J. D. Fielder

(Abstract) New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging

Kahn, Richard, and Douglas Kellner. "New Media and Internet Activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to Blogging." New Media & Society 6, no. 1 (2004): 87-95.

Disclosure: the article does not include an abstract. This is a truncation of the last paragraph on page 88. - JDF

The global internet...is creating the base and the basis for an unparalleled worldwide anti-war/pro-peace and social justice movement during a time of terrorism, war, and intense political struggle. Correspondingly, the internet itself has undergone radical transformations during this time.  We will briefly examine how the internet has become steadily politicized in recent times, and how internet developments themselves have furthered oppositional politics generally. However, while our analysis will look to chart what we believe are some of the most interesting and powerful expressions of a politicized sensibility occurring today in new media spheres, our analysis is anything but another paean to ‘cybergnosis’ and the digital sublime. Rather, we believe that the internet activism of today is best perceived as informed by the spirit of the EZLN, the ‘Battle of Seattle’, and the diverse amalgams of social movements and subcultures that have matured along with the new media over the last five years. This is the internet as a living, historical force and one of the keys to understanding and shaping the political and cultural life of the present age.

Available at:

Richardkhan.org

Sage Publications

(Abstract) Six Provocations for Big Data

Boyd, Danah, and Kate Crawford. 2011. "Six Provocations for Big Data." Presented at Oxford Internet Institute’s A Decade in Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society.

Abstract: The era of Big Data has begun. Computer scientists, physicists, economists, mathematicians, political scientists, bio-informaticists, sociologists, and many others are clamoring for access to the massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions. Diverse groups argue about the potential benefits and costs of analyzing information from Twitter, Google, Verizon, 23andMe, Facebook, Wikipedia, and every space where large groups of people leave digital traces and deposit data. Significant questions emerge. Will large-scale analysis of DNA help cure diseases? Or will it usher in a new wave of medical inequality? Will data analytics help make people’s access to information more efficient and effective? Or will it be used to track protesters in the streets of major cities? Will it transform how we study human communication and culture, or narrow the palette of research options and alter what ‘research’ means? Some or all of the above? This essay offers six provocations that we hope can spark conversations about the issues of Big Data. Given the rise of Big Data as both a phenomenon and a methodological persuasion, we believe that it is time to start critically interrogating this phenomenon, its assumptions, and its biases.

Available at SSRN

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Social Science Research Network (SSRN)

Nice site--I downloaded a few papers for my dissertation literature review (my APSA paper is uploaded there, as well). As far as I can tell, you don't need to register to search for and download works. I also haven't tried any of the additional research links on the left-hand frame:

"The SSRN eLibrary consists of two parts: an Abstract Database containing abstracts on over 356,400 scholarly working papers and forthcoming papers and an Electronic Paper Collection currently containing over 290,700 downloadable full text documents in Adobe Acrobat pdf format. The eLibrary also includes the research papers of a number of Fee Based Partner Publications.

The Networks encourage readers to communicate directly with authors and other subscribers concerning their own and others' research. To facilitate this we publish detailed author contact information including email addresses for authors of each paper. We also provide electronic delivery of the papers when authors wish us to do so from the SSRN eLibrary."

Continued at SSRN

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(Abstract) Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth

Czernich, Nina, Oliver Falck, Tobias Kretschmer, and Ludger Woessman. 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth." The Economic Journal 121, No. 552: 505–532.
 
ABSTRACT: We estimate the effect of broadband infrastructure, which enables high-speed internet, on economic growth in the panel of OECD countries in 1996–2007. Our instrumental variable model derives its non-linear first stage from a logistic diffusion model where pre-existing voice telephony and cable TV networks predict maximum broadband penetration. We find that a 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration raised annual per capita growth by 0.9–1.5 percentage points. Results are robust to country and year fixed effects and controlling for linear second-stage effects of our instruments. We verify that our instruments predict broadband penetration but not diffusion of contemporaneous technologies like mobile telephony and computers.

Available at:

Wiley Online Library

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(Abstract) Cyber Power

Nye, Joseph S., Jr. 2010. Cyber Power. Harvard University: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Power depends upon context, and the rapid growth of cyber space is an important new context in world politics. The low price of entry, anonymity, and asymmetries in vulnerability means that smaller actors have more capacity to exercise hard and soœ power in cyberspace than in many more traditional domains of world politics. Changes in information have always had an important impact on power, but the cyber domain is both a new and a volatile manmade environ-ment. The characteristics of cyberspace reduce some of the power differentials among actors, and thus provide a good example of the diffusion of power that typifies global politics in this century. The largest powers are unlikely to be able to dominate this domain as much as they have others like sea or air. But cyberspace also illustrates the point that diffusion of power does not mean equality of power or the replacement of governments as the most powerful actors in world politics.

Available at:

Harvard University

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(Abstract) Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic Engagement

Xenos, Michael, and Patricia Moy. 2007. "Direct and Differential Effects of the Internet on Political and Civic Engagement." Journal of Communication 57 no. 4:704-718.

Given the significant rise in the number of Americans who turn to the Internet for political information, we examine the effects of these behaviors on political and civic engagement  in  an  evolving  media  landscape.  Specifically, we test hypotheses derivedbfrom competing models—the instrumental approach, which posits direct effects of Internet use and a psychological approach, which predicts contingent effects. Analyses of the 2004 American National Election Studies (N = 1,212) reveal a pattern of direct effects bof Internet use on basic information acquisition and use but contingent effects for concrete acts of civic or political engagement. These results provide an important window on the political impacts of contemporary Internet use and suggest that future reassessments of the Internet’s role in public life should continue to probe for direct as well as differential effects.

Available at:

Wiley Online Library

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Abstract: Information Technology, Regime Stability and Democratic Meaningfulness

Fraga, David A. 2007. "Information Technology, Regime Stability and Democratic Meaningfulness: A Normative Evaluation of Present and Potential Trends." Pennsylvania State University: College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal (CUREJ).

This inquiry explores the normative impact that the rise of Information Technology is having on society as viewed through the lenses of Social Choice and Democratic Theory. Information technology has drastically increased the amount of available information by increasing information about users, the flow of information to users and the flow of information between users through digital connectivity. This has resulted in a socially fragmenting “long tail” of media, a subversion of top-down institutions and has made for easier identification and mobilization of small and geographically dispersed groups. As understood through the Social Choice construct of multidimensionality, these trends have had both positive and negative normative implications for regime stability and democratic meaningfulness. The two negative normative effects of the rise of Information Technology are Rikerian meaninglessness and connectivity-driven regime instability. However, since these negative effects can be qualified or compensated for by the two positive impacts of democratic meaningfulness and stability-inducing pluralistic disequilibrium, this examination concludes that information technology has a positive net normative impact on society. If this is to continue to be the case, users and policy makers must be mindful of issues that could affect this balance, such as the digital divide and issues of diminishing digital privacy.

 Available at:

CUREJ-College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal

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Abstract: Protest in an Information Society

Garrett, R. Kelly. "Protest in an Information Society: A Review of Literature on Social Movements and New ICTs." Information, Communication & Society Vol. 9, No. 2 (April 2006), pp. 202–224.

New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are changing the ways in which activists communicate, collaborate and demonstrate. Scholars from a wide range of disciplines, among them sociology, political science and communication, are working to understand these changes. The diversity of perspectives represented enriches the literature, providing an abundant repertoire of tools for examining these phenomena, but it is also an obstacle to understanding.  Few  works  are  commonly  cited  across  the  field,  and  most  are  known  only within the confines of their discipline. The absence of a common set of organizing theoretical principles can make it difficult to find connections between these disparate works beyond their common subject matter. This paper responds by locating existing scholarship within a common framework for explaining the emergence, development and outcomes of social movement activity. This provides a logical structure that facilitates conversations across the field around common issues of concern, highlighting connections between scholars and research agendas that might otherwise be difficult to discern.

Available at:

EBSCOhost (need access to search for title)

University of Michigan (Free: Pre-copy editing version)

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Abstract: Social Participation in the Digital Age: Predicting Offline and Online Collective Action

Brunsting, Suzanne, and Tom Postmes. "Social Participation in the Digital Age: Predicting Offline and Online Collective Action." Small Group Research Vol. 33, No. 5 (October 2002), pp. 525-554.

Abstract: Motives to participate in online versus offline collective action were investigated among environmental activists in the Netherlands. A sample (N = 738) consisting of activists, sympathizers, and nonactivists, reported past and intended participation in online and offline activism. Using structural equation modeling, it was examined whether online activism was predicted by different factors than offline activism. A wide range of predictors was derived from central theories about mobilization and collective action, including identification, relative deprivation, attitudes, subjective norm, perceived efficacy of action, and self-efficacy. Results show that when compared with offline actions, participation in online actions was slightly more motivated by cognitive calculations (efficacy) and less by affective factors (identification). Moreover, results reflect the popularity and potential of the Internet for activities that surpass the individual. This research gives an empirical insight in the influence of Internet on motives for collective action and on the participation of peripheral members.

Available at:

Sage Journals Online

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Abstract: Visualizing Threaded Conversation Networks

Hansen, Derek L., Ben Shneiderman, and Marc Smith. "Visualizing Threaded Conversation Networks: Mining Message Boards and Email Lists for Actionable Insights." In An, Aijun, Pawan Lingras, Sheila Petty, and Runhe Huang, Eds. Active Media Technology: 6th International Conference, AMT 2010, Toronto, Canada, August 28-30, 2010.

Abstract: Analyzing complex online relationships is a difficult job, but new information visualization tools are enabling a wider range of users to make actionable insights from the growing volume of online data. This paper describes the challenges and methods for conducting analyses of threaded conversations such as found in enterprise message boards, email lists, and forums. After defining threaded conversation, we characterize the types of networks that can be extracted from them. We then provide 3 mini case studies to illustrate how actionable insights for community managers can be gained by applying the network analysis metrics and visualizations available in the free, open source NodeXL tool, which is a powerful, yet easy-to-use tool embedded in Excel 2007/2010.

Available at:

SpringerLink

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