Deliberative democratic theory gives campaigning organizations an important
role in the public sphere. The new communicative capabilities offered to such
organizations by the Internet must be evaluated in the light of a persistent
digital divide. This study measures and attempts to explain patterns of Internet
usage among activists, and examines the possible implications of these patterns
for the public sphere and political participation.
A postal survey of 109 London-based activists and open-ended interviews with
four of those surveyed found respondents had predominantly high levels of education,
higher than average incomes and high levels of access to the Internet. However,
high levels of access did not translate into high levels of use in all contexts.
While email was extensively employed, other uses like participation in open
online discussion or web-based publishing were much less prevalent than traditional
campaigning activity, which suggests many of the Internet's alternative media
capabilities identified by scholars may be under-utilised in practice. Some
access and skill barriers were noted but the principal barriers to greater use
of the web in campaigning appeared to be attitudinal - resistance to learning
a new medium due to age and a perception that its use was not relevant or important
to campaigning. The fact that much Internet use by activists is via email and
therefore largely "invisible" except to recipients might contribute
to that perception.
The study also suggests that the existing socio-economic divide between the
"core" activists surveyed and the broader public could be worsened
if, for reasons of efficiency, those activists move their attention away from
traditional activities like meetings and newsletters towards email-mediated
dialogue or if the Internet does make it easier for the relatively privileged
who are already online to become more involved at the expense of those who continue
to fall on the wrong side of the digital divide.
If you would like a copy of this dissertation please contact me telling me which paper you want (I have several on the site) and if possible how you came to hear about it. My papers are available for publication and are free to read and circulate for non-commercial use - I would like to know why they interest you and would welcome comments.
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