University of Lethbridge political science professor Harold Jansen wanted to uncover what the impact the Internet has on democratic citizenship. He collaborated with four professors from the Universities of Montreal, Laval, Manitoba and Guelph. They conducted a telephone survey of 2,021 individuals across Canada between February and April, through the Institute for Social Research at York University.
Jansen presented his findings with “Clicks, Tweets and Likes: Canadian Democratic Citizenship in a Digital Age” as part of the Political Science department – Brown Bag Lunch Series, this week.
The Internet has become a universally adopted technology over the last 20 years, he said, with a 2013 Statistics Canada report proving almost 86 per cent of the population use it.
Two major aspects the survey studied were the extent to which people learn about and the extent they participate in politics in their digital life. The survey was the first of its kind to delve into what people are doing online politically, including viewing government websites, signing petitions and social media interaction. It also explored their political activities offline, such as voter participation or membership to a party.
“People got really excited early on about the potential of the Internet to transform digital citizenship because, they said, it will allow politicians to directly communicate with voters and bypass the media,” said Jansen. “Even further for true deliberation, the ability to interact with politicians and ask questions.”
The survey found almost 60 per cent of Canadians have a Facebook account while just over 18 per cent have Twitter.
“This is really interesting because Twitter gets a lot of play by the media,” said Jansen. “In 2011, the media called it the ‘Twitter election.'”
He said roughly 80 per cent with Twitter accounts don’t use them in any given month.
“For all the attention the media gives it, of what Justin Trudeau is saying on Twitter, not a lot of people are paying that much attention to it.”
According to the survey, less than five per cent of respondents retweeted political content, and less than 15 per cent shared on Facebook. People still choose traditional methods to contact politicians by telephone, letter or email, or visiting in person.
“We’re finding Canadians don’t spend a lot of time on Facebook or Twitter interacting with politicians, or even with each other. One of the big things they do is go to government websites to get information. People are more interested in e-government than e-politics, more interested in services and less interested in being politically engaged.”
There is “no sign of a renaissance in democratic citizenship,” he said. While the Internet has increased access to resources and opportunity, it has not increased political motivation.
The survey is just the beginning of an ongoing project for the team, which plans to conduct a web-based survey of 3,000 individuals starting next week. The team will re-interview them after the next federal election and beyond to learn how digital democratic citizenship changes over time.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Melissa Villeneuve
Quelle/Source: Lethbridge Herald, 06.12.2014
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