5th estate of the internet realm

The Fifth Estate of the Internet Realm

William H. Dutton

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) University of Oxford

www.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for the OII’s Undergraduate Lecture Series, 25 October 2010.

‘Stephen Fry has said he is going to quit Twitter after a fellow user of the popular Internet site described him as “boring”. … ’

The Sunday Times, 1 November 2009: 1

Fry later laments that he felt caught in the middle of the ‘Fifth Estate’.

Media Viewing the Internet as a Disruptive Threat

“[Edmund] Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more prominent far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or witty saying; it is a literal fact – very momentous to us in these times.”

Thomas Carlyle (1831), Heroes and Hero-Worship, at www.gutenberg.org.etext/1091

The Fourth Estate

Feudal Estates into the 21st Century

Estates Feudal Modern

Clergy Public Intellectuals

Nobility Business, Industry and Economic Elites

Commons Government

‘4th Estate’ Press Journalists and the Mass Media

Mob Mob

Press in the 18th Century -- the ‘Fourth Estate’ Internet in the 21st -- enabling a Fifth Estate

Enabling people to network with other individuals and with information, services and technical resources in ways that support social accountability in business and industry, government, politics, and the media.

The Fourth and Fifth Estates

Pattern of Empirical Findings:• Networked Individuals• Space of Flows v Space of Places (Castells)• Patterns of Information Seeking and Communication• Centrality of the Internet• Trust across Media

• Networked Individuals v Networked Institutions• Communicative Power: Networks of Social Accountability• Threats from, and Complementarities with, other Estates

The Fifth Estate: A Sensitizing Concept

• Studies of the political implications of information and communication technologies, like the Internet

• Distributed Problem-Solving Networks, supported by McKinsey

• Oxford eSocial Science Project (OeSS), supported by the ESRC

• Oxford Internet Surveys, part of the World Internet Project

Based on a Range of OII Research

• 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009• Cross-sectional Surveys versus Panels• Multi-Stage Probability Sample • England, Scotland & Wales • Respondents: 14 years and older• Face-to-face Interviews, High Response Rates• Sponsorship for 2009 from the British Library,

Higher Education Funding Council for England, Ofcom, and Scottish and Southern Energy

• Component of World Internet Project (WIP)

Oxford Internet Surveys

2003 2005 2007 2009

Fielded in June-July February-

MarchMarch-

AprilFebruary-

March

Number of respondents 2,030 2,185 2,350 2,013

Response rate 66% 72% 77% 67%

OxIS Samples

Networked Individuals

Evidence: A Pattern of Findings

Information Seeking Online (QC22)

Current users. OxIS 2005: N=1,309; OxIS 2007: N=1,578; OxIS 2009: N=1,401

12

Looking for Information on Different Media (QA1)

OxIS 2009: N=2,013

13

Looking for Information on Different Media (QA1)

OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007: N=2,350; OxIS 2009: N=2,013. 14

2005 2007 20090%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

29%39%

48%

38%33%

30%

22% 18%15%

11% 10% 7%

TaxesUse the Internet Use the telephonePersonal Visit Directory or book

2005 2007 20090%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

46%55%

62%

13%8%

8%

35% 30%25%

7% 8% 5%

Planning a tripUse the Internet Use the telephonePersonal Visit Directory or book

Looking for Information on Different Media (QA1)

OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007: N=2,350; OxIS 2009: N=2,013. 15

2005 2007 20090%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

28%40%

52%

21%

15%

13%

40%37%

28%

11% 8% 7%

Local schoolsUse the Internet Use the telephone Personal Visit Directory or book

Ways to Look for Information Online (QC25)

Current users. OxIS 2005: N=1,309; OxIS 2007: N=1,578; OxIS 2009: N=1,401Note. Question changed in 2007. 16

Creativity and Production Online (QC10 and QC31)

Current users. OxIS 2005: N=1,309; OxIS 2007: N=1,578; OxIS 2009: N=1,401Note. Social networking question changed in 2009.

17

Reliability of Information on the Internet (QA4)

OxIS 2003: N=2,029; OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007 N=2,350. OxIS 2009: N=2,013Note. The scale changed from a 10 point scale in 2007 to a 5 point scale in 2009.

18

Reliability of Information by Internet Users and Non-Users 2009 (QA4 by QH14)

OxIS 2009: N=2,013Note. The scale changed from a 10 point scale in 2007 to a 5 point scale in 2009.

19

Average Importance of Media for Information by Internet Users and Non-Users (QA2 by QH14)

OxIS 2009: N=2,013 20

Centrality of the Internet and Trust over Time

OxIS 2003: N=2,029; OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007 N=2,350. OxIS 2009: N=2,013

Networked IndividualsNetworked Institutions v Individuals

Evidence: A Pattern of Findings

• Wisdom of Crowds?• Networked Individuals• Managing Networked Individuals• Three Types of Networks supporting CNOs:• 1.0 Sharing (Web, Semantic Web, Deep

Linking)• 2.0 Contributing (User-generated content)• 3.0 Co-creating (Collaborative Production)

Collaborative Network Organizations

Networked Institutions, such as in e-Health Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate: going to the Internet for health and medical

information networking physicians via Sermo

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

Sermo

Networked Institutions of the Fourth Estate: online journalism, BBC online, broadcasting live micro-blogging during debates …

Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate: citizen journalists, bloggers, individuals posting video on YouTube, hyper-local Websites, WikiLeaks, social networks referring friends to news and information, …

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

Networked Institutions of e-Democracy: e-Consultation, e-Voting

Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate: political movements, such as aftermath of 2004 Madrid train bombing, Moveon.org, Obama Presidential campaign, protests following 2009 elections in Iran, Twittering the TV debates

Boundary Spanning: e-Petitions (Road Pricing in Britain

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

Arenas Shaped by 5th Estate

• Press and Media (‘citizen journalism’)• Governance and Democracy

(‘netizens’)• Business and Commerce (‘ratings’)• Work and the Organization (CNOs)• Education (‘backchannels’)

Public Sphere (Habermas) Information Commons Space of Flows (Castells) Engineered Information Space (Berners-Lee) Fifth Estate Enabled by this Space of Flows

Alternative Conceptions

Networked IndividualsNetworked Institutions v IndividualsCommunicative Power: Networks of

Social Accountability

Evidence: A Pattern of Findings

Technical Novelty -- passing fad, not relevant (not ubiquitous), or not ‘real’

Deterministic Technology of Freedom or Control Reinforcement Politics A Strategic Resource for Reconfiguring Access

[enabling a Fifth Estate]

The Politics of the Internet

How is the Internet being used to ‘reconfigure access’? Are there discernable patterns?

Does the Internet enable key actors to reconfigure access in ways that enhance their ‘communicative power’?

Key Questions Concerning the Politics of the Digital Age

Universal access v Critical mass of users

Percentage of Internet Users Across Regions of the World

Regions as Percentage of the Worldwide Population of Users

Use by Age (QH14 by QD1)

OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007: N=2,350; OxIS 2009: N=2,013

37

Use by Lifestage (QH14 by QD15)

OxIS 2003: N=2,029, OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007: N=2,350; OxIS 2009: N=2,013

38

Networked IndividualsNetworked Institutions v IndividualsCommunicative Power: Networks of

Social AccountabilityThreats and Complementarities

Evidence: A Pattern of Findings

Industrial Strategies News Music Cable and Telecommunications Mobile Broadcasting (Web TV)

Governmental and Regulatory Regimes Public

New Challenges: A Threat and a Target

18th Century Estates: 21st Century Enemies

18th Century Estates

21st Century: Enemies of the 5th Estate

Attacks

Clergy Public Intellectuals ‘Culture of Amateurism’, individualist consumerism

Nobility Business, Industry and Economic Elites

Vertical Integration; Monopoly over Search; Three Strikes

Commons Government and Regulatory Agencies

Filtering; Content Regulation; Identification; Disconnection

Press Journalists and the Mass Media

Echo Chambers; but Co-opting, Imitating, Competing

Mob Spammers, Fraudsters, Cyberstalkers, …

Undermining Trust and Confidence; Fostering Regulation of Content

Centrality of the Internet, Trust in Government and Attitudes toward Internet Regulation over Time

OxIS 2003: N=2,029; OxIS 2005: N=2,185; OxIS 2007 N=2,350. OxIS 2009: N=2,013

The Fifth Estate: Selected References

Dutton, W. H. (2008), ‘The Wisdom of Collaborative Network Organizations: Capturing the Value of Networked Individuals’, Prometheus, 26(3), September, pp. 211-30.   Dutton, W. H. (2009), ‘The Fifth Estate Emerging through the Network of Networks’, Prometheus, Vol. 27, No. 1, March: pp. 1-15.  Dutton, W. H., and Eynon, R. (2009), ‘Networked Individuals and Institutions: A Cross-Sector Comparative Perspective on Patterns and Strategies in Government and Research’, The Information Society 25 (3): pp. 1-11.

Dutton, W. H. (2010), ‘The Fifth Estate: Democratic Social Accountability through the Emerging Network of Networks’, pp. 3-18 in Nixon, P. G., Koutrakou, V. N., and Rawal, R. (Eds), Understanding E-Government in Europe: Issues and Challenges. London: Routledge.

The Fifth Estate of the Internet Realm

William H. Dutton

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) University of Oxford

www.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for the OII’s Undergraduate Lecture Series, 25 October 2010.