Communication Technology and Policy 1999 Abstracts
Communication Technology and Policy Division
Blind Spots of the Communications Decency Act Debate: A Critique of Jeffersonian Free Speech • Misook Baek, Iowa • This paper criticizes that cyber civil liberty groups in the Communications Decency Act (CDA) debate only paid attention to government censorship, ignoring pervasive market-based constraints on free speech and public interests. Then, the paper reveals that these groups held profoundly different political philosophies of and policy strategies for free speech and universal service (access), although they held the same view that universal service, as well as, free speech, is essential in democratizing new technologies.
Free Air Time for Candidates: An Attempt to Improve Political Discourse • Douglas Bailey, Ohio • Many Americans think the costs of campaigns are increasing at an alarming rate. One proposed solution to the perceived problem of the money-chase is free air time provided by broadcasters. This paper begins with an historical perspective of political advertising and campaign finance laws. Then, the arguments pro and con are examined followed by some recent proposals. Lastly, a look at recent free air time experiments points out some of the benefits and weaknesses.
Comprehension and Recall of Internet News: A Quantitative Study of Web Page Design • D. Leigh Berry, Louisiana State • This experimental study examined the effects of multimedia on internet news readers. Subjects viewed one of two versions of the same Web site-one with multimedia and one without. Dependent variables were comprehension, recall, and response to site. Findings did not support a significant difference in comprehension, recall, or response arising from presence or absence of multimedia. Comprehension and recall with regard to items such as current events knowledge, gender, and advertisements are also discussed.
Computer-Mediated Communication in Education: Student Perspectives • Amy Nelson Bosley and Michael A. Mitrook, Central Florida • Colleges and universities are adopting computer-mediated communication (CMC) into the classroom with unprecedented speed without questioning the end-user, the student, as to its efficacy. A series of focus groups was conducted to gain insight into the ways students are using and perceiving CMC in the classroom. Several key CMC issues were identified across the focus groups, including student/faculty relationships, components of successful classes, levels of skill and access to computer equipment.
An On-line Study of the Uses and Gratifications of Internet Pornography • Ryan J. Burns, Oklahoma • Despite the controversy over Internet pornography, relatively little is known about users and patterns of consumption of Internet pornography. This research investigated individuals consumption of Internet pornography, the types of Internet pornography consumed, and reasons for consumption. Data for this research were obtained from an on-line survey of 231 consumers of Internet pornography. Statistical results revealed that individuals did not consume different amounts of Internet pornography compared to traditional pornography; they favored the consumption of hardcore rather than softcore Internet pornography.
Internet Use and Issue Knowledge of the College-Age Population • Alice P. Chan, Cornell and Teresa Mastin, Middle Tennessee State • This paper reports on the findings of a study aimed at investigating how college-age young adults use the Internet, as well as the extend to which this new medium affects students’ knowledge levels of issues particularly salient to their age group. Our survey of 496 university students show that the Internet is a consulted information source, complements other selected mediated and interpersonal information sources, and does affect issue knowledge.
David Meets Goliath: Portland, Oregon, Takes on AT&T-TCI over High-speed Internet Access • Constance K. Davis, Iowa • In June 1998 AT&T and TCI announced plans to merge. Nearly 1/4 of the 4,000 communities in which TCI holds a cable franchise were required to approve the franchise transfer to AT&T. All of the communities approved the transfer – except Portland, Oregon. It required nondiscriminatory access for ISPs to provide high-speed Internet access through cable modems. AT&T sued Portland, claiming it had no authority to require that access. Portland may, indeed, have that authority.
Examining Information Processing on the World Wide Web Using Think Aloud Protocols • William P. Eveland, Jr., California-Santa Barbara and Sharon Dunwoody, Wisconsin • A substantial literature indicates that whether or not learning takes place depends on how information is processed. Theorists have argued that the Web encourages individuals to process information efficiently and effectively, producing meaningful learning; however, critics have claimed that Web navigation often results in disorientation and thus can inhibit learning. This study examined the processing of information conveyed via the Web, using think aloud protocols and a newly-developed quantitative coding scheme based on existing theory.
Telecommunications for Rural Community Development: The Effects of Community Projects on Attitudes and Adoption Among Community Members • C. Ann Hollifield, Georgia and Joseph Donnermeyer, Gwen Wolford, and Robert Agunga, Ohio State • In the mid-1990s, rural communities began investing in local telecommunications development projects. This study examines the effects of two of those projects on resident’s attitudes towards, and adoption of, new technologies as compared to residents of control communities. Results show the projects have had some effects. However, differences in adoption were not significant, raising questions about whether investments in such projects are justified. Residents of project communities did, however, have significantly more positive attitudes towards new technologies.
Japanese Television Broadcast Policy-Making Analysis: From Analog to Digital 1987-1997 • Tsutomu Kanayama, Sophia University, Tokyo • This paper has chosen to examine the way Japan came to make the transition from analog to digital standards in terrestrial and satellite broadcasting from 1987 to 1997, an earth-shaking decade for Japan’s broadcast industry. Particularly, this study is to investigate political actors involved for the policy-making processes which affected television broadcasting based on the central question of who were the most influential actors.
Broadening the Boundaries of Interactivity: A Concept Explication • Spiro Kiousis, Texas • The use of interactivity as a variable in empirical investigations has dramatically increased with the emergence of new communication channels such as the World Wide Web. Though many scholars have employed the concept in analyses, theoretical definitions are exceedingly scattered and incoherent. Accordingly, the purpose of this project is to engender a detailed explication of interactivity that could bring some consensus about how the concept should be theoretically and operationally defined.
Privacy in the Information Age: A Socially Learned Concept • Linlin Ku, National Taiwan University, Taipei • This study focuses on the attitudes of college students toward privacy. Questionnaires were distributed among students from four colleges in northern Taiwan, and a total of 319 completed questionnaires was returned. The research findings show that the respondents were most concerned about telephone privacy. Most disagreed that the government could wiretap telephone or intercept e-mail messages for various reasons. Women were more concerned about information regarding private matters or their body, whereas men were more concerned about information regarding finance.
Privacy, Security and Intellectual Property: Proprietary Interests over the Internet • Laurie Thomas Lee, Nebraska-Lincoln • The Internet presents a kind of tradeoff between incredible gains in economic, political, and social opportunities, and corresponding losses in privacy and intellectual property rights. While it offers exciting new ways to communicate and collect, market, and deliver information, some of the online information is considered proprietary. Who has the right to access, collect, use, and exploit this online, digital material? This paper provides a useful overview of the online issues and policies associated with privacy, security, and intellectual property rights on the Internet.
The Effects of Three Different Computer Texts on Readers Recall • Moon J. Lee, Mary Ann Ferguson and Matthew C. Tedder, Florida • This study investigated the effects of three different computer texts on readers’ recall based on working memory capacity, risk-taking tendencies, and hypertext familiarity and knowledge. The results varied by gender. There was a significant text format effect on the male subjects’ recall but not on the female subjects’ recall. The subjects’ risk-taking tendencies were shown as significant factors for the males’ recall while the working memory capacity (reading span) was a significant indicator for the females’ recall.
Tracing the Evolution of Interactive Media and Funding Models through the Trade Press • Sally J. McMillan, Tennessee • Analysis of a five-year sample of trade publications suggests interactive media and funding models are stabilizing but still diverse. Sixteen types of interactive media were identified, but the World Wide Web has become dominant. Five funding models were analyzed. Advertiser Support dominates the advertising trade press, User Fees are the primary model in the computer/telecommunication press, and more than half of all broadcasting/publishing articles mention multiple funding models.
Credibility and Journalism on the Internet: How Online Newspapers Handle Errors and Corrections • Berlinda Nadarajan, Stanford and Ang Penghwa, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore • The Internet, with its speed and unlimited capacity, poses several challenges for journalism-in particular, the issues of how to ensure accuracy and reliability of information, and whether the online medium might require certain journalistic practices to be redefined or modified. This paper examines how online newspapers are applying correction policies to the digital environment and the problems that arise, with the aim of pointing to issues that need to be addressed in online editorial policy.
Adoption of Audio Information Services in the United States • Kimberly A. Neuendorf, David Atkin and Leo W. Jeffres, Cleveland State • Ongoing deregulatory measure, such as the Telecommunication Act of 1996, should hasten the arrival of telephony as a dominant player in the electronic media environment. This paper outlines adopter characteristics for audiotext broadly defined to encompass such vehicles as most 1-900 systems, many 1-800 numbers and related audio-information services.
The Virtual Sphere: The Internet as a Public Sphere • Zizi Papacharissi, Texas • The Internet and its surrounding technologies are frequently touted for their potential to revive the public sphere. Several aspects of these new technologies simultaneously curtail and augment their ability to transform the public sphere. First, the information storage and retrieval capabilities of net-based technologies do infuse political discussion with facts otherwise unavailable, however, information access is not universal and equal to all. Second, net-based technologies do enable discussion between people on far sides of the globe, but also frequently fragmentize political discourse.
Creating Cable Television: Technology, Policy and the Development of the Cable-Satellite Distribution System • Patrick R. Parsons, Penn State • This paper examines the development of the cable-satellite distribution system through the 1960s and 1970s. While typically acknowledged as an important step in the evolution of the modern telecommunications network, the story has never been adequately told. While filling a gap in the narrative history, the examination also offers lessons concerning the interaction of technology, regulation, and economics, the relationship of influential individuals to established social conditions, and the incremental nature of technological change.
Son of CDA: Will the Child Online Protection Act of 1998 meet Constitutional Muster? • Johanna M. Roodenburg, Florida • Congress has recently passed a second law to regulate on-line speech. Although arguably more narrowly tailored than the 1996 Communications Decency Act, the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA) still suppresses a large amount of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive. This paper compares the two laws and finds that while there are slight differences between the two laws, the differences are insignificant compared to the COPA’s remaining constitutional defects.
Toward a Typology of Internet Users and Online Privacy Concerns • Kim Bartel Sheehan, Oregon • Americans overwhelmingly report that they are concerned about their privacy online, yet online commerce continues to grow and few users report any incidence of privacy invasion online. Privacy has always been considered situational, the contextual nature of the Internet enhances its complexity. This is explored using a national sample of online consumers. A previously-developed tripartite typology of consumers and their approaches to privacy is used to examine online users privacy concern.
Do They Need a “Trick” to Make Us Click? • David Thompson, Columbia Daily Tribune and Birgit Wassmuth, Missouri-Columbia • A new form of online banner advertising is emerging. It uses “tricks” to generate clicks. This paper defines the term “Trick Banner,” introduces two main types of trick banner ads (verbal and visual), and creates eight categories of visual trick banners (fake pulldown menu, fake keyword search, fake horizontal scroll bar, fake vertical scroll bar, fake play button, fake error message, fake forced choice, and redundant button). A pilot study of the use of visual trick banners by online newspapers is summarized.
Media Convergence on the Internet • Mark Tremayne, Wisconsin • This study involved an examination of 14 national news web sites in 1997 and 1998. Print sites initially presented more stories and used more interactive features than broadcast company web sites, while the broadcast sites made greater use of nonlinear storytelling. The longitudinal study found print and broadcast sites converging on the number of front page stories and on the use of interactive features. Print and broadcast web sites were found to be diverging on the use of hypertext links.
The Effects of National Policy Initiatives on ICT Adoption: A Taiwanese Perspective • Eunice Hsiao-hui Wang, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan • Increasing the pervasive adoption of ICT has been strongly emphasized by most East Asian countries. This paper examines the effects of Taiwan’s policy initiatives on ICT adoption and applications. The top management of respondent firms evaluated building telecommunications infrastructure as the most effective ICT policy measure. Further, the importance of upgrading human resources in Taiwanese enterprises was confirmed by the respondent organizations, as another greatly effective national policy measure.
Blurring Public and Private Behaviors in Public Space: Policy Challenges in the Use and Improper Use of the Cellular Mobile Telephone • Ran WEI and Louis Leung, Chinese University, Hong Kong • This study examines issues arising from the popular social use of the cellular mobile telephone. Findings of a general survey show that the use of mobile telephones has gained tremendous social popularity. Improper uses of the mobile telephone in public places were on the rise. Complaints of respondents focused on the “loud talk,” the “ringing,” and the “widespread discourteous uses” that blurred the boundary between public and private behaviors. “Self-discipline” was the favored solution.
FCC Policy Considerations in the Development of Advanced Television, 1987-1997 • Scott D. Wiltsee, Georgia • Much of the discussion surrounding advanced television has focused on the technological innovation involved. However, the interest in ATV in the United States has not been strictly technological. This analysis examines the history of U.S. efforts to develop standards between 1987 and 1997. It attempts to identify reasons for ATV’s high-priority status in government, broadcasting, and manufacturing circles. In addition, it identifies some of the major debates that have threatened to block the technology’s development.
Killing Physicians with Fighting Words: A Free-Speech Challenge to Internet Community Building • Terry L. Wimmer, North Carolina • A February 1999, decision by a federal court jury in Oregon raised intriguing questions about free speech on the Internet when a group of physicians were awarded $107 million because of a campaign by anti-abortionists that created a “hit list” against the physicians because they perform abortions. The challenge to free speech centers on issues of incitement to harm and on immediacy of reaction to speech that does incite.
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