Communication Technology and Policy 2002 Abstracts
Communication Technology and Policy Division
The Effect of Internet Usage on Social Capital • Raymond N. Ankney, Temple • This paper examines whether the Internet affects social capital. Internet users were more likely to participate in local politics than nonusers were. However, Internet users had fewer community ties than nonusers did. Internet users also were more liberal, libertarian and of higher socioeconomic status than nonusers. Internet users watch television news fewer days per week observe television fewer days per week and watch television fewer minutes per day than nonusers do.
Technology-Induced Stressors, Job Satisfaction and Work-Place Exhaustion Among Journalism and Mass Communication Faculty • Randal A. Beam and Eunseong Kim, Indiana-Bloomington • For professors across a variety of disciplines, keeping up with technology has increasingly become a source of stress. This paper, based on results of a national study on the use of technology in U.S. journalism and mass-communication programs, finds that technology-induced stress can contribute to lower job satisfaction and a greater sense of job exhaustion for teachers in these fields. Suggestions are offered on how college administrators might improve the work environment for faculty to lower the level of technology-induced stress.
The E-mail is Down! Using a 1940s Method to Analyze a 21st Century Problem • Clyde H. Bentley and Brooke Fisher, Missouri • When the electronic mail system at a university crashed, researchers turned to a methodology developed more than 50 years earlier to examine the impact. Bernard Berelson used a survey questionnaire and field researchers to collect qualitative comments on what “missing the newspaper” meant to readers during a newspaper strike. That same questionnaire was modestly rewritten for this study. Like the original, the study found extensive anxiety over the loss of the information source, plus a high degree of habituation and dependence on the new medium.
Ensuring the End-to-End Network: A Policy Initiative for Broadband Open Access • Justin Brown, Florida • This paper reviews the FCC’s examination of broadband open access and offers a solution to ensure the preservation of the end-to-end network and free expression qualities of the next generation of the Internet. The proposed policy initiative enables individuals to retain the ability to create their own communication environments and fosters further content and application creativity.
Offering Help Creating “The Daily Me”: A Content Analysis of the Credibility and Editorial Policy Statements of Online News Sites • William P. Cassidy, Oregon • To address the credibility concerns regarding Internet information, some critics have called for online journalism sites to publish a credibility statement. This exploratory study analyzes 175 online news sites for the presence of such a statement, which should ideally contain information about standards, values, and corporate relationships. Webonly news sites were more likely than newspaper sites to publish credibility statements and to satisfy more of the criteria necessary for an ideal statement.
Internet Business Models for Broadcasters: How Television Stations Perceive and Integrate the Internet • Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, Florida and Louisa Ha, Bowling Green State University • This study examines the Internet business strategy as it applies in the broadcast television industry by proposing a framework of Internet business models for the television broadcasters and, drawing on this framework, assessing the broadcasters’ current Internet operation patterns. We found that the television stations have focused their online activities on building audience relationships, rather than generating online ad sales. The Internet is used as a “support” to complement the off-line core products.
From Grassroots to Active Citizens: Bridging Civic Deliberative Participation Online and Offline • Taeksoo Choo and Seung-Ahn Nah, Wisconsin-Madison • Primary goal for this study is to examine how online civic deliberation is constructed via the electronic bulletin boards, and in turn, to the what degree, online civic deliberation meets the necessary conditions for online civic deliberation. Secondary is to explore how online civic deliberative participation affects the offline civic activities.
To Be Or Not To Be Emotional: Impression Formation Effects of Emoticons in Moderated Chatrooms • Corina Constantin, Siram Kalyanaraman, Carmen Stavrositu, and Nathan Wagoner, The Pennsylvania State University • Rapid advances in technology have contributed to the ubiquitous use of emoticons in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). However, little empirical evidence exists to document psychological effects of emoticons. This paper examines impression formation effects of emoticons in a moderated chatroom scenario. Fifty-eight (N=58) participants in a 2 (moderator’s use of emoticons) X 2 (chattersÕ use of emoticons) factorial design experiment were exposed to a chat transcript and then asked to rate their perceptions of the moderator.
Digital En Espanol: The Rise of Spanish-Language Television and the Transition to Digital • Humberto Delgado, and Lorna Veraldi, Florida International University • As U.S. television makes the transition to digital, Spanish-language television is coming of age. Multicasting multilingual broadcasts could generate substantial additional advertising revenue. However, a survey of station managers in Top Ten Hispanic Markets reveals only limited interest in Spanish multicasts among managers of English-language stations and no interest at all in English multicasts among managers of Spanish-language stations.
Modeling Social Support in On-Line Discussion Groups • Matthew S. Eastin, The Ohio State University and Robert LaRose, Michigan State University • While there is mounting evidence that people use the Internet to expand their social networks and receive social support, little is known about how they do so and with what effect the Internet has on overall levels of social support. Using 241 on-line support seekers, this study explored social cognitive mechanism as predictors of support activity, importance of on-line support and support network size. Further, the relationship between network size and perceptions of real-life social support was examined.
Current Status of the Direct Broadcast Satellite Industry: Is DBS a True Alternative to Cable • Ju-Yong Ha, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale • The DBS industry has been anxious to establish itself as a choice of multichannel television service in the U.S. This study reviews the recent changes in the DBS industry and examines the DBS industry’s performance in the competitive multichannel television programming market. The paper also explores recent regulatory changes and cable industry’s reaction to the competition from DBS. This examination provides a partial answer to the question whether the goal of the 1996 Telecommunication Act is being achieved. It suggests the rapid progress of the DBS systems may provide a possible solution to the cableÕs market dominance.
Comparative Evaluation of Virtual and Face-to-Face Interaction for Teamwork: Implications for Technology Adoption in Education • Anne M. Hoag, Krishna P. Jayakar and Kimberly Erickson, The Pennsylvania State University • With the rising popularity of the Internet, communication technologies have become an attractive means of delivering a host of services including education. The effectiveness of these technologies is premised on their ability to facilitate collaboration, teamwork and communicativeness. To assess how the team experience is affected by the technological mode of interaction, a quasi-experiment was conducted in a telecommunications management class.
Imagery Effects on the Selective Reading of Internet Newsmagazines: A Cross-Cultural Examination • Silvia Knobloch and Matthias R. Hastall, Dresden University of Technology and Dolf Zillmann, Alabama and Coy Callison, Texas Tech University • In an experimental internet newsmagazine, imagery of some articles was manipulated. Both front page and reports proper either presented no images, text-related innocuous images, or text-related agonistic images. During a fixed time span, readers read as much of the articles as they pleased. Their selective exposure behavior was unobtrusively recorded. Data were collected in two media cultures. Agonistic images fostered article choices and reading times of the associated texts. Innocuous images had more moderate effects.
Cross-Cultural Differences in Perceived Risk of Online Shopping • Hanjun Ko, SungWook Shim, Jaemin Jung and JooYoung Kim, Florida • This study investigates the perceived risk that can affect consumers’ purchase decisions during online shopping. Specifically, this study identifies the differences in perceived risk between online shoppers and non-online shoppers, as well as between American and Korean Internet users. It shows that the perceived risk is higher for inexperienced online shoppers. It also shows that both American and Korean Internet users had a similar degree of perceived risk toward online shopping.
A Multiplicity of Problems in Digital Must-Carry • Daphne Eilein Landers, Florida • This paper focuses on the implications that multiple signals/services inherent in digital television broadcasting introduce into cable carriage of local commercial television stations. It raises two main research questions: (1) What are the implications of multiple signals on the must-carry rules? (2) What do these implications reveal about the constitutionality of digital must-carry rules? Three main issues are addressed: capacity issues, duplicative programming, and primary signal/program-relatedness.
Small Dailies’ Websites: The Current Status and Strategies in an Economic Slowdown • Byung Lee, Elon University • NO ABSTRACT
Copyright Policy in the Digital Age: Policy Considerations for the Use of Circumvention Technologies • Seung Eun Lee, Florida • This paper examines how the fair use, as an exception to the right of copyright owners, can apply in digital environment. For this purpose, this study examines how the courts have interpreted fair use exemption for the last ten years, in analogue as well as in digital age. This paper especially focuses on the question of what public policy motivations shaped the court opinion in the cases involving fair use exception to the copyright holder’s right.
An Analysis of the Characteristics of Early Internet Adopters • Tien-tsung Lee, Linda Li-Shuan Wang and Paul Bolls, Washington State University • A large number of studies have utilized and tested the Diffusion of Innovations theory. However, few literature exits concerning the characteristics of early adopters of the Internet. Using a large national data set collected in 1997, the present study investigates predictors of Internet adoption, which indirectly created a profile of early adopters of the Internet. Our findings mostly confirm the characteristics of innovators and early adopters as proposed by Everett Rogers, but provide more depth and breadth in the understanding of early users of the Internet.
Orientations of Web News Use and Audience Activity • Mei Lu, Michigan • This study seeks to understand which forces can originate people’s use of Web news and how different orientations affect the ways people select and process information. The use orientation is modeled as instrumental, ritualized, addictive, shared, and situated use. Audience activity is conceptualized as involvement and selectivity. Instrumental use predicts higher levels of involvement and selectivity. Addictive and shared use are associated with increased level of cognitive, behavioral and affective involvement.
Governance, Discourse and Social Actors: A Constructivist Approach to the Global Rule-Making Process • Sanghyun Moon, The Ohio State University • As e-commerce has led to profound changes in the way economic transactions are made and has spurred the rapid integration of global markets, governance of e-commerce has emerged as an important policy agenda around the globe. Given the broader social and economic implications of e-commerce, it is of no surprise that the rule-making process for global e-commerce has increasingly captured the attention of scholars. Despite the substantial contributions to understanding this process, a review of the literature reveals some weaknesses in the study of emerging forms of governance in global e-commerce.
Television Station Ownership Characteristics and Commitment to Public Service: An Analysis of Public Affairs Programming • Phillip Napoli, Fordham University • This study examines whether television station ownership characteristics are related to station commitment to public service, through an analysis of public affairs programming. The results suggest that, in terms of local public affairs programming, there is no significant relationship between ownership characteristics and programming. However, when public affairs programming is defined more broadly (to include locally and non-locally produced programming), there is a significant positive relationship between local ownership and quantity of public affairs programming.
The Chilling Effect of Internet Privacy Concerns • Jay Newell, Michigan State University • The transition from paper-based to digitally-distributed information has the potential to provide governments with the ability to strip away the anonymity of readers. In legal literature, surveillance of speech is often assumed to trigger a “chilling effect,” in which individuals avoid engaging in legal speech in order to avoid the chance of legal entanglement. Yet while there are frequent mentions of potential “chilling effects” in legal rulings, there is scant attention to the subject in the social sciences.
Credibility of Online Newspapers • Yoshiko Nozato, Ohio University • This research examined the credibility of online newspapers. There were strong relationships between credibility and respondents’ experiences with the Internet, online newspapers, and familiarity with printed newspapers. Timeliness, depth, reputation, and accuracy of online newspapers appeared to be important to respondents. The findings suggest that respondents perceived the content of online newspapers to be the same as printed newspapers.Online newspapers’ credibility was evaluated as being high.
State Theory and Telecommunications Surveillance Policy: The Example of the U.S. State’s Clipper Chip Initiative • Vandana Pednekar-Magal, Grand Valley State University and Peter Shields, Bowling Green State University • U.S. law enforcement and national security agencies have claimed that the proliferation of strong private sector encryption is eroding their ability to monitor the electronic communications of terrorists, drug traffickers, and the like. In response, the “Clipper Chip” initiative was launched. The aim of the initiative was to guarantee law enforcement access to a set of “spare keys” that could be used to “unlock” encrypted electronic messages. Efforts were also made to internationalize Clipper Chip.
CNN’s Emphasis on Change and Difference in Web Reporting of its Daily Tracking Poll During the 2000 U.S. Presidential Campaign • Matthew M. Reavy, Scranton • This study examines CNNÕs emphasis of change and difference in Web reports of the daily tracking poll it co-sponsored during the 2000 U.S. presidential election. The study finds that the network consistently over-represented change between polls, as well as differences between the two top candidates. The source of the problem was the networkÕs failure to properly account for sampling error when reporting poll results.
In Search of the Forest amid a Growing Number of Trees: Online Journalism Scholarship at the 10-Year Mark • Jane B. Singer and Sheryl Thiel, Iowa • The first decade of research about online journalism is marked by an emphasis on audience studies; a preponderance of methodologies borrowed from the study of traditional media forms, particularly in the leading scholarly journals; and an eclectic mix of conceptual approaches. Using a qualitative meta-analysis of research published in more than 40 journals, this study considers the past and offers suggestions about a potentially productive future for the study of journalism in this new medium.
Cyberspace and the United Arab Emirates: Searching for Tunes in the Air • Timothy N. Walters, Zayed University and Lynne Masel Walters, Texas A&M University • The United Arab Emirates is attempting to carve a piece of the future out its ancient desert by erecting Internet City on the main road connecting the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This effort is fraught with contradictions. The Emiratis are eager for the businesses and jobs that they expect to pull out of cyberspace. Yet, they are reluctant to make the social and cultural changes this will necessitate.
Dual Coding Theory and Multimedia Research: An Old Theory Offers a New Means for Measuring the Web’s Efficacy • David Weinstock, Central Michigan University • This paper examines the usefulness of Dual Coding Theory, a cognitive psychological theory dealing with memory creation employed extensively by educational disciplines as a means for evaluating multimedia classroom tools, as a means for guiding research — such as recall testing — aimed at measuring the effectiveness of online news content. Devised in the early 1970s, the theory has seen little use in mass media research to date.
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