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Informing Science + IT Education Conference 2003 Proceedings
| Informing Science + IT Education Conference |
| Pori, Finland June 24-27, 2003 |
| Information, Interactivity, and the Prospects of a Global Citizenry: An Inquiry into the Nature |
| and Function of Online News |
| The United States has one of the most technically advanced, most expansive, most evenly distributed, and most |
| freely accessed communication system on the planet. Yet Americans are simultaneously one of the most poorly |
| informed populations (in terms of diversity of opinions/sources, depth and breadth of knowledge, etc.). The |
| proliferation of personalized information services, photo news galleries, computer simulations, and a host of |
| interactive media links on commercial Internet news sites have been hailed recently as one remedy for this |
| troubling statistic. By 2005 the nations comprising Western Europe will represent the largest concentration of |
| netizens in the world with more than 300,000,000 people con-nected to the Net, many seeking the same |
| conveniences enjoyed by their American counterparts. This paper examines the relationship between technical |
| features and usage patterns on several of the leading Internet news sites. I argue that as the Internet becomes more |
| technically sophisticated, a proportionate, though inverse trend in the epistemological sophistication of its user-c344 |
| base will be inevitable. Finally, I discuss the implications this trend holds for the future of a "global citizenry." |
| Keywords: internet, news, information, knowledge, hyper-utilization, decontextualization, epistemo-logical, |
| technological determinism, citizen |
ISSN
1535-07-03
Unless otherwise indicated, this paper has undergone blind external review by three or more reviewers.
Types of Papers: A Best Paper, Regular Paper, Short Paper, Informal Paper,
Unrefereed Panel Paper
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