once a year, i pack my stuff and fly to washington dc for an advisory board meeting of the pew internet and american life project. for half a day, i get to sit in a room with super smart board members and even smarter staff members and brainstorm ways to improve an already excellent project. it's exhilarating.
project director lee rainie got things started by telling us what's in the pipeline. john horrigan has some reports coming out shortly, including one on online consumer practices around three different commodities: real estate, cell phones, and music. amanda lenhart is leading two fascinating projects, one on writing in a digital age and one on the relationships (or lack thereof) between gaming and civic engagement. apparently, the folks at pew never stop - just last december they release three reports, including "teens and social media" (lead author amanda lenhart) and "digital footprints" (lead author mary madden), two excellent studies that my students and i will be reading in digital literacy.
we then transitioned into areas for improvement. the project had just gone through an external review, with results that i would characterize as extremely positive, and instead of spending a lot of time talking about what they do well, we focused on areas that need improvement. for example, in a world increasingly populated by cell phones, especially among young people, pew's traditional land-line phone surveys will need some updating. further, considering bloggers' common (and wonderful) practice of linking to specific ideas rather than entire reports, we discussed alternatives to releasing the reports as only PDFs.
and we spent a significant amount of time talking about a word that more and more strikes me as arcane: dissemination. how, we all asked, do we improve dissemination of the findings? how can the reports find their way into the hands and minds of even more academics, even more journalists, even more bloggers, even more policy makers, even more people?
my Big Suggestion was to blog. dissemination is good, i argued (politely!), but conversation is better. an increase in conversation is an increase in dissemination - only more engaged. imagine, i asked, going to pew's web site not only for killer content but also for killer conversation.
it's remarkable that a project that began in 2000 is going stronger than ever. if i were them, i'd be inclined to kick up my feet and rest on my laurels. lucky for us, they are not me - instead of curbing their efforts, the pew internet and american life project continues to expand their reach: more reports, more topics, more collaborators.
Showing posts with label pew internet and american life project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pew internet and american life project. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Friday, August 03, 2007
new pew report: online video goes mainstream
researchers at the pew internet & american life project have been busy pumping out reports all summer. first, there was cyberbullying and online teens by amanda lenhart, next there was home broadband adoption by john horrigan and aaron smith, and then, last week, online video by senior research specialist mary madden.
(disclosure: i serve on the project's advisory board and was, in 2001, one of mary's professors at georgetown university.)
online video is fascinating for many reasons including its data that seems to confirm what many of us have felt intuitively: that among US internet users, online video is now mainstream. indeed, 57% of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video. more than three out of four (76%) young adults aged between 18-29 report watching video online. and nearly three-fourths (74%) of broadband users watch or download video online.
moreover, as the report makes clear, many users use online video socially. they watch videos with others, they send and receive links to online videos, they rate videos, they comment on videos, and they upload their own videos.
one of the key strengths of pew internet and american life project's reports - a strength that scholars, journalists, and new media pundits should emulate - is the way they place their object of study (the internet, digital media) within larger cultural, social, and economic contexts. for example, with respect to gender, 63% of men watch and download online video while only 51% of women do so. age is a huge factor: while 76% of internet users aged 18-29 watch video, only 46% of users aged 50-64 do so. education is another factor: 64% of college graduates watch video while 46% of high school graduates or less do so. and, echoing some of the findings in last year's latinos online, written by pew's susannah fox and gretchen livingston, access to broadband is a huge factor: 74% of those who enjoy high-speed connects at both work and home watch video while 31% of those with dial-up do so.
this fall, in a matter of weeks, i'll be teaching both sections of media studies 100, our intro course to the major. i continue to organize the course chronologically - print, radio, film, tv, computer, digital media - a tactic that is becoming increasingly outdated in our current age of convergence. i will certainly assign online video as a reading but am unsure where to put it in my syllabus: under the unit on tv? under video? under music? under digital media? reading through this latest report from pew and speculating where it will go in my syllabus makes me realize once again how fast the medium we use, study, teach, love, and hate is moving, morphing, and growing. thanks mary and thanks pew for helping us keep track.
(disclosure: i serve on the project's advisory board and was, in 2001, one of mary's professors at georgetown university.)
online video is fascinating for many reasons including its data that seems to confirm what many of us have felt intuitively: that among US internet users, online video is now mainstream. indeed, 57% of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video. more than three out of four (76%) young adults aged between 18-29 report watching video online. and nearly three-fourths (74%) of broadband users watch or download video online.
moreover, as the report makes clear, many users use online video socially. they watch videos with others, they send and receive links to online videos, they rate videos, they comment on videos, and they upload their own videos.
one of the key strengths of pew internet and american life project's reports - a strength that scholars, journalists, and new media pundits should emulate - is the way they place their object of study (the internet, digital media) within larger cultural, social, and economic contexts. for example, with respect to gender, 63% of men watch and download online video while only 51% of women do so. age is a huge factor: while 76% of internet users aged 18-29 watch video, only 46% of users aged 50-64 do so. education is another factor: 64% of college graduates watch video while 46% of high school graduates or less do so. and, echoing some of the findings in last year's latinos online, written by pew's susannah fox and gretchen livingston, access to broadband is a huge factor: 74% of those who enjoy high-speed connects at both work and home watch video while 31% of those with dial-up do so.
this fall, in a matter of weeks, i'll be teaching both sections of media studies 100, our intro course to the major. i continue to organize the course chronologically - print, radio, film, tv, computer, digital media - a tactic that is becoming increasingly outdated in our current age of convergence. i will certainly assign online video as a reading but am unsure where to put it in my syllabus: under the unit on tv? under video? under music? under digital media? reading through this latest report from pew and speculating where it will go in my syllabus makes me realize once again how fast the medium we use, study, teach, love, and hate is moving, morphing, and growing. thanks mary and thanks pew for helping us keep track.
Monday, March 26, 2007
latinos online - a new report from the pew hispanic center and the pew internet & american life project
back in the 1990s, when bill clinton and al gore were running things, the national telecommunications and information administration (ntia) began publishing research reports about what we then called "the digital divide." in 1995, they published falling through the net, followed, in 1998, with falling through the net II. both reports brought much needed attention and public discussion about the internet, access, and inclusion. unfortunately, today, ntia is a shell of what it once was. fortunately, the pew internet & american life project has stepped up to partially fill the void.
latinos online, written by susannah fox and gretchen livingston, is a collaboration between the pew hispanic center and the pew internet & american life project. the report explores latinos/hispanics in the US and their use (and lack of use) of the internet. the findings are disturbing and sobering and remind us, once again, that race (and education and class and language) matter online.
the report is particularly timely. as fox and livingston note, "Over the last decade, the internet has become woven into American life, just at the time that Hispanics have become the fastest growing component of the U.S. population" (p. 1). further, the collaboration between the two centers is smart. although the pew internet & american life project has published previous research on the topic - hispanics and the internet (2001) - the interviews were conducted entirely in english. with help from pew hispanic center, the interviews and surveys that inform the current study were done in english and spanish. excellent.
so what do we learn?
1. the percentage of latinos/as online is well below other groups' adoption rates. as the report notes, "Fifty-six percent of Latinos in the U.S. use the internet. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non-Hispanic blacks use the internet" (p. 3)
2. much of the difference in use rates is related to education. "Individuals who have not graduated from high school are much less likely to use the internet regardless of their racial or ethnic background. Four in ten Hispanic adults have not completed high school, compared with about one in ten white adults. Therefore the low rate of high school completion among Hispanics contributes to their relatively low internet use" (p. 4).
3. further, among latinos/as, language use relates significantly to internet use. "Fully 78% of Latinos who are English-dominant and 76% of bilingual Latinos use the internet, compared to 32% of Latinos who are Spanish-dominant" (p. 9).
4. significantly, national origins is a factor for latino/a internet use. latinos/as who trace their origins to central america are the least likely to use the internet (50% of them go online). next is latinos of mexican descent (52%), followed by latinos of dominican republic descent (59%). this is followed by latinos of cuban descent (64%), puerto rican descent (66%), and south american descent (70% - pp. 10-11)
5. access remains a huge issue. according to the report, the reasons given for not going online were as follows: 53% do not have access; 18% not interested; 10% too difficult or frustrating; 6% too expensive; and 5% too busy or do not have time (p. 14).
unfortunately, there has never been ample academic interest in the field of race, ethnicity, and the internet. near the beginning of the decade, there were important works, including beth kolko, lisa nakamura, and gil rodman's race in cyberspace, nakamura's cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the internet, alondra nelson, thuy lin n. tu, and alicia headlam hines' technicolor: race, technology, and everyday life, and emily noelle ignacio's building diaspora: filipino cultural community formation on the internet, to name some of the most influential. these days, however, perhaps as a result of the web 2.0 hype that has seemed to dull the critical edge of the field, too few studies about race and the internet exist. (two important and exciting exceptions: native on the net: virtual diaspora in the digital age, edited by kyra landzelius, and information technology and indigenous people, edited by laurel evelyn dyson, max hendriks, and stephen grant. if you are interested in reviewing one of these books for RCCS, please let me know in the comments. thank you kim christen for bringing these books to my attention.)
latinos online is an important, timely, and sobering report about yet another aspect of american culture that needs major fixing. kudos to pew hispanic center and pew internet & american life project for addressing the difficult questions so many of us love to avoid and much respect to those of you working hard and creatively to find solutions.
latinos online, written by susannah fox and gretchen livingston, is a collaboration between the pew hispanic center and the pew internet & american life project. the report explores latinos/hispanics in the US and their use (and lack of use) of the internet. the findings are disturbing and sobering and remind us, once again, that race (and education and class and language) matter online.
the report is particularly timely. as fox and livingston note, "Over the last decade, the internet has become woven into American life, just at the time that Hispanics have become the fastest growing component of the U.S. population" (p. 1). further, the collaboration between the two centers is smart. although the pew internet & american life project has published previous research on the topic - hispanics and the internet (2001) - the interviews were conducted entirely in english. with help from pew hispanic center, the interviews and surveys that inform the current study were done in english and spanish. excellent.
so what do we learn?
1. the percentage of latinos/as online is well below other groups' adoption rates. as the report notes, "Fifty-six percent of Latinos in the U.S. use the internet. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non-Hispanic blacks use the internet" (p. 3)
2. much of the difference in use rates is related to education. "Individuals who have not graduated from high school are much less likely to use the internet regardless of their racial or ethnic background. Four in ten Hispanic adults have not completed high school, compared with about one in ten white adults. Therefore the low rate of high school completion among Hispanics contributes to their relatively low internet use" (p. 4).
3. further, among latinos/as, language use relates significantly to internet use. "Fully 78% of Latinos who are English-dominant and 76% of bilingual Latinos use the internet, compared to 32% of Latinos who are Spanish-dominant" (p. 9).
4. significantly, national origins is a factor for latino/a internet use. latinos/as who trace their origins to central america are the least likely to use the internet (50% of them go online). next is latinos of mexican descent (52%), followed by latinos of dominican republic descent (59%). this is followed by latinos of cuban descent (64%), puerto rican descent (66%), and south american descent (70% - pp. 10-11)
5. access remains a huge issue. according to the report, the reasons given for not going online were as follows: 53% do not have access; 18% not interested; 10% too difficult or frustrating; 6% too expensive; and 5% too busy or do not have time (p. 14).
unfortunately, there has never been ample academic interest in the field of race, ethnicity, and the internet. near the beginning of the decade, there were important works, including beth kolko, lisa nakamura, and gil rodman's race in cyberspace, nakamura's cybertypes: race, ethnicity, and identity on the internet, alondra nelson, thuy lin n. tu, and alicia headlam hines' technicolor: race, technology, and everyday life, and emily noelle ignacio's building diaspora: filipino cultural community formation on the internet, to name some of the most influential. these days, however, perhaps as a result of the web 2.0 hype that has seemed to dull the critical edge of the field, too few studies about race and the internet exist. (two important and exciting exceptions: native on the net: virtual diaspora in the digital age, edited by kyra landzelius, and information technology and indigenous people, edited by laurel evelyn dyson, max hendriks, and stephen grant. if you are interested in reviewing one of these books for RCCS, please let me know in the comments. thank you kim christen for bringing these books to my attention.)
latinos online is an important, timely, and sobering report about yet another aspect of american culture that needs major fixing. kudos to pew hispanic center and pew internet & american life project for addressing the difficult questions so many of us love to avoid and much respect to those of you working hard and creatively to find solutions.
Friday, January 12, 2007
a meeting in washington dc
it's hard work keeping up with any field and it seems even harder when the field is new and emerging like the internet. and yet, somehow, the pew internet and american life project has done it - and they've been doing it now for seven years.
today i'm in washington dc - as part of an advisory board meeting for the pew internet and american life project. on a personal level, it's always fun returning to dc, the city i lived in for my last two years of grad school. on a professional level, it's a privilege to be in the same room with so many smart minds - smart minds who contributed to my decision to study digital culture in the first place and smart minds who contribute to my current understandings of what digital culture has become today.
i was excited to hear about future pew reports that examine latino/a use of the internet and the ways in which americans used the net during the 2006 election. i was excited to hear about future pew reports on information ecologies and how americans use the net to search themselves and others. and i was excited to hear that there will be additional reports regarding teens and technology.
the best part for me was when we all went around the room and shared what we thought was new, cutting edge, and important in terms of the internet and american life. being in a room with smart people talking about the future is exciting but it can also be a bit overwhelming - within an hour, we generated enough questions for a few dozen dissertations. but the best part was watching members of the project team. far from being overwhelmed, they seemed ready for more.
for years i've been excited by the work generated by the pew internet and american life project. after today, i'm excited about the work they'll generate tomorrow.
today i'm in washington dc - as part of an advisory board meeting for the pew internet and american life project. on a personal level, it's always fun returning to dc, the city i lived in for my last two years of grad school. on a professional level, it's a privilege to be in the same room with so many smart minds - smart minds who contributed to my decision to study digital culture in the first place and smart minds who contribute to my current understandings of what digital culture has become today.
i was excited to hear about future pew reports that examine latino/a use of the internet and the ways in which americans used the net during the 2006 election. i was excited to hear about future pew reports on information ecologies and how americans use the net to search themselves and others. and i was excited to hear that there will be additional reports regarding teens and technology.
the best part for me was when we all went around the room and shared what we thought was new, cutting edge, and important in terms of the internet and american life. being in a room with smart people talking about the future is exciting but it can also be a bit overwhelming - within an hour, we generated enough questions for a few dozen dissertations. but the best part was watching members of the project team. far from being overwhelmed, they seemed ready for more.
for years i've been excited by the work generated by the pew internet and american life project. after today, i'm excited about the work they'll generate tomorrow.
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