The Social Dynamics of the Internet

William DuttonOxford Internet Institute

University of Oxfordwww.oii.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for post-graduate students in Sociology, University of Oxford, Manor Road Building, 24 January 2005.

Societal Implications

• No Particular Significance?

• Transformational Bias?

• Reinforcement?

----------------------- v.

‘Reconfiguring Access’

• Oxford Internet Surveys

• World Internet Project

• Qualitative Research

The Internet and Everyday Life

OxIS 2003

• Probability sample, projectable to England, Wales and Scotland

• 14 years and older• June-July 2003 [February-March 2005]• Face to face interviews• 2,030 respondents• 66% response rate

• 5th Year

• Initiated 2000

• 15 nations (and expanding)

• Oxford 2003 (WIP Conference)

World Internet Project (WIP)

• Large N, longitudinal panels

• Multi-disciplinary

• Independent -- multi-client

• Common core questions

• Unique national questions

WIP Strategy

• Diffusion of the Internet

• Culture of the Net -- Cybertrust

• Societal Implications

Themes Across Areas

• Tracking ‘Digital Divides’

Dynamics of Diffusion

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Use in Britain, 2003

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Cross-National Use, circa 2003

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Percent Who Use the Internet: Lowest and Highest Economic Quartiles

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Gender and Internet Use, circa 2003

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Gender and Hours Users Spend Online per Week

New Broadband Divides in Britain, 2003

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

User already on broadband 11%

User probablygoing onbroadband 24%

Non-user41%

User not thinking of broadband 24%

Dynamics of Diffusion

• Tracking ‘Digital Divides’

• The ‘Digital Choice’

INTERNET USE IN BRITAIN BY LIFE STAGE

Q. Do you yourself use the Internet at home, work, school, college, or elsewhere ?

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May-28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

(% Users)

Pupils: age 14-22 years and in full time education.Working age: employed of any age and all other persons not in employment up to age 55. Retired: 55 or over and are not in employment.

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Internet Use by Age, circa 2003

Trust in the Internet

• Tracking trends in cybertrust

Dimensions of Trust

• Net-confidence: reliability of information on the net, confidence in ‘people running the Internet’, people you can communicate with on the Internet.

• Net-risks: perceived risks to privacy, security of information, accurately judging quality of products

Trust: Confidence

Trust: Perceived Risk

Society and the Net

• Tracking Trends in Cybertrust

• Net as an ‘Experience’ Technology

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Percent of Users Who Purchase Online by Experience

Internet Users by Experience

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Bad Experience

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Impact: Sociability

• Isolating,Connecting, Reconfiguring?

Average Hours per Week Spent Socializing with Friends: Users vs. Non-users

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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“Has the use of Internet increased or decreased your contact with your family and friends?”

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Average Number of Online Friends Met in Person

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Number of Online Friends Never Met in Person

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Average Number of Online Friends Met in Person: by User Category

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.org/

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Average Number of Online Friends Never Met in Person by User Category

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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• Information: what you read, hear, see; what you know

• People: who you know; with whom you communicate – who is in? who is out?

• Services: what you consume; who pays what to whom

• Technologies: access to other information and communication technologies (ICTs)

Reconfiguring Access to:

Dutton, W. (1999), Society on the Line (Oxford: Oxford Un Press).

Reconfiguring Access

• Isolating, Connecting, Reconfiguring?

• Reshaping Media Use?

Average Hours per Week Spent Reading Books: Users vs. Non-users

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Average Hours per Week Spent Watching Television: Users vs. Non-users

Source: http://www.worldinternetproject.net/

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Reconfiguring Access

• Isolating, Connecting, Reconfiguring?

• Reshaping Media Use?

• Reshaping Access to Public Services

Nearly 40% of Britons online use public information services

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Social Class Shapes Use of Public Information

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Education is Positively Associated with Use

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Public Information Accessed More by Older Citizens

Source: Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), results of a nationwide representative survey of Britons aged 14 and older, 23 May- 28 June 2003. Number of respondents: 2,030.

Proximity to the Internet: Experience Shapes Use

Emerging Themes:

• Diffusion: Digital Choices and Divides

• Dimensions of Cybertrust

• Experience Technology

• Transformative Impact: Reconfiguring Access