Accountability in a Network Society:The Rise of a Fifth Estate

William H. DuttonProfessor of Internet StudiesOxford Internet Institute (OII)

University of Oxford

Presentation for Integreon, Rhodes House, Oxford, 3 May 2012.

1. Internet is not political, it is just entertainment;

2. Internet is not the press, which is being threatened;

3. Virtual assembly is not real: ‘clicktavism’ is not activism

4. Inherently free, cannot be regulated5. Tool for autocracy, not democracy6. Internet enables democratic accountability

Online Freedom of Expression?

Reconfiguring Access: Information, People, Services, Technology

• Oxford Internet Surveys of Britain: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and World Internet Project (WIP)

• The Global Values Project: OII in collaboration with INSEAD, comScore, and WEF

• The Performance of Distributed Problem-Solving Networks (DPSN) Porject (2007-8)

• The Oxford e-Social Science Project (OeSS), Economic and Social Research Council (2005-12)

• The Fifth Estate Project, supported by the OII, Oxford Internet Surveys (2003-2012), and June Klein, Electronic Boardroom™

Empirical Research Foundations

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Empowering Networked Individuals

Reliability of Information by Internet Users and Non-Users 2009 (QA4 by QH14)

OxIS 2009: N=2,013Note. The scale changed from a 10 point scale in 2007 to a 5 point scale in 2009.

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Networked Institutions, such as in e-Health

Networked Individuals:

going to the Internet for health and medical information

networking patients, e.g., UK Children With Diabetes Advocacy Group (500 Families)

networking physicians, e.g., Sermo

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals

Sermo: a Collaborative Network Organisation

Arenas: Networked Institutions Networked Individuals

News Online journalism, BBC Online, Live Micro-Blogging

Netizens, Citizen Journalists, Bloggers, Whistleblowers, Leaks, Churnalism.org, Hacking Blacklash

Democracy E-Democracy, E-Consultation, e-Voting

Obama campaign, Aung San Suu Kyi, Arab Springs, Anti-Bribery Websites

Education Online Learning, Multimedia Classrooms

Backchannels, Informal Learning, Rate My Teacher

Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing safety alerts

Going to the Internet for health information, Sermo

“[Edmund] Burke said there were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more prominent far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or witty saying; it is a literal fact – very momentous to us in these times.”

Thomas Carlyle (1831), Heroes and Hero-Worship, at www.gutenberg.org.etext/1091

The Fourth Estate

Feudal Estates into the 21st Century

Estates Feudal Modern

Clergy Public Intellectuals

Nobility Business, Industry and Economic Elites, including Internet Industrial Elites

Commons Government and Politicians

‘4th Estate’ Press Journalists and the Mass Media

Mob Civil Society, Networked Individuals, Mobs

Montesquieu’s Tripartite System into the 21st Century

Estates Tripartite Modern US Parallel

Courts Judiciary

Monarch Executive

Parliament Legislative

‘4th Estate’ Press Journalists and the Mass Media

Mob Civil Society, Networked Individuals, Mobs

Press since the 18th Century - the ‘Fourth Estate’

Internet in the 21st - enabling a Fifth Estate

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The Fifth Estate

Enabling people to network with other individuals and with information, services and technical resources in ways that support social accountability in business and industry, government, politics, and the media.

“Wael Ghonim, a 30-year-old executive from Google, was the administrator of an anti-torture page on Facebook, the social networking website, that is widely credited with organising the first day of protest [in Egypt] on January 25.”

Jon Swaine, The Telegraph, 11 Feb 2011

TIME 2011Person of the Year

The Protester

-Mannoubia Bouazizi-Tunisia

Networked Institutions: greater ubiquity, universal access

Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate: require a critical mass, not universal access

Networked Institutions v Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate

The Fourth Estate Depends on an Independent Press – Independent in Relation to Other Estates

The Fourth Estate:

News of the World, …

18th Century Estates: 21st Century Enemies 18th Century Estates

21st Century: Enemies of the 5th Estate

Attacks

Clergy Public Intellectuals ‘Culture of Amateurism’, individualist consumerism

Nobility Business, Industry and Economic Elites

Vertical Integration; Monopoly over Search; Three Strikes

Commons Government and Regulatory Agencies

Filtering; Content Regulation; Identification; Surveillance; Disconnection; Control Press

Press Journalists and the Mass Media

Pay Walls, Co-opting, Imitating, Competing, and Supporting

Mob Spammers, Fraudsters, Cyberstalkers, Rioters…

Undermining Trust and Confidence; Fostering Regulation of Content, Attacks on Anonymity

Mob or Fifth Estate?

England Riots & Cleanup

Reflections on Implications of the Fifth Estate