McLuhan’s New Internet World:The Emergence of a Global Culture

William H. Dutton

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) University of Oxford

www.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for a Conference entitled ‘McLuhan and Global Communication’, The Global Communication Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 13 June 2011.

North America and Western Europe

Academic Innovation in Networking

Marginal to Everyday Life and Work

Utopian and Dystopian Visions

Direct Democracy

Surveillance Society

Politically Irrelevant to Real Politics

The Old Internet World

The New World

• Significance to Everyday Life and Work (Oxford Internet Surveys and WIP)

• Global Diffusion

• Role in Reconfiguring Access

• Illustrations of its Political Significance

• The Rise of a Fifth Estate

Percentage of Internet Users Across Regions of the World

Role in Reconfiguring Access: Medium is the Internet’s Message

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

Arenas: Networked Institutions

Networked Individuals

News Online journalism, BBC Online, Live Micro-Blogging

Citizen Journalists, Bloggers, Netizens Posting Videos

Democracy E-Democracy, E-Consultation, e-Voting

Obama campaign, Networking the Pro-Democracy Protests

Education Online Learning, Multimedia Classrooms

Backchannels, informal learning

Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing safety alerts

Going to the Internet for health information, Sermo

Press since 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

Networked Institutions: greater ubiquity, universal access

Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate: require only a critical mass of users

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

National Efforts to Control and Regulate

Internet Governance Forum

Technologies of Disconnection: Filtering

Rise of National Values and Attitudes?

Responses to the New World

Meta-Analysis of Internet Filtering:

• Countries with high ratings (heaviest filtering) include: China, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

• Countries with medium levels of filtering include: Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Russia, Turkey.

• Countries filtering, but at comparatively low levels: Azerbaijan, Brazil, Estonia, Italy, Morocco, Singapore, United Kingdom.

Source: W. H. Dutton, A. Dopatka, M. Hills, G. Law, and V. Nash (2011), Freedom of Connection – Freedom of Expression: The Changing Legal and Regulatory Ecology Shaping the Internet. Paris: UNESCO.

Raising New Research Questions:

• How are government policies and practices experienced by the public?

• Are public attitudes and values reflecting national political-administrative and cultural traditions?

• Are national cultures and political-administrative traditions reshaping the core values underpinning the Internet and Web?

• Collaboration of OII, INSEAD, and comScore for the World Economic Forum (WEF)

• Online Global Survey • Completed by 5,400 Adult Internet Users • Conducted from Oct-Nov 2010• 13 countries: Australia/New Zealand, Brazil,

Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, the United States, and the United Kingdom

The Global Internet Values Project*

*Dutta, S., Dutton, W. H. and Law, G. (2011), The New Internet World: A Global Perspective on Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Trust and Security Online. New York: The World Economic Forum, April. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1810005

1. New online nations are becoming the dominant nations in the Internet world;

2. Users are developing a global Internet culture: sharing similar concerns, values and attitudes toward expression, privacy, trust, and security;

3. Newly adopting countries are as liberal, if not more so, in their attitudes, such as support for freedom of expression;

4. Users in the newly adopting nations are more innovative in their patterns of use, e.g., social networking.

Four General Themes and Findings

Regions as Percentage of the Worldwide Population of Users

Sou

th A

frica

India

Mex

ico USBra

zil

Spa

in

Aus

tralia

/New

Zea

land

Italy

Chin

aUK

Can

ada

Ger

man

y

Fra

nce

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

68% 67%

61%

58% 58% 58%55%

52% 51%49%

48%

43%

37%

Figure 10. Percentage of Respondents who are Concerned about "Being Misled by Inaccurate In-formation on the Internet" or by "People on the Internet lying about who they really are".

Percentage of respondents who are concerned or ex -tremely concerned about the following issues related to on-line trust:

-Being misled by inaccurate information on the Internet.-People on the Internet lying about who they really are.

Shared Global Concerns over Trust and Authenticity

South

Afri

ca US

Can

ada

Austra

lia/N

ew Z

ealan

d

Bra

zil

India

Mex

ico

Chin

a U

K

Fra

nce

Italy

Ger

man

y

Spa

in

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

65%63%

60%59%

56%55% 55%

54%52% 52%

49% 49%47%

Figure 8. Percentage of Respondents who support Online Privacy.

Percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following questions related to online privacy:

-"People who go on the Internet put their privacy at risk."-"Personal information about myself, that was gathered over the Internet, is stored somewhere for purposes I do not know. "-"Organizations and agencies ask me to give too much personal information over the Internet."-"I do not like to provide personal information on the Internet."

_x0007_ Mexico

_x0007_ Brazil

_x000d_ South Africa

_x0006_ Italy

_x0003_ UK

_x0008_ Germany

_x0016_ Australia/New Zealand

_x0002_US

_x0006_ India

_x0006_ Spain

_x0007_ Canada

_x0007_ France

_x0005_China

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

4%

4%

3%

4%

3%

3%

3%

3%

3%

4%

6%

3%

8%

12%

14%

15%

19%

20%

27%

22%

23%

17%

26%

22%

23%

20%

37%

31%

41%

36%

37%

26%

41%

38%

46%

32%

40%

37%

43%

45%

44%

40%

38%

37%

36%

33%

32%

31%

31%

30%

30%

21%

Figure 1. "Access to the Internet should be a fundamental right for all people."

Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Neither agree or disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

IND MEX ZAF UK USA AUS/NZ

USA BRA CHN ITA CAN ESP FRA GER0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

67% 67%

63%

58%56% 56% 56% 55% 55% 54%

52%

47% 46%44%

Figure 6. Percentage of Respondents who Support Freedom of Expression Online

Percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following questions related to freedom of ex -pression:

-"It is ok for people to express their ideas on the Inter-net, even if they are extreme."- "People should be able to express their opinion an-onymously on the Internet."- "I feel that I can express myself freely online.-"People should be free to criticize their government on the Internet."

IND ZAF MEX CHN BRA ITA ESP FRA US CAN GER UK AUS/NZ

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

7%11%

27%

32%

38%

52%

63%

69%

77% 78% 79%83% 83%

67%63%

67%

55% 55% 54%

47% 46%

56%52%

44%

58%56%

Figure 7. Support for Freedom of Expression According to In-ternet Diffusion

% of population online (2010)

Percentage of respondents who agree or strongly agree with the following questions re-lated to online freedom of expression:

Countries in order of Internet Diffusion

-"It is ok for people to express their ideas on the Internet, even if they are extreme."- "People should be able to express their opinion an-onymously on the Internet."- "I feel that I can express myself freely online.-"People should be free to criticize their government on the Internet."

China

Bra

zil

India

Italy

Mex

ico

Spa

in

Fra

nce

Sou

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frica

Ger

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yUS

Can

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UK

Aus

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/New

Zea

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0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

45%

35%

32%

28%27%

25%

16%15% 15%

12% 12%

8% 7%

Figure 14. Percentage of Respondents who Produce Online Content Daily or Weekly

Percentage of respondents who produce the following content online content daily or weekly:

-"Update or create a profile on a social networking site."-"Post pictures or photos on the Internet."-"Post messages on discussion forums or message boards.""-Use a distribution list for e-mail."-"Write a (web) blog."-"Maintain a personal website."-"Post a podcast online."-"Post a video blog online."

Bra

zil

Mex

ico In

dia

China

Italy

Sou

th A

frica

Ger

man

y

Aus

tralia

/New

Zea

land

UK

Can

ada

US

Spa

in

Fra

nce

75%

80%

85%

90%

95%94%

93% 93%

90%

88%

87%87%

86%85%

84%84%

82%82%

Figure 22. Percentage of Respondents who use the Internet Daily or Weekly for Communication Purposes

Percentage of respondents who use the Internet daily or weekly for the following communication and information purposes:

-"Check e-mail"-"Surf or browse on the Web"-"Check the news"

Pattern of Findings Supporting Conception of a ‘New Internet World’: Many Limitations

McLuhan’s New Internet World:The Emergence of a Global Culture

William H. Dutton

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) University of Oxford

www.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for a Conference entitled ‘McLuhan and Global Communication’, The Global Communication Research Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 13 June 2011.