Preconditions for Participation

Trebor ScholzDepartment of Media Studytrebor@thing.net

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0

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Aspects of Participation in the Social Web

time

relaxation

social capital

emotional support

access to information

software architecture

translation

intellectual property

identification

friendship

group belonging

individual vs. network valueformat of contributions

signal-to-noise ratioembodied and networked sociality

job

reciprocity

mobile computing

permanency and privacy of content

low threshold engagement

gender

transparency of rulesand power dynamics

challenge

“I give because I am great” (agonistic giving)

feedback

trust

sharing the experience of one’s time & place

scale

archiving memory

pleasure of creation

hormones

tone, passion, humor, personality

type of content

contributing to the greater good

Trebor Scholz 2007

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access to technology, Internet access, ability to read, write, author in a digital environment (i.e. knowing how to use a wiki), remembering the URL of a website, bandwidth,cost of equipment, the ease of use of the technological infrastructure, time management, and vast issues of age, race, gender

Preconditions for participation within the US (and beyond) include:

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Participation in the Social Web is yet another thing to do for already busy people. It takes time to consider the issues, to figure out the software, and author a contribution. In addition, it takes time to go through a large number of posts from high-participation mailing lists, for example.

Worldwide, for the people who have the time and who are highly motivated there still exists the problem that most sociable media environments online are predominantly in English and the basic rules of most systems (i.e., having to register in order to participate.)

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For non-native speakers it is hard to retain subtleties such as ironic connotations of certain expressions. Flaws in translated texts may also make the author appear less educated, which prevents some people from contributing.

Apart from time and language concerns, the politics of the software architecture is an equally crucial parameter of participation. Just like moving around in a physical building, the software code regulates the behavior in an online environment.

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United States 208,000,000 Internet users in 2006

http://tinyurl.com/34tgja

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Countries where Internet access isavailable to the majority of the population

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7063682.stm

Internet Usage by World Region

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A list of 13 "enemies of the Internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Belarus,Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran,

North Korea, Saudi Arabia,

Syria, Tunisia,

Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan,

Vietnam

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6124420.stm

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Distribution of the Users of Social Networking Sites

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http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2007/01/the_distributio.html

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http://tinyurl.com/32r66t

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The Digital Divide Is Not What It Used To BeThe growth of cell phone use in Africa is indeed explosive: the lack of

an extensive landline telephony infrastructure makes mobile phones a

good alternative. But consider this: In 2006, the Washington Post

published an article showing that "worldwide, there are more than 2.4

billion cell phone users... and [a]bout 59 percent of these users are in

developing countries, making cell phones the first telecommunications

technology in history to have more users there than in the developed

world." [1] Cell phone usage in Africa, the article continued, is growing

faster than in any other region and jumped from 63 million users two

years ago to about 152 million. This is not some kind of mobile business

evangelism: life in Africa is changed drastically for those with access.

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User Generated Content in China

100 mio net users in China, many gamers

huge difference between city (40%) and rural areas (3%)

400 million mobile phone users

emphasis on mobile Internet

4 out of the top ten sites online are Chinese

an alternative Internet (not technically)

The young are not the dominant users of net technology (they have to study for college)

Greetings from the 3.1 billion people of China21

http://www.baidu.com/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu

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Users can create playlists Others can then link to them

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SINA is an online media company for China and Chinese communities around the world. SINA has over 94.8 million registered users worldwide.

http://www.sina.com.cn/

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7.5 million video streams a day

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2007/gb20070104_650257.htm

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http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/

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http://laptop.org/

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Basic problems:

AIDS pandemic--

Who will be left to use IT in Africa?

Draught in Africa

What is the value added by a piece of equipment?

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Technological solutions to social problems?

Computers are addictive: do they detract resources rather than solve problems?

Africa’s women can enter the public sphere as speakers through blogging (where available).

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqjpVfn1l2k

Runs on Linux

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Internet and India100 millon people in India

most people get access through Internet cafesmany people access the net first on a cell phone, not a PC

most investment goes into telecom development

even small villages have cell phone signal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Censorship_in_India

Censorship

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70% of under 23 Iranians send over 10 SMSes dailyTehran, Feb 28, 2007 Taliya News – 78% of those that send more than ten SMSes per day are singles, and in other words the singles use this service more than married people in Iran.

According to ILNA, based on the findings of a research work conducted by a graduate student, the majority of SMS senders are the university students and they mainly do so to have fun, including sending jokes and messages related to other recreational activities.

This journalism major graduate student has surveyed the method of taking advantage of SMS as a communicational means among 435 university student and come up with interesting results.

Among them, more than 70% of Iranians under 23 send more than ten SMSes daily.

Meanwhile, the unemployed individuals send more SMSes than the employed people.

According to the research results, jokes, making appointments, expressing feelings, information dissemination, inquiring about friends and relatives' health, sending congratulation and consolation massages, notes related to work and academic affairs, and finally, ads, are the highest tanking SMSes sent by Iranians respectively.

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Africa is in t he grip of a mobile phone revolu t ion. "The number of mobile phone lines in Africa rose from 15.6 to 135 million between 2000 and 2005" OhmyNews reported

how women in South Africa fight for their human rights with cell phones. [2] This report continued: “In a culture where people travel long distances to find work, the mobile has become the most useful and ubiquitous piece of technology since the bicycle. Just as bicycles are used in rural Africa to transport bananas or paying passengers, the mobile is changing lives in ways unimagined in t he developed world. I t links dis t an t families and allows t he poor t o communicate.”

References:

[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/08/AR2006070801063.html

[2] http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?no=339544&rel_no=1

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http://demiurge.wn.apc.org/africa/afrmain.htm

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In Africa each cell phone actually represented several users, as the phones are shared in a variety of ways, giving penetration figures in Kenya of closer to 80%.

Oneworld.net set up one project in Nairobi, for example that was a kind of SMS job bank that allowed workers to connect with employment quickly and successfully. Significantly, oneworld works directly with local operators to design socially useful mobile platforms.

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http://tinyurl.com/yssoae

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http://africa.reuters.com/

Reuters Africa takes an interesting approach. Its design resembles the rest of the Reuters site, but the content is presented by country. You can select countries from an image map of the continent, or from a drop-down menu.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KAdsWttmvo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyzQItUhXyw&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J9gwxbSBq8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg4G0csjWi8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvpP3Farb2g

http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1637.html

podcasts

More Resources:

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Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006

The Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006[1] (DOPA) is a bill (H.R. 5319) brought before the United States House of Representatives on May 9, 2006. The bill, if enacted, would amend the Communications Act of 1934, requiring schools and libraries that receive E-rate funding to protect minors from online predators in the absence of parental supervision when using "Commercial Social Networking Websites" and "Chat Rooms". The bill would prohibit schools and libraries from providing access to these types of websites to minors.

The bill is considered controversial because according to its critics the bill could limit access to a wide range of websites, including many with harmless and educational material.

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Responses to Dopa

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http://tinyurl.com/2rxta5

Minority youth and people in rural areas access the WWW in libraries

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please direct comments, additions, etc to trebor@thing.net

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