians and the government. True, the substitution of television viewing time by the Internet is clear as in our first survey in 2003 (and elsewhere in the world), yet the gap has stayed rather constant. Besides, radio listening and newspaper reading is substituted in some countries only. Chile is one of the WIP countries where those who access to the Internet spend less hours per week listening to radio than non-users, but that is probably because its main contents, recorded international music, can be easily downloaded from cyberspace, which is one of the most popular online activities. In contrast, time spent reading newspapers in Chile is virtually the same for both groups. As usage of media is affected by people’s expectations about their perceived information and entertainment value (a changing perception, in any case), other factors such as contents and age are
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also influential. For instance, older respondents are more prone to reading newspapers, regardless their status as web users or nonusers. As youngsters read considerably less (at least offline), it is not clear if newspaper readers will simply die away and, therefore, make newspapers unfeasible in the future. At the same time, wealthier and more educated users are the ones who spend more time with this type of medium, so perhaps youngsters may end up devoting attention to papers as they grow in age, advance in education and become more affluent. As elsewhere in the world, the main newspapers in Chile have free online versions, and some of them successfully charge advertisers for their online readers as well. So it may well be the case that newspapers are adapting to an increasingly paperless environment, especially if they work upon the robust credibility of established media’s websites. The case of television is demographically different. TV viewing is mostly preferred by the young, both with and without access to the web. This is the same “net generation” which, simultaneously, steals time away from TV on behalf of the Internet. It is plausible they will stay as viewers as they age, being grown and fed by an intensive diet of moving images since the cradle. As with radio and newspapers, contents should be influencing the changes in TV viewing in Chile observed until 2008, as well as this technology’s perceived information and entertainment value. Yet, aside from the fact that the young multitask both online and offline, increasingly the media are putting their contents online. All this makes it harder to measure neatly usage and expectations of separate media, as they increasingly overlap as a result of technological convergence. In any case, the history of media suggests that most of them adapt to changes and are able to survive (from opera to radio, cinema, and terrestrial television), although with modified business models and usage patterns. The final aspect we analysed, the perceived political influence of the Internet, should also be interpreted with caution. Both users and non-users have become more sceptical about the possibilities of this technology to empower citizens and ensure more attention from government and its employees. This is not necessarily a
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bad thing, as it might be revealing more realism by respondents. Yet it may also indicate that expectations that IT by its own will automatically enhance democracy are, in the least, debatable. As contents can influence usage and expectations about the media, non-IT factors such as age, political institutions, and culture are too relevant to be ignored in politics. Even though there are powerful examples of citizen mobilisation in Chile triggered by spontaneous campaigns through mobile phones and the Internet (which have severely challenged the traditional agencies of power and information, at least momentarily), we simply do not have sufficient evidence to conclude that using the Internet empowers common citizens in a clear-cut way.
REFERENCES Argandoña, Luis; Arriagada, Eduardo; Pollak, Tomas (2008). Blogs. Medios Tradicionales y Nuevos Medios en el Chile 2.0. Santiago de Chile: Catalonia/ Facultad Comuncaciones UC. Avilés, Godoy & Sepulveda (2009). Size, structure, and growth of the Chilean Information Economy, in Karmarkar, U. & Mangal, V. (Eds.), The Business And Information Technologies (Bit) Project: A Global Study of Business Practice, Singapor & London: World Scientific Publishing Co, forthcoming 2009 Avilés & Sepúlveda (2008). Size and structure of the Chilean Information Economy, Cuadernos de Información, Vol. I, Nº 22, pp. 18-33 Apte, U. and H.K. Nath (2004). Size, Structure and Growth of the US Information Technology. Los Angeles, CA: Business and Information Technology Project/Anderson School of Business, UCLA. Castells, Manuel (2000). La era de la información: economía, sociedad y cultura, 2ª Ed. Madrid: Alianza Editorial. Godoy, Sergio (2007a). WIP Chile 2003-2006: Uso e impacto de Internet, Cuadernos de Información Nº20, 2007-1, pp. 67-77. - (2007b). 1988-1992: Los años de la siembra, en Acuña, Fernando (Ed.), Los primeros 50 años de la televisión en Chile. Santiago de Chile: Facultad
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Comunicaciones UC/El Mercurio/VTR/Canal 13, pp. 184-211. -(2007c). Televisión digital en Chile: aspectos regulatorios y modelo de negocio, Cuadernos de Información Nº21, 2007-2, pp. 74-81 -(2005a). Estudio WIP/BIT: Chile en el globo virtual, Revista Universitaria, Nº 87, pp. 62-65. - (2005b). Resultados WIP-Chile 2003-2004: ¿Cómo está y dónde va el uso de Internet en Chile?, Cuadernos de Información Nº18, pp. 101-111. -(2004). Propuesta UC, propuesta pública. Propuesta de proyecto de acuerdo para TVN, Cuadernos de Información Nº16-17, pp. 135-140 -(2003). Los medios de comunicación en las elecciones parlamentarias de 2001: ¿conspiración o simple mediocridad?, Cuadernos de Información Nº15, pp. 84-99 -(2000). Radio en la era digital: la relativa fragilidad de lo local, en UNICOM: Desafíos de la sociedad de la información en América Latina y Europa. Santiago: Lom ediciones, pp. 187-196 -(1999). Gestión de Radio y TV. Santiago: Ediciones Universidad Católica de Chile. Godoy, Sergio & Herrera Soledad (2008). Precisions About The Broadband Divide In Chile, en Handbook of Research in Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission, Dwivedi Y.K., Papazafeiropoulou, A., and Choudrie, J. (Eds). Hershey, PA, USA: IGI Global. - (2004). Qué ocurre cuando se usa (y no se usa) Internet: resultados del World Internet Project-Chile, Cuadernos de Información Nº16-17, pp.7184 Godoy, S.; Herrera, S.; Lever, G.; Myrick, A.; Sepúlveda, M.: (2009). Los internautas chilenos y sus símiles en el resto del mundo: resultados del estudio WIP-Chile 2008. Santiago de Chile: Facultad de Comunicaciones, Instituto de Sociología y Escuela de Ingeniería UC; Centro de Estudios de la Economía Digital, Cámara de Comercio de Santiago. -(2006). Monitoreando el futuro digital: resultados encuesta WIP-Chile 2003, 2004 y 2006. Santiago de Chile: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Instituto de Estudios Mediales, Instituto de Sociología y Escuela de Ingeniería; Centro de Estudios de la Economía Digital, Cámara de Comercio de Santiago, Santiago. Herrera, Soledad (2006). ¿Está Disminuyendo la Brecha Digital en Chile?, Economía & Administración Nº151 (diciembre/enero). 30-37. -(2005). Dropouts and New Users in the Internet Community, Santiago de
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Chile. Santiago de Chile: paper presentado en WIP/BIT Conference 2005, Facultad de Comunicaciones UC. McCombs, Maxwell & Pla, Issa L. (Eds.) (2003). Agenda Setting de los Medios de Comunicación. Sinaloa, Mexico: Universidad Iberoamericana / Universidad de Occidente McCombs, M. & Reynolds, A (2002). News influence on our Pictures of the World, in J. Bryant & D. Zyllman (Eds.), Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Porat, M.U. and M.R. Rubin, (1977). The Information Economy (9 volumes). Office of Telecommunications Special Publication, 77-12. Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce. UNICOM (2000). Primer Foro de las Comunicaciones: Desafíos de la Sociedad de la Información en América Latina y Europa. Santiago: LOM Ediciones.
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16 The Internet and The 2007 French Presidential Election Still The Time of Old Media? Thierry Vedel
1. Introduction With the development of the Internet, electoral campaigning is experiencing great changes. As more people connect to the Web the question is no longer whether candidates and parties should campaign online, but how and with what effects (Chadwick, 2006). First, is the Internet intensifying the process of electoral competition? It is often argued that minor or even marginal parties and candidates may use the Internet as a cheaper and more efficient means to reach out voters. They may bypass the mainstream media and establish a direct contact with citizens. Political organizations that lack organizational, financial or human resources may be able to circumvent in part these restrictions by going online. Second, is the Internet pulling more citizens into the electoral process? In this respect, many hopes have been placed in the Internet. The Internet is often seen as a means to empower citizens by giving them access to more diverse information sources, by providing forums for discussions alike to a new agora, by allowing data sharing or social networking. Yet, the democratic potential of the Internet needs to be tested against evidence. The 2007 French presidential provides a good
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case study. With 55% of French people over 11 years regularly using the Internet (Médiamétrie, 2007), the Internet has become a essential enabling technology for French politics. Each of the twelve candidates established a web site for the campaign. Hundreds of web sites that offered a wide array of information were available to voters, including special sections established by print media web sites, independent web platforms allowing to compare candidates platforms, research institutes or polling firms analyzing the campaign dynamics, political blogs set up by ordinary citizens, journalists or experts. However, did presidential candidates design their web sites so as to really exploit all the web functionalities; or did they just tend to replicate conventional ways of campaigning? Did French voters actually use the many sites offered to them; or did only those interested in offline politics engage in online political activity? 2. Theoretical background The discussion about the influence and potential of Internet during election campaigns has been developing for almost two decades now (Chadwick, 2006; Ward and Vedel, 2006). It started with a rather utopian vision of Internet as a revolutionary tool for democratization and a wide opening of the political process for a general but definitely more active public. At the eve of the 2000 US presidential election, Morris argued that the Internet would deeply transform elections and that politics would soon revolve around one-to-one virtual conversations between candidates and voters (Morris, 1999). Following the 2004 US presidential election, Trippi theorized the revolutionary role of the Internet in mobilizing and empowering citizens. (Trippi, 2004). Similar optimistic predictions have been made in France too. Crouzet claimed that, by allowing information sharing and social networking between people, the Internet would contribute to the decline of the so-called mainstream media and to the emergence of a Fifth Estate - what he called the connected people (Crouzet, 2007). Critics, however, claimed that Internet communication brings
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little change to the traditional communication flow between political actors and their public. The mainstream political actors would consolidate their position using the existing power resources. The political web would be mainly inhabited by those already active in politics and, as Pippa Norris put it, would mainly serve to preach the converted (Norris, 2003). The more the regular politics moves online, the more it tends to reduce the democratic potential of the Internet (Margolis and Resnick, 2000). These two approaches of the political impact of the Internet, known as the mobilization and the normalization (or reinforcement) thesis, have been widely described in the literature (Foot and Schneider, 2002; Norris, 2000). The aim of this paper is to test their validity in the case of the 2007 French presidential election. On the supply side, many studies have confirmed the normalization thesis. They have found that dominant parties and major candidates are more active online than minor parties and candidates. Because wealthier candidates and parties have larger and more qualified campaign staffs, they are able to establish web sites and Internet services which are more appealing to voters. However, Ward and his colleagues have found that, while major parties tend to dominate the web during electoral campaigns, minor parties can catch up between elections. They also underlined that, in a crossnational perspective, there is no clear connection between party resources and the level of sophistication of their web sites (Ward et al. 2003). On the usage side, early studies have demonstrated that Internet usage was highly skewed toward the more affluent and educated sectors of the society (Bimber, 1999; Norris, 2000). Even though access has widened since then and the so-called digital divide has begun to bridge (particularly in terms of gender and income, but not of age), recent studies have found that those engaging in online politics tend to be well educated and of higher socioeconomic status but also those who are the most interested and the most active in offline politics (Johnson and Kaye, 2003). Hindman suggested that there might be a political divide and disparities in Internet usage depending political attitudes (Hindman, 2003). However, Gibson
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and her colleagues offered a different picture (Gibson et al., 2005) While they recognize that going online for politics is still the fact of those who are the most predisposed toward civic engagement, they call for a re-evaluation of the normalization thesis. They argue that the Internet might expand the numbers of the politically active and reach inactive groups in offline politics. It is so if online political participation is not defined in narrow terms as a simple electronic replication of conventional political activities but encompasses the novel online participation opportunities provided on the Internet. 3. Candidates strategies on the web In modern politics, it seems mandatory for candidates to have a web site as a tool for self promotion. Each of the twelve candidates in the 2007 French presidential election fulfilled that requirement. However the execution of that task differed depending on each candidate’ financial resources and organizational support, as well as on the potential votes they could expect from citizens. Ideology also played a certain role in the on line strategies implemented by candidates. Table 16.1 shows the amount spent by each candidate for his/ her online activities in the 2007 and 2002 campaigns. Overall, Internet expenditure represented only a tiny part of candidates total spending. By contrast, candidates typically spent more than 60% of their budget for print materials and public meetings. These figures indicate that online activities were not a priority for candidates. Most of them focused their campaign on TV and on direct contacts with voters. Table 16.1 also shows a striking difference between major candidates and minor candidates. On average, major candidates devoted around 4% of their budget to Internet activities. For minor candidates Internet expenditure was almost symbolic (even though most of them had raised several millions euros for their campaign).
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Table 16.1 Proportion of spending on Internet activities in total campaign expenditure by all candidates*. Sources: Ministry of Interior, 2007 (% votes at 1st round)
Internet expenditure €
% of total spending
2002 (% votes at 1st round)
Internet expenditure
% of total spending
Royal (25,87)
866 220
4.2%
Chirac (19,88)
403 752
2.2%
Bayrou (18,57)
720 511
7.4%
Chevènement (5,33)
402 250
4,1%
Sarkozy (31,18)
675 571
3.2%
Jospin (16,18)
346 373
2.8%
Voynet (1,57)
130 172
9.0%
Bayrou (6, 84)
368 371
4.1%
Buffet (1,93)
107 604
2.2%
Hue (3,37)
84 812
1.6%
Le Pen (10,44)
29 741
0.3%
Madelin (3,91) 56 165
1.8%
Laguiller (1,33)
17 212
0.8%
Mamère (5,25) 45 711
1.1%
Bové (1,32)
8 859
0.7%
Boutin (1,19)
30 473
1.9%
De Villiers (2,23)
5 485
0.1%
Lepage (1,88)
24 317
3.2%
Besancenot 5 043 (4,08)
0.5%
Besancenot (4,25)
22 980
3%
Nihous (1,15)
2 543
0.3%
Le Pen (16,86) 6 518
0.05%
Schivardi (0,34)
664
-
Taubira (2,32)
4 467
0.3%
Laguiller (5,72)
3901
-
Gluckstein (0,47)
500
-
Saint-Josse (4,23)
144
*Candidates accounts as registered by the Conseil Constitutionel.
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393
Quite clearly, major and minor candidates did not perceive in the same ways the rewards that online campaigning might offer. Minor candidates often restricted their online campaign to setting up a web site, run by a small number of volunteers. Major candidates allocated more technological resources and staff to their online operations than minor candidates and established dedicated staffs led by professionals to operate more sophisticated web sites. The differences in the functionalities and technical /delivery features of candidates web sites are shown in Table 16.21. Table 16.2 Functional and technical scores of the candidates web sites as of April 2007. Source: Content analysis by Karolina Koc Michalska (Vedel and Koc Michalska, 2007). Bayrou Royal Functional score 0.62 Technical/ delivery 0.82 score Villiers Functional score 0.37 Technical/ delivery 0.59 score
Buffet
Sarkozy Bové
Voynet
0.66
0.53
0.65
0.5
0.45
0.61
0.73
0.55
0.53
0.58
Besancenot
Nihous
Le Pen
Schivardi Laguiller
0.34
0.38
0.28
0.3
0.27
0.55
0.53
0.56
0.3
0.32
Our content analysis produced two main outcomes. First, on average, the candidates’ web sites score better in terms of delivery than functionality. The general Functions Score is 0.439 for all the
See appendix 1 for methodology and details.
1
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candidates while it is 0.558 for the Technical/Delivery Score2. This indicates that campaign teams paid more attention to the appearance of web sites than to their content. As a matter of fact, many web sites did not provide resources for campaigning, discussions forums or contact details to join supporters groups. Some of them – notably those set up for Laguiller, Schivardi and Nihous – were even without the biographies or much other information about the candidates. By contrast, campaign teams were keener to implement some of the latest technological developments, including videos streams and RSS feeds. Secondly, there is a clear difference between web sites of the major candidates and those of their minor rivals. Web sites of Sarkozy, Royal and Bayrou not only provide more functionalities and information, they were also actively maintained and monitored by campaign staffers, who were continuously reacting to campaign events, responding to voters’ requests or questions, or staging online events (such as chats, petitions or contests). More importantly, major candidates did not restrict their online campaign to their web sites. They designed comprehensive strategies in order to optimize their visibility on the web and to spur an online grassroots support. More specifically, major candidates made efforts in two directions. They implemented a sort of systematic occupation of the web, so that any Internet user would inevitably get in contact with the candidate message, even though she or he had little interest in politics. As early as November 2005, the Union pour un mouvement populaire (UMP), Sarkozy’s party, made use of Google Adwords, to invite Internet users to discuss Sarkozy’s future manifesto. During the campaign, major candidates organized around their official web site (designated as the flagship) a network of supporter web sites or blogs (the fleet), which was generally arranged in three layers: (i) Affiliate web sites targeting at specific groups of voters (such as the Segosphere, who was dedicated to young voters; or “Supporters of Nicolas Even though the scoring systems differ, an opposite result was observed by Farmer and Fender (2005, p. 53) in their research for the 2000 US elections where the Functions score was higher than the Technical/delivery Scores.
2
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Sarkozy”, which imitated the esthetics of a soccer fan club); (ii) Web sites or blogs of the candidate’s party and local groups of official supporters; (iii) Blogs or web sites of individuals willing to support the candidate. To encourage blogs by individuals, blogging platforms and various digital resources, including banners, pictures, RSS feeds, video footage, were provided free of charge3. The second major outcome of our analysis is that major candidates promoted an online activism. For instance, online supporters of Royals were assigned different roles: e-debaters (to promote Royal’s message on other discussion forums or blogs available on the web), e-watchers (to identify Web resources which can be useful or harmful to Royals’ campaign), e-designers (to create visuals, banners, videos and other web materials for Royal’s campaign). Inaddition to the differences in resources, ideological orientations also played a role in the candidates’ online strategies. Leftoriented candidates were inclined to develop more participatory web sites or initiatives, whereas right-wing candidates tended to focus more on information provision4. In this respect, Royal and Sarkozy web sites were quite distinctive from each other. The Sarkozy site resorted to a top-down editorial model and was primarily oriented toward the dissemination of information, notably in the form of video streams. By contrast, the socialist candidate site was more bottom-up. A dozen of topical discussions groups (often developing into sub-groups) were hosted on her web site, and supporters were asked to contribute to her platform with ideas and proposals. Some 150,000 contributions were posted at the end of the campaign and were compiled into memos to the candidate by about 70 staffers (the so-called Mods). Overall, the Internet was only a marginal component of candidates campaign, in terms of both resources and strategies. Candidates mainly focused their campaigns on television and most of their At the end of the campaign, around 14000 blogs by individuals were listed on Royal web site. Using a slightly different methodology, Vaccari (2008) reached similar results. His content analysis shows that right candidates web sites performed better on the information index (scoring 0, 61 versus 0,55) but were outperformed by left candidates web sites on the participation index (scores 0,40 versus 0,33).
3
4
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activities were tailored for TV coverage. Many of public meetings or campaign events were designed so as to provide good images and sound bites for TV news. Even some of their online activities (e.g. candidates presence on Second Life, bloggers gathering around candidates) were part of their public relations efforts to achieve media coverage. This concentration on television can be explained not only by the popularity of this medium, but also by the French regulatory framework. When reporting on French politics in their newscast or other programmes, audiovisual media have to devote the same amount of airtime to the government, the majority political parties in the Parliament and the political parties standing for the opposition in the Parliament. During electoral campaigns a special regime applies (Vedel, 2005). In the initial period, which covers the so-called pre-campaign or non-official campaign5, broadcasters must ensure that all candidates for public offices have “equitable” access to the screen (generally understood as proportional to the public support gained by candidates in opinion polls). Then, during the official electoral campaign, an equal time provision applies and broadcasters have to devote equal amount of airtime to each candidate. Moreover, during the official electoral campaign, candidates are granted free airtime on public television in the form of electoral broadcasts. These regulations mean that all candidates have a sort of automatic, free access to television viewers. Minor candidates are especially advantaged since they are granted the same airtime as major candidates, even though they have received only a small percentage of support from polls or they are not as active as the major figures. However, the role assigned to the Internet in the presidential campaign revealed the emergence of new trends in French politics. First, it illustrated the increasing utilization of activation methods. As pointed out by Steven Schier (2006), activation is increasingly supplanting mobilization in modern campaigning. The two French electoral legislation only recognises an official campaign period, which usually starts three weeks before Election Day. However, in most cases, the real launch of the campaign process starts much earlier. Depending on the nature of the election, but also on the political climate, pre-election campaigns start from nine months to two months before Election Day.
5
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processes differ in their focus, agents and methods. Mobilization is “inclusive, seeking to arouse all possible voters to vote in response to a direct partisan message”, and mostly relies on party organizations and militants. By contrast activation is exclusive. Election campaigns finely target specific groups that are “most likely to become active on their behalf and then employ a variety of inducements to stimulate their action”. Activation is also indirect. It relies on opinion leaders, interest groups or influential individuals and uses the dynamics of social networking to convey targeted messages that appeal to those voters who may play a key role in the election. For a large part, Internet strategies deployed by the candidates in our study fit this model well as they aimed at activating specific groups of voters, generating discussions among them and capturing media attention on specific issues. Second, Internet campaign meets an aspiration to new forms of political engagement. By opposition to the traditional political activism, conceived as a permanent, ideological, even sacrificial commitment, new forms of political activism are more flexible, contractual and moral issues oriented (Ion, 1997). Internet campaign has sustained this trend, which started well before the emergence of the web. Through different initiatives (such as the discount rate online membership introduced by the socialist party, or by offering “à la carte” online campaigning tasks to their supporters), candidates made significant efforts to tap into this potential for new activism which, ironically, might accelerate a move toward parties without partisans (Dalton and Wattenberg, 2000). 4. Web usage for political purposes Throughout the campaign, a great majority of French voters cited television as their first or second source of information on presidential election (Table 3). Moreover, it is when the campaign entered the most intense stage, in April 20076, that the primacy of television peaked with 71% of voters citing it as their primary source 6
The first round took place on April 22 and the second round on May 6.
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of information (vs. 59% in previous months). This preeminence did not come as a surprise and reflects a virtuous circle: because they know that television is a popular medium reaching a large portion of the population and almost all social groups, candidates tend to focus their campaign on this medium, and that makes television the main forum for the campaign and leads voters to turn furthermore to TV in order to get news on the election. Compared to television, the Internet was a minor source of information, coming well after all other forms of media. Interestingly enough, it was only after the 2rd round of the election that the Internetwas more frequently cited as a source, which might suggest that the Internet is more of a tool for analyzing (and discussing) election outcomes. Table 16.3 First and second sources of information on the election. Source: Baromètre politique français. September December February April May 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 Television
81 (58)
83 (59)
82 (59)
88 (71)
83 (61)
Radio
40 (17)
38 (16)
40 (17)
36 (10)
36 (14)
Regional dailies
31 (9)
33 (9)
29 (7)
23 (4)
29 (7)
National dailies
26 (10)
25 (10)
25 (10)
19 (7)
23 (9)
Internet
14 (5)
14 (5)
16 (6)
13 (5)
21 (8)
Free of charge dailies
4 (1)
4 (1)
5 (1)
5 (1)
4 (1)
First row of figures: % of French voters who cited this media as their first or second source of information on the election. Second row (in brackets). the % of
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399
voters who cited this media as their first source of information on the election.
As of January 20077, a significant share of French Internet users had a form of political activity online: 17% had visited often (or from time to time) a presidential candidate’s web site, 19% a political blog, 17% a web site providing to citizen forums for political discussion or spaces for publishing political comments. Yet, this share remains very modest in comparison to other online activities such as visiting a mainstream media web site (78% of French Internet users did so in January 2007) or a local authority web site (79%). Besides, getting political information online does not mean that one does not use other information sources. The figures somewhat changed during the campaign (Table 16.4). As of April 2007, 26% of French Internet users had visited the web site of a presidential candidate (+9 ppt), but the percentage of Internet users who had visited a political blog remained the same (18%). However a significant increase was observed in the number of Internet users who had watched a political video online – from 12% in January to 21% in April. Table 16.4 shows the profiles of Internet users depending by their web usage. Political factors appear to be strong predictors of visits to political web sites. Among those who visited a candidate’s web site often (or from time to time), 93% were very much or somewhat interested in politics, compare with 61% for Internet users in general and 48% for all French voters. Moreover, attitudes toward the political role of the Internet also impact political web site usage. For instance, Internet users who think that the Internet allows citizens to have a greater influence on politics tend to visit political web sites more frequently than others. The impact of socio-demographics on visiting political web sites is less clear. In comparison to the general population of Internet users, those who visited candidates’ web sites or other political web sites form a much more masculine group and tend to be more slightly higher in social status. But they are neither more educated Data drawn from a SOFRES survey among a sample of 1004 individuals representative of the population of French Internet users over 18 years.
7
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400
nor younger; they are actually older (people over the age of 50 made up 43% of all visitors to candidates’ web sites, but only 24% of all Internet users). This possibly surprising finding demonstrates again the impact of the “interest in politics” factor, which is strongly associated to age (the older people are, the more interested in politics they become). In other terms, older people, even though underrepresented among Internet users, tend to visit candidates’ web sites more frequently than their younger counterparts due to their stronger interest in politics. Table 16.4 Socio-demographic and political profiles of Internet users, by web usage (%). Source: IFOP survey among a sample of 987 indivudals representative of French Internet users over 18. General population of French voters
General population of Internet users over 18 yeas
Searched political information on line (44% of Internet users)
Candidates web sites
Watched a political videos on line (19% of Internet users)
Visited political blogs
48
52
50
57
64
54
18-24
11
17
19
19
24
15
25-34
19
23
23
27
22
27
35-49
28
33
30
26
30
30
50 -64
21
20
20
18
18
21
65 and more
21
7
8
10
7
8
69
30
23
27
24
26
Gender (Men)
(26% of Internet users))
(18% of Internet users)
Age
Education Lower than High School Final Exam
The politics of Internet High school exam
College or university
401
14
23
23
26
27
26
General population of French voters
General population of Internet users over 18 yeas
Candidates web sites
47
46
Watched a political videos on line (19% of Internet users) 50
Visited political blogs
18
Searched political information on line (44% of Internet users) 55
(18% of Internet users) 48
(26% of Internet users))
Social class/occupation White collars
13
13
19
13
17
13
Intermediate professionals
19
20
18
20
20
23
Blue collars
22
15
12
15
16
17
Employees Interest in politics (high or moderate)
26
19
15
19
16
14
48
61
67
90
65
88
To investigate furthermore the logics of visiting political and candidates web sites, logistic regressions were conducted (appendix). Model A predicts the use of political web sites in general (including government, parliament, political parties and candidates, political blogs and private web sites about politics) while model B presents the use of candidates web sites alone. Respondents who are interested in politics and those who are interested by political discussions are more likely to visit political and candidate web sites. However, political ideology has not a significant impact. Model A indicates that political web sites are more often used by the oldest group of respondents as seen above. In both models, A and B, it is the middle-age group (35-49) that uses the Internet for both
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purposes less frequently. Surprisingly, less educated respondents declare visiting the political and candidates web sites more often than those with the most education (college and beyond).This runs against the pattern of Internet usage for party web sites as shown by Norris (2003). We cannot offer a clear explanation for this finding, which does not seem to be linked to the overall lower education level of older people.8 Use of traditional media, it has mixed effects on the use of political web sites. Considering print media as an important information source is a positive predictor, radio is neutral, and TV is negative. This supports only in part the idea of the Internet as a complementary source of information to traditional media. Finally, those who primarily use the Internet as an entertainment tool tend to visit political web sites more often (regression not shown). That group consists mostly of young men with low income. They are intensive users of Internet, and somewhat or highly interested in politics. This finding could be important for those who would like to engage young people in political participation through the Internet. However, as we have noticed earlier in our content analysis, candidates’ web sites were not offering much entertainment content. 5. Conclusion and discussion More generally, adoption of ICT by political parties has been found to depend on three broad factors: technological development, sociopolitical environment (including electoral laws, types of elections, and party system structure), and internal variables (such as party resources, incentives, and philosophical orientation) (Nixon et al., 2003: 241). 8
This effect also persists if we insert into both models interactions (education*age). The interactions are statistically insignificant except for two: less than High School Final Exam x age (35-49) and less than High School Final Exam x age (50and more), both with a negative sign (respondents with the education lower than High School Final Exam and in the age groups above 35 are strongly less active on the political web sphere).
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Our study both supports and challenges the normalization theory. As it was demonstrated in the content analysis section, candidates are still using the Internet as a tool echoing the traditional communication schemes. They tend to replicate online the offline modes of campaigning. Candidates mainly use one-way flows of information instead of more extensive two-way and instant Internet communication. Yet, it should be observed that an interesting change in web campaigning has taken place. Some candidates, notably Sarkozy, have made an intensive use of video footage on their web sites and presented their political platforms and campaign in the form of TV stories. Ironically, it seems that, with the development of broadband connection, webmasters and Internet users have (re-) discovered the power and fascination of moving images. It should not come as a surprise that the extensive use of self produced audiovisuals brings a new quality to the substance of political web sites and is appealing to citizens. In most countries, TV images are the primary source of political information and, consequently, the main language of politics (Graber, 2001). This is how most citizens are in contact with their political leaders. The advantage of the Internet here is to allow people to become more autonomous and active in how they watch images. Incidentally, the move toward more audiovisual contents on political web sites raises methodological questions. As new content formats are added to the sites, analytical frames that have been used so far to characterize political web sites are no longer valid. They need to be refined to adapt to new functionalities being developed on the Internet. One can even wonder if it still makes sense to undertake content analysis. With tools such as RSS feeds and the social sharing of bookmarks, web usage patterns are becoming more fluid and less predicable. Users no longer need to enter web sites through their home pages; they may enter through a back door or get to a subsection directly. If we are unable to adequately measure actual web usage, there is no point in pursuing web site content analysis (apart from their symbolic role in the presentation of the self). Regarding web usage patterns, one of our most robust findings,
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in line with existing literature, is that visiting political web sites is strongly driven by interest in politics. However, the impact of other variables is less clear and, for some of them (especially age), our results contradict previous studies (e.g. Norris, 2003), which found that those using the Internet for political purpose are generally young or middle-aged, well educated and affluent people. Quite obviously, as Internet develops, the population of Internet users is changing and becoming more heterogeneous. People who have not necessarily the profile of political activists or who were not especially active in offline or conventional politics may engage in some kind of political activity, starting with visiting political web sites. It seems that the Internet, offering thousands of sites and sustaining various modus operandi (surfing, links, resources sharing, etc.), increases the chance of encountering political information. Whether this is a short-term effect due to the campaign excitement or a longer, more persistent effect remains unclear. Our study also shows that among the Internet users who go online for entertainment, many are interested in politics and inclined to visiting political web sites. This seems to reveal a need for combining entertainment with politics, two spheres usually not well matched in mainstream media. The Internet might be the only place where this combination is possible. It certainly provides interesting functionalities so as to invent new forms of interactions between politics and entertainment. The democratic potential of the Internet is not necessarily in the provision of more information, but perhaps in its capacity to disentangle and bundle existing contents in new fashions.
References Bimber B. (1999). The Internet and Citizen Communication with Government: Does the Medium Matter? Political Communication. Vol. 16, n° 4, pp. 409-
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428. CEVIPOF (2007a). Le Baromètre Politique Français, Series of reports, October 2006 through March 2007. CEVIPOF (2007b). Les Internautes et la Politique, Working paper, January 2007. Chadwick A. (2006). Internet Politics. States, Citizens and New Communication Technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Crouzet T. (2007). Le cinquième pouvoir. Comment Internet bouleverse la politique. Paris, Bourin Editeur. Dalton R. and Wattenberg M. (eds) (2000). Parties without Partisans: Political Change in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Farmer, R. and Fender, R. (2005). E-parties: Democratic and Republican State Parties in 2000, Party Politics, Vol. 11, pp 47-58. Foot, K.A. and Schneider, S.M. (2002). Online Action in Campaign 2000: An Exploratory Analysis of the U.S. Political Web Sphere, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Vol. 46, pp 222-244. Gibson, R. and Ward, S. (2000). A Proposed Methodology for Studying the Function and Effectiveness of Party and Candidate Web Sites, Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 18, pp 301-319. Gibson R. K., Wainer L. and Ward S. (2005) Online participation in the UK: Testing a ‘Contextualised’ Model of Internet Effects. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations. Vol. 7, N° 4, pp. 561-583. Graber D. A. (2001). Processing Politics. Learning from Television in the Internet Age. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Hindman M. (2003). The Liberal Medium? The Political Correlates of Web Use. Paper presented at Annual Convention of the American Political Science Association. Ion J. (1997). La fin des militants? Paris: Les éditions de l’Atelier. Johnson, T.J. and Kaye, B.K. (2003). A Boost or Bust for Democracy?, Press/ Politics, Vol 9, No 8, pp 9-34. Margolis, M. and Resnick, D. (2000) Politics as Usual. The Cyberspace “Revolution”, Sage Publication, Thousand Oaks. Norris, P. (2000) A Virtuous Circle. Political Communications in the Postindustrial Societies, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Norris, P. (2003) “Preaching to the Converted? Pluralism, Participation and Party Websites”, Party Politics, Vol 9, pp 21-45.
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Schier S. E. (2006). Aiming a Riffle and Missing Millions: Campaign Polling in Contemporary Politics. Paper presented at Conference on Polling and Campaigns, Hubert Humphrey Institute, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, February 27. Schweitzer, E. (2005). Election Campaigning Online: German Party Websites in the 2002 National Elections, European Journal of Communication, Vol 20, pp 327–351. Trippi J. (2004). The Revolution will not be Televised : Democracy, the Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything. New York: ReganBooks. Vaccari C. (2008). Surfing to the Elysée: the Internet in the 2007 French Elections, French Politics. Vol. 6, n° 1, April, pp. 1-22. Vedel T. (2005). “Television regulation, policy and independence in France”. In EUMAP (ed.) Television across Europe. Budapest, New-York: Open Society Institute, pp. 637-728. Vedel T. and Cann Y.-M. (2008). Internet. Une communication électorale de rupture? In Perrineau P. (ed.) Le vote de rupture. Les élections présidentielle et législatives d’avril-juin 2007. Paris: Presses de SciencesPo, pp. 51-76. Ward, S. and Vedel, T. (2006). Introduction: The Potential of the Internet Revisited, Parliamentary Affairs, vol 59, pp 210-225. Weare, Ch. and Lin, W. (2000). Content Analysis of the World Wide Web. Opportunity and Challenges, Social Science Computer Review, Vol 8, Fall, pp 272-292. Williams, A. and Trammell, K. (2005). Candidate Campaign E-Mail Messages in the Presidential Elections 2004, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol 49, pp 561-573. Wilson R.F. (2000). The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing, [online], http://www.wilsonweb.com/-wmt5/viral-principles.htm [17 March 2006]
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Appendix The content analysis of the candidates’ web sites follow the general methodology suggested by Gibson and Ward (2000). As in Farmer and Fender (2005), the functions and delivery of the web sites were operationalized by creating two indicators: the Functions Score (FS) and the Technical/Delivery Score (TS). Both are based on the presence or absence of each task enumerated by Gibson and Ward. Scores are calculated by ”dividing the number of indicators present by the total number of indicators of that task (…) and then averaged”(Farmer & Fender, 2005, p. 49). Finally the Average Party Web Quotient (PWQ) was calculated by averaging both previous scores PFS and PTS. We do agree with the authors that the major problem of such scoring is the arbitrary selection of indicators as well as the assignment of each indicator to the suitable groups of function or delivery features. However, this system allows for adding and deleting some of the indicators without “significantly affecting the overall score”. The Functions Score is based on five main functions of online performance: information provision, resource generation, networking, promoting participation and campaigning, elements of viral marketing (Williams & Trammell, 2005; Wilson, 2000). The Technical/Deliver Score consists of six components: presentation and appearance (”the glitz factor”), accessibility, navigability, freshness, responsiveness, visibility of the components (for other categorizations look at Schweitzer, 2005; Farmer & Fender, 2005, Norris, 2003). Our research included the content analysis of the first-level domain as well as second and third-level domains that were accessible from the first-level domain (Weare & Lin, 2000, p. 281). Content analysis research was designed and conducted between April 9 and 19, 2007, by Karolina Koc Michalska, research associate at the Center for americas at Sciences Po.
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Logistic regression for “Visiting political web sites”, “Visiting candidates web sites” Visiting political web sites (A)
Visiting candidates web sites (B)
B
Sig.
B
Sig.
age group 35 - 49
-.774
.029
-1.117
.004
age group 50 and more
1.283
.003
.840
.048
< than High School Final Exam
1.493
.002
1.525
.002
2 years of College
.351
.325
.487
.199
Demographic variables
Education
High School Final Exam Gender
Professional situation Retired
.577 .452
.238 .159
.664 .364
.192 .288
-1.093
.017
-.889
.046
Farmers
-1.707
.087
-1.665
.141
Intermediate professionals
-1.050
.005
-.865
.022
Unemployed Social class Artisans
Employee Workers Income
1.931
.092
-1.873 -2.098
.003
.877 .000 .000
1.359
.308
-2.072 -1.412
.029
.602 .001 .011
Low
.880
.091
.576
.297
Somehow high
.521
.175
.947
.021
Somehow low
Information source
.488
.281
.802
.096
Internet is a source of information
.904
.010
.536
.131
Print media is a source of information
1.152
.001
.953
.008
Television is a source of information Radio is a source of information
-.811
-.120
.006 .732
-.120 -.199
.710 .590
The politics of Internet
409 Visiting political web sites (A)
Visiting candidates web sites (B)
B
Sig.
B
Sig.
Use Internet as source of entertainment
.214
.032
.123
.246
Use Internet for practical purposes
.224
.149
.226
.168
Internet usage patterns
Use Internet as utility tool Intensive use of Internet
-.438 -.429
.137 .255
-.465 -.535
.141 .165
Interest in politics
1.523
.000
1.315
.002
Liberal opinions on economics
-.160
.603
-.301
.349
French democracy works well
Interest in participation in the political debate
-.243
1.500
.399 .000
-.170
1.502
.569 .000
Political ideology
.242
.111
.304
.053
Constant
-3.871
.000
-4.036
.000
Visited general political web sites
x
x
x
x
V The Internet in Daily Life: we are all consumers and patients
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17 “Consumers Involvement in Organizations in The Era of Social Media: Open Research Questions” Andreina Mandelli and Silvia Vianello
The rise of social media Researchers interested in media and consumer behaviour often associate the recent changes in the Internet world to what is in general considered the main features of post-modern markets. In these market symbols, social rituals and the tribal dimension of consumption are more important than the rational relationship between consumers and products (Cova, 1996; Cova & Cova, 2002). It is worth here remembering with Bruno Latour (1993) that “we have never been modern”, meaning that rituals, social ceremonies and symbolic expressions have always been central in human society. What changes are the forms of these social practices. Internet caused the explosion of the reach and distant richness of human communication (Figure 17.1 & 17.2), because it is a global network of facilitated communication. Internet communication is now a complex bundle of content and interactions. As in all social collectives, the coordination requires a complex interlink of interpersonal/local conversations and distanciated texts (Weick, 1995; Mandelli e Snehota, 2008). Social media on the web (blogs, social networks, communities and other collaborative environments; see Gillin 2008) have increased
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Figure 17.1 Internet Users in the World by Geographic Regions.
Figure 17.2 World Internet Penetration Rates by Geographic Regions.
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Table 17.1 Top Social Networking Sites by Unique Visitors February 2009. Source: comScore, 2009.
Property
Total Internet audience Social networking audience MySpace.com Facebook Classmates Online MyLife.com Buzznet Yahoo Buzz AOL Community LinkedIn AIM Profiles Digg Bebo Tagged DeviantART Twitter hi5 Networks CaringBridge BlackPlanet.com Gaia Online AddThis SodaHead.com Multiply Friendster Xomba Propeller MSN Groups
February February Change 2008 (000) 2009 (%) (000) 185.017 192.187 4 N/A 122.29 N/A 67.957 32.436 13.051 N/A 5.23 2.957 76 3.316 7.96 5.546 N/A 1.704 3.71 340 2.728 1.713 2.03 1.685 407 777 1.139 2.496 967 2.489 2.941
70.303 57.375 16.247 15.345 8.661 7.955 7.261 6.948 6.928 6.917 5.789 5.396 4.77 4.033 3.67 2.483 2.381 2.325 2.02 1.801 1.754 1.689 1.591 1.464 1.327
3 77 24 N/A 66 169 9.513 110 -13 25 N/A 217 29 1.085 35 45 17 38 396 132 54 -32 65 -41 -55
Note: Audience is defined as all persons at U.S. home, work, college, and university locations.
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the importance of the social interactional component of this communication. They support interpersonal and group interactions through different platforms, which have been experiencing astonishing success lately (Table 17.1). On these social platforms the boundaries between news and entertainment, between private and public communication and between solidaristic and commercial practices tend to blur, transforming the web into a complex mix of social and commercial aggregations (“piazze del mercato”, in Mandelli, 1997 and 1998) bounded by interests and passions more than geographical proximity. This collaborative nature of the new social media is the starting point for understanding the new relationship that has been developing between the companies and their customers in the era of social media. Customers as innovators “Consumer involvement in organization” is a strategic new frontier of management, in global and networked markets (Kambil et al., 1999; Nambisan, 2002; Prahalad, et al., 2004). This issue is relevant within the theoretical debate on the shift toward new networked organizations (Powell, Koput, Smith-Doherr,1996; Dyer and Nobeoka, 2000; Schwartz, 2005), but also for its management implications in organizations that face the challenge of the new post-fordist and networked markets (Thomke et al., 2002; Hemetsberger and Pieters, 2001). Literature on strategy, organization, and product development all emphasize the importance of customers in the organizational innovation processes (e.g. Tapscott, 2006). Special mention should be given to the “Customer as Innovator” perspective (Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000; Dyer and Nobeoka., 2000; Von Hippel et al., 2003; Chesbrough, 2003), with the idea that consumer knowledge is central for new product development and strategic competitiveness. The special value of the knowledge “absorbed” (using the notion of “absorptive capability” proposed by Cohen and Levinthal, 1990)
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and retreived from customers – in this perspective – comes from the possibility of combining this knowledge with the dynamic coporate capabilities in creativity and product development (Powell, Koput, Smith-Doherr,1996; Hargadom et al., 1997; Lee et al., 2006; Cox et al., 2008). Recognized as composed by three different dimensions, classified as knowledge for, from and about customers, the Customers Knowledge Management (e.g. GarciaMurillo et al., 2002) is considered as an ongoing debate among practitioners and academicians. This research program is consistent with the idea of learning organizations (Senge 1990; Edquist et al., 1998), which seeks to entitle organizations with the role of creating the bases for adaptation, in complex markets, through learning. Knowledge, in this approach, is seen as the engine for evolution (Tapscott et al., 2007). Organizational learning is described as an emergent, trialand-error process (Mintzberg, 1996; Rumelt, 1996; McAfee et al., 2006), “situated” in specific and culturally bounded social settings and communities of practice (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Brown & Duguid, 1991; Wenger et al., 2002). Communities of practice can be external, made by customers or other external business partners, who are willing to share their expertise on a relevant topic (Nambisan, 2002; Franke et al., 2003; Eikelmann et al., 2007). The biggest problem with the external communities is believed to be the difficulty for benefiting organizations (Szulanski, 1996) to develop a relational learning process and shared narratives to transfer their customers’ tacit knowledge into an organizational resource (Libert et al., 2007). Costumer involvement in organization and brand communities The role of product brand and brand symbols in consumer culture and behaviour has changed quite substantially in the last decades, as well as our understanding of the complexity of consumption (McCracken, 1986; Carr, 1996; Escalas, Bettman, 2003; Thomson et al., 2005; Arnauld and Thomson, 2005). Consumers are no
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longer regarded as rational decision-makers (Bauer et al., 2002). They subjectively and socially construct their consumption and branding experiences (Algesheimer et al., 2005). They buy symbols, along with and beyond products; and they value brands and products for what they bring to their social life (Cova and Cova, 2002). Brands become cultural icons, symbols of sets of ideas and values (Holt, 2003; Holt et al., 2004). Brands become means for self-expression. Marketing scholars have started to explore “… how consumers actively rework and transform symbolic meanings encoded in advertisements, brands, retail settings, or material goods to manifest their particular personal and social circumstances and further their identity and lifestyle goals. … From this perspective, the marketplace provides consumers with an expansive and heterogeneous palette of resources from which to construct individual and collective identities.” (Arnould & Thompson, 2005, p. 873). With the diffusion of the Internet, consumer communities have started to be considered as a way to facilitate stronger relationships between firms and these new consumers because they become very active online (Schouten et al., 1995; Brown et al., 2002; McAlexander et al., 2002; Dholakia et al. 2004; Sun et al., 2006). These communities develop in virtual and physical communication environments, around common interests related directly or indirectly to brands and products (Belk et al., 2002; Almeida et al., 2006; Feldstein, 2007). Within this perspective we do not distinguish between corporate brand and product brand, since what matters (in a product-related or brand-related consumer community) is the brand that becomes salient for the consumer in his/her encounter with the product (Flavian et al., 2005). The corporate and the product-specific values and symbols overlap (Bagozzi et al., 2006; Szmigin et al., 2005; Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).
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Table 17.2 Three forms of intentional social action in consumer behavior. Source: Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2001 (unpublished paper). Brand Communities
Definition
Primary focus
Subcultures of consumption “A distinctive subgroup of society that self-selects on the basis of a shared commitment to a particular product class, brand, or consumption activity”(Schouten and McAlexander 1995, p. 43).
Network-based
Small groupbased “A specialized, A group of non-geographically consumers with a bound community, consciously based on a shared social structured set of identity, whose social relationships members act among admirers of jointly in group a brand” (Muniz actions to and O’Guinn 2001, accomplish group p. 412). goals and/or express mutual sentiments and commitments.
Relationship of an individual consumer to a brand, expressed idiosyncratically via identification with the brand and in a sense of personal spirituality and the holding of unique values. The individuals comprising the subculture hold more or less common personal identities but do not share a social identity and do not express their identities as part of a network or group. Individuality and self-transformation are paramount.
Network of relationships among consumers, organized around a brand and promoted typically via such non-faceto-face means as web-based virtual communities (e.g., chat groups), where intellectual and utilitarian support are primary, emotional support secondary.
Face-to-face interactions in small groups, where brandrelated activities intermingle with other social activities and emotional support among members is central.
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Role of psychological variables (e.g., attitudes toward brand, emotional attachment to brand, personal identity)
Egocentric
Weakly to moderately sociocentric
Strongly sociocentric
Role of social variables Self-awareness of membership in subculture or brand community
Very strong
Moderate
Strong
Low
Moderate to high
High
Affective commitment to subculture or brand community
Low
Moderate
High
Evaluative significance of membership in subculture or brand community
Low
Moderate
High
A brand community is defined by Muniz and O’ Guinn (2001) as “a specialized, non-geographically bound community, based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand” (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001, p. 412). Bagozzi and Dholakia (2001) propose to distinguish between small groups and networks to conceptualize brand communities. Using the classification scheme proposed by Bagozzi and Dholakia (2001, see Table 17.1), it becomes easier to highlight the differences between brand communities and what we used to define as subcultures of consumption, but also to separate different forms of brand communities. Small-group-based brand communities (e.g. Harley Owners Group) are characterized by close relationship among members, strong group interaction, and a relational focus. Networkedbased community members are geographically and socially
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more dispersed and are more focused on functional exchanges (information and evaluations) among members, within short-term relationships (Dholakia et al., 2004). Usually the second type of communities are believed to be business oriented, while the first type are non profit (Porter, 2004). Brand communities have been intensively studied in consumer marketing, since they are believed to be critical for linking brands and consumers, beyond the traditional one-way and hierarchical communication practices based on advertising. Among existing research efforts are studies of river rafters (Arnould & Price, 1993); the Harley-Davidson subcultures (Schouten & McAlexander, 1995); Harley and Jeep Brandfests (McAlexander and Schouten, 1998); Macintosh, Saab, and Bronco brand communities (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001); groups of in-line skaters (Cova,1997); Ducati community (Mandelli, 2005), and a Winnebago travelers’ club (Peters, Lee, & Grossbart, 2001). Most of the brand communities observed bring very different benefits to firms: valuable knowledge for new product development and loyal branded relationships in the first place. Studying the communities built around the brands of Ford Bronco, Macintosh, and Saab, Muniz and O’Guinn (2001) placed emphasis on social interactions that differentiate brand communities from individual-centred subcultures, even though they share important characteristics (e.g. shared ethos, acculturation patterns, status hierarchies). Shared consciousness, rituals, and a sense of moral responsibility is typical of communities. A sentiment of “we-ness” connects members to one another, beyond geographic boundaries, building a sense of belonging, a social identity and a collective sense of difference from those outside of the community (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). For Muniz and O’Guinn (2001), rituals and traditions are the “vital social processes by which the meaning of the community is reproduced and transmitted within and beyond the community.” The building blocks of this social brand meaning construction are (i) the shared consumption experiences with the brand and (ii) social narratives. “Storytelling is an important means of
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creating and maintaining community. Stories based on common experiences with the brand serve to invest the brand with meaning, and meaningfully link community member to community member” (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). This brand narrative includes the brand company, since brand stories may emanate from, but also influence, commercial texts and advertising. Through these stories and conversations consumers negotiate brand identity, often including adversarial nuances and challenges to the firm’s sense of ownership on the brand (Kozinets, 2004). This becomes very clear with the help of the description of Saab and Apple communities’ dynamics by Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001: “Saab drivers like to discuss Saab ads that make the link between Saab airplanes and cars. Apple members like to use the phrase “For the Rest of Us,” ad copy from the introductory campaign for the Apple Macintosh. This ad copy also ends up being part of the lingua franca of the brand community. Brand community members negotiate communal interpretation, further blurring the perhaps illusory line between writer (marketer) and reader (consumer). Brand community members are aware that these brands are made by corporations. At one level this is obvious, and at another deserves some further reflection. In the case of both Saab and Apple brand communities, corporate identity and ethos matter. With Saab, members feel that a more pure, even pristine, small Swedish company with a good consumer ethic was being taken over by a big American corporation (GM) known for its bigness and, in their view, incompetence and poor consumer ethic. In reaction, some brand community members spin out myths regarding how they think GM is largely “leaving Saab alone,” but were still uneasy about it. The phrase “pre-GM Saab” is common, as is a communal nostalgia. Similarly, Apple community members celebrate their anti-establishment roots. Most see John Scully’s resignation as CEO as what led Apple astray: “the guy was way too corporate, he wasn’t Apple.” The preservation of what the brand is and stands for is important to the brand community. Members often feel that they have a better understanding of the brand than the manufacturer does. In fact, brand community members feel that the brand belongs
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to them as much as it does to the manufacturer.” Communities are also characterized by shared moral responsibility – people’s sense of solidarity with other members of the community. These values support group cohesion and coordination, since they incentivate inter-consumer assistance. “One of the ways this assistance manifests itself is through actions to help fellow community members repair the product or solve problems with it, particularly involving specialized knowledge acquired through several years of using the brand. … In the Saab and Bronco brand communities, some of the assistance community members provide to one another includes information on recommended dealerships and parts suppliers, as well as sources for technical information. In some ways, the information provided by brand communities is more useful to consumers than information provided by marketers due to the lack of commercial self-interest. This again represents a “blurring of the marketer-consumer role boundary” (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). Communities construct their life and social identity through members’ social practices (McAlexander et al., 2001). Consumers participate in this symbolic construction, bringing their knowledge and rational expectations but also their individual and social emotions and dreams. In the Ducati brand community, hosted on the Ducati institutional website, the Ducatisti (the Ducati motorbike fans), exchange information about where to find mechanical parts for their bikes, but also discuss about what they think of the Ducati bikes’ performance in the races and championships, or plan trips and search for fellows. Ducatisti feel they are part of the “Ducati world” even when they do not own a Ducati bike and are sure they will never afford to own one in the future. They ARE the “Ducati world” because they build the rituals and the symbols around which the Ducati brand is constituted (Mandelli, 2005). McAlexander et al. (2002) propose to go beyond the conceptualization of brand community as the locus of the relationships between brand users and their relationships to the brand itself as a repository of meaning; they suggest abandon the
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vision of the brand community as exclusively a customer-customerbrand triad as in Muniz and O’Guinn (2001). A richer understanding of brand communities include the customer-customer-brand triad elemental brand community relationship within a more complex web of relationships: between brand community members and their common culture, their branded possessions and institutions that own and manage the brand. Brand community is “… customer-centric, … the existence and meaningfulness of the community inhere in customer experience rather than in the brand around which that experience revolves” (McAlexander et al., 2002). What counts is relationships and experiences. In fact, brand communities are not homogeneous organisms; they are plural bodies, made by different small aggregations and identities. Even in very large communities people interact regularly with only very few people (McAlexander et al., 2002). Information and idea exchanges very often do not emerge from an interest in the product itself but from an interest in the group and its symbols and rituals. Communities have an active interpretive function, transforming brand identity in a socially negotiated group identity, since “online consumers are much more active, participative, resistant, activist, loquacious, social and communitarian than they have previously been thought to be” (Kozinets, 1999, p. 261). This is very consistent with Cova’s (1997) assertion that “the link is more important than the thing” (p. 307). In Cova’s description, post-fordist consumer markets are made by tribes, networks “… of heterogeneous persons in terms of age, sex, income, etc. - who are linked by a shared passion or emotion; a tribe is capable of collective action, its members are not simple consumers, they are also advocates.” A tribe is not necessary a brand community, since its members are not necessarily connected around a specific brand. In Cova and Cova’s (2002) account, “society resembles a network of societal micro-groups, in which individuals share strong emotional links, a common subculture, a vision of life. Nowadays, these micro-groups develop their own complexes of
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meanings and symbols and form more or less stable tribes, which are invisible to the categories of sociology.” These tribes challenge the traditional notions of markets, consumption and brands, since their members can be commercially targeted only through community-based value-propositions, not products. Products have value only for their linking potential and their meaning. “In fact, the (re)construction or (re)possession of meanings through shared experiences and their enactment through rituals is the most potent form of maintaining tribal identity in our postmodern societies” (Cova & Cova, 2002). The negotiation of brand meaning Firms are supposed to benefit from launching or entering in relationships with existing consumer communities, around the social imagery of their brands, to fulfil business goals: increased sales, positive word-of-mouth, more effective market segmentation, increased website traffic, stronger brands; higher advertising and transaction fee revenue; better product support and service delivery (Geissler, 2001; Brown et al., 2003; Yao et al., 2003; Porter, 2004). The sense of belonging, a social identity and the collective sense of being different from others not in the community (Baumeister et al., 1995; De Cremer, 2002; De Cremer et al., 2003) are the basis of the social construction of brand identity. This sense of difference and oppositional brand loyalty, stemming from a sense of “legitimacy of cause”, builds what the brand is and what the brand is not, along with what the members are and are not. This socially negotiated meaning of the brand is strictly interlinked with experience and knowledge of the product (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001). Creation of social meaning is, indeed, the core of the new relationship between firms and consumers. Consumers construct their life, not only brands, through symbols, and they bring to this brand-centred social sensemaking their history and their values, which are not necessarily consistent with the dominant and
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commercial narratives (Kozinets, 2004). Within this perspective it becomes easier to understand why even adversarial consumerism can be included in the organizational discourse, since it can become part of the brand-consumer conversation. Open research questions Social media use and the increasingly active role of consumers in digital markets have fostered ideas about a kind of consumption revolution, due to which there might be a shift of power from brands to consumers. Consumers are supposed to have the option to do better consumption choices, considering the information available on the network and the access to other consumers’ suggestions and opinions, reducing the power and control of brands (Zureik & Mowshowitz, 2005). This idea, that we label “empowered consumer hypothesis, depicts a future of consumption and markets in line with the so-called frictionless markets perspective on digital economy (Brynjolfsson & Smith, 1999). There are authors (e.g. Weber, 2007) who state that social media and brand communities will reinforce this direction of change. We think this hypothesis disregards important market frictions and power dynamics, due to information asymmetries and relational costs (the new transaction costs in digital economy, as termed in Mandelli, 2003). It is however worth exploring (though critically) the so-called empowered consumer hypothesis because, beyond the simplistic frictionless markets perspective, there is the need to study the impact of new information processing mechanisms and social media use on the power relationship between brands and consumers and the new forms of this relationship. Communities construct their life and social identity through dynamic processes, embedded in rich social contexts. Consumers participate to this symbolic construction bringing their knowledge and rational expectations but also their individual and social emotions and dreams. But the link between this rich social context and brand building does not seem so simple to researchers and practitioners yet (e.g. Kozinets, 1999; Nonnecke et al., 2006);
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as Bagozzi and Dholakia (2002) write: “Much effort in the last five years or so has gone toward creating virtual communities for commercial purposes. Early simplistic thinking of ‘build and they will come’ has given way to a less obtrusive, hands-off ‘nurture and cultivate’ approach – but even here, the focus of marketers has been on keeping the commercial topic (discussion regarding the product) as the underlying focus of the community. … such an emphasis may be somewhat myopic and misdirected. The group, not the product must be the object of nurturance, for virtual community builders” (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2002, p. 18). It seems that understanding brand communities requires a new approach even to the definition of products and markets if consumers buy the social meaning of products instead of products per se. A new approach to markets defined as mediated conversations is the first step proposed by Mandelli and Snehota in 2008 for trying to address this new framework for explaining economic exchanges in markets. In this perspective markets appear as loosely-coupled organizations,self-reproducing by means of conversations, hyperconversation and highly distanciated metaconversations. Markets emerge from a narratively structured continuous iteration of text-conversations translations, that drives a scaling up and differentiation of mediation, using different generalized symbolic media and metalanguages. This new ontology of markets can have significant epistemological and methodological implications, particularly with regard to a new understanding of the relationship between consumers and brands. It could allow to study consumersto-consumers conversations, conceived at the same level of the customer-brand interaction, without giving up the idea that markets are structured by power. Another underexplored issue regards the influence of the so-called internal organization on the external (or enlarged) organization. It is relevant to understand how the knowledge/vision that emerges from internal organizational practices enters the life of consumer communities influencing the framing of consumers’ discussions and contributions. On the brand identity side it is a matter of relationship between formal brand communication (advertising)
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and this consumer-driven social sense-making. Knowledge and identity emerge from a complex dialectics between consumer narratives and corporate communication. This area of study has not been particularly active. It seems that neither consumer behavior nor communication scholars have found much interest in exploring the web of influences between firm-directed brand communication and brand community practices. We need to look into the issue if we want to understand the complex dialectics between control and emergence in the new “meaning-negotiating” forms of branding.
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18 Health and the Internet: Autonomy of the User Rita Espanha and Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva
1. Health and Media in the Information Era Modern societies are characterised, amongst other features, for having a high information diffusion and circulation. Information access and distribution are growing and the ways in which this information and knowledge democratization occur are scattered and diverse. Simultaneously, our societies are places where relationships among people, and among people and institutions, organisations and various systems are diverse, intense, and complex, proceeding mostly from information and communication technologies and their penetration in everyday life. Manuel Castells (2003a) focuses on what the information and communication technologies represent in modern western societies, relative not only to technologic transformations, but also to social organization and fundamental structural changes in societies. Those technologies connect the world and shape what Castells calls the “network society”. Images, sounds, wealth and power flow through ICT’s; they are dynamic and are at the base of the information and knowledge flow, making a new society model possible. A new model, where generating, processing and transmitting information becomes fundamental both for productivity and power sources. Information and communication technologies and the networks they generate, reveal the globalization process trends and also a
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reconfiguration of time and space. Through Internet – the most revolutionary information and communication technology in contemporary societies – we live the experience of being able to move through virtual space and time, allowing us the possibility of new ways of doing, being, and living in the present world, inducing deep changes in all domains of human action. But information and communication technologies also provide autonomy to individuals, involvingt their social and individual background, favouring a disposition to escape from traditional control, enabling individuals to face contradictions in modern society, without forgetting the relevance of networks in constructing new social movements, something possible only in a context of a wider use of information and communication technologies (Castells, 2003b). Therefore, the question to be addressed is what is the role of daily information and communication practices for individual health management? Individual health, and its daily management, are never more intimately tied to information as they are today. Great amounts of health information are available from multiple sources – whether professional specialists, public or private institutions or patient and/or consumers groups – through a multiplicity of information channels, from media to local or interpersonal base, interacting with doctors and other health professionals, family, friends, work colleagues, etc. This constant information flow encourages the individual to be responsible for his own as well as his family’s health (Kivits, 2004). In this framework of general health information access, the Internet has played a fundamental role. In the United States, according to WIP1 data, health information search is the seventh most common activity (50.6% of Internet users who claim to have accessed health information in the last year). Simultaneously, the constant presence of health related media coverage, on television or newspapers, leads us toward the need to build an analytical framework that links medical and 1
The Digital Future Report (2004), Annenberg School Centre for the Digital Future, WIP – World Internet Project, University of Southern California
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sociology studies with media studies. Medical information analysis is often confined to the relationship/ communication between doctor and patient. An “informed patient” concept begins to emerge in several debates, bringing to light the issue of doctors’ authority being “challenged” by their patients who are increasingly informed and aware of their own medical conditions. Even health promotion campaigns recognize that the use of media is influencing the “audiences” attitudes, their beliefs and behaviours regarding health issues (Kivits, 2004). The role of media in this context gives us a new research perspective, in understanding daily health information reception and perception scopes, where media presence prevails. At the same time, Internet growth as a health information source grants us an opportunity to analyse the growing importance attached to information in individuals’ daily life. Using Portugal as an example, and focusing on the “Network Society in Portugal” study (Cardoso & et al., 2005b), it is possible to acknowledge that, on average, 18% of Portuguese Internet users search for health information, although the number varies according to generations and academic qualifications. Amongst individuals aged 16 to 26 health search is 13.6%, as from 27 years old rates reach more than 20% of Internet users. Between subjects over 51 years old and the ones aged from 39 to 51 years old it is respectively the 8th and 9th subject most searched. This kind of information brings awareness to the importance of health issues in modern societies and in our daily practices, and to the need of understanding the use of media in the health domain, paying special attention to the relationship between public, media and health care providers. Furthermore, it is important to understand the use of communication strategies to inform and influence individual and collective decisions regarding health. Grasping the demands in health communication necessitates a multidimensional approach, which implies an empirical research on health communication, understanding health communication theories, risk and uncertainty communication and even ethical and legal issues. Since it is not possible to cover health communication
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themes leaving aside concepts such as “Information Society”, “Knowledge Society”, “Digital Economy”, “Virtual Reality” or “Cyberspace” and “Network Society” we must focus our attention on the meaning and consequences of these concepts and its appropriation in daily life. Data gathered in Portugal in 2003 show that the Internet has begun to arise as an alternative to traditional media. Questioned about what to do when they or someone else in their family become ill, most users (63.9%) - apart from an initial contact with their doctor - reported that they would get information by their own means, while this percentage is 52.6% for non users (Cardoso & et al., 2005b). The first mean used for health information search use in Portugal is talking to friends or family (44.2%), followed by reading specialised magazines (30.7%) and Internet (15.9%) (Cardoso & et al., 2005b). In comparison, the Internet non-users resort much more to talking to friends or family (61.6%); less to reading specialised magazines (18.3%); go more to the pharmacy (12.7%) and to other doctors or specialists (5%) (Cardoso & et al., 2005b). Two profiles are outlined: one of users resorting more to options specialised on reading or technological supports; and the other represented by the non-users, preferring personal contacts whether with friends, a pharmacist or doctors and general practitioners. Complementary information about media and roles of the Internet on health is obtainable through analysis of how the Internet users get informed when a new drug is prescribed. Those claiming to have read the information leaflet reach 80.6%, while only 9.1% of them actually use the Internet. Therefore it seems that using the Internet is the choice when it comes to look for information about diseases, but not when taking a new drug is necessary. However, reading medicine information leaflets is preferred and done by less 10% of individuals by non users case (70.1%) (Cardoso & et al., 2005b). Closely connected to the network societies problematic and a relevant health component in contemporary societies is the issue of understanding how the Internet and media contribute to subjects’
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autonomy. An autonomy project is, as suggested by Castells (2003a), a person’s statement of his/hers own thinking and acting capabilities according to his/her own standards, values and efforts. In Portugal, the individuals’ body control project reveals a pursuit for their own health control and autonomy regarding specialists and health institutions, being empirically defined as reading medicine leaflets and searching for complementary information sources. It is, nevertheless, important to notice that this kind of autonomy project presents clearly a higher occurrence amongst women, a distinct tendency in all age groups, although less clear in older people, since additional medical information search is rare amongst this last group. The apparent lack of interest of elderly persons in searching medical information, enabling them to understand information given by doctors, is certainly not connected to the absence of major health problems, a plausible argument to explain equal behaviour amongst younger men. On the contrary, this may be the result of a lack of schooling resources relevant to interpret information eventually given by other sources. Actually, the effectiveness of a “body control project” depends clearly on the possibility of using resources directly linked to longer schooling. Individuals with higher academic qualifications are the ones, regardless of their age or sex, presenting more likely to access and interpret alternative medical information sources. Those who do not have significant schooling end up being in greater dependency regarding medical and health specialists, essentially by having difficulties in controlling and validating information. They become more vulnerable to indications given by any other agents. Simultaneously, in modern western societies, there’s a general confidence in medical practices and treatments with an increasing need for information regarding scientific medicine - often along with a certain disenchantment concerning traditional scientific medicine. In this context, there’s an approach of medicine to the social domain and at the same time a social approach to medical practice, proceeding from access. Do medical perspectives about health, disease and the body still dominate the public and private speeches and daily social practices
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amongst the population? Are people problems still screened through the scientific medical eye, social problems being reduced to biomedical sciences rationality? According to Fernando Ruivo (1987:130), the medical profession,and the speech doctors have an important prominence in society, due mostly to medicine professionals’ success, its neutrality and social independence. During the XVIII century, medicine made the transition from caring about soul salvation to caring about body health, this transition process was described by Foucault. The author tells us that the years before, and immediately after, the French Revolution saw the birth of two great myths, whose subjects and polarities are opposite. Those were the myth of a nationalized medical profession, organised the clergy way and invested, at health and body levels, of powers similar to the ones clergy had over souls; and the myth of complete disease vanishing, in a society free from commotions and passionless, brought back to its original health (Foucault, Michel (1967) ‘The Discourse of History’ in (1989) Foucault Live, New York: Semiotexte, 11-33. quoted by Ruivo, 1987:130). Therefore, medicine has been acting as a moral authority that legitimates its intervention in the creation of ideas and values in society. A doctor is surrounded by prestige at the people’s eye – “Only medical profession is, therefore, qualified to formally speak about health and disease. Its exclusive cognitive base, coded and scientific knowledge constitute a starting point for a public admission of the professional good it brings…” (Ruivo, 1987:136). Similar views can be found in Noémia Lopes analysis, where is stated that the professional autonomy issue represents the domain where power terminology – in which professional strategies and trajectories are inscribed – takes on a major relevance. (Lopes, 2006: 109). Nevertheless, if we consider the “informed patient” concept by Kivits (2004), access to up-to-date and trustworthy health and healthcare information can be a goal shared by politicians, health professionals and health mobilization groups, beyond individual citizens, because all contribute towards the autonomy processes. Given that autonomy relations are built with third parties, it is
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fundamental in the health field to understand how doctors, in different specialties and contexts (medical centres or hospitals, public and private practices) deal with this interaction with different publics, and how they manage their own professional autonomy, resorting to new communication and information technologies, particularly Internet, in their clinical practice. Individual autonomy may be seen as self-determination, the ability to build up goals and own values, freedom to choose and plan, and to act according to these values and objectives. Autonomy is linked to a notion of freedom as self-determination, as a possibility of choice or lack of interference, and also to the concept of individualism and emancipation (Singly, 2005). According to Singly (2005), individualism is normally conceived from a market point of view and the struggle of one against each other, looking at the individual as motivated by rationality rather than ethics, as selfish and indifferent. But individualism also represents representative democracy and human rights. In this sense, individualism is not far from the social, since “emancipated individualism” is a form of humanism. An individual is built in the relationship with others; it is an individual journey in a collective context. Social recognition, the recognition of “others”, is a condition to individuality, autonomy and the ability to have his own world (Singly, 2005). Colombo (1993) considers new media as all means of communication, representation and knowledge with digitalization in its content, having multimedia and interactivity dimensions. Therefore media, and new media in particular, have a central role in building autonomy projects, as they have the capacity to provide fundamental information and knowledge for this process to be fulfilled, and are also able to become something more than just novelty in technological terms. Those are also technologies simultaneously promoting communication and new social and economic organization models, creating new audiences, new public and users, possessing a new language and new contents, facilitating new ways of knowledge dissemination (Cardoso, 2002). But new media can, and must, also be defined by changes they
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induce or produce from its diffusion and use. According to Manuel Castells (2004), technologies allow new forms of production organization, access to knowledge, economy and, consequently, new forms of culture. They lead us to a different time and space management in our connection networks, between work and organizations, between friends, between the state and its citizens, or between nations. Apart from that, it is also possible to state that these new media are introducing new audiences (with new uses) through changes in social appropriation and technology diffusion processes. According to Katz (2006), concerning new technologies in the health context, there are unresolved empirical questions, such as health information systems efficiency, the way people in different socio-demographic sectors really use them and use effects in different systems - as new information and communication technologies are developed, so are new e-health uses explored. Katz (2006) points out that information health system advances require not only empirical data, about each system specific reception by its users, but also a broader frame which understands the logic of personal interest and cultural foundations affecting each system in a wider context. Katz (2006) defined this perspective as syntopic (rejecting dystopic and utopic perspectives about information and communication social uses and consequences), an emphasizing how people, groups, organizations and societies adopt, use and reinvent technologies (Katz, et al. , 2004: 294). Whatever the information systems and technologies used, decentralized and interactive e-health uses seem to be playing an outstanding role in health care, adapting to the dominant technology use in the society and culture it is inscribed in. Identifying and understanding individual and professional autonomy processes in the health domain in a network society from media use and consumption, especially through ICT, theoretical resources and methodological approaches need to be developed. several sociologic fields of analysis intersect, ranging from medical and health sociology to communication sociology. As referred to by Graça Carapinheiro (2006), when “health
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sociology” designation is used, we must consider the notions of disease, its stereotypes and stigmas, proper of contemporary societies, where medicine became one of the most powerful social control instruments. Therefore, in this context, following the authors’ proposal in which sociology that considers health issues should be designated as health, disease and medicine sociology (in its various dimensions and levels) it is important to clarify that the approach presented here focused on the analytical dimensions of “Health Communication” (as defended by Ronald Rice and James Katz2), where the Internet and television assume privileged dimensions. When addressing the “Health Communication” approach we simply focus our attention on the communication strategies study used to inform and influence individual and collective decisions involving health issues and autonomy promotion, which necessarily connects health and communication fields in the sociology domain. During the research here described and discussed, two analytical dimensions were considered: 1) Patients and their autonomy construction in the health context through information and communication access; 2) Internet as health diffusion tools of information and communication. It is precisely in connection between these two dimensions and their knowledge deepening that it is possible to understand the importance of autonomy processes in contemporary societies, which must be understood as a statement of an individual’s ability to think and act according to his own standards, values and efforts, but also as an individuals empowerment regarding the health 2
Report, for example, to Rice and Katz, 2001 or to Katz, Rice and Acord, 2006. Other authors, like Kivitz (2004) use the “health information” concept, but in an Internet information search context, i.e., only from the user side (of information search) and not as much on the available contents side (information or communication offer). Therefore the empirical theory approach being considered, from the “health communication” concept, most fitted to the research developed within the doctor’s degree plan presented here.
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system, presenting himself before traditional systems “armed” with information found in the Internet, or acquired while watching a television series. He is a subject empowered by communication and information technologies, if empowerment is understood as in Friedmann’s concept (1996), i.e., individual autonomy in decision making, this ability depending always on information access. In this paper we will focus on the questions related directly to the internet use for health purposes. 2. Searching for health contents on Internet Internet Users and Health What kind of information do users search for on the Internet? What do they expect to find? And what would they like to find? Does anything change in their perception of health issues, in relation to the formal health system, and in their contacts with health professionals? Where does that change come from? And in what direction, if it does happen, is it going? As was said before, health information research practices have been undergoing deep changes, due to the emergence of new information and communication technologies, namely Internet, but also television, giving contents another kind of solutions in terms of speed, diversity and accessibility regarding more traditional means of research on the health field. Therefore it is fundamental, first of all, to understand the role the Internet takes on for medical and health information research in the Portuguese society as an example, considering that 35.5% of Portuguese had direct and regular access to the web in 2006. Data presented at such point are the results of the survey among the Portuguese population about ICT and Health – applied to a representative sample of the Portuguese population3. The survey makes it possible to identify social behaviour patterns and observe whether the Internet and television contribute to transforming The presented results were gathered by a questionnaire survey to a representative sample of Portuguese population, aged 8 or more, living in mainland Portugal, in the scope of a study about the Network Society in Portugal 2006 (CIES-ICTE), coordinated by Gustavo Cardoso (Cardoso, Espanha and Gomes, Network Society in Portugal 2006). Fieldwork was carried out during the 1st semester of 2006. In the case of specific questions about health and media the sample was reduced through a filter to the age group of 15 or more.
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this behaviour and in what conditions, i.e., understanding how Portuguese population deals with health issues and what is the role of ICT this relation. About 1/5 of Portuguese population aged 15 or more, claiming to be an Internet user, uses this platform to get information about medical and/or health issues. It was then possible to see that age groups where the proportion of this type of practice is higher are not exactly those who would have more health problems in principle but those who have more skills in using this kind of technological tools. Table 18.1 Use of the Internet in Portugal to search for medical/health information. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006.
% 19.6 79.7 0.7 100.0
Yes No N/A Total (n=589)
As seen on the following table individuals aged 25 to 44 are those claiming to use Internet to research for health related information. While we go further on the age groups this proportion tends to decrease, not because, as mentioned before, these persons do not have health concerns, but because they do not use this information support. Table 18.2 Internet use in Portugal to search for medical/health information according to age groups.Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Age groups 16-17 years old
Yes
No
N/A
Total (n=589)
%
%
%
%
10.2
89.8
0.0
100.0
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Yes
No
N/A
Total (n=589)
%
%
%
%
18-24 years old
18.1
80.7
1.2
100.0
25-34 years old
24.1
74.7
1.2
100.0
35-44 years old
24.8
75.2
0.0
100.0
45-54 years old
11.7
88,.3
0.0
100.0
55 and more Total
16.6 19.7
83.4 79.6
0.0 0.7
100.0 100.0
This kind of research is done more by women (22% of women claim these practices) than by men (17.6% of men). At the same time individuals with a conjugal experience (married or living together) present slightly higher rates to the total of the global distribution over this question.
Table 18.3 Internet use frequency in Portugal to search for medical/health information. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. %
Several times a week
2.2
Several times a year
22.1
Several times a month Once in a while N/A
Total (n=115)
16.9 56.7 0.1
100.0
With regard to the frequency of using the Internet to search for health information, the previous table shows clearly that the majority of those claiming this practice do it just once in a while, sporadically and irregularly (56.7%). Around 1/5 affirms searching for this kind of information several times a year (22.1%). Having even lower rates are those doing it several times a month (16.9%) and with a very residual proportion among those who claim to do
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it several times a week (2.2%). Even if it is interesting to understand what proportion of Portuguese population has this kind of practice and how regularly, it is also relevant to identify if the information they search is for themselves or for others, considering what was mentioned before. The majority of Portuguese look for medical and health information for themselves (83.1%), followed by a significant percentage doing it for someone close or in the family (66.2%). Having rates under 10% are the options to search for health information for work colleagues (8.9%) and also, having nonetheless some expression, for unknown persons whose request comes through friends or acquaintances (7.9%). Table 18.4 Medical/health information search recipients in Portugal. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Yes (n=115) (%) For himself
83.1
For someone close/family
66.2
For work colleagues
8.9
For unknown persons, whose request is made through friends and acquaintances
7.9
These rates reveal in some ways how the doctor-patient relationship has been reshaped. Not only because a great majority of Portuguese searching for medical and health information use the Internet to access more information for themselves, but also because they are doing it for others, with the emergence of a new information trend for a third party, which would not be possible in the personal relation with doctors, perhaps not for family, but certainly concerning strangers.
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Table 18.5 Medical/health information search reasons in Portugal. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Yes (n=115) (%) Because information access is fast
86.0
Because it is easy to find and search for information
82.0
Because there is a great amount of information available
81.6
Because information is free
78.4
Because research is private/confidential
56.7
Because I have the need to resort to several information sources
48.9
When it comes to search reasons, it is worth highlighting that main reasons presented concern, precisely, potential advantages of using a technology like the Internet: fast access, easy research and available information amount. Another valued aspect is the fact of being fundamentally free information. In his qualitative analysis, Kivitz (2004) presents as one of the reasons for the Internet health information searches the fact that doctors do not give patients the answers they need. As a health information source, the Internet offers a wide variety of sources and forms of health related information, as seen above, from commercial sites selling fitness products to science and medical magazines, peer-reviewed, with articles based on science research and news of the medicine field. Those searching on Internet seldom do it from just one source, general and commercial searches merge with medical searches at the same level, being given by the user the same importance, turning Internet consultation in the health field a very peculiar experience to the “informed patient”. On the following table it can be observed:
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Yes (n=115) (%) Search engine
84.5
Internet sites recommended by someone
43.2
Internet sites referenced on magazine articles, newspapers or books
37.8
Other means
9.6
Links from other sites or Internet advertisement
25.7
A great majority of searches about the health field are made using search engines, not other communication mediators. So, there is no mediation between the user and the information itself, which is personalised by health professionals, journalists or close persons. However the user faces difficulties stemming from this lack of mediation, the main one being referred to as “wanting more information and not knowing where to find it” (35.5%) or even “not having time to find all the required information” (31%). information costs are not perceived as a limitation, since the user looks mainly for free health information. On the following table major constraint forms found by users during health research are presented: Table 18.7 Medical/health information search characteristics in Portugal. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Yes (n=115) (%) Wanting more information and not knowing where to find it
35.5
Not having time to find all the required information
31.0
Making a great effort to find required information
20.9
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Getting worried about found information quality
14.1
Not having energy to find all the required information
12.9
Getting frustrated during the information search process Information having an unbearable price
10.8 3.1
To address the issue of which type of the Internet site has more users’ research on health matters.The questionnaire applied enabled respondents to short-list as most researched three main types which are general health sites, public health information sites (ex: gripe. net or saudepublica.web) and pharmaceutical companies sites. Less researched are online newspapers and non-scientific publications sites, non commercial medical organisations sites and commercial medical organisations sites. As for the most researched themes on health matters, it is possible to highlight everything concerning diseases and treatments description, specific insurance programs or health plans and Hospitals. Less researched themes are retiring homes or residences and, curiously, support groups’ information. Table 18.8 Medical/health information themes Internet search in Portugal. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Yes (n=115) (%) Diseases and treatments description
11.4
Specific insurance programs or health plans
8.3
Hospitals
8.2
National health system
7.9
Alternative medicine treatments
6.0
Doctors
5.8
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Yes (n=115) (%) Medical and scientific literature
5.4
Medical or health products (glasses, hearing devices, prosthesis, etc.)
4.2
Experimental treatments
4.0
Prescription drugs
3.9
Support groups information
2.5
Nursing-home or other healthcare provider institution
1.9
Retiring homes or residences
1.5
Concerning most researched information on health issues, consider the following table:
Table 18.9 Medical/health information search on Internet in Portugal. Source: Network Society in Portugal survey, CIES-ISCTE, 2006. Yes (n=589) (%) Fitness and physical exercise
16.2
Nutrition and eating disorders (ex: obesity, anorexia, bulimia, etc.)
11.7
HIV/AIDS
11.2
Drug, alcohol abuse and drug addiction
9.7
Sexually transmitted diseases
9.6
Allergies
9.4
Cancer
8.5
Depression or anxiety
7.3
Flews and colds
6.9
Heart diseases
6.8
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Birth control methods (ex: pill, condom, IUD, etc.)
6.1
Headache
5.9
Beauty and well-being (ex: plastic surgery, silicone implants, beauty products)
5.7
Childhood typical diseases
4.7
Diabetes
4.6
Osteoporosis
4.3
Fertility and pregnancy
4.2
Alzheimer
4.0
Mental diseases
4.0
Sexual capacity and performance
4.0
Asthma
3.9
Backache
3.9
Next day pill and voluntary interruption of pregnancy
3.8
Family planning
3.6
Insomnia
3.5
Prostate diseases
2.7
Menopause
2.5
Toothache
2.2
Andropause
1.7
Incontinence
1.5
Arthritis
1.5
The most searched information concerns Fitness and physical exercise (16. 2%), Nutrition and eating disorders (11.7%), HIV/ AIDS (11.2%), Drug, alcohol abuse and drug addictions (9.7%) and Sexually transmitted diseases (9.8%). This resonates with the discussion by Graça Carapinheiro, mentioned in the introduction,
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whether we should talk about health or disease sociology, and which are the privileged themes in contemporary societies, so medically defined. There must also be a reference to the importance of crossing age groups and health researches. Most appreciated themes here are also the ones most valued by users’ lower age groups searching for health information on Internet, the ones that are also the biggest users of this platform, showing a kind of “generation divide” in the “informed patient” concept. 3. From Basic Connected Citizen to Networked Citizen We will now identify and characterize the Internet users who access online information about health issues into the e-ready citizen to Network Society (Lupiáñez-Villanueva, 2009), on a global scale, using a selection of Internet users from the World Internet Project database 2007. Due to the amount of data and the amount of Internet activities collected in the database, non-hierarchical K-means cluster analysis was carried out to develop a typology of the Internet users to accommodate citizens according to their respective stages of development of their digital competences. This typology of Internet users could be understood as an e-readiness index to the Network Society. Four clusters were defined by using 30 variables (see Table 18.10) that significantly (p
