Presentation for Integreon, Rhodes House, Oxford, 3 May 2012 on Accountability in a Network Society: The Rise of a Fifth Estate

1. Accountability in a Network Society:
The Rise of a Fifth Estate
William H. Dutton
Professor of Internet Studies
Oxford Internet Institute (OII)
University of Oxford
Presentation for Integreon, Rhodes House, Oxford, 3 May 2012.

2. Online Freedom of Expression?
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 regulated
5. Tool for autocracy, not democracy
6. Internet enables democratic
accountability

3. Reconfiguring Access: Information, People, Services, Technology

4. Empirical
Research Foundations
• 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™

5. 5

6. 6

7. Empowering
Networked
Individuals

8. Reliability of Information by
Internet Users and Non-Users 2009
(QA4 by QH14)
OxIS 2009: N=2,013 8
Note. The scale changed from a 10 point scale in 2007 to a 5 point scale in 2009.

9. Networked Institutions v Networked
Individuals
 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

10. Sermo: a Collaborative Network Organisation

11. Arenas: Networked Institutions Networked Individuals
News Online journalism, BBC Netizens, Citizen
Online, Live Micro-Blogging Journalists, Bloggers,
Whistleblowers, Leaks,
Churnalism.org, Hacking
Blacklash
Democracy E-Democracy, E- Obama campaign, Aung
Consultation, e-Voting San Suu Kyi, Arab Springs,
Anti-Bribery Websites
Education Online Learning, Multimedia Backchannels, Informal
Classrooms Learning, Rate My Teacher
Health and Medical NHS Direct, e-mailing safety Going to the Internet for
alerts health information, Sermo

12. The Fourth Estate
“[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

13. 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

14. 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

15. The Fifth Estate
 Press since the 18th Century -
the ‘Fourth Estate’
 Internet in the 21st - enabling a
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.

16. “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

17. TIME 2011
Person of the Year
The Protester
-Mannoubia Bouazizi
-Tunisia

18. Networked Institutions v Networked
Individuals of the Fifth Estate
 Networked Institutions: greater ubiquity,
universal access
 Networked Individuals of the Fifth Estate:
require a critical mass, not universal access

21. The Fourth Estate:
News of the World, …
The Fourth Estate Depends on an Independent
Press – Independent in Relation to Other Estates

22. 18th Century Estates: 21st Century Enemies
18th Century 21st Century: Attacks
Estates Enemies of the
5th Estate
Clergy Public Intellectuals ‘Culture of Amateurism’,
individualist consumerism
Nobility Business, Industry Vertical Integration; Monopoly
and Economic Elites over Search; Three Strikes
Commons Government and Filtering; Content Regulation;
Regulatory Agencies Identification; Surveillance;
Disconnection; Control Press
Press Journalists and the Pay Walls, Co-opting,
Mass Media Imitating, Competing, and
Supporting
Mob Spammers, Undermining Trust and
Fraudsters, Confidence; Fostering
Regulation of Content,
Cyberstalkers, Attacks on Anonymity
Rioters…

23. Mob or Fifth Estate?
England Riots & Cleanup

24. Reflections on Implications of the Fifth Estate