Internet Studies:The Foundations of a Transformative Field

Bill DuttonOxford Internet Institute (OII)

University of Oxfordwww.ox.ac.uk

Presentation for Students and Faculty, Lisbon University Institute, Lisbon, Portugal, 10 April 2013.

Rising Prominence and Diversity

• Increasing significance of the Internet

• Worldwide Diffusion

• Meta-research: Winson Peng et al 2013, and Rice and Fuller 2013

• Tremendous Growth and Increasing Diversity• New Efforts at Synthesis: Handbooks, Symposia, Debate

Objects of Study

• Technology (Internet, Web, Internet of Things)• Use (in Contexts)

• Everyday Life in a Network Society• Creating and Working in a Network Economy• Communication, Power and Influence in a Converging Media World

• Policy, Governance, and Regulation•

Key Questions

• Who Shapes?

• Why?

• With What Implications?

Technology Use (Context) Policy

Who shapes? Who shapes design and implementa-tion?

Who uses (does not use) in what ways?

Who shapes law and policy?

Why? (structures, cultures, … shaping choice)

What goals and objectives drive design development

Why such patterns in particular contexts?

Their goals and objectives?

With what implications for whom?

Do technical designs bias use and impacts?

Do patterns of use support different aims/groups?

How is evolving ecology of law and policy shaping design and use?

Perspectives on the Field

• Fad, multi-disciplinary field, sub-field of other disciplines, or a discipline of its own? ‘Interdisciplinary Field’

• Defining the Internet: Narrowly, Broadly? - Histories

• Two conceptions of Internet Studies:• Particularistic (Wellman)• Synoptic

Transformative Role

• Transforming Study of ICTs

• Transforming the Disciplines

The Future of Internet Studies

• Networking a Multi-Disciplinary Status Quo

• Specialization and Fragmentation

• Integrative: Creating a Derivative Discipline

Number and Proportion of Internet Users by Region

Source: Internet World Stats- www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm. Penetration rates are based on a world population of 6,930,055,154 and 2,267,233,742 estimated Internet users for December 31, 2011.

Internet Studies

• 2000: Lawrence, Kansas

• 2013: Worldwide Diffusion and Increasing Significance

‘We are not in Kansas anymore’, indeed.

Internet Studies

• Dutton, W. H. (2013), ‘Internet Studies’ in Dutton, W. H. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies. Oxford University Press http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2231188

• Peng, T. Q., Zhu, J. J. H., Zhang, L., & Zhong, Z. J. (2011). “Mapping the Landscape of Internet Research: Text Mining of Social Science Journal Articles 2000–2009,” New Media & Society. DOI: 10.1177/1461444812462846.