Most Chinese Say They Approve of Government Internet Control by Deborah Fallows, Senior Research Fellow, Pew Internet & American Life Project
March 27, 2008
Paragraph 1 of Article
"Many Americans assume that China’s Internet users are both aware of and unhappy about their government’s oversight and control of the Internet. But in a new survey, most Chinese say they approve of Internet control and management, especially when it comes from their government."
Paragraph 4 of Article
"The Chinese government has long tried to control its Internet in many ways. It censors or blocks politically-outspoken blogs. It has arrested citizens on charges of “inciting subversion” for posting articles in chat rooms critical of the Communist Party. It passes Internet traffic through a “Great Firewall” designed to deny access to such international websites as Wikipedia, Technorati, all blogs hosted by Blogspot, and many sites maintained by the BBC. It also censors content on Chinese-based sites dealing with a host of topics, including the religious group Falun Gong, the 1989 Tiananmen incident, corruption among government officials, the independence movement in Taiwan, a free Tibet, various human rights issues, political incidents, or citizens’ uprisings."
The survey was funded by the Markle Foundation and directed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Article may be found at:
http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_China_Internet_2008.pdf
My Thoughts
Some people may be surprised by this findings of this report, but I am not. If you have lived your entire life in an extremely censored society, what other response can be expected. Also, should fear be taken into account? This is a communist country. Maybe they were afraid of the consequences that may evolve from being completely honest with the survey.
There is a old saying that "You do not miss what you never had." Could that be the case with the people of China. Would living in a completely censored society all of your life cause a person to want continued censorship? I do not completely agree with that, but it makes you wonder.
I believe personally I would wonder what I am missing out on. What is the government keeping from us? Are they really protecting the people or protecting themselves from the people?
Home: Tampa Bay, United States
About Me: In the modern era we live in, computers and the internet are the way much of us retrieve a large amount of our information on a daily basis. Some would say it is impossible to live without the internet. What are your thoughts. This blog's purpose is to bring to light interesting articles and studies that showcase the internet and its role in society.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
posted by AISHA JACKSON at 3:58 AM
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
On February, 25, 2007 the Washington Post released a article written by Anthony Boadle and Reuters on Cuba and its residents access to the Internet. As many would guess Internet access in Cuba is extremely limited and must be approved by the government.
In the Washington post article, Cuban dissidents found a way to get messages posted on the Internet through family and friends living abroad. Some have had entire website built for them. These dissidents and exiled Cubans use message boards and websites and a tool to get their message to the rest of the world.
"The Internet is a basic tool in today's world, but the government doesn't want Cubans to have outside information and only grants access to certain people," Leiva said.
Leiva said the site helps inform the world about the group's campaign to win the release of 59 of the 75 dissidents jailed since March 2003. The others were freed on medical parole.
The Cuban government calls dissidents "counterrevolutionary mercenaries" who are on the payroll of its ideological nemesis, the United States, and have little support in Cuba. (Despite Bans, Cuban Dissidents Get Word to the Web, 2007, A11"
Boadle, A. & Reuters. Despite Bans, Cuban Dissidents Get Word to the Web; Exiles Post Messages From Island's Anti-Castro Activists, Though Havana Blocks Sites (2007, February 25). The Washington Post, A11.
The newspaper article used as a topic source for this blog can be found by logging into USF library and searching for "Cuban Internet" in Lexis-Nexis Academic.
My Experience
One of my co-workers is from Cuba. She often speaks about her experiences. Once we were discussing how often she e-mails her mother. She said that she did not e-mail her mother that ofter because her mother only had a few hours of internet privledges a month. I was shocked that her mother evan had internet. It makes it evan worse that she has about the amount of time in a month that an average american could spend on the internet in one evening. My co-oworker also said that the main reason her mother had access to the internet was because her mother was a school teacher.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Teens online up to 8 hours a day: study: Researcher 'very concerned' about excessive users
BYLINE: Sarah Schmidt, CanWest News Service
SECTION: BODY & HEALTH; Pg. A15
LENGTH: 546 words
DATELINE: OTTAWA
OTTAWA - Some young teens are spending up to eight hours per day online, according to the initial findings of TeenTech, the first study in Canada to directly monitor their home Internet activities.
University of British Columbia educational psychologist Jennifer Shapka tracked the Internet use of young people aged 10 to 15 over a six-month period and determined daily use ranged from 0.2 to 8.2 hours.
From ages 11 to 13, kids are spending an average 0.38 hours using the Internet.
By age 14, their online activities jump dramatically to an average of 2.5 hours per day, including sending and receiving an average of 40 instant messages per day.
The most avid instant messenger in the pilot phase of the four-year study sent and received an average of 160 messages per day.
"That I find absolutely interesting," Ms. Shapka said.
"The range was really huge. There's not going to be a one-size-fits-all about why and how kids use the Internet."
Ms. Shapka is "very concerned" about the excessive Internet users.
"The average user is not using it in excessive ways or maladaptive ways. But there certainly are a group of kids I would be very concerned about, and how it links up with their development and other aspects of their life."
The researcher will be tracking 500 young people in 400 households through 2009 to determine how Internet use affects cognitive development, social skills and obesity rates. "No one has ever looked at it from all these development outcomes," she said.
The pilot phase of the project generated 13 million records and 44 gigabytes of data involving 25 youth from 20 households. While instant messaging is the online activity of choice for most these youth, Ms. Shapka found that one in four doesn't use instant messaging at all. She's worried this may be a sign of social isolation.
"What's going on with those kids?" she wondered. "Do they just not have friends or a buddy list?"
Theoretically, these kids are more likely to reach out to online strangers, making them more vulnerable to online predators, said Ms. Shapka. Further research will confirm or disprove this.
Social networking was the least popular activity among these young people, the pilot study found.
Only one in five visited social networking web sites such as a Facebook or MySpace. But of those who did visit such sites, half did not use instant messaging, suggesting a withdrawal into a virtual world, Ms. Shapka said.
Ottawa Grade 12 student Amanda Jenson said among her peers instant messaging is the most popular online activity through the later teen years. "You get messages pretty much all day long," she said.
Ms. Jenson, 17, said she spends between one to two hours online on weeknights and no more than three hours per day on weekends. She was troubled by the study's findings about the time spent online by youth who were excessive users.
Rather than using the computer, she said, "you should be actually communicating with these people -- you know, talking to them face to face."
Ms. Shapka is recruiting teens and their families across British Columbia for the next expanded phase of the $500,000 research project. The TeenTech project is funded, in part, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.
My Thoughts!
I think parents should be very concerned with the amount of time that their teen spend online. Any teen that has up to 8 hours to spend on the Internet, should have an organized activity to participate in. The risk of revealing too much personal information should be a trigger for parents to pay closer attention to their child's online activities.
I believe not only teens, but people in general are more likely to open their selves and their situations to people they do not know. Because of this, teens and adults can potentially become victims.
What are your thoughts?
BYLINE: Sarah Schmidt, CanWest News Service
SECTION: BODY & HEALTH; Pg. A15
LENGTH: 546 words
DATELINE: OTTAWA
OTTAWA - Some young teens are spending up to eight hours per day online, according to the initial findings of TeenTech, the first study in Canada to directly monitor their home Internet activities.
University of British Columbia educational psychologist Jennifer Shapka tracked the Internet use of young people aged 10 to 15 over a six-month period and determined daily use ranged from 0.2 to 8.2 hours.
From ages 11 to 13, kids are spending an average 0.38 hours using the Internet.
By age 14, their online activities jump dramatically to an average of 2.5 hours per day, including sending and receiving an average of 40 instant messages per day.
The most avid instant messenger in the pilot phase of the four-year study sent and received an average of 160 messages per day.
"That I find absolutely interesting," Ms. Shapka said.
"The range was really huge. There's not going to be a one-size-fits-all about why and how kids use the Internet."
Ms. Shapka is "very concerned" about the excessive Internet users.
"The average user is not using it in excessive ways or maladaptive ways. But there certainly are a group of kids I would be very concerned about, and how it links up with their development and other aspects of their life."
The researcher will be tracking 500 young people in 400 households through 2009 to determine how Internet use affects cognitive development, social skills and obesity rates. "No one has ever looked at it from all these development outcomes," she said.
The pilot phase of the project generated 13 million records and 44 gigabytes of data involving 25 youth from 20 households. While instant messaging is the online activity of choice for most these youth, Ms. Shapka found that one in four doesn't use instant messaging at all. She's worried this may be a sign of social isolation.
"What's going on with those kids?" she wondered. "Do they just not have friends or a buddy list?"
Theoretically, these kids are more likely to reach out to online strangers, making them more vulnerable to online predators, said Ms. Shapka. Further research will confirm or disprove this.
Social networking was the least popular activity among these young people, the pilot study found.
Only one in five visited social networking web sites such as a Facebook or MySpace. But of those who did visit such sites, half did not use instant messaging, suggesting a withdrawal into a virtual world, Ms. Shapka said.
Ottawa Grade 12 student Amanda Jenson said among her peers instant messaging is the most popular online activity through the later teen years. "You get messages pretty much all day long," she said.
Ms. Jenson, 17, said she spends between one to two hours online on weeknights and no more than three hours per day on weekends. She was troubled by the study's findings about the time spent online by youth who were excessive users.
Rather than using the computer, she said, "you should be actually communicating with these people -- you know, talking to them face to face."
Ms. Shapka is recruiting teens and their families across British Columbia for the next expanded phase of the $500,000 research project. The TeenTech project is funded, in part, by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. Knowledge Development Fund.
My Thoughts!
I think parents should be very concerned with the amount of time that their teen spend online. Any teen that has up to 8 hours to spend on the Internet, should have an organized activity to participate in. The risk of revealing too much personal information should be a trigger for parents to pay closer attention to their child's online activities.
I believe not only teens, but people in general are more likely to open their selves and their situations to people they do not know. Because of this, teens and adults can potentially become victims.
What are your thoughts?
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Is the digital divide an issue that society should be concerned about? I believe it is. If the gap in the divide is bridged, many issues in society could improve. The world becomes more
technologically advanced by the day. Many jobs require online applications. Most jobs require some type of computer skills. It is very hard to advance in life without learning computer skills. With job training and computer knowledge, many people in the lower classes of society would be afforded opportunities that they would not normally be. Those who would normally turn to crime to provide for their families might not see that option as a necessary avenue to go down.
Tavis Smiley Special
DIGITAL DIVIDE
The "Digital Divide" was a term originally coined in reference to the disparity in computer ownership between groups, due to socioeconomic, racial and or geographic differences.
The definition has since broadened to include not only access to computer hardware, but access to regular and affordable broadband, as well as the skills and resources required to use digital and information technology.
This divide continues to widen, as noted in a study1 which examined data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. African American, Latino and Native American households lag behind their Asian and white, non-Latino counterparts when it comes to access to home computers. The findings indicate that 49% of Latinos, 51% of African Americans and 52% of Native Americans have a computer in the home (compared to 75% of white, non-Latinos and 78% of Asians).
The study also reveals that African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans are less likely than other groups to have the capability of connecting to the Internet from a home computer.
My Experience
Growing up I kind of had the best of both worlds. I got to experience different types of lifestyles. It helped me appreciate where my parents came from and where they brought us to. My parents grew up very poor. They decided that they were going to do what they had to do to make a better life for my sister and I. So we were raised in a typical middle class lifestyle. At the same time my grandparents babysat for my parents when we were younger so we went to the same elementary school that use to be my grandmother's segregated high school. As a result, most of my friends did not have a the same lifestyle as my sister and I did. My parents bought us our first computer in the 80s, most of my friends still did not have home computers when we reached high school. Some still do not to this day.
I believe that many less fortunate people do not buy home computers not only for financial reasons but also because they can gain access to computer through the public libraries and community colleges for free. With this access, they can apply for jobs, update resumes, or obtain access to online entertainment.
Let's here your opinion!
Does public access to computers help bridge the gap for the digital divide?
Saturday, February 23, 2008
As society and technology advance, older generations feels the pressure to advance with the times also. In a national study done by The Kaiser Family Foundation, seniors took a telephone survey asking them a variety of questions. e-health and the Elderly :How Seniors Use the Internet for Health Information was a study involved how much senior citizens used the internet and how they use the internet to obtain health information.
According to the the Kaiser survey:
-only 31% of seniors 65 and over had ever gone online
-of that 31%, 46% go online everyday
According to the the Kaiser survey:
-only 31% of seniors 65 and over had ever gone online
-of that 31%, 46% go online everyday
"While Internet rates among seniors are likely to increase significantly as baby boomers (who are already online in much higher numbers) join the ranks of senior citizens, those who are not already online don’t seem inclined to change."
My Experience
My grandparents are a perfect example (Grandfather in above picture on the right). They purchased a computer, but they use it for basic purposed. E-mail and travel. They have a digital camera and still print and mail everyone the photos that they have taken. Everyone keeps telling them to email the pictures, they just shrug it off. They like going to get their pictures developed and like the interaction with the people. The internet is used mainly as a means for communicating with family and friends, not as a information source or tool.
Share your experience
Link to Article
e - H e a l t h a n d t h e E l d e r l y : H o w S e n i o r s U s e t h e I n t e r n e t
f o r H e a l t h I n f o r m at i o n. http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/e-Health-and-the-Elderly-How-Seniors-Use-the-Internet-for-Health-Information-Key-Findings-From-a-National-Survey-of-Older-Americans-Survey-Report.pdf