ISOJ 2006

1. Web 2.0, Society 1.0
Online citizens media, but for which
citizens?
Lou Rutigliano
PhD student
Dept. of Journalism
UT-Austin

2. WEB 2.0
“The Web is Where We Live” - Newsweek (March 2006)
MySpace: 65 million users
Craigslist: 7th
most popular site, staff of 19
Wikipedia, Flickr, del.icio.us, facebook.....
“When people say to me it's a Web 2.0 application, I want
to puke” - Guy Kawasaki, venture capitalist

3. WEB 2.0
user-generated content
From WIDE – Gather Collective Knowledge, With No
Limit To What You Can Fit
To NARROW – Find Info That Fits Your Specific
Circumstances

4. Web 2.0 journalism
“Read and write your views, reviews, news, interviews, and
more. Pick a story and cover it”
-IBrattleboro
resident-generated content
Which communities can most benefit from this?
Which communities are least involved in this?

5. Web 2.0 meets the poor: Katrina
used for:
-Finding People
-Finding Housing
-Finding and Providing Services
“Responding quicker than most print or televised
media and in considerably more detail, the Austin Web
– once it learned of our role in taking in thousands of
hurricane evacuees – put the information out almost
as quickly as it was available.” -Austin Chronicle
http://austinhelpingneworleans.org/
http://austinhelpskatrina.org/

8. Multiple Digital Divides: Beyond Access
-Digital Literacy
-Time
-content
“Implied here is a move from thinking about the bare
fact of access towards thinking about how that fact
connects with the real needs and conditions of those
to be connected." - Nick Couldry

9. Austin Free-Net
established 1995
brought access to Austin public libraries

10. Austin Free-Net
working with 14 partner organizations: provides hardware and
service

11. Austin Free-Net
organizations include senior housing, homeless shelter,
community activists, cultural groups

12. Austin Free-Net
-now also involved in education, assistance with community
content development
-currently studying partner sites' resources, design, goals
Research Questions:
1. what are the information habits of afn's public access site
users?
2. what are the obstacles to digital inclusion in austin's low-
income neighborhoods?
3. how do afn's partner sites try to overcome these?

13. Casa marianella

14. Casa Marianella

15. Garden Terrace

16. Garden Terrace Computer Lab

17. Conclusions...
-current version of access not enough
-Links Between Offline and Online
-Access and Non-Profits Mutually Beneficial
-Need for Education and a Role for Universities

18. ...and a Plan
-UT/AFN collaboration
-21st
Century Community Newsrooms project
-Interdisciplinary (kiosk designers wanted)
-contact me at rutigliano@mail.utexas.edu