Spotlight on Scholarship:
Recent Work by HCTD members
Hargittai, H. & Walejko, G. (2008). The participation divide: Content creation and sharing in the digital age. Information, Communication & Society, 11(2), 239-256.
This paper looks at the prevalence of creative activity and sharing in an age when the barriers to disseminating material have been considerably lowered compared with earlier times. The authors use unique data to explore the extent to which young adults create video, music, writing and artistic photography, as well as the prevalence of sharing such material online. Findings suggest that despite new opportunities to engage in such distribution of content, relatively few people are taking advantage of these recent developments. Moreover, neither creation nor sharing is randomly distributed among a diverse group of young adults. Consistent with existing literature, creative activity is related to a person's socioeconomic status as measured by parental schooling. The novel act of sharing online, however, is considerably different by gender with men much more likely to engage in it. However, once internet user skill is controlled for, men and women are equally likely to post their materials on the Web.
Eszter Hargittai is Assistant Professor of Communication Studies and Sociology, and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University where she heads the Web Use Project. She received her PhD in Sociology from Princeton University where she was a Wilson Scholar. She spent the 2006–2007academic year as a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Her research focuses on the social and policy implications of information technologies with particular emphasis on how digital media may alleviate or contribute to social inequality. Address: Department of Communication Studies, 2240 Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60208, USA. [email: eszter@northwestern.edu]
Gina Walejko is a Ph. D. student in Northwestern University's Media, Technology and Society Program. Gina is also a research assistant at Eszter Hargittai's Web Use Project. There she uses mixed methods to research how diverse populations of individuals use new media, including how college students use the Web. Her research focuses on the transition to digital media on varied populations and organizations. Address: Media, Technology, and Society, School of Communication, 2240 Campus Dr., Evanston, IL, 60201, USA.
[email: g-walejko@northwestern.edu]