Trust has long been considered an important factor that influences people’s relationship with new... more Trust has long been considered an important factor that influences people’s relationship with news. However, the increase in the volume of information available online, together with the emergence of new tools and services that act as intermediaries and enable interactivity around the news, may have changed this relationship. Using Reuters Institute Digital News Report survey data (N = 21,524), this study explores the impact of individual trust in the news media on source preferences and online news participation behaviour, in particular sharing and commenting, across 11 countries. The results show that those with low levels of trust tend to prefer non-mainstream news sources like social media, blogs, and digital-born providers, and are more likely to engage in various forms of online news participation. These associations tend to be strongest in northern European countries, but are weaker elsewhere. Seeking alternative views and attempting to validate the credibility of news may be among the motivations behind these associations.
Advanced connectivity offers rural communities prospects for socioeconomic development. Despite A... more Advanced connectivity offers rural communities prospects for socioeconomic development. Despite Australia's national broadband infrastructure plans, inferior availability and quality of rural Internet connections remain persistent issues. This article examines the impact of limited connectivity on rural socioeconomic opportunities, drawing from the views of twelve citizens from the Boorowa local government area in New South Wales. The available fixed wireless and satellite connections in Boorowa are slow and unreliable, and remote regions in the municipality are still without any Internet access. Participants identified four key areas in their everyday lives that are impacted by insufficient connectivity: business development, education, emergency communication, and health. Rural citizens often already face challenges in these areas, and infrastructure advancements in urban spaces can exacerbate rural-urban disparities. Participants' comments demonstrated apprehension that failure to improve connectivity would result in adverse long-term consequences for the municipality. This article suggests that current broadband policy frameworks require strategic adaptations to account for the socioeconomic and geographic contexts of rural communities. In order to narrow Australia's rural-urban digital divide, infrastructure developments should be prioritised in the most underserved regions.
Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent, chronic disease, which places significant burden on societies and... more Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent, chronic disease, which places significant burden on societies and individuals. This article reports the participatory research design of an exploratory study that introduces mobile tablet devices in the self-management of type 2 diabetes in a primary healthcare setting. Strategies from democratic dialogic theory were used in the design of the research to steer the participatory engagement between researchers and healthcare practitioners. The outcome of this phase of the research was the issue of six 'invitations' to 28 people with diabetes to frame their use of a mobile tablet device in managing their health. Those invitations were clustered in two themes, Empowered and Compelled, representing typical patient attitudes and behaviours. The work reported here sets the stage for a longitudinal and socially complex study that encompasses a new and comprehensive General Practitioner (GP) Super Clinic with an array of health and administrative staff, patients with a chronic health condition requiring continual self-management, a wide continuum of digital literacy capability in all participants and an ever-increasing digital society. It reports a novel research design methodology that merges democratic dialogic theory and participatory design, resulting in a grounded and agreed approach to a mobile health intervention.
Cyberbullying is one of the negative consequences of online social interaction. The digital envir... more Cyberbullying is one of the negative consequences of online social interaction. The digital environment enables adolescents to engage in online social interaction beyond the traditional physical boundaries of families, neighbourhoods and schools. This study examined connections to friendship networks in both online and offline settings are related to their experiences as victims, perpetrators and bystanders of cyberbullying. A comparative face-to-face survey of adolescents (12 to 15 year-olds) was conducted in Korea (N=520) and Australia (N=401). The results reveal that online networks are partially related to cyberbullying in both two countries, showing the size of SNS networks was significantly correlated with experience cyberbullying among adolescents in both countries. However there were cultural differences in the impact of friendship networks on cyberbullying. The size of the online and offline networks has a stronger impact on the cyberbullying experiences in Korea than in Australia. In particular, the number of friends in cliques was positively related to both bullying and victimisation in Korea.
Background: Ease of use, proximity to the user and various health maintenance applications enable... more Background: Ease of use, proximity to the user and various health maintenance applications enable mobile tablet devices to improve patient self-management. With mobile phones becoming prevalent, various mobile health (mHealth) programs have been devised, to improve patient care and strengthen healthcare systems. Aims: This study explored how mHealth programs can be developed for type 2 diabetes patients through a co-design participatory workshop between practitioners and researchers. The aim was to design a mHealth pilot program from the input. Methods: A co-design workshop was conducted with 15 participants, including general practitioners , specialists, nurses and a multidisciplinary research team. Participants generated 31 statements in response to a trigger question and engaged in a structured discussion. Thematic cluster analysis was conducted on the statements and discussions. Results: Through the analysis, patients' self-management and health system integration emerged as the main topics. Further analysis revealed that there were two distinct areas of patient self-management; 'compelled' and 'empowered'. Conclusion: With the results, a loose-knit mHealth pilot program was developed wherein patients with various levels of conditions and digital skills could be incorporated. In order to encourage sustainable changes, practitioners proposed that mobile devices must be situated in the patients' everyday settings and that digital training should be provided.
Mobile tablet devices and applications have the potential to help type 2 diabetes patients in the... more Mobile tablet devices and applications have the potential to help type 2 diabetes patients in the self-management of their disease. However, users must be equipped with an appropriate level of digital literacy in order to use the tools and technologies effectively. This study reports from an exploratory mobile health (mHealth) pilot program that was conducted at a large, local clinic in Canberra, Australia. The research team provided digital training and support opportunities to participants as part of the longitudinal study. The aim of the research project was to examine the diverse range of participant digital literacy and how it impacted on self-management and the adoption of mHealth. Mid-study results from online surveys conducted at 2 and 5 months after enrolling 28 participants in the pilot program revealed that digital engagement is crucial to the patients’ participation in mHealth activities. Support, by way of digital training, was essential to the patients’ sustainable use of the devices and applications for health care.
Social network sites (SNS) have become increasingly pervasive in the daily lives of adolescents. ... more Social network sites (SNS) have become increasingly pervasive in the daily lives of adolescents. This study explores the relationship between SNS use and perceived online social capital among adolescents using survey data from Australia and Korea. We conducted a face-to-face survey of adolescents (12 to 15 year-olds) in major cities in Australia (N=401) and Korea (N=644) in 2013. There was no significant difference in time spent on SNS between adolescents in the two countries, however, significant differences in the way adolescents use SNS were found. Australian adolescents tended to use SNS for group activities, whereas Koreans used it for social monitoring. There was a positive relationship between SNS use and online social capital in both countries. However, the types of social capital that were found to have a strong relationship to SNS use were different. Among Australian adolescents, SNS activities had a higher correlation with bonding social capital compared to bridging capital, whereas the result was contrasting among Korean adolescents. The impact of SNS use on online social capital differed between the two countries, showing that Australian adolescents reporting low SNS use gained online social capital if they used SNS more intensely. Finally, the impact of SNS use and culture on perceived online social capital was examined by conducting hierarchical multiple regressions. Interpersonal communication and group activities emerged as significant predictors of online social capital.
Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and social exclusion Abs... more Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and social exclusion Abstract In an era of a highly digitalized society, Australia's rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvantage. With the increasing penetration of information and communications technology (ICT) into all public and private realms, there is a need to examine the deeply rooted digital divide and how it is intertwined with issues of social exclusion in rural communities. This study focused on remoteness as an indicator of digital exclusion, and investigated its relationship with other dimensions of social exclusion. A secondary data analysis using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) regional data revealed that remoteness was a strong predictor of home Internet and broadband connectivity, but digital divide was exacerbated by other socio‐demographic factors such as educational levels and employment status. When implementing digital inclusion strategies, both supply (infrastructure) and demand (education levels, industry sector, employment opportunities, socio‐demographics) factors must be considered.
This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perc... more This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perceptions of that country. A total of 315 Korean and 290 Japanese college students were surveyed in 2002 to facilitate the author's analysis of the flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan ...
Purpose – This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the tran... more Purpose – This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the transition to high‐speed broadband infrastructure. Despite the National Broadband Network’s promised ubiquitous connectivity, significant access discrepancies remain between rural and urban areas. Methodology – Empirical findings are drawn from a full‐day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken in order to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion. Findings – Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices. Research limitations/implications – While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are nonetheless heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion. Practical/social implications – There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts, and implementing participatory digital government practices. Originality/value – The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.
The rapid rise in audio-visual distribution platforms is challenging regulators’ abilities to fas... more The rapid rise in audio-visual distribution platforms is challenging regulators’ abilities to fashion and maintain domestic content policies designed to support national production and national cultural protection and promotion objectives. Broadcasters in a number of nations and regions operate under content regulatory schemes designed to serve cultural and economic purposes, put into place during the age of terrestrial broadcasting in which national policymakers could tightly control the availability of content in the country. This article explores these issues through an analysis of the rationales, policy approaches, and effectiveness of domestic content policies in four countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, and South Korea) and considers the implications of these approaches in a globally connected environment. The researchers identified common issues across the four countries: 1) development of national content industries does not necessarily imply the promotion or protection of national culture, 2) production companies and broadcasters have interests and incentives that diverge from those of the policies, and 3) it is difficult to assess the relevance and quality of broadcast content with regards to domestic culture other than in terms of conventional standards: critical acclaim and audience share.
Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Jan 2015
Despite many policy interventions, Australia’s rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvanta... more Despite many policy interventions, Australia’s rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvantage. With the increasing penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into all public and private realms, there is a need to examine the deeply rooted digital divide and how it relates to multiple dimensions of infrastructure, services and demand in rural communities. This paper reports findings from a workshop with seven rural local governments from the State of New South Wales, Australia. The findings suggest that rural digital exclusion results from a multi-layered divide where elements of infrastructure, connectivity and digital engagement are intertwined.
Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2015
While the provision of infrastructure has largely been successful in South Korea, the divergent u... more While the provision of infrastructure has largely been successful in South Korea, the divergent uses after getting access to the networks have resulted in a new type of digital exclusion. Among the many factors that lead to a longer term divide among those who benefit from the technologies and those who do not, this study examined the frequency and type of activities users engage with online and the relationship with their perceived benefits. The differences among rural and urban internet users were further examined. A secondary data analysis of a subset (N=3,641) of a national survey conducted by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) in 2013 reveals that the frequency of online engagement and the ways in which people use online services are related to how people perceive of the internet to be beneficial in their everyday lives. Urban internet users perceived of the benefits to be higher compared to rural users. Acquiring constant access and engaging frequently with various online activities are significant factors that shape internet users’ perception of the benefits that the internet entails.
Networked individualism enables Internet users to connect and socialize via their loose and trans... more Networked individualism enables Internet users to connect and socialize via their loose and transient multiple networks, whereas digital media literacy is a precondition of effective Internet use. In this study, an attempt has been made to find the link between networked individualism, digital media literacy, and young people’s perception of their social capital. A nationally representative face-to-face survey was conducted with Korean adolescents in 2013. Networked individualism was higher in adolescents who frequently engaged in online activities and who demonstrated greater digital media literacy. Belonging to multiple, diverse networks and having many connections was positively correlated to adolescents’ online social capital. Findings indicate that online activities and skills influence the ways adolescents connect to others and perceive of their social connectedness.
While there is a popular belief that the digital generation is immersed in and adept at using dig... more While there is a popular belief that the digital generation is immersed in and adept at using digital media, recent studies point to a large variation among young people in their appropriation of digital technologies. This study examined the patterns of, and reasons for, infrequent use of digital technology among the younger generation, by conducting semi-structured interviews with 19 school-aged Australian youth. Infrequent users focused narrowly on a small number of applications and did not explore the wide range of available activities. This was mainly due to their lack of confidence and the perceived irrelevance of digital technologies to their lives. Most participants in this study had chosen a vocational path where computers and the internet were not integral to their everyday learning experience. This deterred them from improving their digital media literacy. Based on observations, I argue that it is not sufficient merely to provide access to digital media; rather, users need motivation, skills and perceived benefits in order to utilise this technology fully. In the case of school-aged youth, schoolwork as well as their peer group culture influences how they situate themselves in the digital environment that surrounds them.
The movie market in Australia, as in most countries, is highly dominated by Hollywood movies. How... more The movie market in Australia, as in most countries, is highly dominated by Hollywood movies. However, there is an increasing trend of movies being imported from non-US countries. This study extends the one-way flow model of media products to examine whether there has been an increase in the diversity of movie imports in recent years and to explain how this has been influenced by changes in cultural taste over time. Regression analyses of movies imported from 1999 to 2009 confirm the economic theory of one-way media flow that considers both market size and cultural discount. In addition, changes in the Australian population composition and increased exposure to foreign culture are found to influence the diversity in movie imports. The analysis indicates that cultural taste can change through repeated exposure and consumption. Through a longer-term investigation of how cultural tastes form and change over time, we can establish a more nuanced model of international trade in cultural products.
Trust has long been considered an important factor that influences people’s relationship with new... more Trust has long been considered an important factor that influences people’s relationship with news. However, the increase in the volume of information available online, together with the emergence of new tools and services that act as intermediaries and enable interactivity around the news, may have changed this relationship. Using Reuters Institute Digital News Report survey data (N = 21,524), this study explores the impact of individual trust in the news media on source preferences and online news participation behaviour, in particular sharing and commenting, across 11 countries. The results show that those with low levels of trust tend to prefer non-mainstream news sources like social media, blogs, and digital-born providers, and are more likely to engage in various forms of online news participation. These associations tend to be strongest in northern European countries, but are weaker elsewhere. Seeking alternative views and attempting to validate the credibility of news may be among the motivations behind these associations.
Advanced connectivity offers rural communities prospects for socioeconomic development. Despite A... more Advanced connectivity offers rural communities prospects for socioeconomic development. Despite Australia's national broadband infrastructure plans, inferior availability and quality of rural Internet connections remain persistent issues. This article examines the impact of limited connectivity on rural socioeconomic opportunities, drawing from the views of twelve citizens from the Boorowa local government area in New South Wales. The available fixed wireless and satellite connections in Boorowa are slow and unreliable, and remote regions in the municipality are still without any Internet access. Participants identified four key areas in their everyday lives that are impacted by insufficient connectivity: business development, education, emergency communication, and health. Rural citizens often already face challenges in these areas, and infrastructure advancements in urban spaces can exacerbate rural-urban disparities. Participants' comments demonstrated apprehension that failure to improve connectivity would result in adverse long-term consequences for the municipality. This article suggests that current broadband policy frameworks require strategic adaptations to account for the socioeconomic and geographic contexts of rural communities. In order to narrow Australia's rural-urban digital divide, infrastructure developments should be prioritised in the most underserved regions.
Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent, chronic disease, which places significant burden on societies and... more Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent, chronic disease, which places significant burden on societies and individuals. This article reports the participatory research design of an exploratory study that introduces mobile tablet devices in the self-management of type 2 diabetes in a primary healthcare setting. Strategies from democratic dialogic theory were used in the design of the research to steer the participatory engagement between researchers and healthcare practitioners. The outcome of this phase of the research was the issue of six 'invitations' to 28 people with diabetes to frame their use of a mobile tablet device in managing their health. Those invitations were clustered in two themes, Empowered and Compelled, representing typical patient attitudes and behaviours. The work reported here sets the stage for a longitudinal and socially complex study that encompasses a new and comprehensive General Practitioner (GP) Super Clinic with an array of health and administrative staff, patients with a chronic health condition requiring continual self-management, a wide continuum of digital literacy capability in all participants and an ever-increasing digital society. It reports a novel research design methodology that merges democratic dialogic theory and participatory design, resulting in a grounded and agreed approach to a mobile health intervention.
Cyberbullying is one of the negative consequences of online social interaction. The digital envir... more Cyberbullying is one of the negative consequences of online social interaction. The digital environment enables adolescents to engage in online social interaction beyond the traditional physical boundaries of families, neighbourhoods and schools. This study examined connections to friendship networks in both online and offline settings are related to their experiences as victims, perpetrators and bystanders of cyberbullying. A comparative face-to-face survey of adolescents (12 to 15 year-olds) was conducted in Korea (N=520) and Australia (N=401). The results reveal that online networks are partially related to cyberbullying in both two countries, showing the size of SNS networks was significantly correlated with experience cyberbullying among adolescents in both countries. However there were cultural differences in the impact of friendship networks on cyberbullying. The size of the online and offline networks has a stronger impact on the cyberbullying experiences in Korea than in Australia. In particular, the number of friends in cliques was positively related to both bullying and victimisation in Korea.
Background: Ease of use, proximity to the user and various health maintenance applications enable... more Background: Ease of use, proximity to the user and various health maintenance applications enable mobile tablet devices to improve patient self-management. With mobile phones becoming prevalent, various mobile health (mHealth) programs have been devised, to improve patient care and strengthen healthcare systems. Aims: This study explored how mHealth programs can be developed for type 2 diabetes patients through a co-design participatory workshop between practitioners and researchers. The aim was to design a mHealth pilot program from the input. Methods: A co-design workshop was conducted with 15 participants, including general practitioners , specialists, nurses and a multidisciplinary research team. Participants generated 31 statements in response to a trigger question and engaged in a structured discussion. Thematic cluster analysis was conducted on the statements and discussions. Results: Through the analysis, patients' self-management and health system integration emerged as the main topics. Further analysis revealed that there were two distinct areas of patient self-management; 'compelled' and 'empowered'. Conclusion: With the results, a loose-knit mHealth pilot program was developed wherein patients with various levels of conditions and digital skills could be incorporated. In order to encourage sustainable changes, practitioners proposed that mobile devices must be situated in the patients' everyday settings and that digital training should be provided.
Mobile tablet devices and applications have the potential to help type 2 diabetes patients in the... more Mobile tablet devices and applications have the potential to help type 2 diabetes patients in the self-management of their disease. However, users must be equipped with an appropriate level of digital literacy in order to use the tools and technologies effectively. This study reports from an exploratory mobile health (mHealth) pilot program that was conducted at a large, local clinic in Canberra, Australia. The research team provided digital training and support opportunities to participants as part of the longitudinal study. The aim of the research project was to examine the diverse range of participant digital literacy and how it impacted on self-management and the adoption of mHealth. Mid-study results from online surveys conducted at 2 and 5 months after enrolling 28 participants in the pilot program revealed that digital engagement is crucial to the patients’ participation in mHealth activities. Support, by way of digital training, was essential to the patients’ sustainable use of the devices and applications for health care.
Social network sites (SNS) have become increasingly pervasive in the daily lives of adolescents. ... more Social network sites (SNS) have become increasingly pervasive in the daily lives of adolescents. This study explores the relationship between SNS use and perceived online social capital among adolescents using survey data from Australia and Korea. We conducted a face-to-face survey of adolescents (12 to 15 year-olds) in major cities in Australia (N=401) and Korea (N=644) in 2013. There was no significant difference in time spent on SNS between adolescents in the two countries, however, significant differences in the way adolescents use SNS were found. Australian adolescents tended to use SNS for group activities, whereas Koreans used it for social monitoring. There was a positive relationship between SNS use and online social capital in both countries. However, the types of social capital that were found to have a strong relationship to SNS use were different. Among Australian adolescents, SNS activities had a higher correlation with bonding social capital compared to bridging capital, whereas the result was contrasting among Korean adolescents. The impact of SNS use on online social capital differed between the two countries, showing that Australian adolescents reporting low SNS use gained online social capital if they used SNS more intensely. Finally, the impact of SNS use and culture on perceived online social capital was examined by conducting hierarchical multiple regressions. Interpersonal communication and group activities emerged as significant predictors of online social capital.
Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and social exclusion Abs... more Digital inequalities in rural Australia: A double jeopardy of remoteness and social exclusion Abstract In an era of a highly digitalized society, Australia's rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvantage. With the increasing penetration of information and communications technology (ICT) into all public and private realms, there is a need to examine the deeply rooted digital divide and how it is intertwined with issues of social exclusion in rural communities. This study focused on remoteness as an indicator of digital exclusion, and investigated its relationship with other dimensions of social exclusion. A secondary data analysis using Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) regional data revealed that remoteness was a strong predictor of home Internet and broadband connectivity, but digital divide was exacerbated by other socio‐demographic factors such as educational levels and employment status. When implementing digital inclusion strategies, both supply (infrastructure) and demand (education levels, industry sector, employment opportunities, socio‐demographics) factors must be considered.
This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perc... more This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perceptions of that country. A total of 315 Korean and 290 Japanese college students were surveyed in 2002 to facilitate the author's analysis of the flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan ...
Purpose – This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the tran... more Purpose – This article explores challenges for rural Australian local governments during the transition to high‐speed broadband infrastructure. Despite the National Broadband Network’s promised ubiquitous connectivity, significant access discrepancies remain between rural and urban areas. Methodology – Empirical findings are drawn from a full‐day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken in order to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion. Findings – Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices. Research limitations/implications – While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are nonetheless heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion. Practical/social implications – There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts, and implementing participatory digital government practices. Originality/value – The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.
The rapid rise in audio-visual distribution platforms is challenging regulators’ abilities to fas... more The rapid rise in audio-visual distribution platforms is challenging regulators’ abilities to fashion and maintain domestic content policies designed to support national production and national cultural protection and promotion objectives. Broadcasters in a number of nations and regions operate under content regulatory schemes designed to serve cultural and economic purposes, put into place during the age of terrestrial broadcasting in which national policymakers could tightly control the availability of content in the country. This article explores these issues through an analysis of the rationales, policy approaches, and effectiveness of domestic content policies in four countries (Australia, Canada, Ireland, and South Korea) and considers the implications of these approaches in a globally connected environment. The researchers identified common issues across the four countries: 1) development of national content industries does not necessarily imply the promotion or protection of national culture, 2) production companies and broadcasters have interests and incentives that diverge from those of the policies, and 3) it is difficult to assess the relevance and quality of broadcast content with regards to domestic culture other than in terms of conventional standards: critical acclaim and audience share.
Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, Jan 2015
Despite many policy interventions, Australia’s rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvanta... more Despite many policy interventions, Australia’s rural areas continue to be at a digital disadvantage. With the increasing penetration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into all public and private realms, there is a need to examine the deeply rooted digital divide and how it relates to multiple dimensions of infrastructure, services and demand in rural communities. This paper reports findings from a workshop with seven rural local governments from the State of New South Wales, Australia. The findings suggest that rural digital exclusion results from a multi-layered divide where elements of infrastructure, connectivity and digital engagement are intertwined.
Proceedings of the 48th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2015
While the provision of infrastructure has largely been successful in South Korea, the divergent u... more While the provision of infrastructure has largely been successful in South Korea, the divergent uses after getting access to the networks have resulted in a new type of digital exclusion. Among the many factors that lead to a longer term divide among those who benefit from the technologies and those who do not, this study examined the frequency and type of activities users engage with online and the relationship with their perceived benefits. The differences among rural and urban internet users were further examined. A secondary data analysis of a subset (N=3,641) of a national survey conducted by the National Information Society Agency (NIA) in 2013 reveals that the frequency of online engagement and the ways in which people use online services are related to how people perceive of the internet to be beneficial in their everyday lives. Urban internet users perceived of the benefits to be higher compared to rural users. Acquiring constant access and engaging frequently with various online activities are significant factors that shape internet users’ perception of the benefits that the internet entails.
Networked individualism enables Internet users to connect and socialize via their loose and trans... more Networked individualism enables Internet users to connect and socialize via their loose and transient multiple networks, whereas digital media literacy is a precondition of effective Internet use. In this study, an attempt has been made to find the link between networked individualism, digital media literacy, and young people’s perception of their social capital. A nationally representative face-to-face survey was conducted with Korean adolescents in 2013. Networked individualism was higher in adolescents who frequently engaged in online activities and who demonstrated greater digital media literacy. Belonging to multiple, diverse networks and having many connections was positively correlated to adolescents’ online social capital. Findings indicate that online activities and skills influence the ways adolescents connect to others and perceive of their social connectedness.
While there is a popular belief that the digital generation is immersed in and adept at using dig... more While there is a popular belief that the digital generation is immersed in and adept at using digital media, recent studies point to a large variation among young people in their appropriation of digital technologies. This study examined the patterns of, and reasons for, infrequent use of digital technology among the younger generation, by conducting semi-structured interviews with 19 school-aged Australian youth. Infrequent users focused narrowly on a small number of applications and did not explore the wide range of available activities. This was mainly due to their lack of confidence and the perceived irrelevance of digital technologies to their lives. Most participants in this study had chosen a vocational path where computers and the internet were not integral to their everyday learning experience. This deterred them from improving their digital media literacy. Based on observations, I argue that it is not sufficient merely to provide access to digital media; rather, users need motivation, skills and perceived benefits in order to utilise this technology fully. In the case of school-aged youth, schoolwork as well as their peer group culture influences how they situate themselves in the digital environment that surrounds them.
The movie market in Australia, as in most countries, is highly dominated by Hollywood movies. How... more The movie market in Australia, as in most countries, is highly dominated by Hollywood movies. However, there is an increasing trend of movies being imported from non-US countries. This study extends the one-way flow model of media products to examine whether there has been an increase in the diversity of movie imports in recent years and to explain how this has been influenced by changes in cultural taste over time. Regression analyses of movies imported from 1999 to 2009 confirm the economic theory of one-way media flow that considers both market size and cultural discount. In addition, changes in the Australian population composition and increased exposure to foreign culture are found to influence the diversity in movie imports. The analysis indicates that cultural taste can change through repeated exposure and consumption. Through a longer-term investigation of how cultural tastes form and change over time, we can establish a more nuanced model of international trade in cultural products.
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the news, may have changed this relationship. Using Reuters Institute Digital News Report survey data (N = 21,524), this study explores the impact of individual trust in the news media on source preferences and online news participation behaviour, in particular sharing and commenting, across 11 countries. The results show that those with low levels of trust tend to prefer non-mainstream news sources like social media, blogs, and digital-born providers, and are more likely to engage in various forms of online news participation. These associations tend to
be strongest in northern European countries, but are weaker elsewhere. Seeking alternative views and attempting to validate the credibility of news may be among the motivations behind these associations.
Methodology – Empirical findings are drawn from a full‐day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken in order to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion.
Findings – Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices.
Research limitations/implications – While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are nonetheless heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion.
Practical/social implications – There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts, and implementing participatory digital government practices.
Originality/value – The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.
the news, may have changed this relationship. Using Reuters Institute Digital News Report survey data (N = 21,524), this study explores the impact of individual trust in the news media on source preferences and online news participation behaviour, in particular sharing and commenting, across 11 countries. The results show that those with low levels of trust tend to prefer non-mainstream news sources like social media, blogs, and digital-born providers, and are more likely to engage in various forms of online news participation. These associations tend to
be strongest in northern European countries, but are weaker elsewhere. Seeking alternative views and attempting to validate the credibility of news may be among the motivations behind these associations.
Methodology – Empirical findings are drawn from a full‐day workshop on digital connectivity, which included participants from seven rural local governments in New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis of the workshop transcript was undertaken in order to extrapolate recurring nuances of rural digital exclusion.
Findings – Rural communities face inequitable prospects for digital inclusion, and authorities confront dual issues of accommodating connected and unconnected citizens. Many areas have no or poor broadband access, and different digital engagement expectations are held by citizens and local governments. Citizens seek interactive opportunities, but rural authorities often lack the necessary resources to offer advanced participatory practices.
Research limitations/implications – While this research draws from a small sample of government officials, their insights are nonetheless heuristically valuable in identifying connectivity issues faced in rural Australia. These issues can guide further research into other regions as well as civic experiences of digital inclusion.
Practical/social implications – There is a need to reconceive Australia’s current policy approach to broadband. Greater rural digital inclusion may be achieved by focusing on connectivity as a public interest goal, targeting infrastructure developments to suit local contexts, and implementing participatory digital government practices.
Originality/value – The actions suggested would help ensure equity of digital inclusion across Australian municipal areas. Without such changes, there is a risk of rural citizens facing further marginalisation through digital exclusion.