The project will investigate how the media, especially digital media, help define the boundaries between private and public life. The main focus of the project is a four month study, to be conducted Sept.-Dec. of 2004, of how 30 carefully selected subjects actually use various media to satisfy their private consumption desires, engage public issues, and construct the boundaries between the two. A second component of the project involves content analysis of a broad range of popular internet sites to map the ways in which the connections between public and private life are drawn. The study is timed to take advantage of the increased societal concern with public issues associated with the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, as well as the months immediately following when people typically pay less attention to public life. The project will employ a combination of qualitative ethnographic methods, as well as interpretive and more formal content analyses of internet sites and subjects' media diaries.
Broader Impacts: There is a general perception within the research community that the internet has yet to live up to its supposed potential for invigorating democratic life. Voter turnout remains low; citizen engagement seems largely unchanged. This project will provide information useful to policymakers as they seek to develop ways of employing digital technologies for enhancing American democratic life. It will shed light on how various technologies are likely to actually be used by a wide range of citizens. The results will be of use to those (including socially minded corporations conducting e-commerce) interested in furthering civic engagement, by providing insights into how to better design web sites and take advantage of the ways in which citizens use different types of media to pursue public concerns. The project involves collaboration with scholars from other disciplines in other countries that will cross-train student researchers in political science, sociology, public policy, business, computer science, and communication.
