The Internet and Society: Oxford’s New Research Initiative William Dutton Director Oxford Internet Institute Sixth Annual Oxford University Society Lecture Assembly Room, Oxford Town Hall, 3 June 2003

Society and the Internet 1.A New Perspective – e-Access 2.A New Institute – the OII Steve Russell

Internet and Web Diffusion 200 million connected PCs 30 million sites on the WWW Over 155 million users in the USA (54%) Over 59 million users in China (5%) Over 24 million users in the UK (41%)

Total Number of Internet Users (ITU 2002)

Internet Users (% Population) ITU, 2002

The Impact of the Internet? Social isolation or virtual community? e-Democracy or Orwellian society? Enabling or destroying quality education? Wealth of information or unwanted spam?

Dominant Perspectives Utopian-dystopian-irrelevant Deterministic – technically rational Focused on “information” Long-range mega-shifts – information society Sector specific – democracy, community, … Technology specific

Reconfiguring Access Almond Strowger’s Switch

Reconfiguring Access The answering machine Wireless – the pager and mobile phone V-chip The Internet’s Digital Divides Virtual University The Web and Online News

Access Shapes Communicative Power The Centrality of Access

e-Enabled Access to/from: Information: what you read, hear, see; what you know People: who you know; with whom you communicate – who is in? who is out? Services: what you consume; who pays what to whom Technologies: access to other information and communication technologies (ICTs)

Issues of Communicative Power Community, isolation, or reinforcement? Empowering citizens, states, or reinforcement? Spam – users losing control of access? The Digital Divide – reinforcing economic divides Copyright – restricting access

Strategies Limited/Shaped by: Economic resources and constraints ICT paradigms and practices Conceptions and responses of users Geography of space and place Institutional arrangements and public policy Strategies of others: ecology of games

Access versus Information Technologies matter – (re)shaping access Not deterministic – open society Social impacts the outcome of an unfolding ecology of choices by multiple actors The e-Access Perspective

Thinking About Access Reject technological determinism Accept the need for empirical research on the actual impacts of the Internet in particular social and institutional settings.

Oxford Internet Institute Andrew Graham, Balliol College Dame Stephanie Shirley The Shirley Foundation HEFCE

Oxford Internet Institute Established in 2001 Located in 1 St Giles, Balliol College Unit within Social Sciences Division Director in place in July 2002 Building works completed THIS WEEK

Mission

Early Research 1.Governance 2.Learning and Education 3.Science and Networks 4.E-Society: Household-Community- Polity 5.Cross-Cutting Issues

Governance Cisco Professor of e-Democracy Debate on e-voting Stephen Coleman

Learning and Education Broadband in Oxfordshire Schools ICTs and Higher Education: the Oxford Tutorial Dutton, W. and Loader, B. Digital Academe (Routledge 2002)

Science and Networks Institutional Infrastructures of e-Science Ethics of Internet Research Professor Paul David

e-Society Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS) World Internet Project (WIP) OxIS will be directed by Professor Richard Rose, who is newly appointed as Senior Fellow in Governance at the OII.

Integrative Concepts and Themes: Access, Internet Capital Issues for Policy and Practice: Intellectual Property Rights and Standards Social Implications: Digital Divides, Trust, Communicative Power Cross-cutting Dimensions

Collaboration Multi-Disciplinary Business, Industry and Government Example: Broadband Divides Forum

Teaching Summer Doctoral Programme Magnet for Oxford Students: Internet Resource Centre Innovative Master’s Paper(s) Dr Victoria Nash

Net-Working Internet as a Strategic Resource Design of 1 St Giles Conduct of Research Collaboration – worldwide Teaching: First Webcast of a debate at the Oxford Union – ‘e-Voting’

Contact the OII: Web: Oxford Internet Institute Oxford University 1 St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS Phone: +44 (0)