1. Power Shifts in the Network Society: The Rise of the Fifth Estate
William H. Dutton
Quello Center, Michigan State University
Presentation for the Annual Symposium of the Melbourne Networked Society Institute, University of Melbourne, 11 November 2016.

2. Power Shifts & Computing, 1975
Reinforcement Politics
Pluralistic
Technocratic Elite
Managerial Elite
Social Shaping of Technology and its Implications

3. Internet and Democratic Power Shifts, 2005
Citizens, Consumers
Institutions, such as Gov’t & Business Organizations

4. Internet and Autocratic Power Shifts, 2015
Institutions, such as Gov’t & Business Organizations
Citizens,
Consumers

5. Internet and Technocratic Power Shifts, 2016
Algorithms, Analytics, Trolls, Bots, Hackers
Gov’t & Business,
Citizens,
Consumers

6. The Internet’s Use in Reconfiguring Access to:
Information
People
Services
Technology
How you get information
What you know
How you communicate
Who you know
How you obtain services
From whom, from where
How you do what you do
What know-how you require

7. Alternative, Empirical Perspective: Enabling Networked Individuals
Source Information
Join & Create Networks
Enhance Communicative Power

8. Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS)
2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013
Cross-sectional Surveys versus Panels
Multi-Stage Probability Sample
England, Scotland & Wales
Respondents: 14 years and older
Face-to-face Interviews, High Response Rates
Sponsorship for 2013 from the Nominet Trust, Ofcom, UK Research Councils, dot.rural
Component of World Internet Project (WIP)

9. Surveys to Focused Case Studies
Oxford Internet Surveys
5th Estate Concept
Evolving Set of Cases
Dynamics, Strategies

10. Distributed Collaboration
First Port of Call
Search v Sites
Social Cues
Distributed Collaboration
Trust & Significance
Pattern of Findings

11. The Concept of a Fifth Estate
Press since the 18th Century - the ‘Fourth Estate’
Internet in the 21st - enabling a Fifth Estate
Internet enabling a critical mass of individuals to source information and network in ways that enhance their communicative power vis-à-vis business, industry, government, politics & media.

12. Historical Pathways to a Fourth Estate
Fourth Estate of the Press
Edmund Burke, Feudal Estates of Ireland
Montesquieu’s Tripartite System & US Separation of Powers

13. From Feudal Estates to the 21st Century
21st Century Roles of
Clergy
Public Intellectuals
Nobility
Business, Industry and Economic Elites, Internet Industrial Elites
Commons
Government, Politicians & Regulators
Press
Journalists and the Mass Media
Mob
Mobs, but also Civil Society, Networked Individuals

14. Fifth Estate defined by being networked (beyond the home), producing content (writing blogs, posting text and photos), sourcing (following search), collaborating (following cues), trusting (content, providers), centrality (viewing net as essential for information).

15. Managerial-Professional Student Employed
Demo
Young
Urban
Minorities
SES
Educated
Middle & Upper Middle
Higher Income
Work
Managerial-Professional
Student
Employed
Perspective
Political Efficacy
Political Empowerment

16. Networked Individuals & Institutions
Arenas
Networked Institutions
Networked Individuals
Health & Medical Care
E-Health, ing safety alerts
Going to the Internet for info; networked physicians (Sermo)
Education
Multimedia classrooms, MOOCs
Rate my teacher; Khan Academy, Informal learning
Governance
Cyberdemocracy, e-Voting, e-Petitions
Anti-bribery websites; Arab Spring; 38 Degrees
News
Online journalism
Citizen journalists, bloggers, whistle-blowers, churnalism.org

17. Fifth Estate as Complement v Substitute
Networked Institutions
Democratic Autocratic
Not Replaced
Networked Individuals
Core to Institutions
Base of 5th Estate

18. Distributing-Leaking
Strategies of Networked Individuals of a Fifth Estate
Find through search or social media
Patient or citizen finds information about problems
Sourcing
Individual creates information
Martha Payne’s NeverSeconds
Flint Water Crisis, Police Shootings and #BlackLivesMatter
Creating
Distribute or leak information to networks
Whistle Blowers, WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks, Edward Snowden, Panama
Generating Media Coverage
Distributing-Leaking
Self-selected, distributed, collaborative networks
Sermo, Patients Like Me
Networking
Aggregate information, observations
Rate My Teacher, Bribery Websites, Environmental Sensors
Collective Intelligence

19. Martha Payne, 9 yr old girl writes blog for school project in Scotland: ‘NeverSeconds’
- Produced content: photos & reviews school lunch in 2012
- Distributed on her blog: neverseconds.blogspot.com/
- Censored by her institution (her primary school’s council)
8,859,514 pages views
Fostered debate over the quality of school lunches nationwide and worldwide

20. Distributing-Leaking
Strategies of Networked Individuals of a Fifth Estate
Find through search or social media
Patient or citizen finds information about problems
Sourcing
Individual creates information
Martha Payne’s NeverSeconds
Flint Water Crisis, Police Shootings and #BlackLivesMatter
Creating
Distribute or leak information to networks
Whistle Blowers, WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks, Edward Snowden, Panama
Generating Media Coverage
Distributing-Leaking
Self-selected, distributed, collaborative networks
Sermo, Patients Like Me
Networking
Aggregate information, observations
Rate My Teacher, Bribery Websites, Environmental Sensors
Collective Intelligence

21. Accountability: Distributing, Leaking

22. Distributing-Leaking
Strategies of Networked Individuals of a Fifth Estate
Find through search or social media
Patient or citizen finds information about problems
Sourcing
Individual creates information
Martha Payne’s NeverSeconds
Flint Water Crisis, Police Shootings and #BlackLivesMatter
Creating
Distribute or leak information to networks
Whistle Blowers, WikiLeaks, OpenLeaks, Edward Snowden, Panama
Generating Media Coverage
Distributing-Leaking
Self-selected, distributed, collaborative networks
Sermo, Patients Like Me
Networking
Aggregate information, observations
Rate My Teacher, Bribery Websites, Environmental Sensors
Collective Intelligence

25. Challenges to the Fifth Estate
Public Intellectuals
(Clergy)
Business & Industrial Elites
(Nobility)
Government and Regulatory Agencies
(Commons)
Press
(Fourth Estate)
Trolls, Bots, Spammers, …
(the Mob)

26. Points of Summary and Conclusion Value of 5th Estate Concept
Empirically Anchored v Deterministic
Sensitizing Concept
Value of 5th Estate Concept
Communicative Power of Networked Individuals
Critical Mass v Universal Access
New Perspective, Beyond Traditional Institutions
Enabling the 5th Estate?
Supporting Enemies of the 5th Estate?
Orientation to Technology, Policy & Regulation

27. Power Shifts in the Network Society: The Rise of the Fifth Estate
William H. Dutton
Quello Center, Michigan State University
Presentation for the Annual Symposium of the Melbourne Networked Society Institute, University of Melbourne, 11 November 2016.