The Pew Internet and American Life project reports that "44% of U.S. Internet users have contributed their thoughts and their files to the online world" - and that was based on a survey almost a year ago. Maybe early hopes for the Net to be a major channel for personal content creation and publishing are being realised. Closer reading suggests it is still early days, but moving that way.
The online activities include posting to newsgroups and mailing lists and sharing music files, as well as developing web sites. The reports says:
"The most eager and productive content creators break into three distinct groups:
* Power creators are the Internet users who are most enthusiastic about content creating activities. They are young – their average age is 25 – and they are more likely than other kinds of creators do things like use instant messaging, play games, and download music. And they are the most likely group to be blogging.
* Older creators have an average age of 58 and are experienced Internet users. They are highly educated, like sharing pictures, and are the most likely of the creator groups to have built their own Web sites. They are also the most likely to have used the Internet for genealogical research.
* Content omnivores are among the heaviest overall users of the Internet. Most are employed. Most log on frequently and spend considerable time online doing a variety of activities. They are likely to have broadband connections at home. The average age of this group is 40."
Not exactly a cross section of society. However, the report does point to the diversity of ways in which people are using digital cameras, music and other equipment to produce audio and video files, artwork and text... and having done that want to share it. Community projects like those at CIRA in the UK suggest that it is this offline activity that may be a strong driver to use the Net socially.
Steve Thompson, who does a lot of great work at CIRA, wrote on the conet list recently in response to my query about community web sites:
"Just a gut reaction but I think that there may be, or perhaps should be a move away from the website as an end in itself and it should perhaps be a means to an end. I'm thinking of all the offline digital activities that are more commonplace now like video, music, digital story telling etc. A website is the means to publish this content and if broadband becomes even more prevelant then maybe this will become a reality. My own thinking on this is only partly formed right now but I am thinking about how technology advances may impact on Community ICT."
Thanks to Mark Gaved for the Pew link.
As I note at the URL above (in more detail) the survey is interesting but I think it exaggerates the proportion of people using the Internet in this way.
Posted by: David Brake | March 04, 2004 at 05:28 PM