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This meta-analysis examines the overall effectiveness of Internet supplemented health campaigns on behavior change in the United States. Results show that Internet supplemented health campaigns have significant but relatively small effects (d = 0.23) on behavior change. Moreover, further meta-regression analysis shows that campaign effect size was moderated by campaign topic, presence of audience segmentation, target behavior, behavior type, presence of theoretical foundation, and delivery channel. Aligns with the findings of previous meta-analyses, theorygrounded health campaigns were more effective (d = 0.30) than campaigns with no theoretical foundation (d = 0.16). Campaigns targeting adoption of new behaviors (d = 0.26) were more effective than those targeting cessation of undesirable behaviors (d = 0.10), while campaigns targeting addictive behaviors (d = 0.13) were less effective than those targeting non-addictive ones (d = 0.27). More importantly, the results of the meta-regression analysis shows supplementing the Internet as a delivery channel improves health campaign effectiveness. The results show empirical evidences that Internet can be an effective and cost-effective tool for health communication campaigns, and should be considered as an important supplement for campaigns in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legal status of search engines that copy information from Web sites for indexing and cataloguing remains an unsettled issue in American copyright law. While the fair use doctrine may allow such copying in specific cases, this paper argues that the courtsÂ’ traditional application of fair use does not provide the clarity that is required to encourage technological innovations for the benefit of society. Instead, a broad-based legal rule should be adopted that would allow search engines to copy material for the purposes of indexing and cataloguing Web sites. Such a rule could be established by adopting a broad law and economics-based fair use rule or by recognizing the existence of an implied license given to search engines by Web site operators to copy for socially beneficial purposes. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a case study of the BBC, and the attitudes of its news workers towards Audience Material, or as it is more commonly referred to, User Generated Content (UGC). It is based on a major study of Audience Material at the BBC, co-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the BBC. A team of five researchers spent ten weeks in nine different newsroom across the BBC, both in London and across the United Kingdom, and as part of these observations undertook interviews with 115 journalists and ten senior editors. A typology of the different types of Audience Material is offered, along with descriptions of the different roles they play within the BBC, the tensions which exist between them, and the different attitudes journalists hold towards them. It becomes clear that news workers are enthusiastic about certain types, and perhaps unsurprisingly, these are the types which fit the traditional model of journalism: audience footage, audience comments and experiences, and are types of Audience Material which the BBC has always received, and used. However, there are certain key people based in individual newsrooms, and some holding senior management positions, who are also enthusiastic about types of Audience Material which challenge traditional models of journalism: collaborative and truly participatory models of journalism. But while it is true that there are a number of impressive examples of collaborative and participatory journalism that exist throughout the BBC's UK operations, most news journalists perceive 'UGC' as simply another newsgathering tool. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although considerable research has been done on the evaluation of online content credibility, little of this work has considered the context of how users get to a Web site in their final evaluation of the content they find. Using unique data about how a diverse group of young adults looks for and evaluates online content, our paper makes contributions to existing literature by highlighting factors beyond site features in how users assess the credibility of material they encounter on the Web. We show that the process by which a user arrives at a site is an important component of how the final destination is judged. In addition to search context, branding and routines also play an important role in this assessment as does a continued reliance on resources beyond Web sites including people's social networks. We also discuss the fact that users differ considerably in their skills when it comes to evaluating online content. Finally, we identify areas for future research including a need for more valid survey instruments and continued work in more naturalistic settings. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of names to prime stereotypes has been demonstrated in laboratory studies. To apply these theories and test the effect of name-based ethnic stereotypes on housing discrimination, an experiment was conducted on the Internet over a period of 10 weeks (6 weeks before the conflict with Iraq began in March, 2003 and 4 weeks during the conflict), in which 1115 inquiry email messages were sent to landlords who were advertising apartment vacancies in Los Angeles County. One of three names that implied either Arab, African American, or White ethnicity was randomly assigned to each of the 1115 messages sent. The results show that the African American and Arab names receive significantly fewer positive responses than the White name, and that the African American fares worst of all. This pattern holds true in all rent categories, in corporate and privately owned apartment complexes, and before and during the war in Iraq. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many theories of computer-mediated communication (CMC) argue that the anonymity of Internet communication causes disinhibition, which in turn enhances online self-disclosure. However, recent research suggests that enhanced self-disclosure can also occur in non-anonymous instant messaging (IM). The aim of this study is to develop and test an “Internet-attribute-perception” model to explain the precursors and underlying processes of self-disclosure during IM. We surveyed 1,203 Dutch adolescents on their IM use, their perceptions of the relevance of IM attributes (i.e., controllability and reduced nonverbal cues), and their online self-disclosure. Using structural equation modeling, we found that adolescents’ perceptions of the relevance of IM attributes encouraged their feelings of disinhibition, which in turn enhanced their online self-disclosure. As expected, private and public self-consciousness and social anxiety stimulated adolescents’ perceptions of the relevance of IM attributes, but did not directly influence online self-disclosure. The study shows that users’ perceptions of Internet attributes can no longer be ignored in future Internet-effects research. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite early predictions that the Internet would function as an open and accessible space for democratic communication, the Supreme Court in United States v. American Library Association (2003) denied the public a right to receive information over public Internet access. Although it does not set judicial precedent, the plurality’s reasoning in this case could prove a critical turning point for future determinations of whether end users have any speech rights online. Furthermore, the decision is emblematic of modern public forum law’s inability to protect public sites for expression and the harmful consequences of the government’s growing power over public space. Drawing on critiques of contemporary public forum doctrine, judicial precedents and dissents, and theories of government speech, I offer important distinctions that the law could make to limit the power of government to censor speech in public spaces and distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate government control of speech. I conclude that public forum law is better reformed than abandoned, since it still holds out the best hope for protecting critical spaces for the public exercise of speech rights. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NBC Dateline's popular "To Catch a Predator" series, which purports to expose would-be child molesters, has generated a substantial amount of both praise and controversy. A discourse analysis of the extensive press coverage of the series and related newsworthy events reveals a complex array of issues with two dominant themes emerging. First, the series has been referred to as evidence and proof of the problem of predators trolling the Internet. Discussion of the series has contributed substantially to a broad discourse of fear regarding the safety of children and subsequent calls for legislation to enhance law enforcement powers and increase penalties against sex offenders. And second, the series has become an important locus for self-reflexive discussions within the press regarding normative journalism. Some of the criticisms levied against Dateline's journalistic practices can be understood as a form of "news repair" that aims to strengthen and legitimize the standards of the profession. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first aim of this study was to examine which uncertainty reduction strategies members of social networking sites used to gain information about a person who they had recently met online. The second aim was to investigate whether and how these uncertainty reduction strategies resulted in social attraction. Drawing on a survey of 704 members of a social networking site, we found that respondents had used active, passive, and interactive strategies to reduce uncertainty about their new acquaintance. Interactive strategies were most effective in reducing uncertainty about the target person. Respondents' level of uncertainty about the acquaintance mediated the relationships between the use of interactive uncertainty strategies and perceived similarity on the one hand and social attraction on the other. Finally, respondents' perceived valence of the obtained information about the acquaintance moderated the relationship between the level of uncertainty and social attraction. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is in response to calls for individually based, time-series analyses of Internet usage data in Canada. Drawing from the 1997-2001 Household Internet Use Surveys (HIUS) and the 2000 General Social Survey, previous research (by this author) has demonstrated that the HIUS can in fact be disaggregated, after which, they reveal a statistically significant gender gap in Canada. Cross-tab analysis has showed that the access gap between men and women grew between 1997 and 2002, and logistic regression analyses revealed that men were more than 50% more likely than women to access the Internet from home on a daily basis. This paper represents a continuation and expansion of the previous research, and will use the recently released 2002 and 2003 HIUS data to create a seven-year long time-series analysis of Internet usage in Canada, comparing men and women with location and frequency of access. Furthermore, it will create an individually based examination of online Information seeking practices of Canadian men and women. Finally, the paper will include a critique of the HIUS survey design and corresponding reports, and suggest that they have been ultimately inadequate for accurately determining how Canadian women have been using the Internet, in particular with respect to measurement beyond mere "access". ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various stakeholders have debated whether and how the Internet may become a diversified and tiered medium with different levels of service quality and transmission speeds. Incumbent telecommunications companies, which control the major Internet transmission backbones, want an unfettered option of diversifying Internet services even at the risk of balkanizing and tiering service. Advocates for network neutrality have grave concerns that such flexibility will provider carriers the ability to extort additional compensation and to engage in anticompetitive tactics. This paper will consider the lawfulness of telephone company management strategies to tier, brand and diversify the Internet, including the elimination of a "one size fits all" best efforts routing system. Differential pricing based on quality of service and other factors makes sense to "Bellhead" corporate officers who hope to capture rents that otherwise would accrue to content providers. On the other hand "Nethead" strategies for promoting "best efforts" Internet routing has achieved widespread access and has contributed to successful adoption of this new social and commercial medium. The article also will examine the clash of Bellhead and Nethead cultures with an eye toward identifying the stakes involved when Internet access pricing and interconnection primarily follows a telecommunications infrastructure cost recovery scheme in lieu of different commercial relationships favored by most Internet ventures. The paper identifies both lawful and unlawful discrimination. It concludes that most Bellhead cost recovery models are lawful even though they will reduce for most consumers the real or perceived value proposition offered by an unmetered monthly Internet access subscription. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While communication scholars suggest that the Internet can serve as an important resource for social movement communication, few studies examine whether and how social movements actually use the Internet. This paper examines social movement Internet use by surveying how national social movement organizations utilize this communication resource at one of its most visible points of access, the World Wide Web. Drawing on alternative media studies, the paper develops a typology that identifies the communication functions most central to social movements and surveys the Web sites of social movement organizations (SMOs) to determine the degree to which their Web-based activities and attributes perform these functions. The survey results suggest that the majority of national SMOs are not utilizing the Web to its full potential and posits a number of reasons why this might be the case, including organizational objectives, organizational resources, and the structure of the larger Web-based networks of which SMOs are a part. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past year witnessed an event unprecedented in modern telecommunications history. An otherwise obscure telecommunications policy debate spilled outside the rarefied airs of Congressional Committees and the Federal Communications Commission's eighth floor to rage across the Blogosphere, major newspapers, YouTube and episodes of The Daily Show. This contentious discussion centers on an issue known as "network neutrality," defined broadly as the non-discriminatory interconnectedness among data communication networks that allows users to access the content, and run the services, applications, and devices of their choice. As Congress debates whether network neutrality protections should be written into current legislation, the battle lines have been drawn between large telecommunications companies who own the pipes, on one side, and Internet content companies and public interest groups, on the other. This paper contextualizes recent events in relation to historical telecommunications antecedents. In doing so, we critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the current network neutrality debate and offer a set of guidelines for a new understanding of network neutrality. The paper concludes with an exploration of the social and political ramifications of this broader conception of network neutrality. We suggest that this "new network neutrality" provides a proactive foundation for creating a more democratic Internet. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that a new form of racialization is being produced in the information age through developments and innovations in communication technologies. Increasingly, racial knowledge is being constructed from seemingly neutral and unrelated pieces of information, which are collected, sorted, and analyzed through two key technologies: databases and the Internet. I call this interaction between technology and identity the informationalization of race. As a mode of representation, a structuring device, and as a biological category, race is undergoing a significant transformation in the digital age. I ground this concept in a case study of the next Human Genome Project, the HapMap Project, to understand how technologies are being shaped in a specific institutional setting. Advances in human genomics has recently re-invigorated scientific research into the relationship between race and biology. Where the HGP concluded that humanity is similar at the genetic level, the HapMap Project began by looking for differences between white, African, and Asian groups. The findings from the HapMap project have been promised to help in developing pharmaceuticals that can target common diseases, such as cancer. However, this development also opens the door to old biological conceptions of race and a new phase of the biopolitics of the human body. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of new media, particularly the World Wide Web and associated audio-visual production technologies, has transformed our sense of adaptation and with it our sense of authorship and authenticity. Media consumers, or ‘readers’, have always been active to some extent, selecting, combining and re-contextualizing portions of their favorite texts. But multimedia networks have both deepened and extended these activities in important ways. Employing digital duplication and production tools, global communities of network users now create and exchange media artifacts of ambiguous provenance. Their activities are blurring the boundaries between author and audience, and transforming the nature of media adaptations. This paper examines the constellation of texts and activities that comprise Cowboy Bebop, a Japanese television program adapted to feature film, and subsequently repurposed in numerous forms. The paper asserts that three principals emerging from new media and related new audience activities are changing the constitution of media, story and genre. First, all texts are now potentially multimedia, and both commercial and communal players will increasingly exploit these properties. Second, all texts should be understood as networks of form and meaning, with a variety of constituencies contributing to both their shape and content. Third, industrial marketing strategies are supplemented, contested and extended in these new networks and activities. The role of non-commercial, textual communities in quasi-marketing activities is an important consideration in understanding contemporary media adaptation processes. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of the Internet - the ease of access, the chaotic structure, the anonymity, the “liberal spirit”, and the international character - all furnish terrorist organizations with a new, easy and effective arena for action. However, counter-terrorism measures, especially those introduced after the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington, raise serious concerns about restricting free expression and free flow of information. This paper focuses on this new battle, examining both the uses of the Internet by modern terrorist organizations and the costs of the attempts to prevent them. How do modern terrorists use the Internet and for what purposes? How can governments respond to this new challenge? This paper reports the findings of a seven-year monitoring of over 5,000 terrorist sites using a qualitative content analysis to learn about rhetorical structures, symbols, persuasive appeals, target audiences, interactivity and communication tactics. Finally, the study will examine various implications for policy making regarding terrorism and the Internet, especially with regard to its accessibility, boundaries on freedom of speech and usability for the spread of hate and violence. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web based technology affects political campaign advertising significantly. As a recent addition to political campaign advertising, use of the Internet is full of research potential. This paper explores how such technology has influenced political campaign advertising. Applying technological determinism and media effects theories, the paper briefly discusses the history of technology and the way it has affected political campaigns. Working on the assumption that campaign strategists would include Internet advertising among their tools it was expected that Internet political campaign ads would be relatively easy to find, and using traditional media coding schemes, the content of the Internet ads could be analyzed. Results of the present research indicate that while interest in the political uses of the Internet are growing, presidential candidates and their campaign strategists have yet to embrace the Internet as an advertising tool. The lack of Internet political campaign ads, the implications of their absence and recommendations for future research absence finish out the discussion. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will utilize public controversies regarding the veracity of digitally manipulated photographs to examine norms of discourse and disputation within and between networks of online weblogs (blogs). It will be argued that the structure of the World Wide Web, relying as it does on explicitly linked pages, encourages the development of an oppositional discourse marked by a qualitatively new pace of checking facts and error correction. This environment gives rise to a new kind of political activism – rather than affirming a position and answering objections as in more traditional political activism, activism on the blogosphere is more explicitly fact-checking itself as activism. Within this model, detecting the factual errors of political opponents is itself a type of political activity – it demonstrates bias, illustrates political connections, and ostensibly exposes publicly unjustifiable interests and commitments. This paper will also seek to explore the practical consequences of this type of activism, both in its positive potential for new political networks and in its proven negative impact on the ability of participants to accurately gauge the degree of public support or opposition for their positions. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the current status of English-language newspapers (ELN) in the PeopleÂ’s Republic of China. ELNs are experiencing change around the world as globalization impacts all news media. This paper provides an overview of three leading Chinese English-language dailies---the China Daily, the Shanghai Daily, and the South China Morning Post. Qualitative content analyses were conducted as well as in-depth interviews with editors from each of the publications. These newspapers are in a transitional era and are benefiting from growth and expansion of content as they continue to serve their traditional business, diplomatic, and educational markets while seeking new groups of readers both in print and online. They are also, this paper shows, seeking to develop new ways to distribute information gathered through the Internet with Web sites and other new technological services. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on new media and transnationalism have generally oscillated between two assumptions: on the one hand, there are theories that assume the powerful role of the media in shaping identities; on the other hand, there are theories which argue for the resilience of national, ethnic, or local cultures and the emergence of phenomena such as long distance nationalism (Anderson 2000). This paper takes a different approach by attempting to investigate the impact of communication technologies on the private lives of transnational families. The paper observes how new communications technologies, particularly the internet and mobile phones, enable people to move across transnational spaces thus transforming their experience of ‘home’ and often their primary relationships. However, this ‘enabling’ dimension of the new media, should not necessarily be interpreted through the lens of ethnicity. For example, the paper centres on the impact of ICTs on immigrants’ primary relationships, that is on parent-child and partner relationships that have been split as a consequence of migration. The paper, drawing on empirical work among Filipinos in the UK discusses the ways in which long distance relationships of love and care are maintained and transformed as a consequence of their mediation. In so doing the paper seeks to highlight another – hitherto neglected – dimension of the experience of mediated transnationalism as embedded in intimate everyday life practices. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intended to find the potential that Internet plays a role as a functional alternative for TV. For the purpose, this paper tested the difference between Internet use and TV use, especially focusing on the differential use of a) genre, b) motives, and c) perception of both medium. Some tests were done with divided four groups (both light users, TV heavy users, Internet heavy users, both heavy users) based on the degree of use. Results show that the different uses between heavy user and light user are shown only in limited variables. Big different uses are found only for the primary uses of a medium or the uses having relative superiority over the other. Conclusively, although people spend more time on a medium, the high frequency of use does not necessarily lead so called ‘all or nothing’ strategy to be adopted to changed media environment. Rather, people’s reaction to the new medium may be rational as a partial substitute or eclectic supplement by assessing one medium’s relative superiority over the other, rather than complete change of media using patterns and related perceptions. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Independent labels continue to direct much of their attention on the growing “world music” market. World music is no longer solely the province of Western pop musical elites, but is now widely seen through the further outgrowth of globalization as constituting a popular music market that has the potential to gain substantial sales traction. Popular media has insinuated the growth of world music to have reached the same level of inevitability as globalization. Drawing upon work in anthropology and cultural studies, this paper addresses the genre of world music marketed primarily to Western markets by record labels such as Putumayo World Music, Real World Records, and a host of other independent labels. More specifically, through a cultural analysis making use of Raymond Williams’s concept of social formalism, this analysis examines the way in which these labels use their websites to construct themselves musically as returning tradition and authenticity to the modern West, which is seen as having become disconnected from its cultural authenticity. In addition to complementing existing cultural studies approaches to the study of popular music, this analysis integrates the growing scholarship within anthropology examining modernity and global popular music. In more practical terms, this paper provides a tangible cultural analysis of the websites of world music labels, used as primary means in the marketing and selling of world music to Western capitalist markets. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly online fan sites are providing instant feedback to television and script writers, who are starting to pay more attention to the chatter of "the boards." J.J. Abrams, the show runner for a US program called "Alias" is a confessed board watcher: ""If the Internet is your audience, TV is quite like a play," he observed. "Movies are a done deal -- there's no give and take -- but in a play, you listen to the applause, the missing laughs, the boos. It's the same with the Internet. If you ignore that sort of response, you probably shouldn't be working in TV right now." Abram's observation highlights the expectations of an audience immersed in an increasingly interactive media environment, one in which they are provided with proliferating avenues for talking back to the tube, whether by kicking cast members off reality shows, creating fan sites or venting on to the boards. This paper explores the way in which interactivity doubles as a form of value-enhancing labor for television producers in two ways: by allowing fans to take on part of the work of making a show entertaining, and by providing instant feedback to producers. Based on interviews and surveys of contributors to TelevisionWitoutPity.com and on interviews with producers who frequent the site, the paper explores the two sides of interactivity: the promise of shared control, and the ability to offload some of the labor of market research on to viewers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the effects parental mediation on children's comprehension of online privacy issues. Television mediation literature shows that restrictive meidation and coviewing help children understand the content better. This paper applies the mediation concepts to the new media. A sample of 167 children were recruited to answer a questionnaire at their own leisure. questions focus on how well children understand the concept of privacy and online information collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to identify how individual differences impact ad perceptions and avoidance on the Internet. This paper introduces a conceptual model to examine how consumers respond or avoid the ads on the Internet. The main purposes of this study are to understand different types of consumer characteristics as well as to provide information about the individual differences in responses to advertising under online environment (e.g., ad perceptions and avoidance). The findings indicate that cognitive styles and personality were critical predictors of ad perceptions and avoidance. Situation variables such as communication problems and negative experiences of the findings are discussed in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how organizations are using their Web sites in crisis communication. Specifically, the paper studies the actual rhetorical strategies employed by organizations when they communicate about one particular type of crisis--mismanagement, and which of these rhetorical strategies are then repeated by the media. It also examines the discursive strategies used by organizations through the lens of Benoit's image repair tactics.

This study investigated the two relationships between communication patterns and civic virtues, and between civic virtues and political participation on the Internet. Unlike real world communication, the Internet space can reduce the influence of hierarchical communication structure and social prejudices on sex, income, or education. The anonymity on the Internet encourages freedom of expression and thoughts. Through questionnaire survey conducted to Korean university students, the paper looked at the level of human expression and reception on the Internet. This study considered online writing as the human expression of speaking, and online reading as the human reception of listening. Based on the level of expression and reception on the Internet, this paper divided survey respondents into four groups. The result of the survey showed that two groups with higher level of writing displayed more individuality, i.e. willingness to express. On the other hand, two other groups with higher level of reading manifested more civility, i.e. readiness to hear other people's opinions. However, the participation level on the Internet was higher in balanced two groups of writing and reading than other unbalanced groups. The survey concluded that writing and reading on Internet is equally important to civic virtues. While writing, the expressive function of communication, is related with individual aspect, reading, the receptive function of communication, is related with communal aspect. People who exercised both writing and reading were more likely to be highly participating citizens on Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study of anonymity and identity as played out in email usernames. Using a web-based survey, we asked a series of forced-choice and open-ended questions designed to find out how people obtained their most frequently and second most frequently used email addresses, how identified or anonymous they felt using each, and what kind of interactions and interactional partners they would have with each address. This paper is based on data from the 138 people (out of 217 total responses) who indicated having at least two email addresses. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. We found that, in general, email addresses tend to be perceived as being highly identifiable, although the level of anonymity/identifiability did change with respect to several of our variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States government wishes to have a universally available high-speed Internet infrastructure by 2007. However, there exist many competing ideas about how this rollout might best be achieved. This paper deals specifically with two of these: the market versus the open access approach. Market proponents argue that the government should take a hands-off approach to regulation and let the marketplace determine how broadband deployment should occur. Open access proponents maintain the government should use regulation to assure that the broadband infrastructure remains true to the end-to-end architecture upon which the Internet was built. This debate is particularly heated when it concerns Internet provided over the cable broadband platform. This paper explores the U.S. government’s problem in more detail, and then takes a closer look at Canadian cable broadband policy. It is determined that Canada’s hybrid approach to cable broadband regulation has both allowed for the deployment of broadband infrastructure while also assuring that competing high-speed retial-level providers maintain a presence in the market. Further, given the legislation governing telecommunications in both the United States in Canada, an argument is made for the fungibility (or transferability) of Canadian policy to the United States’ problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines an alternate means by which women who engage in artistic endeavors create women-centered spaces to deal with male biases. Specifically, the paper addresses the role of women DJs and their positioning within electronic/dance music (hereafter, E/DM). First, I investigate the marginalization of women in E/DM DJ culture. Second, this paper looks specifically at the functions and purposes of the Sisterdjs listserv for its participants. Ultimately, I argue that the Sisterdjs listserv is an educating and encouraging space for its participants with no offline equivalent. My findings suggest that Sisterdjs is important to the identity construction of female DJs. Collectives such as this one provide support to women who are pursuing interests beyond the borders of their traditional gender roles. Such encouragement and reassurance works to break down beliefs in the necessity and naturalness of performing prescribed gender roles, both within and beyond the borders of E/DM communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers whether Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are legally responsible for defamatory speech posted by third parties. Toward that end, the paper begins by identifying two competing models?ISPs as distributors and ISPs as publishers?developed by the courts in Cubby v. CompuServe (1991) and Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy (1995). The second section of the paper revisits this controversy in light of the United States Court of Appeals decision in Zeran v. America Online (1997), a case involving Section 230?the so-called "Good Samaritan" clause?of the ill-fated Communications Decency Act. The final section of this paper briefly summarizes the growing scholarly criticism of Section 230 and the Zeran decision. In the final pages, the paper directly responds to this criticism, arguing that Section 230 was intended to immunize ISPs, and that Zeran was correctly decided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between national culture and the structure of international information flows. World System Theory suggests that economic relations between nations are the primary organizing principle of international communication. However, recent research indicates that cultural factors such as language and religion play a significant organizing role. The current research examines the role of culture as an organizing mechanism of the Internet and international telecommunications. National culture is operationalized using Hofstede's four dimensions of collectivism vs. individualism (IDV), femininity vs. masculinity (MAS), uncertainty avoidance (UAI) and power distance (PDI). The structures of the Internet and international telecommunications are operationalized as communication networks. The results indicated that national culture is significantly related to the centrality and the structure of the both networks. Centrality in the international telecommunication network is significantly related to IDV and MAS, and centrality on the Internet is significantly related to IDV. Controlling for economics, the relation between individualism and centrality remains significant in both networks. Using the results of the multidimensional scaling to represent network structure, one finds that the first dimension of the telecommunication network is significantly related to MAS and UAI, and the second to IDV. For the Internet, the first dimension is significantly related to IDV, the second to MAS, and the third to PDI. The paper discusses the limitations of this research and the implications of the findings for globalization, a structural theory of international communication and cultural convergence theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning with a powerful statement offered by Tim Berners-Lee, this paper defines the issues of Internet accessibility and usability pertinent to individuals with disabilities. With over 54 million individuals in the United States suffering with disabilities, focus and priority must be given to ensure that computer and Internet accessibility are ubiquitous. This paper is based upon three premises, the first of which states that access to a computer does not indicate accessibility for the disabled. Significant difference exists between access and accessibility. The second premise states that access to a computer does not mean access to the Internet. Even when an individual obtains accessible usage of a personal computer, several issues arise when he/she is faced with the issue of connectivity. Persons with a disability are only half as likely to have Internet access either from home or some other location than those without any disability. The final and most crucial aspect of this paper is website accessibility. Premise three states that access to the Internet does not by any means imply effective usage of the content by individuals with disabilities. Through a simple content analysis on various Websites, it becomes apparent just how much change must take place in order for the disabled to effectively utilize the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aspires to provide an empirically informed exploration of the Net?s use for political purposes. The substantive focus is on the political debate on immigration and asylum in the United Kingdom, and the empirical analysis is concerned with activist organisations supporting immigrants and asylum seekers. By way of looking at the websites of 45 NGOs concerned with asylum and immigration in the UK, the paper asks the following questions: Whom do these websites address? What type of information do they provide? Through focusing on the issues of addressees, and communicative forms, the paper attempts to draw some tentative conclusions regarding some of the political uses to which the Internet is put. The findings indicate that, digital divide arguments notwithstanding, the internet is proving to be an important resource for activist organisations in enabling them to accomplish several things at the same time: they provide practical and legal information to potential immigrants and asylum seekers, they attempt to influence the political and legal framework through addressing both government and citizenry, and they invite citizens to understand the issues involved in asylum and to actively engage in helping refugees. The instrumentality involved in this usage, however, is problematic from the point of view of normative models of the public sphere, which focus on dialogue and deliberation. In conclusion, it is argued that incorporating the Internet as part of the public sphere may entail an expansion of the latter to include instrumental communication [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-regulation is often said to be the only means of regulation of cyberspace. This paper explores how far self-regulation can work generally, and particularly in cyberspace. It begins by looking at various modes of regulation, viz, market, technology, government legislation and self-regulation. It then explores the meaning of self-regulation as traditionally used and currently understood, or, as contended, misunderstood. A frequent misunderstanding is that self-regulation is self-control on the part of the individual when it is industry regulating industry. Effective self-regulation requires government legislation as a backstop, an approach once called self-regulation but now called co-regulation. The paper then draws upon examples in other industries to outline the conditions for successful self-regulation. Many of these conditions are absent from the internet currently. The paper concludes with some implications that should be noted when attempting to self-regulate aspects of the internet. (149 words) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that nearly 80 percent of all Internet content appears in English, it is important to know what kind of images are placed on English language, Middle Eastern-originated, media sites. Among the most important issues examined there are those concerning the status and rights of women. Using discourse analysis, this paper examines three English-language newspaper websites from three politically different Middle Eastern countries ? Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia - to see how women are portrayed. This paper examines from a feminist perspective how women are portrayed on these Internet sites and extrapolates from the images some observations about the status of women in those countries. The review of the Jordan Times, the Gulf News and the Arab News found that there were three major ways in which women were most frequently portrayed: (1) as victims, (2) as ?angels of mercy,? and (3) as increasingly important to development of economic assets of the region. When female authority figures were represented, they were generally members of royal families and were providing either commentary on the victimization of women by the Israelis or were leaders of relief efforts aimed at helping these victims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper conceptualizes the study of a web site based in Turkey that has become enormously popular in the three years of its existence. Despite a low Internet penetration rate in the country, the site daily attracts about 55,000 visitors and submission of between 800 and 1000 confessions. This paper frames the research of this site in social and religious ways and discusses how uses and gratifications research, somewhat reconceived to apply to research of Internet genres, could be used to determine why the site has sustained such popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowhere does the Internet provide a more vigorous challenge to existing media structures and interests than in the distribution of recorded music. New peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing sites are facilitating the widespread downloading of unlicensed music. In response, the established music industry is simultaneously attempting to undermine the impact of these exchanges (describing them as theft) and to take advantage of the possibilities of the Internet in reducing distribution costs and offering the possibility of a more direct relationship between labels and consumers. This paper examines the argument that digital downloads are necessarily hurting ?legal? record sales and then problematises dominant definitions of piracy. The paper evaluates the evolving strategies of the major record companies and finally considers the extent to which the incumbents will be able to use their existing market power to dominate the future of recorded music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the inequality of Internet use in China. Based on the official survey of Internet use and demographical statistics, the author finds that the Internet is still a privilege of a small group of people. Among many demographical features, income, education and location are three influential factors of the digital divide. The paper gives the insight of the distorted relationship between these three demographical factors and Internet use. While the majority of Chinese suffers from low income and few opportunities of education and job, the majority of Internet users are people of high income and high education. The regional distribution of Internet users corresponds to resource disparity of different geographical areas. The paper further analyzes the social-economic structure and Internet policy that lead to the digital divide. The paper suggests that, to bridge the digital divide, the Chinese government has to work out a way balancing economic development and human development in terms of Internet policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews current literature on the impact of communication media on civic engagement. Studies examining the impact of television, telephone and the Internet are examined and critiqued. Special emphasis is placed on inadequacies of the Internet (or the Web) as a research construct in social sciences, and new five-factor model of communication media is proposed. According to the model, there are five basic dimensions to any communication technology: interactivity, directionality, mode, latency and capacity. The paper also proposes a reconceptualization of the social capital construct and introduces a network model of social capital for the information era. The models are then discussed in relation to a new communication policy initiative by the Aspen Institute that uses technical layers of a communication system as bases for regulatory action in the age of media convergence and transition to an IP environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing literature on teenage and young adult users' attitudes toward and concerns about online privacy, yet little is known about older adults and their unique experiences. As older adults join the digital world in growing numbers, we need to gain a better understanding of how they experience and navigate online privacy. This paper fills this research gap by examining 40 in-depth interviews with older adults (65+) living in East York, Toronto. We found Westin's typology to be a useful starting point for understanding privacy attitudes and concerns in this demographic. We expand Westin's typology and distinguish five categories: fundamentalist, intense pragmatist, relaxed pragmatist, marginally concerned, and cynical expert. We find that older adults are not a homogenous group composed of privacy fundamentalists; rather, there is considerable variability in terms of their privacy attitudes, with only 13% being fundamentalists. We also identify a group of cynical experts who believe that online privacy breaches are inevitable. A large majority of older adults are marginally concerned, as they see their online participation as limited and harmless. Older adults were also grouped as either intense or relaxed pragmatists. We find that some privacy concerns are shared by older adults across several categories, the most common being spam, unauthorized access to personal information, and information misuse. We discuss theoretical implications based on the findings for our understanding of privacy in the context of older adults' digital lives and discuss implications for offering training appropriate for enhancing privacy literacy in this age group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we study how an informal organization is constituted through online conversations between the administrators of a Facebook-group, and how the elements of organization emerge in these discussion. Building from the Luhmannian perspective to communication as constitutive of organization (CCO) approaches (see Schoeneborn, 2011) we conceptualize the admin chat logs as a form of managerial talk and decision communication. The analytical starting point for this exploration is the concept of partial organization. Our analysis shows how behind the public perception of a flat and network-like online group there exist organizational elements and activities in the managerial conversations. The findings illustrate the ways in which closed conversations in the backstage of organizing a self-referential boundary to the environment is created in particular through the internal and external texts. Hence, contrary to Luhmann's theorizing, our case organization is not only stabilized using internal referencing but also through external references such as news articles and statements given by notable persons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus in the paper is on the role of audience communities in distributing content produced by media companies. The online environment and the tools provided by legacy media and social media companies enable the effortless sharing of such media content that people find relevant, funny or interesting enough to be worth for also others to read, listen or watch. The paper contributes in particular to audience studies by examining media content consumption as a shared social and communal experience. In pursuing this goal, social curation is used as an overarching framework. A review of previous research and results from a qualitative study among the personnel of a Nordic newspaper indicate that engaging the audience in social curation is more important than involving the audience in content production with or for the companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent economic downturn has put the private media sector under increasing pressure around the world. As a result, commercial operators have boosted their lobbying activities to increase their influence on media policy making. They are increasingly demanding that national authorities reduce regulatory control on private enterprises, while raising regulatory oversight on public initiatives and cutting new initiatives of the public sector. This paper presents new evidence of this media policy trend by looking at the recent policy-making of the European Commission in shaping the online expansion of Public Service Broadcasters that culminated in the renewal of the Communication on State Aid to Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs). Communication 2009 shows the increasing weight of private broadcasters and publishers on EU policy making. In particular, where the internet is concerned, the objective of the Commission is apparent: keeping public funding and PSBs away from potentially profit-making internet initiatives. The paper eventually raises concerns about the possibility of achieving PSB 2.0 if PSB is gradually banned from the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a research paper which use of the concept of generativity to discuss the state of the Internet. The concept of generativity was introduced by Jonathan Zittrain, an American professor of computer science, to analyze the present state and future prospects of the Internet. The paper also discuss the intellectual, legal, economic, and political fights over network neutrality, censorship and freedom of speech, copyright and piracy, digital divides and access.

Media channels and news sources have multiplied on cable and the Internet, and many of these sources, especially in the U.S., have clear ideological and partisan profiles. This raises the specter of partisan selectivity and audience fragmentation, or partisan "segregation." The paper investigates this phenomenon in Germany and finds strong evidence of partisan selectivity at the information level based on an information board experiment. At the media level, however, this is clearly not the case. Using representative survey data, the paper investigates media use and bias perceptions of German voters during the 2009 election campaign. The media bias of specific media sources is measured both by direct bias perceptions of survey respondents and as the relative share of readers or viewers with partisan identifications with left-of-center and right-of-center parties. The results suggest that the traditional mainstream media channels still dominate the campaign coverage while the Internet plays only a marginal role in Germany so far. The case for partisan segregation is exceptionally weak, not due to a lack of demand, but due to a lack of supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a local problem with finding an archival clip on YouTube, this paper expands to consider the nature of archives in general. It considers the technological, communicative and philosophical characteristics of archives over three historical periods: 1) Modern 'essence archives' - museums and galleries organised around the concept of objectivity and realism; 2) Postmodern mediation archives - broadcast TV systems, which I argue were also 'essence archives,' albeit a transitional form; and 3) Network or 'probability archives' - YouTube and the internet, which are organised around the concept of probability. The paper goes on to argue the case for introducing quantum uncertainty and other aspects of probability theory into the humanities, in order to understand the way knowledge is collected, conserved, curated and communicated in the era of the internet. It is illustrated throughout by reference to the original technological 'affordance' - the Olduvai stone chopping tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although participatory journalism involves publishing content created by users, editorial influence is an important aspect of participatory online media. Editors shape the conditions under which user generated content is produced, the context of publication and the perceived prominence of the content. It is still unclear how this influence manifests itself, and how it can be related to the discussion about participatory media's potential for revitalizing democracy. In this paper, three online news media in Sweden are analysed comparatively: Sourze - the first Swedish participatory newspaper; Newsmill - a social media focusing on news and debate; and DN - the online version of the largest Swedish morning paper Dagens Nyheter. The question is how participation is affected by editorial influence. The findings suggest that participatory arenas are constrained by the logic of their context of production. People from different categories in society participate on different terms. Furthermore, editors influence the agenda by suggesting topics, and by rewarding articles that follow their suggestions. These findings do not challenge assumptions about participatory newspapers as more accessible channels for citizens and therefore interesting as possible means of allowing a more democratically involved citizenry, but it challenges assumptions about freedom from constraints related to traditional mass media, such as agenda setting, gate-keeping and media logic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will analyze the shifting trend in the communication industry, more specifically, in relation to the digital media, including Internet, mobile, broadband, cable, television, and films. It investigates why and how communication giants have pursued de-convergence in recent years, which will be a new keyword. Since de-convergence has been somewhat of a counter business strategy of convergence, the paper first examines the background and practice of convergence by examining M&As in the communication sector between early 1990s and 2007. Then, it analyzes why media companies have pursued de-convergence by employing split-off and spin-off strategies as their business model, and whether de-convergence will become a solid new trend replacing convergence. Finally, the paper articulates whether de-convergence of the media industry has consequently contributed to enhance the policy goals of competition, diversity, and promotion of democratic discourse that are embedded in antitrust laws and regulations relevant to mass media. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the concept of mass communication, which long has served as a defining keyword in the communications field. The concept of mass communication has, however, faced persistent challenges to its continued relevance in light of changes that have taken place - and that continue to take place - in the media environment. This paper offers a counterpoint to claims of the term's diminished relevance, as well as to some recent efforts to reposition the term, by putting forth an interpretive approach that is not exclusive to the "institutional communicator" and that allows the term "mass" to extend to both the senders and receivers of messages. This paper argues that this interpretive approach is in keeping with some early interpretations of the concept's meaning, and that such an interpretation is permissible in light of the definitional ambiguity that has always surrounded the term. This paper then considers how the notion of the "work" of the audience is reconfigured in this new mass communication environment. As this paper illustrates, the claim of the audience engaging in "watching as working" merits extension in an environment of interactive media and user-generated content. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]