Others by Homero Gil de Zúñiga
Nuevas tecnologías en la sociedad de la Información: Es Internet una herramienta engañosa?
This research explores the relationship between Internet use and gratifications gained within the... more This research explores the relationship between Internet use and gratifications gained within the context of the digital divide framework. Analyses within sub-samples defined by age and socio-economic status reveal that there are notable differences in uses and gratifications across subgroups. For instance, those who are young and high in socioeconomic status are most likely to use the Internet to satisfy their motivations strategically and to gain the desired gratifications. They are most likely to engage in specific Internet behaviors—computer -mediated interaction, surveillance, and consumption uses— to achieve the particular gratifications of connection, learning, and acquisition. In contrast, those who are young and low in socio -economic status were more likely to employ consumptive use of the Internet to attain connection gratifications. Similarly, regardless of age, both low socioeconomic status subgroups were likely to use computer mediated interaction as a means to gain learning gratifications. Even as gaps in access are closing, gaps in usage and gratifications gained seem to persist.
Research has shown consistently that news consumption both online and offline is related positiv... more Research has shown consistently that news consumption both online and offline is related positively to interpersonal discussion, political involvement and political engagement. However, little consideration has been given to the role that new sources of information may exert on different forms of political engagement. Based on secondary analysis of data collected by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, this article contrasts
the influence of traditional sources of information online with
that of emergent sources (blogs) in predicting further political
discussion, campaigning and participation in both the online and
the offline domains. The results show that the use of traditional
sources online is related positively to different types of political
engagement, both online and offline. Most interestingly, the
article finds that blog use emerges as an equally important
predictor of political engagement in the online domain. Its analyses provide support for the contention that assert the democratic potential of the internet.
Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2011
This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a survey of U.S. adults related to infor... more This study is based on a secondary analysis of data from a survey of U.S. adults related to informational media use, trust, and community engagement. The authors were interested in determining if the act of contributing to online information sources (blogs, in this case) was correlated with higher expressions of trust in “alternative” or citizen-journalism sites. While familiarity with these sites has often been shown to correlate with higher trust measures, isolating participatory behavior from reading/use behavior is a particular question that has not been much addressed in the literature. Several survey responses related to online behaviors and attitudes were examined, and contributor users were found to be more likely to rate alternative media sites (with user-contributed content) as credible than other users. This effect was consistent even when controlling for demographic factors or otherwise generally advanced online information use. Content contributor users were also found to score slightly higher on measures of off-line social capital. This conclusion suggests an area for future research into the norms and motivations behind the development of collaborative information resources, and better analysis of the role of trust or credibility in explaining why some types of online resources (wikis, blogs, digital libraries, etc.) succeed and flourish, while others do not.
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Others by Homero Gil de Zúñiga
the influence of traditional sources of information online with
that of emergent sources (blogs) in predicting further political
discussion, campaigning and participation in both the online and
the offline domains. The results show that the use of traditional
sources online is related positively to different types of political
engagement, both online and offline. Most interestingly, the
article finds that blog use emerges as an equally important
predictor of political engagement in the online domain. Its analyses provide support for the contention that assert the democratic potential of the internet.