SubscribeThe only Castells Summary of the project Internet Catalonia on the uses of the Internet
Posted in MCWC on July 5th, 2007. By Manuel Castells.
On June 25th 2007 were presented to the press in Barcelona the findings of a major research program on the uses of Internet in Catalonia, conducted between 2001 and 2007 by 60 researchers of the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) co-directed by Manuel Castells and Imma Tubella. This is the largest research program ever conducted on Internet, Economy, Culture, and Society in Catalonia and Spain, and one of the largest anywhere in the world. It included interviews to representative samples of the population of Catalonia, of schools, of companies, of health professionals, of university students, as well as qualitative studies on e-government and focused groups of Internet users to understand the changes in their communicative practices. In all, the research team, helped by survey organizations, conducted 15,000 face to face interviews of one hour length, and over 40,000 interviews by Internet. The 7 coordinated research projects will be published in the coming months in the web of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) of the Open University of Catalonia. Within the next 10 months seven volumes in Catalan and in Spanish will also be published by Editorial Ariel. But if you do not want to wait or have no time to read more, here are the main findings in a nutshell.
While there has been a wide and generally accurate reporting in the media, I would like here, as one of the co-directors of the study to provide to the readers of my column in Media Cool Hunting a summary view of what is really important in what we found. Because most of the press reports have focused on something that has been known long time ago by Internet researchers around the world, and that is well known to you, savvy Internet user. In fact, something that is not very interesting. Namely, that Internet users are more sociable, have more friends, and feel less isolated and are less frequently depressed than non Internet users. Furthermore, greater intensity in the use of the Internet leads also to an increase in sociability. This in line with the results obtained by studies on the use of the Internet everywhere in the world. Specifically, this is what results from the answers to the USC World Internet Survey, directed by Jeff Cole, that studies every 5 years representative samples of the population in 22 countries. The only interest of this particular finding is to help to dispel the erroneous image of the Internet that still exist in the media around the world. But there are more important and original results of the several studies conducted in Catalonia. And their meaning goes beyond the Catalan society. Because in social sciences, as in all sciences, when the results are analytical and not descriptive, their validity, in principle, should stay in other countries, as long as other studies do not show the contrary. Thus, I think we have contributed to a better understanding of the relationship between the Internet and our lives around the world. Since the material is so vast, I have selected a few key findings that are statistically proven and have considerable consequences for the understanding of the network society in which we live.
First of all, it is often said that Internet is a key medium for people´s freedom and autonomy. But until now it was more an ideological statement than an observation. In this study we have the proof that it is exactly so. We have defined a series of projects of autonomy on the basis of attitudes and behavior that people may have. These projects exist in an active minority of the population. We have shown that these projects work in different areas of life, and not the same for the same people. So, some people have strong projects of personal autonomy, others are business entrepreneurs, still others have projects of individual professional development, others have projects of socio-political autonomy, others build their communicative autonomy vis a vis the mass media, and one last project present in a some individuals refers to the project to control her/his own body by defining the conditions of their own health care. Then we have measured the frequency and intensity of Internet use. We found that, for all six different projects of autonomy, the more a person was autonomous the more he or she used the Internet. And the more she or he used the Internet, the greater the increase in their level of autonomy. So, Internet is indeed a medium that increases people´s autonomy vis a vis the institutions and organizations of society, providing them with a powerful tool to guide their own lives. Internet is a tool to build one´s freedom.
A second major finding concerns the learning process. We have studied students, teachers, and administrators in hundreds of primary and secondary schools. We found that in spite of the almost universal connection to the Internet in the Catalan schools the use of Internet in regular teaching was very limited. However, teachers were often frequent Internet users at home, and so were the students. But they would not use it in the school. So, it is not their knowledge of the Internet or their lack of interest what limits the use in schools. It is the organization of the school system, the conservatism of the teaching methods, and the inability of the school management to introduce Internet as a teaching tool. This works both for public and private schools. The study also shows that those students with better academic results are more frequent Internet users at home, so if Internet would be introduced in the teaching practice it would probably improve their performance.
A third important result refers to the uses of Internet in business firms. 94% of the firms in Catalonia are connected to the Internet, and 95% of these 94% have broadband connection. However, the uses of the Internet are very limited because most firms do not develop their internal or external networks in relationship to their management, providers or clients, and most firms do not cooperate with others. And yet, when networking becomes the business practice and Internet is used to support networking, productivity and competitiveness increase, profitability increases, and salaries increase as well. So, the networked firms are the most dynamic and competitive firms. The network enterprise is the most effective business model, as it has been found in other studies in other countries. Those firms unable to reengineer themselves by using ICT and networking at the same time are left behind in the competition.
Fourthly, our studies of organizations in the health sector and in public administration show that the use of ICT improves productivity and efficiency, but only on the condition of coupling it with organizational restructuring (networking) and reskilling of management and workers. Technology is a necessary but not sufficient condition to build the networked organization. In fact, technology based networks with broken connections (due to inefficient management and resistances to chance) disorganize the organization rather than improving its performance.
Finally, the study of a focused group of seven hundred active and savvy Internet users of all ages, shows the fast spread of multitasking in the communicative practices of this growing group of Internet-based communication subjects. It also shows the self-directed organization of their communication patterns in the new media world, and therefore the decreasing role of traditional television as a medium able to convey for the multiplicity of messages the new active audience is interested in. The world of communication is becoming populated by proactive creators of messages rather than by vegetative coach potatoes.
The Project Internet Catalonia depicts a society that is taking its organization, communication, development, and change in its own hands, by making the best of the potential for autonomy that Internet technologies provide, even more so with the advent of Web 2.0 technologies and the convergence with wireless communication systems.
But it also shows the resistance of bureaucratic organizations, of an uninformed sector of the population, and of conservative decision makers to adopt forms of organization and interaction that make their minds obsolete and undermine their power. I am convinced, through my knowledge of studies in other contexts, that these findings stand in other societies. Thus, the main pointer of the study is the tension emerging between a free society in the making, armed with the technologies of freedom, and obsolete institutions blocking the exits and closing the windows so that the entrepreneurial spirit that breathes in the Internet does not sweep away their desperate hold on a life that is not theirs any longer.
4 Comments
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Dear Mauel castells,
As usual your analysis and research is very inspiring, Unfortunately I don’t speak or read Spanish or Catalonian, so I can’t read the Catalonian research in detail. I am looking foreward to see the results in English.
As a civil servant I am very interested to read more on learning and cooperation in the public administration.
Yours sincerely
Joergen Springborg
Comment by Joergen Springborg on July 7, 2007
Prof. Castells, I have been trying to find material in English on the research. There are a few things, but I am willing to read it full. But well… I couldn’t be happier to find this article that has even more value for me than the full study. Thank you for the bold highlights
Comment by denise on July 9, 2007
Prof. Castells, thank you for this inspiring analysis of the emancipatory potential of the internet - as the two commenters before me, I am very happy for information on this research in English.
Comment by Tina Guenther on September 8, 2007
[…] riportato nella sintesi del recente studio effettuato dal PIC [Project Internet Catatonia]: “The world of communication is becoming populated by proactive […]
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