Communication Research and Media Science in Europe: Perspectives for Research and Academic Training in Europe's Changing Media Reality [Reprint 2012 ed.] 9783110849202, 9783110172164

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Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

W G DE

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe Perspectives for Research and Academic Training in Europe's Changing Media Reality

edited by

Angela Schorr William Campbell Michael Schenk

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York 2003

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.

® Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

ISBN 3-11-017215-1 hb ISBN 3-11-017216-X pb Bibliographic

information published by Die Deutsche

Bibliothek

Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the Internet at .

© Copyright 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, 10785 Berlin. All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover design: Sigurd Wendland, Berlin. Printed in Germany.

Contents Preface

IX

Part One: General Perspectives 1.1 Communication Research and Media Science in Europe: Research and Academic Training at a Turning Point Angela Schorr 1.2 Interactivity: The New Media Use Option State of the Art Angela Schorr

3

57

Part Two: The Mass Media in Perspective: Where are They Heading? 2.1 New Trends in TV and Radio Research Matthias Steinmann

115

2.2 Acceptance and Diffusion of Digital Television in Germany Thomas Döbler, Hans-Ullrich Mühlenfeld, Birgit Stark, & Michael Schenk

127

2.3 Making Money, Making Meaning: The Role of Communication in the Construction of a Television Station Culture Christine Daymon

147

2.4 The Publisher: Tutor of the Information Society Dietrich Kerlen

171

2.5 Media Assessment: The Future of Media Ethics Matthias Rath

187

VI

Contents

Part Three: New Findings in Media Use and Media Effects Research 3.1 Media Effects Research 2002: State of the Art Michael Schenk

201

3.2 Lonely Viewers? Families' Organization of Space and the Allocation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the Home Veerle Van Rompaey & Keith Roe

215

3.3 "Free Minds": Prisoners' Interpretations of Media Phenomena Heidi Vandebosch

233

3.3 Economic Affairs, Media Coverage, and the Public's Perception of the Economy in Germany Frank Brettschneider

251

3.4 Prognosis Methods on Television Viewing Patterns for Target Audiences René Weber

271

Part Four: Online Communication: Present Status and Future Perspectives 4.1 Online Communication: Putting the Knowledge Gap Theory into Perspective Heinz Bonfadelli

289

4.2 Cyber-TV and The New Interactivity: The GIGA Case Thomas Döbler, Birgit Stark, & Torsten Hata

309

4.2 "Is there anybody out there?" Creative Language Play and "Literariness" in Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Angela Goddard

325

4.3 Ethnography on the Net: Language, Culture, and Communications Michal Anne Moskow

345

4.5 Explorations in Students' Sense-Making of the Internet Micheline Frenette

361

Part Five: European Research on Interpersonal and Organizational Communication 5.1 Management of Organizational Communication in The Netherlands: Glass Ceiling and Encroachment A. A. van Ruler & Rob de Lange 5.2 The Advance of Public Relations as a Discipline: Retrospect and Prospect Joep Cornelissen, Danny Moss, & Phil Harris 5.3 A Comparative Study of Communicative Skill: Theory and Practice William Campbell & Andrzej Falkowski 5.4 Voice and Power: A Critical Investigation of Accounts of Bullying in Organizations Kate Mackenzie Davey & Andy P. D. Liefliooghe 5.5 The Structure and Agency of Communion Dimension in Interpersonal Communicative Interaction Goran Bubas

Part Six: Perspectives on Children, Gender, and Political Culture in Media Research 6.1 Engaged from Birth: Children Under Two Talking on Telephones Julia Gillen 6.2 Everyday Discursive Practices and The Construction of Gender: A Study at the "Grass Roots" Lindsey Meân Patterson 6.3 Images of the First Female Prime Minister of Turkey: An Analysis of Political Cartoons in the Turkish Newspapers Ayseli Usluata 6.4 The Forgotten Europe of Small Community Media: The Basque Experience Iñaki Zabaleta

VIII Contents 6.5 Working Together, Living Apart: Inter-Group Communication within Organizations in Northern Ireland Owen Hargie, Seanenne Rainey, & David Dickson

551

Part Seven: Big Brother is Watching You? Communication Research and Media Development in Europe Comments from Abroad 7.1 Interaction between Online Communication and TV-Viewing: Current Status and Future Perspectives Horst Stipp

577

7.2 Can Big Brother and His Siblings Play Together More? The Potential for Transatlantic Work on Media Coverage of Science and the Environment Michael Nitz

585

1 3 The Converging Approaches of American and European Dialogue: Combining Pragmatic and Theoretical Ideas in the Resolution of Complex Problems Scott C. Hammond & Matthew L. Sanders

599

Contributors

611

Author Index

621

Subject Index

641

Preface Never before has the discipline of communication been more exciting, diverse, and innovative than today. The media, the new media, as well as the traditional media, are in a state of continuous change. Nobody is excluded from these developments: The media business is trying to keep up with technological progress, to build a reasonable economical basis and to remain in control over the developments and structural changes. The media professions are expected to demonstrate a high level of flexibility, preparedness to learn and adapt. Important traditions, beliefs, and standards are at stake, and need to be redefined within a changing context. New rules need to be developed for professional qualification and practice. Governments are making every effort to provide the necessary support at national and European levels to secure their political influence, and to establish the legal and economic framework to safeguard and promote an industry and along with it a job market, of importance to both culture and economy. Academic research and training are directly affected by these developments. The fields of communication research and media science are experiencing an extraordinary boom: More and more scientists from all fields of the natural and social sciences are turning their attention to media research. Curricular courses are spreading and attracting young talented people. Universities are establishing new super structures that embrace a large spectrum of departments from the traditional fields of communication science and journalism, social sciences, and technical studies, to computer science, linguistics, and business. In addition to the burdens involved, these developments also bear an enormous opportunity for restructuring the discipline of communication at the university level, and developing and extending its true value for society and science. Development and expansion have to take place at the same time at both the national and the European level-an extraordinarily difficult task for all involved!

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The idea for this book was born out of conversations with the founding members and sponsors of the European Communication Association (ECA). This project not only aims to increase visibility of European media research. As a comprehensive introduction to contemporary research topics, it also seeks to provide examples and to encourage further research work. The works of research published in this volume are often labeled "new" or "innovative", a common trend in many areas of today's communication and media research. They vary largely in content and methodology. The majority of the articles published in this book base on social science and empirical perspectives. From a conceptual viewpoint they either ascribe to the limited effects paradigm or the moderate effects paradigm that Baran and Davis (1995) classify as follows (1995, p. 16): "The moderate effects perspective acknowledges that important media effects can occur over longer periods of time as a direct consequence of viewer or reader intent. People can make media serve certain purposes, such as using media to learn information and induce meaningful experiences. This 'meaning making perspective' asserts, that when people use media to make meaning (...) there are significant results." The reader will also find a number of culture-centered studies in this book that stand for the presently very popular cultural studies perspective. Again, we are not dealing with a homogenous school of thought. On the contrary, compared to the mainstream mass communication theory, cultural researchers tend to be even more fragmented by disciplinary boundaries and methodological preferences than their social science colleagues. However, several of the articles published here follow approaches indicating that the perspectives emerging from culture-centered research complement rather than challenge the notions from empirical research. They are important enhancements of the traditional approach that has been formed essentially and unilaterally by mainstream mass communication research. Sometimes, modern culture-centered analyses also refer to empirical research methodologies and use social science methods and inferential statistics. Taking into account the increasing availability of new individualized media, audiences, and respectively the people-from a cultural studies perspective-are seen as relatively autonomous, active seekers of meaning, capable of creating and shaping their experience using cultural artifacts and practices. On the similarities between the limited effects paradigm (e.g. uses and gratifications approach, social learning theories) and the cultural

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XI

studies paradigm (e.g. symbolic interactionism, cultivation analysis) Baran and Davis write (1995, p. 349): "Both approaches emphasize that individuals make active use of media, both have identified important social roles for media, both recognize that media operate within an essentially competitive social environment in which the power of media is challenged and constrained by other social institutions, and finally, both permit cautious optimism about the ways that media might contribute to improving the quality of our lives in the future." Only the future can tell whether or not we will actually be seeing more integrated communication perspectives in communication research and media science. It may make sense to differentiate more thoroughly between the paradigms and to increasingly apply approved theories and approaches to new phenomena. It may also be important to develop integrated perspectives in order to deal with new issues in an appropriate manner. Research and media industry share the same fate: In a time of rapid change, they are expected to both innovate and preserve at the same time. On the contents of the book: In Part 1 Angela Schorr gives an overview of the present status of the discipline communication in Europe (see chapter 1.1). At the core of the analysis lies the evaluation of academic training and research against the background of a comprehensive re-structuring of the European media market. Further topics deal with the changes of media use habits of audiences, an outline of new profiles of media professions, as well as the content analysis of 15 annual volumes of the two European journals "Communications" and "European Journal of Communication" each with regard to major trends and deficits in European media research. In "Interactivity as the New Media Use Option" in chapter 1.2 Angela Schorr addresses the importance and the many definitions of concepts on interactivity. The core message of this chapter is that interactivity is the relevant factor in modern media research. Regardless whether referred to as media use option or as a variable of media effect in communication processes, concepts of interactivity contain a confusing variety of definitions and operational variables. Chapter 1.2 provides an overview of the current state of research. Part 2 elucidates the structural changes and changes in content in European mass media against the background of technological innovations. In chapter 2.1 Matthias Steinmann analyzes important structural changes in radio and television media in Switzerland and critically evaluates the con-

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sequences for applied media research. In chapter 2.2 Thomas Döbler, HansUllrich Mühlenfeld, Birgit Stark, and Michael Schenk report on their empirical studies on digital Pay-TV in Germany. The authors analyze a sophisticated, well-to-do audience for these new and relatively expensive program offerings on the German media market. 1 From an unusual perspective, quasi from the inside, Christine Daymon analyzes the mass media television in chapter 2.3: The investigation on how members of organizations construct their realities and what role communication plays in this process is conceptually based on a cultural framework. As a setting for her research she chose a new commercial television station serving a British regional audience of several million. Interviewing its members over three years, she was able to explore communication processes and culture formation in contemporary media organizations-an exemplary analysis from the organizational communication viewpoint. In chapter 2.4 Dietrich Kerlen writes about the difficult role publishers have as trustees of a culture of timeless knowledge and experience. He also tries to reposition the medium book within the modern information society. In chapter 2.5 Matthias Rath addresses the various new problems of applied media ethics today. He stipulates that modern media ethics must seek to cooperate with empirical media research. Chapter 3.1 of Part 3 of the book starts with a brief, instructive overview of modern media effects research by Michael Schenk. Schenk delivers a new interpretation of typical statements on media effects based upon new findings from cognition research. Subsequently, Heidi Vandebosch (chapter 3.2) investigates media use habits of prison inmates and can demonstrate that crime-related media contents not only ease the conditions of detention, but convicts seem reassured in their self-images and their criminal activities legitimized. In chapter 3.3 Veerle Van Rompaey and Keith Roe investigate the importance of location of new information and communication technologies in the home of families. Based on media density factors, families were classified in traditional, intermediate, and mediated families (=high media density) and interviewed in depth. The authors found out that children's bedrooms, as opposed to parental bedrooms, are increasingly equipped with all sorts of media appliances. In chapter 3.4 Frank Brettschneider presents the results of a long-term study on TV news coverage of the economic situation in Germany (1994-2000) and links them with data collected on the same subject in a representative survey of the popula-

Preface XIII tion by the "Forschungsgruppe Wahlen". He is able to show that TV news are dominated by topics such as unemployment and the collapse of corporations, and that they reflect an unrealistic picture of the economic situation in general that correlates with the population's pessimistic assessment of the economic development. Based on his findings Brettschneider calls for a change in news coverage of the economic situation in Germany. In chapter 3.5 René Weber presents a number of new techniques to improve forecasts of television viewing patterns for target audiences. Based on telemetrie viewing data of about 5200 representative households, he compares forecasts generated using a neural network model with forecasts that were produced using a linear model, both techniques showing good results. Part 4 of this book contains some especially exciting and unusual works on online communication. Heinz Bonfadelli (chapter 4.1) examines how the knowledge gap hypothesis applies to online communication taking into account conceptual considerations and empirical data on Internet use in Switzerland. In the following chapter Thomas Döbler, Birgit Stark, and Thorsten Haux state that digital TV has not yet brought the metamorphosis of the viewer, thereby changing a passive viewer into an active user. GIGA, a broadcasting format using the Internet as a feedback channel, permits true interactivity. With the help of an online survey among the viewers of the broadcast, the authors reveal the reasons when and why people are prepared to use the interactivity supplied. Angela Goddard (chapter 4.3) deals with Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and the literary quality of the texts it produces. Under the heading "Ethnography in the Net" Michal Anne Moskow (chapter 4.4) addresses the question whether a cyberspace discussion list can function as a community. Methodologically, her analysis is based on discourse-centered ethnography. Micheline Frenette also takes an interesting approach to the Internet topic. She examines the relevance of the sensemaking methodology for understanding how important the Internet is in everyday life of university students and how the level of Internet use changes its perception. Part 5 of the book consists of five chapters dedicated to the topic of organizational communication that has received much attention lately. In the first chapter Bette van Ruler and Rob de Lange report on the results of their representative surveys of Dutch organizations with more than 50 staff members. They analyze the role of communication departments, their positioning within the organization, and the personnel employed in departments

XIV Angela Schorr, William Campbell, & Michael Schenk of these organizations. In The Netherlands women dominate this field of occupation. Chapter 5.2 by Joep Cornelissen, Danny Moss, and Phil Harris also deals with the current professional status of communication management in organizations. Against a background of the overall economic development and a rapidly changing world of media, they discuss the present state of public relations as a discipline and outline scenarios for future research. William Campbell and Andrzej Falkowski (chapter 5.3) break new grounds in a collaborative study by researchers of the Manchester Metropolitan University (United Kingdom) and of the University of Lodz (Poland) in order to improve the global communicative ability and the leadership skills of their students. They believe that the next generation needs new teaching methods to prepare them for life in a globalized world, where citizens increasingly take leadership roles. The authors' long-term goal is to develop culturally sensitive models to explain the nature and development of communicative ability and skill. In the next chapter Kate Mackenzie Davey and Andy Liefhooghe (chapter 5.4) examine the connection between voice and power in organizations based on an empirical study of employees' accounts of bullying. Employees use discussions of bullying to explore the power supervisors have over them and their own power to respond. The authors demonstrate that the use of language serves to create and to control the social reality of the organization. Goran Bubas (chapter 5.5), as William Campbell and Andrzej Falkowski earlier, discusses communicative competence, presently an important topic in organizational communication, however, from the perspective of theory development. In a questionnaire study he analyzes the conceptual structure of David Bakan's (1996) dimensions of agency and communion, using several social and communicative skills inventories. Part 6 of the book begins with a study on communication in families. In the first chapter Julia Gillen examines the talking habits of a very specific group of novice telephone users, namely children under the age of two. She comes to the conclusion that learning to talk on the telephone involves much more than simply learning how to use technology. In chapter 6.2 Lindsey Meân Patterson attends to the question on how fundamental masculinity of English football is strategically reproduced. For this purpose she analyzes public statements by influential personalities of English football management and tracks the reproduction of these statements by ordinary referees and amateur players. In chapter 6.3 the culture of communication

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is analyzed against the background of complex political relationships. Ayseli Usluata compares the political fate of Tansu Çiller, the first female prime minister of Turkey, with the works on her (with her as the topic!) created by political cartoonists during her term of office. According to Usulata the cartoonists' played an important role at the time. As in the case of Çiller, they were able to inform their readers precisely and in time about changes in the political landscape with their mostly uncensored pieces of work. In chapter 6.4 Iñaki Zabaleta's main topic are the so-called "small language media". He takes a look at life in the cross boarder Basque community in Spain and France, and at the development of and chances for modern Basque-language communication systems. In chapter 6.5 Owen Hargie, Seanenne Rainey, and David Dickson analyze communication processes among two parties that live in deep conflict with one another in their country, namely the Catholic and Protestant coworkers in companies in Northern Ireland. In Part 7 communication experts from the U.S. with an interest for Europe and European media research reflect upon developments on the two continents and upon interactions of North American theorizing and research with European perspectives and research approaches. Due to their commentary nature, these chapters are deliberately kept short. A mere stimulus today, we hope researchers will take more practice and intensified contacts to bridge the gap in research between the continents. As our knowledge about communication and media research and the situation in Europe is still limited, this area remains a fascinating, hardly explored field of work for international communication researchers! Horst Stipp (chapter 7.1) investigates the gradual changes of media use habits of U.S. Americans and gives a prognosis for both the United States and for Germany. In chapter 7.2 Michael Nitz concentrates on media coverage of environmental and science-related issues in the U.S. and in Europe and, since they are topics international in scope, stipulates to study them more closely from a communication research perspective. Finally, Scott Hammond and Matthew Sanders (chapter 7.3) discuss the similarities and differences between American and European dialogic theory. Many people have helped to make this book project a success. First, the editors wish to thank all authors for their contributions and for gracefully accepting editorial reviewing and ancillary guidelines. Thanks to deGruyter Publishing House, and especially to Anke Beck, Birgit Sievert, and Wolf-

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gang Konwitschny w h o with much patience attended professional and technical advise to this project. Susan Paul reviewed the English version o f the manuscript. Stefan Seltmann tailored the graphics, charts, and indices, and compiled the press proof version o f the book. W e express our very special thanks to both of them.

The Editors

Annotations 1.

With regard to the introduction of digital TV-overall digital penetration remains rather modest at 8% of the European TV homes receiving digital television-the following four nations are presently leading the list: the United Kingdom alone accounts for ca. 40% of the European digital homes, France for 19%, Italy and Spain for 12% each (see European Key Facts-Television 2001, p. 43).

References Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K. (1995). Mass communication theory. Foundations, ferment, and future. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. International Marketing Committee (Ed.). (2001). European key facts: Television 2001. Köln: IP. Schenk, M. (2002). Medienwirkungsforschung. Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr. Schorr, Α. (2000). Publikums- und Wirkungsforschung. Ein Reader. Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag.

Part One General Perspectives

1.1 Communication Research and Media Science in Europe: Research and Academic Training at a Turning Point Angela Schorr

The present state of professional training and research in the field of communication is strongly dominated by the enormous speed by which media reality is changing-regardless from which angle you look at it, that of the media business or that of the audience. In an effort to facilitate this phase of change, the European Community is supporting programs directed to help sustain the cultural and economic identity of Europe's media and to enhance its development towards a united European identity. An important task is to support the development of independent media in the democracies of Central and Eastern Europe which poses just another piece of a complex puzzle in which European media researchers play a role whether directly or indirectly, voluntarily or involuntarily, actively or passively. It is upon this background that the following chapter provides an overview of the historical developments and the status of the discipline of communication in Europe. Further topics are the different professional training concepts for media professions, the changes of job profìles, the present focus of research and new research trends in Europe.

Providing an overview of European media research and of the professional training offered by universities is not an easy task. The cultural diversity of European nations is reflected in the media and it is in the media where this diversity is most noticed. The media and its audiovisual content are important carriers of European cultural and linguistic identity. The traditional mass media-as in all democratic societies-play a central role in the functioning of Europe's democracies. At the same time they also pose an important sector of economy with a large job market. This is similarly true for the typical individual media, such as the computer: They increasingly support and reinforce the functioning of traditional mass media while both are

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merging. In addition they are also very important for the functioning and competitiveness of the European economy, and they offer a new, futureoriented, and increasingly stable job market. European media research presently is closely linked to technological, political, and legal developments in the European nations. This is understandable, since the rapidly progressing technical revolution in media, which is taking place in the media business and in media politics of European countries at varying paces, accounts for only one set of issues in the current situation of change. A second set of issues, which European media research has continuously been involved in with personnel and content for almost one and a half decade, is the textual, political, and legal design of modern media systems in young Central and Eastern European democracies. Finally, a third set of issues, similarly comprehensive and diverse and just as virulent as the two previously mentioned, directly concerning the media, media business, and therefore media research as well, involves the restructuring of the European Community towards a unified Europe. All of these changes have revolutionized media practice and media business over the last 15 years-a change process that will take long to be completed. Given the diversity of new responsibilities and requirements the relatively small, yet fast growing workforce of European media researchers has difficulty keeping up with scientific implications of even the most important events and changes in their own countries. Despite an improving, yet still inappropriate situation with regard to equipment and research funding and a Europe-wide increased promotion of European research networks, only a small number of elaborate international projects could be realized in the last couple of years. Without exception one could state that basic research in the field of communication in Europe is presently nonexistent. A rough estimate based solely on the number of active media researchers at European universities as well as those organized in European associations, the absolute number of European media researchers should exceed the number of U.S. American colleagues. This-in relation to the workload-numerically small and relatively young workforce faces a media landscape of incomparably higher level of diversity and dividedness than other countries or continents. The growing possibilities of individual and mass communication and the resulting omnipresence of the media in people's lives has made media jobs especially attractive for the young generation. The great demand for qualified personnel has amplified this effect and

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led to a run on the universities and a continuing boom of university courses for communication and media science, resulting in a continuous influx of a number of qualified and very committed students. They meanwhile propose an enormous burden, but more so an extraordinary chance to bring more professionalism to teaching and research in the discipline of communication at European universities. The discipline itself, whether as a research field or a study course, uses a confusing number of different labels, such as-among others-communication research, communication science, or simply communication, media research, media science, or information and communication (also word combinations such as information and communication technology/ICT), etc. The publicly well-known term media science indicates a hermeneutic, aesthetic, and historical direction; however it may also point to a pragmatic, social science related direction in the field (see "Paper on the Scope of the Discipline"·, DGPuK, 1999). The word combination information and communication primarily stood for research in the area of the new media in the nineties (e.g., Jankowski, Jones, Samarajiva, & Silverstone, 1999; Weischenberg, Altmeppen, & Löffelholz, 1994). Due to political and administrative efforts at the European level to perceive future developments in media business as "convergent", the meaning of the term has broadened lately to apply to "what can be broadly termed information and communication industries" (European Commission, Green Paper, p. 14; d'Haenens & Bink, 2001). This terminology anticipates the growing together of formerly separate broadcasting, information, and telecommunication sectors. Nowadays, even the traditional and new media professions are summarized under the category "professional fields of information and communication " (i.e., Müller, 1999). In Europe, like in the U.S.A., a variety of titles are used to label study courses: In the United Kingdom the very broad term of media studies is common; in the German-speaking countries and in The Netherlands the term communication science is used, whereas, for example, Spain and France-summarizing aspects of mass communication and human communication-talk of information sciences (Bentele & Liebert, 1995; Mory & Stephenson, 1991; "Paper on the Scope of the Discipline"·, DGPuK, 1999). In German-speaking countries we not only encounter the term communication science but sometimes also older terms such as "Zeitungswissenschaft" or "Publizistik". While study courses in journalism hardly differ

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from courses in communication science in German-speaking countries (see "Paper on the Scope of the Discipline"·, DGPuK, 1999; Ruhrmann, Kohring, Görke, Maier, & Woelke, 2000), in the U.S. we traditionally find study courses for journalism and communication research in separate departments. During the last decade, however, in the U.S. efforts have been increased to elevate permeability of study courses and to enforce the consolidation of administrative and research structures. "Some of the impetus for the academy's hesitancy to reflect communication as a discipline", Atkin and Jeffres (1998) assume, "may stem from the program identification challenges noted there. It seems that few academic units in communication use the same name (e.g., journalism versus [mass] communication). In this regard, merging definitions of technology can help unify academic traditions that study them" (Atkin & Jeffres, 1998, p. 26). Whether or not technological convergence of media is sufficient enough on its own to form a unified discipline out of an extraordinarily interdisciplinary science will be discussed at a later point. Some assume it is the interdisciplinary tradition of the subject that stands against establishing a central discipline communication or information and communication (Berger, 1991; Hickson, Stacks, & Bodon, 1999; Schramm, 1983). Others are more optimistic and hope like Atkin and Jeffres (1998) that external powers, first and foremost the everincreasing economic importance of the media field, will help communication emerge as a central discipline in the academy (i.e., McCloskey, 1994; Ruhrmann et al., 2000). As Ruhrmann et al. (2000) explain with regard to the rapid development of university courses during the last decade, "the more theoretical, methodological, and organizational identity design progresses, the more the disciplinary status will be developed" (Ruhrmann et al., 2000, p. 300). The authors are convinced that a truly interdisciplinary status can only be based on an existing status of a discipline. Use of the label communication to categorize academic research and training thematically related to media has a longstanding tradition in Europe and in the U.S. On its way towards a coherent academic discipline the term became a synonym for the modern social science orientation of the discipline during the 60s and 70s (Burkart, 1998; "Paper on the Scope of the Discipline"·, DGPuK, 1999; also see Berger, 1991). In the U.S.A. the term communication functions as a link between the different media science departments (Schramm, 1983). The merging of these university departments into larger organizational entities eventually led to a wave of

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe American communication program reorganizations and to the development of single schools or colleges of communication, a process not yet completed (see Craig & Carlone, 1998; Nelson, 1995). Disciplines such as journalism and mass communication, interpersonal communication, as well as information science and communication design are joined under one roof. Schramm (1983) already developed an elegant definition of communication "as a relationship built around the exchange of information". However, Berger and Chaffee (1987) deliberately defined communication science as a basic science: "Communication science seeks to understand the production, processing, and effects of symbol and signal systems by developing testable theories, containing lawful generalizations, that explain phenomena associated with production, processing, and effects. This definition is general enough to embrace various communication contexts, including the production, processing, or effects of symbol or signal systems (including nonverbal) in interpersonal, organizational, mass, political, instructional, or other contexts" (Berger & Chaffee, 1987, p. 17). During the inner disciplinary discussions of the 80s and 90s, critics saw the reasons for the unproductive fragmentation of media research among others to be the one-sided interpretation of communication as synonymous for mass communication and mass communication research. The "indirect, via mass media transmitted, public communication" stood and stands in the center of the scientific interest in the German-speaking countries too, although the fact was recognized that public and private communication processes are increasingly intertwined. The basic direction of disciplinary politics remains conservative: "The true interpersonal communication", as the largest German-speaking association, the "Deutschen Gesellschaft für Publizistik und Kommunikationswissenschaft" (DGPuK), defined it in its "Paper on the Scope of the Discipline" of 1999, "is a basic phenomenon and receives attention to the degree that it is bound to public communication processes." In the U.S., the broad field of interpersonal communication, in which mostly psychologists and sociologists are engaged in, has had its own, separate platform for academic discourse for a long time (see Reardon & de Pillis, 1996). Modern researchers increasingly call for integrated perspectives which allow to commonly analyze the array of mass and interpersonal communication phenomena (i.e., Baran & Davis, 1995; Reardon & de Pillis, 1996). Although due to the structural regulations-separate journals, separate aca-

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demie departments-they are not too optimistic that it will be easy to overcome the divide of the specialized fields (Barnett & Danowski, 1992; Reardon & de Pillis, 1996). "Integration is necessary", explain Reardon and de Pillis, "because a total communication process cannot be understood fully by only one of the two subareas. For example, processes such as innovation or socialization cannot be fully understood using only interpersonal or mass communication theories. Moreover, new forms of technologically enhanced communication cannot fit comfortably in one category or the other. (...) these technologies share certain characteristics with interpersonal and mass communication" (Reardon & de Pillis, 1996, p. 401). The majority of articles published in this book still reflect the more traditional limited or moderate effects approach that researchers have developed in the field of mass communication (see Baran & Davis, 1995). However, the pragmatic social science orientation of European media research in this book is supplemented by articles with a strong emphasis on sociocultural aspects, using qualitative and/or quantitative research methods. Furthermore, the reader will also find examples of integrative approaches, i.e. integrating mass and human communication.

Europe's media market and the EU's media politics European Union media politics are an increasingly important strategic element involved in the design and restructuring of the European media business. At the same time it is also a sensitive indicator for how national efforts are coming along and what progress is being made in pushing media and media business in a new direction. The areas of education, research, and science are directly affected by these developments. Which of the goals in the field of media will be achieved and which will not in the next decade within the European Union will be of central importance in these areas. During the 90s of the twentieth century the European Union and European media business increasingly succeeded to coordinate media politics and market affairs and to align them according to the new common objectives. At the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union declared in its Strategic Objectives 2000-2005 the most important responsibilities to be the increased preparation of young people for a knowledge-based society and the development and expansion of European audiovisual and multime-

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dia content industries. A package of measures has been developed in the MEDIA I and MEDIA II programs of the 90s and the MEDIA Plus program for the years of 2000 through 2005 to support and amend the media political and media business-oriented measures of the member states of the European Community. The MEDIA Plus program not only grants funds to member states but also, for the first time, to non-member states in Central and Eastern Europe. The audiovisual media-this is well understood in the European Unionnot only have a great importance for the functioning of modern democracies and the free flow of information. They play a fundamental role in the development and transmission of social values. It is acknowledged that the audiovisual industry is not like any other industry, but that it is a "cultural industry par excellence". "It has a major influence on what citizens know, believe and feel and plays a crucial role in the transmission, development and even construction of cultural identities. This is true above all with regard to children" {European Council, 20.12.01). Understanding the cultural meaning of European media is not the only motive for the diverse EU package of measures. They are designed to fulfill the following objectives: (1) the improvement of the conditions for distributing and promoting European cinematographic works on the European and international markets; (2) the improvement of television broadcasting prospects of European works on the European and international markets; (3) the facilitation of market access for independent European production and distribution companies; and (4) the sponsoring of both European works and European companies in the audiovisual sector. Robust economic motives are making European politicians move in this direction. What is unsettling for politicians and experts the like is the fact that the European audiovisual market remains overwhelmingly dominated by American productions. According to Rollet (2000) there is a simple economic reason for this dominance: The success of the U.S. American media industry abroad is the price advantage U.S. producers have, especially in terms of profitability and return on investments given their very large domestic market. "Such an economy of scale allows U.S. producers to offer an already amortized product to the world market at an attractive price" (Rollet, 2000, p. 10). Already in 1996 the negative EU/US trade balance in films, television programs and video reached a total 5.6 billion dollars in favor of the U.S. {European Audiovisual Observatory, 1998, cf. Rollet, 2000).

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Angela Schorr

This has led the European Commission to identify (a) fragmentation into national markets-which means that producers are too small to compete on the European and world markets-and (b) a low rate of cross-border program distribution and circulation as the European program industry's key weaknesses. In light of digitization, the necessity to first and foremost maximize the competitivity of the European audiovisual industry in order to ensure that digitization does not simply result in a flood of imported or archive (repeated) material has been acknowledged {European Commission, Audiovisual Policy: Next Steps, 1999). This explains the goals of the MEDIA Plus program. In order to strengthen the audiovisual industry as a cultural industry the following planning objectives have been formulated: (1) "An improvement in the competitiveness of the European audiovisual sector-including small and medium-sized enterprises-on the European and international markets, by supporting the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works, taking account of the development of new technologies; (2) strengthening the sectors which help improve the transnational movement of European works; (3) respect for and promotion of linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe; (4) enhancing the European audiovisual heritage, in particular by digitization and networking; (5) development of the audiovisual sector in countries or regions with a low audiovisual production capacity and/or a restricted linguistic or geographical area and strengthening networking and transnational cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises; (6) the dissemination of new types of audiovisual content using new technologies" (The Council of the European Union, Council Decision of 20 December 2000, p. 37). The debate on convergence-convergence primarily understood as a technological and economic phenomenon-fits well into the political framework of the European Union and is carried out more openly and more positively than debates within the individual member states. "Convergence will certainly expand the overall information market and be the catalyst for the next stage in the integration of the world economy. Even small businesses can market globally, thanks to the low cost of a World Wide Web site"

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

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(European Commission, Green Paper, 1997, p. 8). Convergence, understood as (a) the ability of different network platforms to carry essentially similar kinds of services, or (b) the coming together of consumer devices such as the telephone, television, and personal computer, in the opinion of EU media experts will be realized as network convergence in the long run rather than convergence of consumer devices (first alternative). Telecommunications operators are offering audiovisual programming over their networks and have become major players in the provision of Internet access, as well as backbone infrastructure. Broadcasters have provided data services over their networks for some years and these services are enhanced by digital transmission of both radio and television, and by the addition of interactivity. Similar is true for cable providers: Digital cable networks not only offer hundreds of TV channels but also interactive services, voice telephony, and fast Internet access. Satellite services can offer the same capacities and even mobile telephones offer Internet access and e-mail services. Equivalent to the trend towards increasingly controllable earnings for providers through the Internet is a new trend for European consumers: Only a small percentage of some Western European countries (France, Italy, and Spain) with a home PC typically use it to access the Internet. More and more Europeans tend to use alternative technologies to surf the Web, from digital television to cell phones, PDAs, and game consoles. With an average penetration rate of 58.5%, Europe is a worldwide leader in the use of cell phones. Early and open competition and industry wide standardization (GSM) were important prerequisites for this success (d'Haenens & Bink, 2001). Over the next years the cell phone will provide the optimal lever for the expansion of Internet services. And it shows: Having the potential to log on through more than just traditional PCs increases the intensity of surfing (International Marketing Committee, European Key Facts: Internet 2001, p. 18). However it is the new digital television that media experts of the EU expect to have the best chances in competing for consumer market share in the long run and thereby have ascribed an key role to it: "Digital television services, via a set-top box or through an integrated digital television, may well provide the main route into the home for most on-line content and for e-commerce" (European Commission, Audiovisual Policy: Next Steps, 1999, pp. 5f.).

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Angela

Schorr

Despite of a few setbacks at the turn of the century, the European Union furthermore expects the audiovisual sector to grow rapidly. It is expected that the industry's overall revenues in Europe will grow by 70% by the year 2005, growth that could entail the creation of up to 350,000 high-skill jobs. The sector employed 950,000 persons in Europe in 1995 and this had grown to 1,030,000 by 1997 (European Commission, Audiovisual Policy: Next Steps, 1999, p. 6). In order to maximize the competitivity of the European audiovisual industry, the EU has launched an educational initiative of its own that is connected to the MEDIA programs. Continuous training, meaning vocational training of employed professionals of the media industry, however, is given priority over basic training projects that do not require a professional degree. Nevertheless, universities, too, apart from various private providers, participated in the aid programs that above all ensure a consequent European orientation in professional training. The ongoing training content names three focal points which have also been confirmed for the MEDIA Plus program (MEDIA-Training 2001-2005), namely (1) application of new technologies, and in particular, digital technologies, for the production and distribution of audiovisual programs; (2) economic, financial, and commercial management, including the legal framework; and (3) scriptwriting techniques. How successful these activities at the European level are, whether they deal with legal, job-market, economical, or educational measures, will be judged differently according to the sustainability of effects. The Europeans have realized, comment d'Haenens and Bink (2001), that Europe needs to be globally competitive in information and communication technology (ICT) markets and industries. "But Europe is falling behind the US and Japan in most ICT sectors. It is lagging in the field of productivity/efficiency software and IT services. In communication and network services, Europe still has problems in broadband local access, and in switching and transmission equipment, European providers are losing ground to more agile and fast growing US competitors" (d'Haenens & Bink, 2001, p. 130). But not only is competitiveness of the ICT sector judged critically. The different technological stages of development in the European states are also unsettling for experts. Indeed d'Haenens and Bink speak of the "emergence of a digital divide within Europe" and indicate that while Scandinavian countries approach U.S. penetration and spending levels, markets in Southern Europe are much less developed and are grow-

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13

ing slower (d'Haenens & Bink, 2001, p. 130). New figures on media equipment and media use will have to provide information on whether or not the situation in Europe really is that critical.

Media convergence and changing patterns of media use in Europe According to the Human Development Report 1999 the tempo with which new technologies move from conception to market penetration figures of 50 million users has increased tremendously during the last decades: It took radio 38 years to reach this figure, the personal computer made it in 16 years, and the World Wide Web in only 4 years! No communication tool has developed faster and proven more diverse than the Internet. In an effort to understand how well prepared the individual countries are to meet the demands of a networked society, the World Economic Forum 2000 published a ranking of countries (the Current Competitiveness Index Ranking) based on number of phone lines, cell phones, television density, cable and satellite connections, PC penetration, and the degree of utilization of new technologies in businesses. Ten European countries are in the top fifteen: Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, and France (cf. d'Haenens & Bink, 2001). Table 1.1.1 provides an overview of the ownership of communication technologies in ratio to inhabitant figures in selected European states. The current numbers seem to confirm the trend towards a digital divide within Europe: Regarding ownership of home PC's, the Scandinavian countries are still ahead. Forrester Research estimates that by 2005 61% of Europeans will have home PC's. The Mediterranean countries will remain four years behind the UK and Germany, and more than five years behind the Scandinavian PC markets (International Marketing Committee, European Key Facts: Internet 2001, p. 18). However, if the current media use is taken into consideration instead of media equipment of Europeans, the picture changes completely. Significant indicators in this case are (1) the pattern and distribution of new forms of convergent media use, (2) the existence of digital television as a new media use option, and (3) the use of new media, and above all the Internet use compared to the use of the leading Europe-wide medium television.

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Angela Schorr

Table 1.1.1 Population and communication technology: a comparison of 20 European countries Country

Population (in 1,000)

Internet Users (% of

PC Phone (% of (% of HH)

HH)

Ind.)

Cell Phone (% of

Game Console (% of

HH)

HH)

TV

Digital

(% of

TV

HH)

(% of HH)

Western Europe Austria

8,075

40.0

56.0

92.4

63.0

16.1

98.0

2.9

Belgium

10,239

26.5

41.0

90.0

37.3

19.8

95.0

n.a.

Denmark

5,314

53.6

65.5

95.0

72.0

n.a.

96.5

n.a.

Finland

5,181

56.0

48.2

98.6

82.9

n.a.

95.5

n.a.

France

60,628

19.0

29.0

98.0

50.0

32.0

93.6

12.7

Germany

82,143

46.0

47.3

98.2

59.0

n.a.

98.7

5.0

Greece

10,554

8.5

20.4

65.0

60.0

n.a.

99.1

4.1

Ireland

3,787

28.0

32.4

83.0

64.0

29.0

98.0

n.a.

57,612

21.7

25.9

91.6

66.5

10.6

97.5

8.6

441

34.0

49.0

99.0

59.0

n.a.

99.0

2.0

15,923

52.0

53.3

98.1

66.0

14.0

98.4

4.9

Norway

4,478

59.0

71.0

98.0

71.4

22.9

96.0

n.a.

Portugal

9,979

20.3

39.0

83.5

54.7

24.0

99.4

n.a.

40,559

18.0

31.5

95.5

62.5

24.0

89.5

8.7

Italy Luxembourg Netherlands

Spain Sweden

8,883

59.2

75.5

99.0

80.0

n.a.

98.0

5.9

Switzerland

7,166

45.2

58.6

97.0

63.0

n.a.

95.1

n.a.

59,501

35.0

42.0

95.7

57.0

28.8

97.0

25.8

United Kingdom

Central/Eastern Europe Czech Republic

10,321

15.5

17.1

69.6

46.4

11.0

98.9

n.a.

Hungary

10,043

7.6

17.0

76.6

36.2

n.a.

95.2

n.a.

Poland

38,646

7.3

16.2

70.8

21.0

n.a.

99.3

n.a.

Total Europe

449,473

21.5

36.3

92.6

58.5

20.3

96.7

11.1

Note. Ind. = individuals; HH = households. This and the following tables only take into account 20 European countries: Important Central and East European nations such as Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ukraine,

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

15

Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and last not least Russia are not included in these Figures. Source: International Marketing Committee, European Key Facts: Internet 2001, pp. 12/13. The analysis of convergent media use requires both a technological and economical definition of convergence. The EU defined convergence as (a) the ability of different network platforms to carry essentially similar kinds of services, or (b) the coming together of consumer devices such as the telephone, television, and personal computer. This definition should be complemented by a third aspect, namely (c) the convergence in media use (e.g., Web surfing over cell phone; see Stipp, 1998). The principle prerequisite for an increase in new forms of "convergent media use" requires a basic fitting of convergence-capable media which is different in each of the European states. As shown in Table 1.1.1 the cell phone is presently the best platform of convergent media use for most Europeans. Although successfully established in France and the United Kingdom, digital television is not available to most Europeans in Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern Europe. The Internet, as shown in Table 1.1.2, is a media use option that Europeans can no longer do without in daily life. Although the different measurement methodologies of the Internet research companies presently still affect the comparability of the figures concerning Internet frequency and duration, and no figures on use are available from a number of countries, the numbers in Table 1.1.2 indicate that the amount of time users spend on the Internet significantly exceeds the amount of time spent on print media use (daily newspapers, journals). Average television viewing time still is fourfold higher than the amount of time spent on the Internet. Nevertheless, present Internet use indicates that the structure of daily media use is about to change dramatically, while the time spent on media use is still increasing. Today we know that having the potential to log on through more than just traditional PCs increases the intensity of surfing. The traditional online-use via PC is growing continuously. In Germany, for example, the amount of time Internet users ages 14 and older spent online daily (in minutes) from 1997 to 2001 has increased from 76 minutes per day (Mon-Sun) to 107 minutes per day.

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Angela Schorr

Table 1.1.2

Frequency and duration of media use: a comparison of 20 European countries Country

Frequency (Days per month) Internet, Mo-Sun

Duration (Minutes per day) Internet, Mo-Sun

Duration (Minutes per day) TV, Mo-Sun

Western Europe Austria

n.a.

71

148

Belgium

n.a.

n.a.

210

Denmark

10.5

43

159

Finland

11.0

26

161

France

9.1

39

204

Germany

11.1

55

203

Greece

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Ireland

9.0

29

188

Italy

10.3

45

238

Luxembourg

16.3

45

124

Netherlands

15.0

28

166

Norway

10.2

54

163

Portugal

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Spain

11.2

55

219

Sweden

10.2

n.a.

160

Switzerland

9.7

35

159

United Kingdom

8.8

40

234

Czech Republic

n.a.

n.a.

n.a.

Hungary

10.6

n.a.

260

Poland

n.a.

n.a.

235

Total Europe

10.7

48

187

Central/Eastern Europe

Source. International Marketing Committee, European Key Facts: Internet 2001, p. 18.

While in 1997 59% of those interviewed said that their use of the Internet was limited to the work place or school (school/university), 27% used the Internet at home only, and as little as 14% logged on both at home and at work, the opposite is true for 2001: 46% use the Internet at home only, 22% log on to the Internet exclusively at the work place, and-this figure has doubled !-3 2% go online both at home and at work (see Media Perspek-

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

17

liven, Statistics on Media Use, 2001", European Key Facts: Internet 2001). A second important trend becomes evident: The amount of time spent on media use on leisure time rose from 42.6% (=211 minutes per day) in 1995 to 58.7% (= 276 minutes per day) in 2000, the amount of time spent using media outside of leisure time (production and regeneration) rose from 19.12% (=126 minutes per day) in 1995 to 33.6% (=225 minutes per day) in 2001 (see Media Perspektiven Basisdaten, 2001, p. 69). Taking the development of media use in Germany as an example, you couldn't fail to see that a new visual generation is growing up. As expected, their media use habits are changing primarily regarding print media (Schorr, 2000a). Print media use in this area is either stagnant or fluctuant, whereas media use of the other traditional mass media and of the computer has expanded over the last couple of years (see Media Perspektiven Basisdaten, 2001). For several years now print media use in general, as the example of Germany indicates (see Table 1.1.3), only accounts for a small part of the overall amount of time spent on traditional media use. While television viewing continuously increased from 158 to 185 minutes per day between 1995 and 2000 and radio use also rose from 162 to 206 minutes per day, the use of print products (daily newspapers, journals, and books) is stagnant: Since 1985 it has been lingering at 55 to 60 minutes per day. When comparing the amount of time spent on print media use per day rather than frequency per week, the following figures result (see Table 1.1.3). Table 1.1.3 Media use: once or more per week Reading a newspaper

Reading ajournai

Reading a book

Watching television

Listening to a radio

Listening to a record/CD/ MC

Watching a video

1995

84.6

48.0

21.6

93.8

84.4

28.0

7.2

2001

83.5

40.2

35.3

90.7

83.6

44.3

7.4

Note. Total population age 14 years and older in percent; see Media Perspektiven Basisdaten, 2001. It is remarkable how strongly print media consumption fluctuates (cf. the analyses of Schrape, 2000; Schorr, 2000a): newspaper consumption by the

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Angela

Schorr

German population has declined significantly over the last half decade, book consumption, however, has increased. In the early 90s of the 20th century different use studies on the medium book in German-speaking countries confirmed the observation that attachment to the medium book is strongest in the biographies of adolescents and young adults. They picked up a book more often and on average spent more time reading than any other group (see Bonfadelli, 1998). New figures however indicate that the reading habits of the young generation have changed. Although the age group of adolescents (14-19 years old) only make up 13% of the total German population and the age group of young adults (20-29 years old) only make up 22%, their media use habits have a significant impact on the entire group (=overall population): The percentage of the young people who read newspapers has decreased significantly over the last couple of years, a particularly strong trend among adolescents which is also accompanied by a decline in book reading (see Table 1.1.4). Table 1.1.4 Media use: once or more per week (14-19 years old in

percent)

Reading a newspaper

Reading a journal

Reading a book

Watching television

Listening to a radio

Listening to a record/CD/ MC

Watching a video

1995

55.8

49.6

37.5

93.7

84.5

77.7

20.9

2001

56.1

34.9

32.3

90.0

80.4

82.0

14.2

The same is true for young adults and their journal reading habits, while their book reading habits match that of the total population. Table 1.1.5 Media use: once or more per week (20-29 years old in Reading a newspaper

Reading Reading a journal a book

Watching television

Listening to a radio

percent) Listening to a record/CD/ MC

Watching a video

1995

76.0

49.3

26.9

90.7

86.9

57.8

12.2

2001

73.0

36.9

32.6

85.8

79.3

68.6

11.2

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

19

Recent data collected in the mid and late 90s show that reading time of children and adolescents in other European countries like The Netherlands and in the United Kingdom is declining dramatically. Beentjes, Koolstra, Marseille, and van der Voort (2001) examined whether displacement effects in favor of electronic games were responsible for this development. The authors show that the medium computer offers a wide range of content beyond mere computer games. Serious use of the personal computer requires a considerable amount of reading. A shift from print media consumption towards PC use in the coming decade is considered certain. In her European youth media study, Johnsson-Smaragdi (2001) also investigated print media use by adolescents. She determined the percentage of nonusers of different media in leisure time among children and adolescents, ages between 10 and 16 (see Table 1.1.6). It is remarkable that in these age groups the figures on print media show the largest ranges in proportion to nonusers compared with all other media within Europe (comics: between 4% and 76%; newspapers: between 8% and 67%; books: between 8% and 46%). In total the percentage of nonusers among young Europeans is relatively high. This is also valid for European countries with a high level of technical equipment (see Table 1.1.1). With regard to the overall population it can be assumed that reading habits and reading standards in most European countries hardly differ. In almost all countries a "three thirds formula" is valid, i.e., the number of habitual, casual, and non-readers is almost divided evenly among the three groups (see Franzmann, 1998). The figures of print media use for the young generation vary in and between the European countries and are contradictive indicating a fundamental change. The continuously increasing rates, e.g. in book title production (for Germany, see Media Perspektiven Basisdaten, 2001, p. 60) contradict this trend. They point to an increasing "generational divide" in media use, i.e., towards increasingly different media use patterns of the young, visual generation compared to the middle and older generations. This does not mean that print media will become completely obsolete. As opposed to their predecessors, it is possible that the young generation in Europe may "rediscover" traditional print media for leisure use at a later date in their biographies. One should always keep in mind that the growing use of computers does not mean young people read less (see Beentjes, Koolstra, Marseille, & van der Voort, 2001; Bonfadelli,

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Angela Schorr

Fritz, & Köcher, 1993; Eggert, Garbe, Krüger-Fürhoff, & Kumpfmüller, 2000; Stiftung Lesen, 1991, 1995)! Table 1.1.6 Percentage of nonusers of print media in leisure time among children and adolescents (aged 9-10, 12-13, and 15-16 years) Book

Newspaper

Magazine

Belgium

20

32

13

11

Denmark

13

37

17

37

6

8

16

4

17

14

7

33

Finland Italy Netherlands

Comics

9

28

7

10

Spain

15

42

23

34

Sweden

15

9

13

16

8

30

17

21

United Kingdom

46

67

37

76

Israel

34

29

40

67

Average

18

29

18

30

Switzerland

Source. Adapted from Johnsson-Smaragdi, 2001, p. 117.

Changing media professions: Academic training and practical competence Media use in Europe is changing. The media professions are changing profoundly. There is not a single vocation, no matter how traditional, that is not affected. New professions and new vocational fields are developing that do not fit the systematics of traditional career profiles, such as e.g. the comparative vocational systematics of the Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA; 1992)—it contains the profiles of the audiovisual vocations of directors and cutters, sound technicians, and costume makers typical for film production in Europe. In the field of journalism, for example, the following new job profiles can be differentiated (see Beiz, Haller, & Sellheim, 1999): the profession of online-editors (content management of online-offers of a media enterprise), that of screen-designers (design of user surfaces, of graphical layouts of online-pages and offline-offerings), that of the multi-

Communication Research and Media Science in Europe

21

media-authors (production of journalistic works for various media-socalled cross-media-publishing-involving video and computer animations), as well as that of info-brokers (research on off- and online media-on behalf of enterprises, realtors, and legal firms-for information on specific questions and problems for market analyses, customer and company profiles, or for journalistic sensational stories). Professional training for these new and qualified media jobs-this is a trend evident in all of Europe-has gradually been shifted to universities. This is also true for those European countries that have a longstanding tradition in practical training at specific professional schools and/or in well-defined practical training courses for media vocations in the media business. Despite the reoccurring examples of successful "cross-overs" to the field of media, the academic degree coupled with acquired practical skills and competencies in high-level positions will become the rule.

The academic tradition of training: A comparison of U.S. American and European models Academic training in media vocations has a longstanding tradition in Europe. France holds the position of early forerunner: The first university courses for journalism opened in Paris as early as in 1899. In the second decade of the 20th century further courses were added: In 1916a course for journalists was offered at the University of Jena, Germany; in 1917 the Institute for Journalism was founded at the University of Warsaw, Poland; in 1919 a training program for journalism was established at King's College at the University of London, United Kingdom; in 1920 the first students of journalism began their studies at the University of Moscow, Russia; in Italy a professorship for journalism was established at the University of Perugia in 1929. Other European universities followed their example in the coming decades. In Germany more than 60% of those active in journalism held an academic degree at the beginning of the 90s, often specializing in communication science. (Müller, 1999; Weischenberg, 1990; Weischenberg, Altmeppen, & Löffelholz, 1994). Similar is valid for other European countries such as Italy, France, the Scandinavian countries, etc. In the U.S.A. as well, the first academic courses for journalism and media studies at the university were successfully established at the beginning

22

Angela Schorr

of the 20th century. At the time parties from both continents were well informed about each other's efforts to develop and expand the new discipline (see Weischenberg, 1990). During the first prime of communication research, innovation of research and academic training were boosted by the forced emigration of top-class researchers from Europe to the U.S.A. (Schramm, 1983). During this phase the young discipline was dominated by the "era of the Great Four" and their research teams. This helped it to become a surprisingly modern, much noticed and socially very influential research field in the U.S.A. that has not lost its fascination to-date (see Schenk, 2002). The "Great Four" were the political science researcher Lasswell (Yale University), the empirical sociologist Lazarsfeld (Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University), the social psychologist Lewin (University of Iowa), and the social psychologist Hovland (Yale University). Each founded a research institute of his own. The large number of publications gives proof of their enormous productivity. They educated the first generation of American communication researchers. The most successful researchers of the communication discipline of the 70s and 80s came from their schools. In parallel-and this is a specialty of the U.S. American tradition in the discipline-quasi in the lee winds of success and with increasing public recognition by empirical communication research, a second tradition of training was established at the undergraduate level as part of the liberal arts curriculum (Craig & Carlone, 1998; Weischenberg, 1990). This also had a lasting influence on the development of the discipline. At the undergraduate level it was easy to offer the subject communication or media studies successfully from different disciplinary perspectives. Communication was not seen as a discipline in its own right. For this reason, American universities did not establish independent departments of communication until late in the 50s of the 20th century. However, a few universities (Illinois, Stanford, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) offered doctorates in communication for the first time. In the mid 60s the first communication departments were founded, however, mostly as add-ons to existing departments (Reardon & de Pillis, 1996). Since then efforts in the discipline were increased to counteract the one-sided expansion of inexpensive practice-oriented training courses at the undergraduate level. It became also possible to earn doctorate degrees from many journalism or speech or broadcasting departments. In an effort to bring forward research on scientific issues, even schools of jour-

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nalism gave up requiring practical experience from their teachers in favor of doctorate titles. Using the "Great Four" as a model, research programs on socially and scientifically relevant subjects such as audience study, content study and effects of mass media were started. The term "communication " or "communications " caught on: In classical departments of speech individual social science subdepartments for speech communication developed; in the early 1980s departments of broadcasting and film merged with departments of journalism and communication research to form new departments of communication (Blanchard, 1986). Nevertheless, the double-track structure of training at universities in the U.S.A. remains reality to-date. Weischenberg who studied the situation in the late 80s discovered that many teachers of journalists at American universities thought of themselves more as of "travelers between the worlds of university and media practice" than of scientists (Weischenberg, 1990, p. 158). According to Weaver and Wilhoit (1988) 30% of these teachers were solely practitioners; another 40% were both scientists and practitioners; and a mere 20% (10% were rated as "outliers" by the authors) considered themselves scientists only. Of course, these groups have different opinions about how to innovate academic training. Weischenberg's survey among American teachers showed that those with a more scientific approach sought improvements of students' intellectual skills and an intensified training in research methods, whereas more practice-oriented teachers requested improvement in the training of practical skills (writing skills, handling of new production techniques, etc.). However, a majority of the interviewed voted in favor of proceeding with the initial establishment of the discipline at the undergraduate level as part of the liberal arts curriculum, although it was clear to many of them that in light of new requirements of the information society reforming the curriculum would be inevitable (Weischenberg, 1990). The different types and numbers of degrees from the 1960s to the late 1980s reflect the double-track policy of the U.S. American educational institutes. As Craig and Carlone (1998) showed, the number of bachelor degrees across the communication disciplines rose by 534% between 1968 and 1993. This is more than six times the amount of bachelor degrees than in all other academic disciplines (all fields: 84%!). The number of master's degrees increased by 288% (all fields: 109%). The number of doctoral degrees increased significantly by 92% (all fields: 82%); in the more narrow

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field of communication the number of doctoral degrees even increased by 111%. Nevertheless, analyses on research productivity of American media researchers from the 1990s confirm the consequences such structural deficits have: Up-to-now, only few researchers have reached the summit of scientific productivity (Hickson, Stacks, & Bodon, 1999). A relatively high rate of personnel fluctuation in the academic field has a negative impact on research continuity (see Atkin & Jeffres, 1998). Although denied for a long time, it cannot be overlooked that high productivity rates characterize universities with doctoral granting programs (see Hickson, Stacks, & Bodon, 1999). Whereas in the U.S.A. serious efforts were made at the beginning of the 1990s to bring a more scientific approach to the double-tracked and partially practice-oriented studies, the European countries with a strong academic tradition in communication science were and still are more interested in adding more vocational practice to their studies and to recruit appropriately qualified teachers (see Timmer, 1990). This educational system can also be characterized as double-tracked. In addition to the university studies a variety of well-established, non-academic, practical training courses for media professions are available. Mory and Stephenson (1991) differentiate four training models for the journalist's profession: (1) the training-on-thejob, i.e., practical training by internships or trainee programs, but also courses for young journalists at professional academies, etc.; (2) the university trainings that run under the title media studies (Great Britain), communication science (The Netherlands, German-speaking countries: Austria, Germany, Switzerland) or information sciences (Spain, France); (3) the non-academic schools of journalism that in most European countries offer practice-oriented basic training in journalism; as well as (4) the postgraduate study courses that require an academic degree prior to application. Fröhlich and Holtz-Bacha (1993) count Finland, Spain, Sweden, France, Germany, and Portugal to those European nations with a strong tradition in university education or a mix between non-academic schools of journalism and universities. In their opinion, schools for journalism in Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, and Denmark take a more practical approach in their training programs. In the United Kingdom the training-on-the-job, i.e., practical training by internships or trainee programs is the basis for a predominantly practice-oriented tradition of training in journalism.

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How much the discipline's independence depends on educational structures, can been seen in the United Kingdom which delivers a good example: Due to the separation of education (practice-oriented) and research (lacking disciplinary establishment at universities) and a nevertheless high demand by students, many British universities offer multidisciplinary courses from a range of departments. The study of communication, as Tod, Campbell, Lines, Dickson, and Hargie (1998) judge the situation, has not yet reached disciplinary status in the United Kingdom. On the contrary, according to their analysis, communication science is at risk of never reaching disciplinary status, if it continues to present itself in a fragmented state. Lacking own study courses and degrees, British communication researchers are obligated by loyalty to their discipline of training. Independent research programs in the field of communication are short-lived. This must be regretted, the more so as the United Kingdom is the only nation next to Australia that has established media studies as a school subject (from 6th grade classes onwards) and as an undergraduate course (see Schorr, 2000b). The professional practice-one may assume-has not only benefited from the often non-scientific, one-sided practical training of British journalists. British yellow press journalists are known for their ruthlessness and disregard of a person's right to privacy (Ehmig, 2000). The case of Princess Diana is a sad example. Discussions on training in Europe are often dominated by a debate over a balanced ratio between scientific and practice-oriented contents within the framework of academic training. In addition, universities must also deal with questions such as what kind of specialized knowledge students will need in connection with an increasingly merging media market in Europe. Luyken (1991) who studied the possibilities for a unified European standard of qualification for jobs in audiovisual media put together the following list of future requirements for the media profession: (1) increased implementation of training and degree certificates at M.A., B.A., or diploma level with the clear objective of improving training and making it more professional; (2) intensification of international student and teacher exchange programs; (3) the development of specific training programs for employed journalists who seek to work at a European level; and finally, (4) an increased job exchange program at the European level and the implementation of new networks to allow informal exchange of knowledge and vocational qualification programs. Müller (1999) analyzed the different

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European initiatives to promote qualification of journalists for European jobs and their impact on academic training. One of these initiatives was the Journalism Training Association (EJTA) founded in 1990 and seated in Maastricht, where training centers from all over Europe join forces to promote a specifically Europe-oriented university training program, and to build a new network for journalist's training in Europe. Three years later the European Journalism Centre (EJC) was also established in Maastricht as an institute for vocational qualification programs for working journalists. Finally, the European Institute for the Media, which was already founded in 1983 and is seated in Dusseldorf, offers the central programs "Communication Policies", "Digital World", and "Media and Democracy" and pursues counseling, vocational training, and research activities at a European level. Müller (1999) analyzed training institutes from all over Europe in regards to their suitability for Europe, by interviewing the members of the EJTA on training modules on "European subjects" (information transfer regarding European media and culture scenes, media business, legal and political regulations, as well as the promotion of foreign language competence). The interviewed universities admitted that they gave priority to the promotion of foreign language competence. Yet, foreign language skills education has not been included in the curriculum. In reality, the specific Europe-orientation of the European studies represented by the EJTA is merely reflected by an increased exchange rate of international students and teachers rather than by specific training contents; the major disadvantage, as Müller (1999) critically comments, is that only part of the student and teacher bodies can participate in the measures.

The journalist's vocation as a professional model: A new generation The increasing differentiation in media professions in Europe that follows the change of media landscape will be demonstrated by example of the journalist's profession which is rich in tradition. Study courses for journalists were the first academic training programs in the field of media in Europe and the U.S.A. Based on a detailed study of journalism and the changes of its professional image, Weischenberg, Altmeppen, and Löffelholz detected four major trends that impact the change of the professional

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image substantially: (1) the trend towards-as they put it-progressing "technologization and informatization " (with regard to the new information and communication technologies characterized by multi-functionality, networking, speed of diffusion, range of diffusion, the progressing digitalization of traditional media, etc.); (2) the trend towards "segmentation and individualization " which led to a stronger orientation towards target groups; (3) the trend towards "commercialization and internationalization " characterized by increasing numbers of programs sponsored by advertisement, and dependence on viewing figures, as well as a transnationally operating media industry; and (4) the trend towards "information overflow and communication networking" (i.e., multiplication of media by commercialization and technological progress; increased variety of information sources; new systems for diffusion of information to specific audiences; development of new professional fields; see Weischenberg, Altmeppen, & Löffelholz, 1994). 64.8% of professional journalists in Germany have an academic degree. (Weischenberg et al., 1994). The trend towards academic training in the field of journalism has strongly increased during the 80s and 90s in German-speaking countries. Only 20% start their careers on trainee programs. 9.4% have either a practice-oriented certificate from a non-academic school of journalism or have a combination of school certificate and academic degree and/or a trainee program certificate to build their careers upon (others: 5.8%). Following an inner-disciplinary discussion of many years, four basic elements have proven central and indispensable as determinants for journalistic competence: disciplinary competence, mediation competence, factual competence, and social orientation (see Donsbach, 1978; Weischenberg, 1990; Weischenberg, Altmeppen, & Löffelholz, 1994). They are typical for all European countries with a longstanding academic tradition in the field of journalists' training programs (see Figure 1.1.1). Accordingly, editorial or instrumental skills, i.e., all editorial and other journalistic techniques that can generally be classified as technical skills, are the basic elements of journalistic competence (disciplinary competence). Factual competence must be added, i.e., specific journalistic knowledge that is based upon specialized knowledge on reporting and on how this specialized knowledge is classified correctly in other social, political, and economical contents. A third basic element of journalistic competence, finally, is the mediation competence, i.e., the skill of combining

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the information gained in accordance to the subject and audience with genres such as, e.g., news, feature, or report. Furthermore, social orientation/social competence is required. This means that the journalist must be capable of critically reflecting upon his or her work or his or her special talent to appropriately consider the different communication potentials in a society and to democratically balance them (Donsbach, 1978; Weischenberg, Altmeppen, and Löffelholz, 1994).1

Figure 1.1.1. Four basic elements of journalistic competence. Source: Weischenberg, 1990, p. 24. The conception of an academic media professions that claim to follow the university tradition of contributing to the (scientific and personal) educa-

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tion of students in the discipline beyond professional training, in order to equip them for the complex tasks and responsibilities of e.g. a professional journalist in modern democracies has not lost its actuality because of and especially on the background of the restructuring of media professions (see Ruhrmann et al., 2000). Based on an empirical survey among nearly 500 German journalists, Ehmig (2000) analyzed the generation shift in the definition of the profession. The study shows how important a scientific background and social reflection are for the work of journalists. Her most important finding: The attitude of journalists working in the profession today has become increasingly non-political compared to that of the post war generation. The socalled "missionary" motives of the profession have been replaced by other motives, first and foremost, by the desire for self-fulfillment and vocational liberties. Today's well-educated generation of journalists is more selfconfident in their profession. They too pledge to ethical values such as neutrality and objectivity of professional work, however, the contents of these terms are interpreted differently: While journalists of previous generations understood it to be the fair reporting of different points of view, as Ehmig (2000) analyzed, the succeeding generation interprets it to be a race for hard facts, an approach which at times proceeds with increasing approval of problematic publication decisions and the consent of dubious research methods that expand the range of action available to editors. The image of the profession is impacted not only by qualified academic training and a different understanding of one's role by the new generation of journalists. The new journalistic fields of work in the online and multimedia sectors are profoundly changing the profession. The cornerstones of these changes are: (1) New and old media are more closely networked by economic principles (add-value production). Print journalists are increasingly required to develop technical and multimedia know-how to comply with cross-media-demands. (2) The obligation of rationalization (economics) of media production has deepened the divide between information production, processing, and distribution. Journalistic media production increasingly relies on external suppliers (amongst others, also from the field of PR), however, as Beiz, Haller, and Sellheim (1999) optimistically believe, only to generate an increased demand for journalistic quality (credibility of contents) in the long run. And finally: (3) The functional separation between entertaining and explaining media offerings will continue. It will

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divide the journalist's profession into two separate professional fields: on the one hand TV-centered entertainment journalism with its proneness for fictional stories, and print-oriented information journalism, that reports, analyzes, researches backgrounds and connections on the other hand. The World Wide Web and the Internet will serve both interests and therefore continue to be important (see Beiz, Haller, & Sellheim, 1999).

Communication as a scientific discipline: On the verge to a mature science Communication's different fields of research are best demonstrated by the quasi "naturally grown" structures of its associations. The various divisions of the International Communication Association (ICA) or the new divisions of the European Communication Association (ECA) are structures designed to help find your way through the complexities of the discipline. The structures of both associations point out the similarities in approach: The ICA's principal areas of concern, represented by its divisions and interest groups, are: information systems, interpersonal communication, mass communication, organizational communication, intercultural and development communication, political communication, instructional and developmental communication, health communication, philosophy of communication, communication and technology, popular communication, public relations, feminist scholarship, communication law and policy, language and social interaction, visual communication, as well as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies. ECA's principal areas of concern, represented by its newly-formed divisions, are: communication and information technology, interpersonal communication, mass communication, organizational communication and public relations, intercultural communication, political communication, instructional and developmental communication, health communication, philosophy of communication, popular communication, communication law and policy, language and communication, visual communication, and gender studies. The thematic diversity of research efforts in the field of communication has often been a cause for internal disciplinary discussions. In fact, different scientific subcommunities exist in the field, which pursue their research work neatly separated from one another with very little inner-disciplinary

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exchange. In 1992, Barnett and Danowsky analyzed the ICA membership structures by means of cluster analysis and block modeling and detected four groupings: (1) the mass media group with researchers from the fields of mass communication and political communication; (2) an interpersonal communication group with researchers from the fields of interpersonal communication, instructional communication, and health communication; (3) a humanities group with researchers from the fields of philosophy of communication, popular communication, and feminist scholarship; as well as (4) a science/technology group with researchers from the fields of information systems, human communication technology, and public relations. The groups furthest apart and least overlapping can be found among the membership groups of the ICA divisions Organizational Communication and Mass Communication. The fact underlying this finding is the historical divide between the studies of interpersonal and mass media communication already mentioned earlier (Reardon & de Pillis, 1996). Barnett and Danowsky (1992) show that another major divide exists within the largest group: The mass communication researchers are divided into two camps over discussions about which research methods are the best. They are split up into a larger camp of researchers with an empirical science orientation and a smaller camp of researchers with a more humanistic orientation. When the never-ending debates on fragmentation of the discipline communication are analyzed more closely, the topic of research methods only plays a minor role. The fact most frequently criticized is that the field of communication lacks a common body of theory which would help to legitimize its status as a scientific discipline (Berger, 1991; Schramm, 1983; Shepherd, 1993). Statements such as those by Sheperd (1993, p. 83) are typical: "Communication scholarship lacks disciplinary status because it has no core of knowledge. Thus institutional and scholarly legitimacy remains a chimer for the field." Berger and Chaffee already criticized this view end of the 80s as simplistic, exaggerated, and based on a misconception of scientific work. Instead of searching for the Holy Grail, they suggested to concentrate on a "theorizing with a common purpose" (Berger & Chaffee, 1988). That the diversity of communication phenomena requires a large range of theories with different impact and different origin is a concept which gained grounds in the discussions on disciplinary identity of the field in the 90s of the 20th century (see Bentele & Beck, 1994). Their representatives are now receiving help from a new pragmatic sentiment evolving

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from the institutional expansion of the discipline. "The further we progress with the theoretical, methodological, and organizational development of identity", Ruhrmann et al. (2000, p. 300) comment on the current situation in the German-speaking countries, "the more the disciplinary status of the field will evolve". The development of original theories is not the only measure for establishing the identity of a scientific discipline, so do research methods and institutional structures. This is even more the case since researchers face many new and great problems due to the media revolution. We need to use the existing conceptual approaches and the existing knowledge wisely, no matter where they originally came from. Atkin and Jeffres (1998) have also committed themselves to a constructive strategy. They point to the fact that it will be important to export key paradigms (e.g., cultivation, uses and gratifications, agenda setting) to the new information and communication technology environment. Baran and Davis (1995) even go one step further: They call for new, integrated communication theories that combine aspects of mass and interpersonal communication in a meaningful way. The rapid spread of the computer, the simple ubiquity of mediated communication, our dependence on it in all aspects of our lives, and the increasing maturity of the discipline itself are reason enough to request the development of a new type of communication theories. Examples of successful models already exist (e.g. persuasion theory; balance theory; see Salwen & Stacks, 1996; Schenk, 2002). The concept of the active audience is central to any new theory, a fact that Bryant and Street already emphasized in 1988: "In the mass and interpersonal communication literatures alike, we read statement after statement claiming that today's message receivers have abundant message options and actively select from and act on these messages in such a way as to construct subjective meanings from the manifold symbols available to them ... (T)he active communicator's choice-making and meaning construction are purposeful, strategic, and goal-directed" (Bryant & Street, 1988, p. 162). Baran and Davis (1995) go even further: They predict the development of a "moderate effects paradigm " influenced by ideas from the European and the U.S. American cultural studies movements for future communication research. At the center of this concept are ideas about an active audience that uses media content to create meaningful experiences based on a more culture-centered paradigm. The main methodological approach-these two authors also assure-will not change. Baran and Davis are convinced

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that the unfruitful fragmentation among communication researchers can be undone, if we try to unite researchers from all areas of communication under the common roof of empirical research. In their opinion the strong empirical focus will remain characteristic for the discipline in the future (Baran & Davis, 1995).

Key aspects of European communication research: An exemplary analysis To analyze the current European media research in total or just in relevant segments is an objective, which can only be reached in approximation. The systematic content analysis of specialized publications is an established approach to such problems. In this case two European journals, "Communications. The European Journal of Communication Research" (C-EJCR) which first appeared in 1975 and "European Journal of Communication" (EJC) founded in 1986 are ideal candidates that reflect the development of European media research over the last three decades. However, one must take into consideration that only a very limited amount of publishable manuscripts of European communication and media research were offered to both publications, since the overwhelming majority (ca. 95%-98%) of all scientific publications in the field address the national markets and audiences. There are different reasons for this: In German-speaking countries alone over 30 specialized journals can be listed without great effort that publish works of communication and media science regularly. We are not lacking means of publication. The translation into English constitutes a barrier for non-English-speaking authors. In countries that present large "islands of unified language" in Europe like the German-speaking countries Austria, Germany, and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland or like France and the French-speaking parts of Belgium and Switzerland, European researchers wonder whether or not it is worth the effort, since many of these scientific works address the national markets or national scientific communities.2 Nevertheless, international publications are becoming increasingly more important in European communication research. The creation of international research networks is often a requirement for acquiring large research budgets. The articles published in the two journals "Communications. The

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European Journal of Communication Research (C-EJCR) " and "European Journal of Communication (EJC) " demonstrate that European media researchers are making an effort to create visibility for European research beyond the usual international audience forums and to regularly inform about the most important developments in the European media landscape from a scientific perspective. In addition, they provide a forum for the documentation of joint, cross-national projects of European media research. Both journals have dedicated their objectives to enabling the dialogue between the different intellectual traditions of communication research from a social science perspective. Research works by European scholars or of particular interest to them make up the bulk of the articles. 604 articles (CEJCR: 303 articles; EJC: 301 articles), i.e., 40 articles on average every year (4 leading articles per issue plus the columns "Research Note'VResearch in Brief', "Feature", and "Commentary & Debate", were included in the quantitative content analysis of the two journals over 15 years (19862000) presented here.

On topics and recipients: National, European, and international orientations When analyzing the topics and contents of the articles with regard to their potential recipients within and outside of Europe, the works that focus on domestic media products, events, and audiences, etc. outweigh the others in both European journals by 46.8%. However, if the 15 volumes of the journals that were analyzed here are divided into 5 volumes each, it becomes obvious that the percentage of articles that focus on one single European country compared to the overall total of published articles has shifted significantly over the years: 1986-1990 their percentage lay at 47.7% of all published articles; in the years between 1991 and 1995 when researchers' attention was drawn-more intensely than usual-to the rapid upheavals and changes in the media sector in the societies of Western and Eastern Europe, their percentage rose even to 57.1% of all published articles, and fell to 34.2% of all published articles (chi2 (2, N=603) = 21.62; p o . 0

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In other words: A negative perception of the economic situation emerges, if a) mass media are frequently used that b) frequently report about the general economic situation, and c) emphasize negative aspects. In addition, the recipient of the media coverage must d) actually receive the media content.

Figure 3.4.6. Media use and the perception of the economic situation in West Germany (standardized path coefficient). N=2038; Chi 2 =24; DF=7; prob. Level=0,001; AGFI=0,987; all coefficients are significant; calculated by AMOS 3.61. Perception of the general economic situation: "How do you generally judge today's state of economy in Germany: very good (5), good (4), partly good/partly bad (3), bad (2), or very bad (1)?" Perception of the own economic situation: "How do you evaluate your current economic situation? Is it very good (5), good (4), partly good/partly bad (3), bad (2), or very bad (1)?" Media use: "On the average, how many days a week do you read the reports on politics in Germany in a local or regional daily newspaper?" "How often a week, do you watch the newscasts in the first or second program on TV? Meant here are only the newscasts of ARD or ZDF, thus, Tagesschau, Tagesthemen, Heute, and Heute-Journal. How many days a week do you watch these newscasts on the average?" Sophistication (Cronbach's alpha = .59): Education is measured on the highest achieved degree. Without a degree (0), elementary school (1), middle school (2), high school (3), university (4); Political interest: "How strong is your interest in politics? Would you say: very strong (4), quite strong (3), moderate (2), less strong (1), no interest at all (0)?" Knowledge: "Do you know how many federal states the Federal Republic of Germany has altogether, old and new federal states summed up?" And: "For the election of the Bundestag, the voter has two votes, a first and a second vote. Which one is actually the most important vote, which decides the strength of the parties in the Bundestag: the first vote, the second vote, or are they equally important?" The respondent can give no, one or two correct answers.

266 Frank Brettschneider Summary and conclusions The results of the presented analyses can be summarized in four points: (1) The state of the economy is not a very prominent topic in German TV news. The status as well as the development of the economy are usually rarely covered by the public TV news. Private commercial channels hardly cover them at all. (2) The coverage of the economy does not reflect the complexity of the topic "state of economy". Relations between different aspects-such as inflation, unemployment, economic growth, and export rate-are hardly described. Instead of using several indicators on the state of the economy, the description is reduced to a few topics. In the nineties, it concentrated on unemployment and excluded other important market indicators. (3) Due to the small range of reported indicators and due to negativism, the coverage does not show a realistic picture of the general economic situation. For example, company breakdowns dominate the reporting while in reality their number is outweighed by start-ups. Although the economic recovery was already visible at the end of 1996, the newsrooms of the broadcasting stations reported on it in not until 1999. (4) A predominantly negative evaluation of the economic situation in the TV news is followed by a pessimistic public's perception of the economic development. This is even the case if the population estimates its own economic situation mainly positively. In case of doubt, individuals prefer to rely on media reality rather than on the actual "reality". The perception of the state of economy by the population is socially relevant in various regards. The popularity of the government depends on it. Political priorities are influenced by how positive or negative the economic development is evaluated. The perception of the economic situation also influences the purchasing behavior of consumers and, thus, affects the real development of the economy. The same applies to the behavior of the increasing number of private investors at the stock markets. Therefore, the society first of all, must have an interest in making more information about the economic situation available and, secondly, increase the competence in handling this information. Regarding the second aspect, it is for the educational system to act. Economic competencies should be

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acquired in schools to a larger extent than it is the case today. This includes acquiring knowledge about economic relationships as well as learning about how to find, to evaluate, and to process economy related information. This information is already available for everyone, who looks for it-in the quality newspapers, in a multiplicity of economics and stock exchange magazines, on the Internet. In addition, however, TV news as source for information on economic affairs may not be underestimated. While "information specialists" already obtain their information on economic affairs from the sources specified above, TV news still represent the most important information interface to the world of economics for the majority of the population. The perceptions of the functioning of the economy and of the economic situation are predominantly, if not exclusively, influenced by the coverage of the economy through public television newscasts. Therefore, efforts should be also applied to the improvement of this reporting. It should be expanded. Moreover, it should draw a more differentiated picture of the economic reality. Thereby, the development of unemployment is and remains a central topic. The prices development-not only price increases-, the development of the economic power, the foreign trade, and the start-ups-not only breakdowns and fusions-should not be forgotten. They are worth a story in the news. Appropriate knowledge or, at least, superficial impressions are necessary for the evaluation of the real economic development. To intensify cooperation between the news people on the one hand and the economic editors on the other side would be a first step. In addition, changes in the sector of the economy should not be presented hand as a threat. Fusions can endanger jobs, and reports about them are also needed. But, for example, at the same time numerous new enterprises in promising industries have developed in East Germany. Only very few of them have been the focus of TV news so far. Why should the importance of such enterprises as Jenoptik or Intershop for a region have a smaller news value than dismissals in other enterprises? A more frequent and more differentiated reporting on successful developments in the East German economic structure would be desirable. Perhaps East Germany then would not be understood primarily as economic and financial burden (Brettschneider, 1999), but as region with large innovative potential. Anyway, appropriate modifications in the frequency and the type of economic

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coverage might contribute to a more realistic perception of the state of economy in Germany.

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Katona, G. (1964). The mass consumption society. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kepplinger, H. M., & Roth, H. (1979). Creating a crisis: German mass media and oil supply in 1973-74. Public Opinion Quarterly, 43, 285-296. Kieweit, D. R. (1983). Macroeconomics & micropolitics: The electoral effects of economic issues. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Kirchgäßner, G. (1977). Wirtschaftslage und Wählerverhalten: Eine empirische Studie für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1971 bis 1976. In M. Kaase (Ed.), Wahlsoziologie heute: Analysen aus Anlaß der Bundestagswahl 1976 (pp. 510-536). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Krüger, U. M. (1997). Politikberichterstattung in den Fernsehnachrichten: Nachrichtenangebote öffentlich-rechtlicher und privater Fernsehsender 1996 im Vergleich. Media Perspektiven, 5/1997, 256-268. MacAllister, I. (1999). The economic performance of governments. In P. Norris (Ed.), Critical citizens: Global support for democratic government (pp. 188203). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Miller, A. H., & Listhaug, O. (1999). Political performance and institutional trust. In P. Norris (Ed.), Critical citizens: global support for democratic government (pp. 204-216). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Mondak, J. J., Mutz, D. C., & Huckfeldt, R. (1996). Persuasion in context: The multilevel structure of economic evaluations. In D. C. Mutz, P. M. Sniderman, & R. A. Brody (Eds.), Political persuasion and attitude change (pp. 249-266). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Mosley, P. (1984). Popularity functions' and the role of the media: A pilot study of the popular press. British Journal of Political Science, 14, 117-129. Müller, M. (1999). Das Fernsehen konstruiert die wirtschaftliche Realität. Wirtschaft im Fernsehen und Bevölkerungsmeinung: Eine Zusammenhangsanalyse. Medien Tenor, 83, 40-43. Noelle-Neumann, E. (1973). Return to the concept of powerful mass media. Studies of Broadcasting, 9, 67-112. Norpoth, H., & Goergen, Chr. (1990). Regierungspopularität auf Kredit: Wirtschaftsbilanz, Wende und Wählerwille. In M. Kaase & H.-D. Klingemann (Eds.), Wahlen und Wähler: Analysen aus Anlaß der Bundestagswahl 1987 (pp. 345-375). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Norpoth, H., Lewis-Beck, M. S., & Lafay, J.-D. (Eds.). (1991). Economics and politics: The calculus of support. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pfetsch, B. (1994). Politische Fernsehwelten: Die Politikberichterstattung in privaten und öffentlich-rechtlichen Sendern. In Jarren, O. (Ed.), Politische Kommunikation in Hörfunk und Fernsehen: Elektronische Medien in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (pp. 111-122). Opladen: Leske + Budrich.

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3.5 Prognosis Methods on Television Viewing Patterns for Target Audiences René Weber

Due to the deregulation of the German television market and the advent of new ways of watching television (pay-, Internet-, digital-TV) competition is intensifying and the complexity of TV behavior is growing faster than our research methods. This creates a need for new methods of analysis. This chapter outlines various innovative techniques to explain, simulate, and forecast television viewing patterns based on German telemetrie viewing data of specific target audiences. In particular, modern artificial intelligence approaches (neural networks) are brought into focus. The findings are encouraging.

The constantly increasing number of television programs in Germany, which is due to such factors as deregulation, Pay-TV, and the development of digital-TV, has led to intensified competition in the television market. This has caused worldwide research efforts aimed at identifying models to explain and predict television usage. The increasing need for quantitative models suitable for explaining and forecasting TV usage in order to accommodate the growing complexity of audience behavior has also been noted from an academic point of view. As A. Reinhold (1994, p. 78) remarks: "Our electronic meter systems provide us with a great amount of detailed usage data which enhances our knowledge about television usage behavior. The complexity of this behavior, however, is growing more rapidly than our analyzing methods. [...] Without a doubt new models to compute the interrelated influence of all programs are needed. Only the development of new quantitative research methods will allow us to understand television usage in the future" (see also Cooper, 1993; Rust & Eechambadi, 1989). In this context, the chapter outlines various innovative techniques in order to explain, simulate, and forecast television usage for target audiences

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(based on German telemetrie viewing data). First, the chapter presents a short discussion concerning available studies about television audience prediction. In the following some information about determinants of TV usage and the database used are provided, as there is an illustration of statistical methodology from a user's point of view. Finally, a few results of nonlinear models (neural networks) are presented and compared with the results of linear models. In order to obtain a more detailed description of this chapter's topic refer to Weber (2000).

Television audience prediction-state of the art As the majority of studies is not publicly accessible, summarizing the state of the art in TV audience prediction proves to be a difficult task. The available literature suggests that only a few attempts have been made to model and forecast television viewing patterns for target audiences by employing sophisticated prognosis methods. The standard technique developed and used in commercial media planning is based on weighed averages (sometimes carried out quite subjectively) of aggregated figures (such as average rating of male viewers of the program type "news") and their extrapolation into the future. Linear models using combinations of mean aggregated figures are described, e.g. in Cattin, Festa, and Le Diberder (1994), and Van Meurs (1994). An objective weighing for the various determinants according to their variance can be found through linear regression. At the end of the eighties it was commercial media planning again, which developed general linear models to forecast advertisement ratings. In addition to the aspects of time (normally 30 minute intervals) these models contained seasonality as well as predictors describing the content of a program. Some of these models included a "programme attractiveness index" (Bortz, 1986). Other linear models have been developed, e.g., by Goerlich (1994), Wyndham and Brennan (1994), Cooper, (1993), Gensch and Shaman (1980), as well as Goodhardt, Ehrenberg, and Collins (1975). Some of the models enable the ratings of single program to be forecast, while others predict e.g., the cumulated audience of a series. TV usage may be modeled not only in a linear manner, but also in a nonlinear one. Nonlinear models can be divided into technical and explanatory (fundamental) models. Technical models do not consider exogenous

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predictors except for the lags of the variable they are meant to predict. For the most part, they are distributional or seasonal models. In particular, estimating models for the above-mentioned cumulated viewers is often realized by curve fitting with the means of cumulated density functions (cdf) and is thus purely technical. Goodhardt et al. (1975, chap. 5, pp. 55-73) pioneered this area. Based on the empirical distribution of those who have watched the first couple of episodes of a series, a theoretical cdf (preferably that of a beta distribution) is fitted. The assumption is that this approximated theoretical distribution can forecast the expected cumulative viewers of the following episodes. Buá (1985, pp. 99-105) applied this method to German data. Headen, Klompmaker, and Teel (1977) adjusted beta distributions to forecast the cumulated audience for repeated commercials in the U.S. Seasonal models apply time series methods to predict TV usage. They require equally spaced time series. In general, TV usage in predefined time intervals is used. Seasonal models obtain the forecasting information exclusively from the seasonality of past TV usage. As distributional models, they neglect fundamental predictors and thus yield purely technical models. Even though the required data structure for seasonal models is simple and the time series methods are available in almost all statistical software packages, almost no publications of forecasting TV usage with modern time series methods can be found. Therefore, it can be assumed that solely technical forecasts are of minor importance in academic TV research and commercial program optimization. The work of Gensch and Shaman (1980) may serve as an early example for seasonal models. These authors predicted the total ratings of American TV during prime time (six 15-minuteintervals between 7:30 pm-10:00 pm) in the seventies. They used trigonometric regression or Fourier analysis (Fourier synthesis). For every target group, every day of the week and every 15-minute-interval a different model had to be identified. Nonlinear seasonal models using methods of artificial intelligence to forecast TV usage are similarly scarce in studies published to date. This is surprising since they frequently appear in other fields where the data is of comparable complexity (e.g., economical forecasts). Literature search yields only one study, published by Garland (1996), using a neural network (see below) to predict TV usage in Sydney, Australia. Network identification was done by using ratings only in 15-minute-intervals from the 6th to

274 René Weber the 9th week of 1995. Afterwards this network predicted the ratings in the 10th to 13th week of 1995. In contrast to nonlinear technical models nonlinear explanatory models contain various determinants of TV usage in order to calculate forecasts. In this area even fewer publications are available or accessible to academic scientists. Searching the Internet (there are almost no studies available in public libraries) yields only a few commercial projects inside and outside Europe looking onto the predictability of ratings by means of artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, only vague and imprecise information about the database and forecasting methodology can be investigated. Such projects are mainly used to forecast market shares using neural networks and socalled expert systems for a nonlinear prediction (like in Fitzsimons, Khabaza, & Shearer, 1993). Those models normally consider seasonality, content classification in the form of program genres as well as the content of the competing program and the program surroundings. Details about the very important definition of the competing program or about the content classification are always missing. Furthermore, any specifications of the estimation and forecasting periods are lacking. Numerous inquiries were leading to the realization that essential information about methods and findings are obviously to be kept secret. Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the so-called hybrid models as a model class of their own. Hybrid models are created by combining several methods. The fact that they often perform better than the one-methodmodels is evidenced, for example, by the fact that they are increasingly referred to in econometric theory (Clemen, 1989). Despite their acknowledged quality, there it does not appear that hybrid models have ever been used in a published study on television audience prediction. Surveying the forecast quality of the above mentioned models shows that models working with averages of aggregates mostly provide no information about the forecasting quality. For the remaining kinds of models usually the explained variance or the correlation between actual and predicted values respectively quantify the reliability of the prediction. At times it is not even obvious, whether an in-sample or an out-of-sample measure has been used. The latter is computed on the basis of new data that have not been used in the model estimation step and therefore is the appropriate measure. Nonlinear seasonal models using methods of artificial intelligence usually suggest that neural networks forecast no better than ordinary time

Prognosis Methods on Television Viewing Patterns 275 series analysis methods. Models that attempt to consider the current level of complexity of the TV market yield correlations of up to 0.9 (R 2 =81%) for German public stations and the adult 14+ target group. However, the correlations for German commercial channels (SAT.l and RTL) are poorer. They range from 0.6 (R 2 =36%) to 0.65 (R 2 =42.25%). It needs to be mentioned that a methodologically well-done study has to document and discuss the way of calculating forecasting accuracy. For example, the specification of several different measures of forecasting quality to evaluate the predictions appropriately is desirable (Weber, 1998). Summing up, there is an obvious deficit in available academic studies analyzing nonlinear explanatory models and hybrid models for TV audience prediction. Furthermore, the evaluation of a model's forecast accuracy is often unsatisfactory. The research underlying this chapter does not only cover nonlinear explanatory models and hybrid models, but also the precise evaluation of forecasts.

Determinants of TV usage Which determinants are relevant for television audience prediction is one of the first questions that need to be answered before work on the identification of an explanatory forecasting model. It is a well-known fact that TV usage is influenced by numerous possible determinants. However, the technical term "determinant" should not be misinterpreted as denoting an independent variable that exclusively determines a dependent variable. TV usage is frequently influenced by a group of interdependent variables, which can compensate, complement, and intensify their respective effects in a time varying manner. Well-known theoretical approaches to explain program choice take this complexity into account by means of heuristic models. For a theoretical description of the relationships between determinants see e.g., Webster and Lichty (1991), Hasebrink and Doll (1990), Büchner Β. (1989), and Webster J. G. and Wakshlag J. J. (1983). Building a forecasting model in the first place requires simply a list of relevant variables; interdependencies may later be captured through model specification. Communication sciences are focused on explanatory (as opposed to forecasting) models. Usually these models differentiate between structural and individual determinants and also between determinants related to the

276 René Weber audience (demand) and to the medium (supply). Structural determinants are particularly emphasized in sociological or economic studies (e.g., in the commercial market, and media research). They typically encompass seasonality (viewer availability) as well as demographic variables on the demand side and program content as well as program schedule on the supply side. On the other hand, individual determinants are emphasized in psychological and academically motivated studies. Typical variables are viewer preferences (expectations), viewing situation, and viewer awareness on the demand side as well as the availability and use of TV equipment on the supply side. Models directed towards explaining TV usage are also well-suited for television audience prediction as they supply information on possible determinants of TV use in general. In order to develop forecasting models however, a different perspective is necessary since not all of the explanatory variables are useful for making predictions. Determinants are relevant for forecasting purposes if their future values are already known or can be estimated reliably at the time of forecast calculation (e.g., the future program content or rather program genre in a period of approximately 6-8 weeks in Germany). Accordingly, determinants are not relevant for forecasting if their future values are unknown or can be estimated only in an inaccurate manner (such as the weather or the future usage/audience of the competing programs, for example). Furthermore, determinants differ with regard to the complexity of the required measurement. Some determinants (e.g., demography) can be measured directly by means of straightforward, well-established, reliable, and valid instruments. In this context they will be designated as "simple determinants". Complex determinants (such as viewer preferences), on the other hand, are theoretical concepts and require sophisticated measurements, which are not only hard to develop but also need to be tested for reliability and validity. In the interest of brevity a detailed discussion of all those variables, which are possibly relevant for forecasting purposes cannot be presented here. See the above-mentioned literature and supplementary Weber (2000), Eastman (1998), Tavakoli and Cave (1996), Youn (1994), and Horen (1980).

Prognosis Methods on Television Viewing Patterns 277 Methods Neural networks, tree models, as well as classical statistical methods are analyzed regarding their suitability for television audience prediction. In order to get a more detailed description of the mathematics used and the problems of the methods refer to Weber (2000), Garson (1998) and Breiman, Friedman, Olshen, and Stone (1984). Because of the complexity of the method's theory (particularly the theory of neural networks) it seems almost impossible to describe them in a few words only (and without formulas). Consequently, only a very brief overview will be introduced in order to provide the novice reader with an idea of both potential and limitations of the respective methods. There are many different kinds of neural networks. Specific characteristics are assigned to a neural network depending on the definition of its architecture. The so-called "feed forward networks" consist of fully connected layers of neurons and will be emphasized here. Every neuron includes a (usually nonlinear) function in order to transform an input into an output-therefore neural networks are networks of primitive functions, which theoretically can approximate every nonlinear function by working in combination. The way in which neurons interact is controlled by specific weights of the neural connections. It is feasible to describe every network by a nonlinear interlocked network function. The parameters of this function correspond to the weights of the network connections. Training of a neural network means the gradual modification of its weights (through a special algorithm which integrates a nonlinear optimization) in such a way that the network-output differs as little as possible from the desired output. The essential advantage of a forecast based on neural networks is the chance to model nonlinear dependencies without prior specification of a model function. For the most part good results can be expected if the analysis problem is highly complex, which means that numerous interactive qualitative and quantitative predictors must be considered. Additional advantages result from the fact that previous knowledge or subjective assessments may be easily included as well as from the potential for real-time training, which allows simultaneous predictions and simulations. A disadvantage of this method, however, is that the identification of a neural network requires a considerable know-how and an intensive preprocessing of the data. Furthermore, neural networks tend to have a large amount of pa-

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rameters and are thus prone to overfitting. It is also uncertain if the network will be in a global optimum of the network function after the training. Disadvantageous, as far as interpretations are concerned, is also the complexity of the statistical inference, which still requires methodical research. The interpretation of predictors effects are usually made possible through a sensitivity analysis. This procedure consists of a systematical variation of the net-input (predictor values) and the recording of the resulting net-output (forecasts). A tree-model can be imagined as a collection of decision rules, which may be illustrated by the following example. If (age < 30) and (channel SAT.l, content classification e ({2 = fiction}) and (month e ({2 = February}), then the predicted audience share would be 17.1% (indeed, this is a very simple example). The algorithmic foundation of those tree models (being applied here) is based on a recursive binary partition of a data set into homogeneous subgroups. The method is named for its typical tree form, which describes a binary partition; its chief benefits being that the predictors are easily interpreted and both categorical and quantitative predictors are readily included. Above all, the method allows one to model socalled local interactions that can be helpful especially for modeling TV usage. Tree models are also robust against missing values, and the identification requires no intense preprocessing as only categorical and ordinal information is used. On the other hand, identifying a tree model can be problematic if large numbers of predictors are involved, because this requires enormous computing capacity. For every predictor with k categories, a potential number of 2k"'(l binary) splits can be accomplished and all of them need an evaluation. Furthermore, tree models also develop a tendency to overfitting, which can only be countered with elaborate methods. The statistical inference of tree models poses problems as well. The classical forecasting methods mainly consider techniques of time series analysis, e.g., ARIMA models and Fourier synthesis (spectrum analysis). Easy and therefore economical identification is their outstanding advantage. In addition to that, simple methods in order to control overfitting are available and the resulting forecasts can be secured with inferential statistics. Meaningful interpretations of the forecast results, however, are extremely limited since predictors, which can be explained by the content, are not established here (see above). For the same reasons simulations or rather what-if studies which employ time series methods are hardly appli-

Prognosis Methods on Television Viewing Patterns 279 cable. Another aspect consists in the fact that time series methods require regularly spaced observations. In general, this leads to very large random samples in order to representatively capture the complete program over a long period of time. Because of these drawbacks the use of time series forecasts in practice is restricted. Accordingly, the application of general linear models (GLM) is more recommendable for television audience prediction based on classical methods. General linear models can be estimated by means of representative cross-sectional random samples drawn from the entire program. These models allow a meaningful interpretation of the forecast results with the aid of predictors that have been identified as relevant.

Data The utilized data are based on telemetrie viewing data of the "GflC Nuremberg", the German main supplier for telemetrie viewing data, and cover a period of 912 days between 1/1/1995 and 6/30/1997. The panel consists of about 5200 representative households with about 12000 persons. The analyzed data refer to several target audiences. The database includes e.g., the program content of the eight leading German TV channels, which in turn consists of program titles as well as of various program genres (program field, program form, nonfictional topic, and fictional topic), seasonality, demography, positional effects within a broadcast time slot, content of specially defined surrounding programs, and the content of competing programs. Altogether 119 variables serve as predictors and all of them undergo various preprocessing steps (see Weber, 2000). The relations between the predictors are complex, e.g., nonlinear as well as linear dependencies and local interactions among qualitative and quantitative inputs can be observed. Two variables had to be predicted. One of the predicted variables is the minute-based rating of TV programs (in thousands). Working with minute-based ratings is convenient, as short intervals have a low variability in the competing programs, which in turn may have an effect on the ratings. The larger the interval, the larger the variation in the competing programs. The second variable to be forecasted is the increase or decline of ratings caused by the change of programs and measured after the programs have changed. The variable is defined as binary (rating rises/falls). Model identi-

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fication takes place on the basis of random samples, which are representative for the whole German TV program.

Selected results In this chapter only a few important findings are presented (all available results are discussed in Weber, 2000). The descriptions are restricted to the ratings of the German commercial channel SAT.l, the target audience "adults 14+", and the time slot 6 to 11 p.m. (extended prime time). Only the results produced by linear models and neural networks are reported, as these models perform best in this case. In order to evaluate the predictions of the minute-based ratings, only the multiple correlation (R) or the explained variance (R2) and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) are cited here. To evaluate the forecasts of the changes in ratings, the tables below include the rate of hits and the kappa-coefficient (Cohen, 1960). Further measures of forecasting accuracy (and a discussion of this measures), which allow a more precise comparison of the forecasts, can be looked up in Weber (1998, 2000). In general, the results are encouraging. Neural networks yield not only a good fitting in the estimation sample (R2 = 81.2%), but also in a validation sample not used in the estimation process (R2 = 74.2%). The out-of-sample forecasts can be considered as stable (see Table 3.5.1). Even in a long-term forecasting horizon (6-8 weeks after the end of the estimation period) the explained variance (R2) of the minute-based TV ratings has a level of 75.8%. And as expected, the predicted and the observed ratings differ (on average) more for the long-term forecasts than for the short-term forecasts (see MAPE in the tables). Compared to the linear model the neural network performs better if the focus is put on ratings. As far as rating changes between two consecutive programs are concerned (0: ratings go down; 1 : ratings go up), the results are also remarkable. 89.3% of the changes in the validation sample and 86.2% of the changes in the forecasting sample can be predicted accurately. The forecast of rating changes is far beyond chance. In this case, though, the linear model produces almost equivalent or-in the forecasting sample-even better results (see Table 3.5.2). 87.0% of the changes can be predicted accurately. Both the neural network and the linear model are suitable to identify the relevant determinants of TV usage

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and can be easily applied to simulation or what-if-studies respectively (not shown here). Table 3.5.1 Forecast accuracy of the best neural network R(R 2 )

MAPE

Estimation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

0.901 (81.2%)

16.4%

Validation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

0.861 (74.2%)

19.2%

Forecasts short-term 5/1/97-5/14/97

0.835 (69.8%)

19.3%

Forecasts long-term 6/17/97-6/30/97

0.871 (75.8%)

25.7%

Forecasts period 5/1/97-6/30/97

0.857 (73.5%)

25.2%

TQ (rate of hits)

KAPPA

Estimation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

90.6%

0.808**

Validation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

89.3%

0.781**

Forecasts period 5/1/97-6/30/97

86.2%

0.717**

Minute-based ratings

Changes of ratings

Note. Channel SAT.l, adults 14+, 6 to 11 p.m. Table 3.5.2 Forecast accuracy of the best general linear model R(R 2 )

MAPE

Estimation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

0.906 (82.0%)

15.3%

Validation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

0.800 (64.0%)

21.5%

Forecasts short-term 5/1/97-5/14/97

0.811 (65.8%)

21.8%

Forecasts long-term 6/17/97-6/30/97

0.815 (66.4%)

28.8%

Forecasts period 5/1/97-6/30/97

0.824 (67.9%)

27.5%

TQ (rate of hits)

KAPPA

Estimation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

89.3%

0.777**

Validation sample 1/1/95-4/30/97

87.0%

0.730**

Forecasts period 5/1/97-6/30/97

87.0%

0.731**

Minute-based ratings

Changes of ratings

Note. Channel SAT.l, adults 14+, 6 to 11 p.m.

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Discussion The results shown in the tables above intentionally refer to target audiences, TV channels and time slots which are very difficult to predict. Usually, large and heterogeneous target audiences (e.g., adults 14+), commercial TV channels (e.g., SAT.l), extended prime time (6.00 to 11.00 p.m.), and the period May to June (being the months with the highest level of daylight in Germany) are particularly difficult in forecasting. Against this background the achieved forecast accuracy is acceptable and useful for application. If other target audiences, TV channels, or time slots have to be predicted the results are better than in Table 3.5.1 and 3.5.2. Broadcasts within the program genres "information", "sport", "shows", and "advertising" can be predicted especially well. However, there are problems in forecasting the ratings of broadcasts within program genres like "thrillers" and "TV movies". One of the reasons could be that programs within these program genres differ much more in attractiveness than programs within other program genres. Unfortunately, at present, no information on attractiveness or quality of broadcasts is included in the available database. Therefore, a high level of variance in ratings within badly defined program genres has to remain unexplained. Besides, the evaluation of the forecast accuracy has to consider that variables being irrelevant for prediction but relevant in order to explain TV usage (e.g., the weather) are not integrated into the models. Nevertheless, the analyses underlying this chapter demonstrate that television viewing patterns for target audience may be unstable and dynamic, but they are indeed predictable! In future, three developments in particular will lead to further significant improvements of the forecasts. (1) The additional and interactive collection of subjective ratings by experienced program experts, broadcasting research staff and program schedulers. Subjective assessments should be included into the statistical models and considered in what-if-scenarios with specially designed software (also important for a better acceptance of forecasting models in practice). (2) The improvement of program genres definitions as a measure of program content. This should be done in a way that a system of categories arises which reflects the characteristics relevant for program choice from the audience's point of view. Currently, this is only partially realized by the predominant method of continuous content classification-in some parts, programpolitical aspects influence the encoding in Germany. (3) The implementa-

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tion of new telemetrie measuring instruments suitable for continuous recording of program attractiveness, and the inclusion of attractiveness scores into the models.

References Bortz, J. (1986). Zur Messung der Attraktivität von Fernsehsendungen: Regressionsresiduen als Indikatoren. Rundfunk und Fernsehen, 34, 64-72. Breiman, L., Friedman, J. H., Olshen, R., & Stone, C. J. (1984). Classification and regression trees. Belmont-California: Wadsworth International Group. Buá, M. (1985). Die Vielseher: Fernseh-Zuschauerforschung in Deutschland: Theorie, Praxis, Ergebnisse. Schriftenreihe Media Perspektiven. Frankfurt: Alfred Metzner. Büchner, B. (1989). Der Kampf um die Zuschauer: Neue Modelle zur Fernsehprogrammauswahl [Reihe Medien Skripten], München: Reinhard Fischer. Cattin, P., Festa, R., & Le Diberder, Α. (1994). A model for forecasting the audience of TV programs. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) & ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (Vol. 1, pp. 513-524). Paris. Clemen, R. T. (1989). Combining forecasts: A review and annotated bibliography. International Journal of Forecasting, 5, 559-583. Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37-46. Cooper, R. (1993). An expanded, integrated model for determing audience exposure to televion. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 37(4), 401418. Eastman, S. T. (1998). Programming theory under stress: The active industry and the active audience. Communication Yearbook, 21, 323-338. Fitzsimons, M., Khabaza, T., & Shearer, C. (1993). The application of rule induction and neural networks for television audience prediction. In Proc. of ESOMAR/EMAC/AFM (Eds.), Symposium on information based decision making in marketing in Paris/France (pp. 69-82). Amsterdam: ESOMAR. Garland, I. (1996). On the possibility of predicting ratings reliably. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) & ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (pp. 233-247). San Francisco. Garson, G. D. (1998). Neural networks: An introductory guide for social scientists. London: Sage.

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Gensch, D., & Shaman, P. (1980). Models of competitive televisions ratings. Journal of Marketing Research, 17, 307-315. Goerlich, B. (1994). TV reach and frequency in the United States. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) & ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (Vol. 2, pp. 137-148). Paris. Goodhardt, G. J., Ehrenberg, A. S. C., & Collins, M. A. (1975). The televisions audience: Pattern of viewing (2nd ed.). Brookfield: Vt. Gower. Hasebrink, U., & Doll, J. (1990). Zur Programmwahl von Fernsehzuschauern: Die Bedeutung von Einstellungen gegenüber Sendungstypen. Rundfunk und Fernsehen, 38, 21-36. Headen, R. S., Klompmaker, J. E., & Teel, J. E. (1977). Predicting audience exposure to spot TV advertising schedules. Journal of Marketing Research, 14, 19. Hören, J. H. (1980). Scheduling of network television programs. Management Science, 26(4), 354-370. Reinhold, A. (1994). Patterns of individual TV usage. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation), ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (Vol. 2, pp. 67-78). Paris. Rust, R. T., & Eechambadi, N. (1989). Scheduling network television programs: A heuristic audience flow approach to maximizing audience share. Journal of Advertising, 18{ 2), 11-18. Tavakoli, M., & Cave, M. (1996). Modeling television viewing patterns. Journal of Advertising, 25(4), 71-86. Van Meurs, L. (1994). The future at your fingertips: Toward an automated forecasting model for TV ratings. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation), ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (Vol. 1, pp. 497-512). Paris. Youn, S. (1994). Program type preference and program choice in a multichannel situation. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 55(4), 465-475. Weber, R. (1998). Statische und dynamische Evaluation von Prognosen. ZAInformation, 43, 111-123. Weber, R. (2000). Prognosemodelle zur Vorhersage der Fernsehnutzung: Neuronale Netze, Tree-Modelle und klassische Statistik im Vergleich [Reihe Medienskripten, 34]. München: Fischer. Webster, J. G., & Lichty, L.W. (1991). Ratings analysis: Theory and practice. Hillsdale: Verlag Lawrence Erlbaum.

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Webster, J. G., Wakshlag, J. J. (1993). A theory of television program choice. Communication Research, 10(4), 430-446. Wyndham, J., & Brennan, D. (1994). A series of success? Modelling and predicting the success of a TV program series. In ARF (Advertising Research Foundation) & ESOMAR (European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research) (Eds.), Symposium on worldwide electronic and broadcasting audience research (Vol. 1, pp. 525-552). Paris.

Part Four Online Communication: Present Status and Future Perspectives

4.1 Online Communication: Putting the Knowledge Gap Theory into Perspective Heinz Bonfadelli

The knowledge gap hypothesis is often cited in the public discourse about the impact of new information technology-especially the Internet-on society. Pessimistic forecasters predict an increasing digital gap between the information rich and the information poor segment without access to Internet. But on the one hand there is almost no explicit and detailed reference to the theoretical background of the knowledge gap perspective, firstly formulated by Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien in 1970, and on the other hand to specific empirical data concerning diffusion, uses and effects of online communication. Therefore, this first theoretical part of this chapter concentrates on the basic premises of the knowledge gap perspectives and discusses its consequences, as well as limitations for the domain of online communication. Here, a special emphasis is given to the question of the development of different types of knowledge gaps in the various phases of the communication process, namely gaps in a) information supply, b) access to media and new information technology, c) use, and d) reception of these new technologies. The second empirical part is based on two recent representative surveys on access and use of Internet in Switzerland. Firstly, data is presented that show marked gaps in access. Still the typical Internet user in Switzerland is young, male, well educated, and in a higher job position. Secondly, these gaps in access to the Internet didn't decrease in the past three years; surprisingly and against common sense assumptions, access gaps have even increased. Third, there are education-based gaps in the use of Internet, too. This result falsifies the assumptions of a recent Internet study carried out at Stanford University. In this study, Nie and Erbring (2000) say that although there are gaps in Internet access, there will be no big differences in use of the Internet in the segment ofpeople who have access to the Internet.

290 Heinz Bonfadelli The knowledge gap hypothesis is often mentioned in the public debate about the social consequences of the information society. This hypothesis, which was originally formulated for traditional media, calls into question optimistic future scenarios like those of Bill Gates (Gates, Myhrvold, & Rinearson, 1995) or Esther Dyson (1997), which are based on the assumption that the information society necessarily means an informed society for everybody. Those who support the hypothesis, who could be called the pessimists (e.g., Glotz, 1999; Tapscott, 1996), are worried for just the opposite reason. They fear there will be an increasing digital gap, and, as a result, a widening social gap between the information rich and the information poor, i.e., between those with and those without access to the computer and the Internet (Negroponte, 1995). Or, formulated as a specific prognosis for the future: The Internet threatens to divide society into two classes, an information elite, and those not linked to the net (Rosenthal, 1999). Although the notion of knowledge gap is well-known, reference is hardly ever made in political discussions or in media debates to either the theoretical background of the much cited knowledge gap perspective (Bonfadelli, 1994; Gaziano & Gaziano, 1996; Kwak, 1999; Viswanath & Finnegan, 1996) nor to specific empirical evidence which could support the knowledge gap hypothesis. At the same time there is no solid empirical database that demonstrates, e.g., the optimists' claim that having Internet access has advantages over the use of the traditional mass media. Even from the theoretical point of view it is not self-evident that the policy of ensuring Internet access for everybody is a desirable social goal. It may well be that the question of providing access to media or Internet information is not relevant for social equality at all. Indeed, the knowledge gap hypothesis, as formulated for the old mass media may well apply to Internet use as well. Thus better access and thereby increasing quantities of available information will be the main factors behind the rise of information elites and new, Internet-linked knowledge gaps in future (Rosenthal, 1999, pp. 69ff.). The following contribution has, therefore, two main objectives: (1) First, to outline the background and development of the knowledge gap perspective as well as its implications for online communication (first theoretical part). (2) Second, to present some findings from two recent empirical surveys in Switzerland and relate them to some still controversial questions con-

Online Communication 291 cerning differential access and use of the Internet (second empirical part).

The Knowledge gap hypothesis Basic hypothesis and what it covers In 1970, Phillip Tichenor, George Donohue, and Clarice Olien of the Minnesota University formulated the first explicit knowledge gab hypothesis in an article entitled "Mass media flow and differential growth in knowledge". Their basic hypothesis reads as follows: "As the infusion of mass media information into a social system increases, segments of the population with higher socioeconomic status tend to acquire this information at a faster rate than the lower status segments, so that the gap in knowledge between these segments tends to increase rather than decrease (Tichenor, Donohue, & Olien, 1970, pp. 159-160)." The hypothesis is based on more than 20 years of research on the effects of mass communication. It implicitly shows the "apparent failure of mass publicity to inform the public at large" (Tichenor et al., 1970, p. 161), because media campaigns generally reach precisely those least in need of it, namely the already informed segments of the population. So it runs against the widely held belief that the diffusion of information via the mass media will reach everybody and will thus result in the public being overall better informed. To be precise, the authors do not state that the segments with lower socioeconomic status and/or limited education will remain completely ignorant or even that their knowledge will decrease in an absolute sense. Rather, the knowledge gap hypothesis posits a relative discrepancy between two segments of the population with those segments of the population high in status and/or with more education being able to access, use, and acquire the information supplied by the mass media at a faster rate and in a more effective way than those with a lower status or less education. This will result in the first group having a knowledge lead. But this process is not irreversible, since a knowledge gap with regard to a particular topic will tend to decrease if the topic is no longer discussed in the mass media. Thus knowledge gaps may change over time. Moreover, there are further contingent conditions concerning media topics: The knowledge gap

292 Heinz Bonfadelli hypothesis refers, above all, to topics in the media that have a political content or public affairs aspect. Indeed, Tichenor et al. only refer to knowledge gaps concerning single topics and do not try to apply the hypothesis to knowledge in general. Therefore, it would be ill advised or at least premature to attempt to extend the knowledge gap hypothesis to all the accessible information provided in the traditional media or the new Internet. Nor does it make sense to relate the hypothesis to "the total knowledge of the recipients"-whatever this might mean. There are also ceiling effects (Ettema & Kline, 1977) to be considered. Even if the amount of information in the media, including the Internet with all its possibilities, about a certain topic increases, there is, in most cases, only a quantitative increase in the amount that is reported and perhaps in the range of sources of information. Such a quantitative increase does not necessarily mean that more diverse arguments or thematic aspects will be presented. In fact, some processes, such as consonant media gate keeping, will ensure that the range of arguments covered remains limited (Schulz, 1985, p. 109). Thus there is a ceiling effect on, i.e., a limit to, what information media users receive and assimilate. This means, that even the well informed are not able to increase their knowledge beyond a certain level. As a consequence, even the least informed segments of the population will catch up with the so-called elite more-or-less automatically and any existing knowledge gaps tend to even themselves out over time. A good example for this process is agenda-knowledge, which means "knowledge o f ' e.g., an event like the presidential elections in the U.S.A. In this case there are only two possibilities: to be aware of or not. Another variable to be considered is the societal setting. The original knowledge gap hypothesis refers to western industrial societies with fully developed media systems of press and television, which provide most of the population with current information on a daily basis. In addition, more or less stable expectations concerning the principal information functions of the traditional media have been developed. Unlike the media of press and television, the Internet still corresponds more to a media infrastructure, which reaches only rather small pockets of the population. And there is yet no stable consensus about information or entertainment functions of the Internet.

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Theoretical

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background

Returning to the original hypothesis of Tichenor et al., knowledge gaps are not seen to occur as the result of a poorly functioning media system. Rather, they are assumed to form because the underlying social structure of the society has specific consequences for the information flow in that society, with the normal tendency being for information to become distributed differentially. Tichenor et al. cite five underlying factors or processes they claim are responsible for the emergence of knowledge gaps: 1) Communication skills: Generally, people who are better educated usually have more and better communication skills than those with less education. In particular, they are also likely to be similarly better at using and interpreting media information. 2) Preexisting knowledge: The better educated tend to have more general knowledge about a broader range of public affairs topics. They have thus developed underlying cognitive frames, which enhance the recognition and acquisition of new information. 3) Relevant social contacts: The better educated tend to be integrated in broader social networks that often function as additional sources of information via interpersonal exchange. 4) Selective use, acceptance, and storage of information: The level of education correlates strongly with a general pattern concerning belief in the civil duty to actively seek information. 5) Structure of the media system: Modern media systems are structured differentially in that most of information concerning public affairs is distributed via print media. Better-educated media users read more information-rich media than less welleducated segments of the population that tend to depend on TV as its only source of information.

Deficits, differences, and contingencies Most of the above mentioned factors are trans-situational. The basic knowledge gap hypothesis rests on the assumption that education is strongly tied to a specific pattern of media usage that can be described as active, intensive, information-oriented, and print-dependent. Only more recently authors like Ettema and Kline (1977), Dervin (1980), or Viswanath, Kahn, Finnegan, Hertog, and Potter (1993) have pointed out other more situation-specific and motivational factors. Empirical research

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has shown that knowledge gaps based on educational deficits can be reversed-at least partly-by factors like relevance or personal interest. Yet, level of interest and education are often correlated and not independent (Wirth, 1997). The higher the level of education, the higher the level of interest in public affairs topics tends to be. Education and personal interest thus often work in the same direction as additive and mutually reinforcing factors. Accordingly, two rival explanatory models (Figure 4.1.1) were put forward during the first discussions of the hypothesis: (1) Traditional proponents of the knowledge gap hypothesis regarded motivational factors, such as interest, and level of education as secondary and without explanatory power. (2) Other researchers, like Genova and Greenberg (1979) or Ettema and Kline (1977), however, treated education and motivation (e.g., issue interest or degree of concern) as independent variables in the process of acquiring media information and tried to prove that it is not differences in education, but unequal interest and motivation, that are crucial for the development of knowledge gaps. Given these theoretical differences, some researchers (e.g., Horstmann, 1991) regarded the knowledge gap hypothesis empirically as not supported. But the two opposing explanations could provide the basis for a third model, a contingency model (Kwak 1999). This rests on the assumption that the emergence of education-related knowledge gaps will be moderated in many situations by motivational factors. Viswanath et al. (1993, p. 559) describe this complex multifactorial setting in the following way: "In our view, the issue is not motivation or education; it is motivation and education as they operate jointly to affect knowledge."For example, only moderate knowledge gaps are to be expected in situations with conflicts on the macro level of a society or high general motivation on the micro level of the individual. But political interest alone without a minimum of cognitive resources, e.g., in form of preexisting knowledge, seems to be not enough to stimulate information seeking and knowledge gain in many situations. Empirical research is, therefore, needed to investigate how cognitive factors such as education, or preexisting knowledge, as well as motivational factors like personal interest, work together in specific situations.

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Time

Figure 4.1.1. Rival explanatory models of knowledge gap phenomena.

Different types of gaps in the communication

process

A further refinement of the knowledge gap paradigm deals with the following question: At what point in the process of communication will gap phenomena occur? Surprisingly, no clear distinctions can be found in the early publications on either theoretical aspects or empirical studies of the knowledge gap between different types of gap, whether it is a gap in: (1) the information supply, (2) access to this information, (3) use of this information, (4) processing of this information, or (5) the resulting knowledge. Knowledge gaps of the first type will develop simply because different social segments belong to different media environments that have larger or more restrictive information diets available. This trend will be further reinforced by the increasing tendency for most media to tailor their information to specific target groups. Thus, corresponding gaps in information supply will tend to develop in those media channels that are used predominantly by the better educated as a result of the information being presented as increasingly topic specific. Significant gaps in the supply of political information are likely to form between, e.g., public and commercial television channels or quality and tabloid newspapers in most European countries. But even if

296 Heinz Bonfadelli media users belong to different media environments, the information supply is not likely to be totally different, since the different media share journalistic information values and practices. Finally, information supply gaps will probably also develop as a result of the differential diffusion of new media like the Internet. Knowledge gaps of the second type can develop because the media information available is used unequally, even if the information diet for different social segments is the same. Media users vary tremendously in how much particular themes interest them, and media information is attended to differently according to these preferences. Numerous empirical studies have shown correlations between content preferences for, e.g., political information and demographic variables like level of education. Gaps also occur as a result of different reception strategies. The same information can be processed and stored differently as a result of differences in the underlying desired and anticipated media gratifications, e.g., information vs. entertainment, differences in the level of cognitive media attention, or unequally effective information processing strategies.

Application

of knowledge gap perspective

to the Internet

Differentiating knowledge gap origins in time enhances the conceptual clarity of the knowledge gap paradigm (Wirth, 1999, p. 8). Moreover, it makes it possible to optimize, e.g., information campaigns directed towards specific target groups or to clarify whether the Internet will foster the knowledge gap or not. A recent American survey, carried out at Stanford University by Nie and Erbring (2000), suggests that the Internet causes gaps above all in the availability of information (gap type 1) and access to it (type 2) but not in its use (type 3). The question whether gaps occur because of differences in reception is still open. In this regard it is often said that, if the Internet is to be used meaningfully and efficiently, new skills, such as purposeful searching strategies, assessment of source credibility, or construction of meaningful frames for interpretation are required. These functions are usually carried out by trained journalists in traditional media who predigest information for specific audiences. Figure 4.1.2 shows some differences between the traditional media, like television or the press, and the new Internet with respect to the emergence

Online Communication 297 of knowledge gaps. Knowledge gaps in the old media seem to have arisen mostly as a result of differences in topic-related levels of interest. Access to the old media is easy, and it is widely used. Moreover, journalists ensure that the supply of information via traditional mass media is largely homogeneous. Other factors play a more important role in the case of the Internet. On the one hand, the supply of information by the Internet is not structured by journalists and is therefore rather heterogeneous and potentially unlimited. On the other hand, access to the Internet is still quite restricted in most countries. Furthermore, in comparison to the old media, the Internet requires much more active and skilled users. It can be hypothesized, then, that the Internet, in comparison with the traditional media, fosters fragmentation of its audiences and individualized information seeking. As a result, individual agendas will become increasingly independent of each other, and the amount of shared knowledge will drastically diminish.

Old Media: TV and Press

Internet Differentiation of Information Supply

Fragmentation of Audiences

Individualized Information Seeking

Increasing Desintegration of Agendas and Shared Knowledge

Figure 4.1.2. Consequences of the knowledge gap perspective for the Internet.

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Gaps in access to and use of the Internet: New empirical evidence In the following part of this contribution, new empirical evidence is presented that demonstrates education-based gaps in access to and use of the Internet. These secondary analyses, conducted by the author, are based on two new large and representative surveys that have been carried out in Switzerland since 1997.

Research design, methods, and samples In Switzerland, a private organization called WEMF1 regularly measures the use of print media for advertising companies. This MACH Basic Study is based on telephone surveys, carried out twice a year, each time using representative samples of about 10,000 people aged 14 and older. Six such surveys have been carried out since 1997. The questions asked concern respondents' access and use of the Internet together with demographic data about their age, sex, education, and income. This huge database, called MA Net, has allowed to be addressed several questions: (1) What kind of access gaps characterize the new medium Internet? (2) Is there evidence that gaps in access are narrowing over time? (3) And if yes, for which social segments? In addition, the WEMF carried out a new telephone survey for the first time in Septemper/October 1999. Called MA Comis 99, it is based on a representative sample of over 2000 users of personal computers with and without access to the Internet. To ensure comparability with the data from the MA Net Study, the following analysis has been based on a subsample of 853 people who own a personal computer, have access to the Internet, and use the Internet at least several times per month. This group is called ENG: "Engere Nutzung" or in English "narrow usership". The core of the MA Comis Survey consists of quantitative questions concerning frequency and time spent using the Internet in general, various Internet sites, in particular, and the types of Internet content used. Further, more qualitative questions dealt with attitudes towards the Internet and competence in using it (selfrated). This second data set formed the basis for the following investigation of two hypotheses formulated by Nie and Erbring (2000) in their study of Internet use in America called "Internet and Society". They claim that: (1)

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There are still some demographic differences in Internet access but these are narrowing. (2) There are few demographic differences in Internet use.

Gaps in access to the Internet In the summer of 1997 in Switzerland 10.8% of the people interviewed, age 14 years and older, had access to and used the Internet at least several times per month. At the same time, the comparable figures for Germany (6.5%) and Austria (5%) were significantly lower. Use of the Internet in this group (ENG) increased between 1997 and 1999 in Switzerland to 26.3%. The comparable figure for Germany in 1999 was 17.7% and for Austria 13%, i.e., were still considerably lower. Meanwhile (Oct. 1999 - March 2000), more than a third of the population in Switzerland (33.4%) reports that they use the Internet regularly. This amounts to an absolute increase of 23% or a relative increase of more than 200% in the last three years (see Table 4.1.1). What demographic differences are hidden then beneath this percentage for average Internet use? Table 4.1.1 displays not only the access gaps according to the levels of education but also to the other three demographic dimensions. Education, however, seems to be the most crucial factor, followed by income; whereas differences based on age and sex are less strong. All in all we can say that the typical user of the Internet in Switzerland is well-educated, affluent, young, and male. The next hypothesis refers to the development of gaps in access to the Internet over time. Here, Table 4.1.1 clearly shows that gaps in access to the Internet have not narrowed during the last three years in Switzerland. Contrary to the available American data, there is clear evidence that the demographic differences in access to the Internet have become even stronger during the last three years. To sum up: The Swiss data on access to the Internet fit in with the knowledge gap hypothesis. Not only are there gaps in access between those with a higher level of education and those with less education, but other demographic variables such as income, sex, and age correlate with different degrees of access to the Internet as well. And these gaps have not narrowed during the last three years. As the knowledge gap hypothesis implies, the Internet became more widely spread and accepted earlier and at a faster rate

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in higher social status groups than in those with lower social status. The American study by Nie and Erbring (2000) was based on a much smaller sample (4113 respondents) than the Swiss surveys, but it seems that access to the Internet in the United States in 1999 was, with 38%, still higher than in the German-speaking European countries. Table 4.1.1 Development of gaps in Internet access in SwitzerlandUsers in % Total

5-10/ 1997

1997/ 1998

10.8% 15.6%

5-10/ 1998

1998/ 1999

5-10/ 1999

1999/ 2000

19.1% 24.7% 26.3% 33.4%

Increase +23%

Men

16

23

27

34

35

43

+27%

Women

6

8

12

16

18

24

+18%

Sex-gap

+10%

+15%

+15%

+18%

+17%

+19%

14-29 years

14

22

29

40

40

50

+36%

30-39 years

14

22

24

29

33

41

+27%

40-49 years

13

16

18

26

29

37

+24%

50 years plus

4

6

8

9

10

15

+11%

+10%

+16%

+21%

+31%

+30%

+35%

Over 8,000

22

28

37

44

46

56

+34%

4,000-8,000

9

13

17

22

23

30

+21%

To 4,000 SFr.*

4

7

6

10

10

12

+8%

Income-gap

+18%

+21%

+31%

+34%

+36%

+44%

University

32

47

47

54

60

69

+37%

Gymnasium

19

27

32

40

44

52

+33%

Trade School

7

10

14

19

23

29

+22%

High School

3

5

6

10

14

19

+16%

Education-gap

+29%

+42%

+41%

+44%

+46%

+50%

Age-gap

Notes. Table 4.1.1 displays the percentages of the total population or certain subgroups that use the Internet at least several times per month. Source: Own calculations based on the MA Net study by WEMF Switzerland. *(1.0 SFr. = 0.68 €).

Online Communication 301 Although there is clear evidence for about equal disparities in access to the Internet according to education and age in the United States and Europe, it appears that, so far, gender differences have only begun to narrow in the United States. There are several plausible explanations for these gaps in access to the Internet, whereby motivational as well as cognitive factors probably interact in complex ways. Whereas many women and older people still seem to associate only marginal personal benefits with the Internet, there is a tendency for people with higher education to expect to receive considerable gratification from the Internet and who are likely to have the cognitive resources necessary for efficient use of the Internet. The fact that the diffusion of the Internet is especially high in affluent segments of the population seems to indicate that there are also economic barriers at work in European countries, such as hardware costs and comparatively high telephone rates.

Gaps in use of the Internet As stated earlier, several more qualitative questions concerning the specific modalities of use and attitudes towards the Internet were part of the MA Comis Survey of 1999. Table 4.1.2 shows that responses to several of these indicators showed marked differences according to educational level. Internet users with a higher educational level had access to the Internet much longer and access the Internet more frequently than users of the Internet with less education. Further questions were asked to measure more qualitatively the specific areas people with different educational backgrounds used the Internet for, without distinguishing between use at home or at work. The analyses (see Table 4.1.3) show that certain applications of the Internet, in particular, communicating by e-mail, consulting railway or flight schedules and using search engines are commonly used by more than 75% of the Internet users. Between 40% and 60% use the Internet to consult the news or archives of online papers, to plan their travels, for further education, to download software, to order goods, or to check the weather forecast. About a third do electronic banking and make travel reservations, but chats and games or taking part in discussion groups in the Internet are still not common for most Internet users (between 13% and 25%).

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Heinz Bonfadelli

Table 4.1.2 Educational differences in modalities of Internet use _ Percentages

η · Total

Educational background low

Access to Internet

Frequency of Internet use

Veterans (more than 3 years)

medium

high

28

]2

Novices (less than 3 years)

72

88

76

67

-21%

Daily

47

28

45

52

+24%

Several times per week

31

33

32

29

-4%

Several times per month

22

29

23

20

-9%

58

44

54

65

+21%

Internet used yesterday

24

_ Gaps

33

+21%

Notes. Base: N=853 regular users of Internet. Source: MA Comis 99 Survey by WEMF, Switzerland. Table 4.1.3 Content specific use of Internet Used Internet content

%

Used Internet content

%

Used Internet content

%

E-mails

96

Further education

45

Travel booking

30

Railway/flight schedules

80

Software download 41

Chats

26

Search engines

76

E-shopping

41

Games

25

Online press archives

59

Weather forecast

39

Music by Internet

25

Travel planning

51

Job advertisements

33

Discussion groups

13

Online newspapers

47

E-banking

33

Note. Base: N=853 regular users of Internet. Source: MA Comis 99 Survey by WEMF, Switzerland. Table 4.1.4 displays differences in Internet patterns of use broken down by level of education. These results do not support Nie and Erbring's (2000)

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hypothesis that there are almost no educational differences in how the Internet is used, assuming people have access to this new medium. In Switzerland at least, people do seem to significantly use the Internet differently depending on their level of education. People with higher education use the Internet for informational and service-oriented purposes; while people with less education use the Internet significantly more for entertainment purposes. Table 4.1.4 Gaps in content specific use of Internet Percentages Used Internet content

Total

Educational background low medium high

Gaps

Communication Information Services

96

87

94

98

+ 11%

61

43

59

66

+23%

34

18

34

36

+18%

Entertainment

25

56

29

19

-37%

Note. The following groupings, based on means, have been made: 1) communication: e-mail; 2) information: railway/flight schedules, search engines, archives and information of online papers, further education; 3) service: download of software, electronic shopping or banking, to book voyages, download music; 4) entertainment: games, chats. Source: MA Comis 99 Survey by WEMF, Switzerland. To sum up: The almost unlimited amount of content made available by the Internet together with the requirement of active selection by the user obviously result in a great deal of variety in individual usage patterns. Besides the educational differences, there were also gender and age differences in Internet usage. Men tend to use search engines, actual and archive information of online papers more and are more interested in on-line further education and e-banking than women. And younger users of the Internet are likely to be significantly more interested in chats, games, and music on the Internet than older people (see also Van Dijk, 2000).

Gaps in reception of the Internet It is possible to make only a few, rather tentative comments about gaps in how the Internet is received. One question asked respondents to self-rate

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Heinz Bonfadelli

their personal computer skills and another measured two attitudes towards new media like the Internet. Table 4.1.5 shows that a large proportion (44%) of Internet users with low educational backgrounds see themselves as beginners, whereas 85% of the well-educated users of the Internet rate their computer skills as at least advanced or even expert. Table 4.1.5 Gaps in skills and attitudes toward the Internet Percentages

Total

Educational background low

medium

high

Gaps

Ambitious users

31

15

28

36

+21%

Advanced users

48

42

49

49

+7%

Beginners

21

43

23

15

-28%

Private E-mail address

67

52

64

72

+20%

New media are important and shouldn't be missed.

79

67

77

84

+17%

I am fascinated really by Internet und other innovations.

59

67

62

56

-11%

Self-rated computer skills

Attitudes towards Internet

Note. Base: N=853 regular users of Internet. Source: MA Comis 99 Survey by WEMF, Switzerland.

It is not surprising that in the survey almost 80% of the people using the Internet on a regular base have positive attitudes towards new media in general. They are convinced that these new media are very important technical innovations that shouldn't be missed. Furthermore, almost 60% are fascinated by the Internet and other new media innovations. Whilst the first more cognitive or rational argument correlates significantly with the respondent's educational background, less educated Internet users tend to react more strongly and in an emotional way. This is consistent with the fact that less educated people are more likely to use the Internet predominantly for entertainment.

Online Communication 305 Summary The empirical findings presented above, which were based on secondary analyses of two new and representative surveys in Switzerland, document various educational gaps in access to the Internet. Furthermore, these gaps do not seem to be narrowing, or at least not yet. In fact, these gaps have widened during the last three years. Given this evidence, political slogans and claims like "Internet access for everybody" should be taken seriously but with due caution. Internet access alone obviously does not automatically guarantee an informed and knowledgeable public. Apart from gaps in access, further gaps in the content specific use of Internet are apparent if one looks at the ways people connected to the Internet make use of it. The higher a person's educational background, the more they are likely to use the Internet in an instrumental way. Less educated people tend to use the Internet for entertainment purposes only. From a more theoretical perspective, there are at least four barriers to people benefiting in a wider sense from today's information society: (1) On a first level, many people still lack basic computer skills and correspondingly fear and have negative attitudes towards the Internet. This is especially so among older and less educated people. (2) On a second level, even if people have basic computer skills, there can be barriers to access, especially since these new media are expensive. (3) On a third level, there are further barriers because the Internet is still not very user friendly. (4) And on a fourth level, use of the Internet tends to vary considerably according to level of education, so that there are education-dependent gaps in the way the Internet is used. Will it continue to be used predominantly for entertainment purposes by certain sectors of the population? Or will an increasing number of people widely use the Internet in an instrumental way e.g., to get a deeper understanding of what's going on in society? Investigating these questions will help us to decide how desirable it is for as many people as possible to have access to the Internet and, on a more theoretical level, to what extent the knowledge gap hypothesis can be applied to the Internet.

Annotations 1.

The author is a member of the research commission of the WEMF.

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References Bonfadelli, H. (1994). Die Wissenskluft-Perspektive: Massenmedien und gesellschaftliche Information. Konstanz: Ölschläger. Dervin, B. (1980). Communication gaps and inequities: Moving toward a reconceptualization. In B. Dervin (Ed.), Progress in communication sciences (pp. 73-112). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publications. Dyson, E. (1997). Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age. New York: Broadway Books. Ettema, J. S., & Kline, G. F. (1977). Deficits, differences, and ceilings: Contingent conditions for understanding the knowledge gap. Communication Research, 2(4), 179-202. Gates, B., Myhrvold, N., & Rinearson, P. (1995). The road ahead. New York: Viking. Gaziano, C., & Gaziano, E. (1996). Theories and methods in knowledge gap research since 1970. In M. Salwen & D. Stacks (Eds.), An integrated approach to communication theory and research (pp. 127-143). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Genova, Β. Κ. L., & Greenberg, B. S. (1979). Interests in news and the knowledge gap. Public Opinion Quarterly, 43, 79-91. Glotz, P. (1999). Die beschleunigte Gesellschaft: Kulturkämpfe im digitalen Kapitalismus. München: Kindler. Horstmann, R. (1991). Medieneinflüsse auf politisches Wissen: Zur Tragfähigkeit der Wissenskluft-Hypothese. Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag. Kwak, N. (1999). Revisiting the knowledge gap hypothesis: Education, motivation, and media use. Communication Research, 26(4), 385-413. Negroponte, N. (1995). Being digital. New York: Knopf. Nie, Ν. Η., & Erbring, L. (2000, February). Internet and society: A preliminary report. Stanford: SIQSS - Stanford University. Rosenthal, D. (1999). Internet-Schöne neue Welt?: Der Report über die unsichtbaren Risiken. Zürich: Orell Füssli. Schulz, W. (1985). Information und politische Kompetenz: Zweifel am Aufklärungsanspruch der Massenmedien. In U. Saxer (Ed.), Gleichheit oder Ungleichheit durch Massenmedien? (pp. 105-118). München: Ölschläger. Tapscott, D. (1996). The digital economy: Promise and peril in the age of networked intelligence. New York: McGraw-Hill. Tichenor, Ph. J., Donohue, G. Α., & Olien, C. N. (1970). Mass media flow and differential growth in knowledge. Public Opinion Quarterly, 34, 159-170. Van Dijk, J. (2000, August 5). Widening information gaps and policies of prevention. Retrieved from http://www.thechronicle.demon.co.uk/archive/infogap.htm

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Viswanath, Κ., & Finnegan, J. (1996). The knowledge gap hypothesis: Twenty-five years later. In Burleson, B., & Kunkel, A. (Eds.), Communication yearbook (Vol. 19, pp. 187-227). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Viswanath, K., Kahn, E., Finnegan, J. R., Hertog, J., & Potter, J. (1993). Motivation and the knowledge gap: Effects of a campaign to reduce diet-related cancer risk. Communication Research, 20, 546-563. Wirth, W. (1997). Von der Information zum Wissen: Die Rolle der Rezeption für die Entstehung von Wissensunterschieden. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Wirth, W. (1999). Neue Wissenskluft durch das Internet? Eine Diskussion relevanter Befunde und Konzepte. Medien Journal, 23(3), 3-19.

4.2 Cyber-TV and The New Interactivity: The GIGA Case Thomas Döbler, Birgit Stark, & Torsten Haux

Though often conjured, digital TV has not yet brought the metamorphosis of the viewer from the passive couch potato to the active TV-user in Germany. German digital TV, so far, offers only restricted opportunities for interactivity. From a technical perspective, the advertised revolution has been hampered by the non-existing feedback channels in TV. Apart from some pilot projects, the only evidence of interactivity can be found in broadcasting formats that use the Internet as a feedback channel, providing predominantly youth- and music-oriented contents. Especially GIGA has in an almost perfect way interlinked the idea of interactivity with online communication channels. The core concept introduces a fusion of Internet and television, though still using separate end devices but united in a broadcast themed "television of the generation @ " Web journalists report from the studio for beats such as Stars, Games, Sport&Fun, Help, and "Netbeat ", and encourage their viewers to interact and to engage in the studio action via the Internet. An online survey among the viewers of the broadcast was used to explore the significance of interactivity during the consumption of the show. What motivates viewers to actively participate? How frequently does the passive viewer become an active user? The results of the survey show that the interest in an interactive TV program via the feedback channel "Internet" highly depends on a well-established and effectively working community. The more the viewer relates to the show, and the more often he participates in chats and discussions on the Internet, the stronger his motivation to interact will be.

Classical TV is characterized by a high degree of passivity: The viewer cannot influence the content and the amount on offer; his action is restricted to selecting the program. A major reason for this rather passive

310 Thomas Döbler, Birgit Stark, & Torsten Haux behavior of the audience is the lack of a feedback channel in conventional TV. Already for quite some time now, efforts have been made to try and compensate this technical insufficiency. Other media, the telephone in particular, are used to meet the "need" of the viewers to participate.1 Especially numerous game shows offer the possibility to call-in, often linked to the prospect of winning. During these shows, telephone numbers that differ only in the final number are inserted. The viewer votes by dialing one of these numbers, for example, to elect the winner of a competition.2 Using the telephone as a feedback channel, more interactive forms of call-ins have been established for the audience to influence the course of the program over the years. In Germany, several examples for those new types of callins can be found, both on public-service broadcasting channels, as well as on commercial television. Viewers have the opportunity to ask questions via telephone in several service programs (ZDF Drehscheibe Deutschland, ARD-Büffet) or to give opinions on a specific issue {Stern TV). In some psychological advice programs, even a longer conversation between the presenter and the person who called in is possible (Lämmle Live). Besides these opportunities for interaction, television stays a predominantly passive medium. The aim of this chapter is not to discuss in detail if, and to what extent, the TV-audience wants to be active (for example, see Berghaus, 1995; Knobloch, 2000; Schönbach, 1997). It is certainly a great attraction and an essential function of television that one can be passively informed and entertained by watching television. However, two developments in the near future are likely to increase options for interactivity: firstly, the transition of television from an analog to a digital medium, which is also a political wish (Döbler & Stark, 1999, p. 27). Secondly, the "fusion" or linking-up of television and Internet. The digitization of television will have two consequences: On the one hand, the number of TV programs available will multiply. On the other hand, remote controls will function as the medium to give access to the feedback channel. Thus, new television-services can be created, such as telebanking or telelearning. Videophone and e-mail will offer further options to influence the shape of TV programs. Apart from these consequences of digitization, more and more TV-channels will try to captivate their viewers with elaborate presentations on the Internet. The "Wochenschau" on SAT.l was one of the first German TV programs to provide the viewers with a constantly

Cyber- TV and The New Interactivity 311 updated Internet-site offering videos, games, and further services. In the meantime, almost all game shows, and more and more information programs, have set up a similar homepage. These sites contain complementary information, but often they are also used as a feedback channel: Users can comment on the program, make propositions, or ask questions. That the interlinkage of television and Internet is still in its infancy was to be seen on the TV program fair Mipcom in Cannes in October 2000. The production company Endemol, for example, introduced three concepts linking the Web and television: In "Webfight", a candidate in the studio competes against three Internet users at home who are observed by webcams; in "TVMail", a presenter communicates via e-mail (and, for example, announces a marriage proposal to a beloved); and finally in "Five Girls", which is more a the Web show than a TV show, five girls share an apartment and are filmed. They can be observed on the Web for 24 hours a day, only the highlights are shown on TV (Meier, 2000). All connections of TV programs to the Web have in common that the Internet can be used as a feedback channel. Therefore, interactivity becomes possible to a certain degree. But the concept of "interactivity" is a category which needs interpretation. Also, the opposites passive-active or inactive-interactive-often formulated regarding media use-need to be differentiated. The examples mentioned above already demonstrate that activity respectively interactivity has to be understood as a gradual concept. It is not a question of "either-or", but more of "not only ... but also". It seems that the simple opportunity to interact-to intervene in the broadcast and to influence its content-already turns television into a more interesting medium for a certain group of users. They regard this opportunity to interact as a strong incentive to pay attention to a particular program whether they eventually take it or not. Linking-up television and the Internet actually seems to be the adequate means to attract a new audience: people who frequently use the Internet but hardly ever watch television. A first successful attempt to link-up television and the Web was made with "GIGA TV" on NBC-Europe. Like most of the shows linking up these two media, the program is directed at a young audience. A survey among active GIGA users in spring 2000 not only attempted to collect quantitative data on how often GIGA was used, but also to analyze motives and reasons for using GIGA as well as situations and contexts in which the program had been used.

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Interaction and interactivity The concept of "interactivity" has its origin in the word "interaction", which in its widest sense means "a reciprocal relationship". From a sociological point of view, interaction is interpreted as a process of reciprocal influence: Two or more people influence each other through mutually related action. The development of the first computer-based media quickly influenced the understanding of the word "interactive". In this context, already the mere possibility of entering into a dialogue with the user is described as interactivity (Goertz, 1995, pp. 477ff.). Scientists generally agree that interactivity is not achieved by reaching a certain critical threshold value, but it has to be understood as a continuum. A rather technically oriented understanding of interactivity which is very common in communication sciences as well, remains rather insufficient from a sociological point of view (for the different understandings of interactivity, see Loosen & Weischenberg, 2001, pp. 2ff.). The simple fact that a recipient actively takes part in a communication process, that he becomes an organizing participant in communicating with a medium as a partner, often suffices to speak of "interactivity". Whereas the sociological model of interaction stresses the relationship between two or more individuals who perceive each other and mutually adjust their behavior (Jäckel, 1995, pp. 463 ff.), communication sciences already describes actions between human beings and computers as interaction-as far as they somehow resemble actions between two individuals. The fact that no references are made to the behavior of the other is not taken into account (Kleinsteuber & Hagen, 1998, pp. 69ff.). Such a limited understanding of interactivity does not allow to clearly differentiate between active and sensible intervention in reaction to someone else's behavior and mere modification of a technical process. But if this mere modification of the course of events is not yet an interactive process, offers such as videoon demand, near-video-on-demand, the selection of a particular camera perspective, and even of specific dramaturgical effects cannot really be classified as interactive. As in these cases, the viewer is only allowed to select from a restricted number of options available and is not able to behave sensible towards someone else; and as, in fact, the viewer's behavior does not really change anything, using the concept of "interactivity" is

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rather meaningless in this context-or may better be understood as a vague opposite of "passivity". Even the common classification of different levels of interactivity regarding television can merely be taken as a negative definition of passiveness or as different levels of interactivity in the technically orientated understanding of the word (see Dahm, Rössler & Schenk, 1998, pp. 22ff.; Ruhrmann & Nieland, 1997, pp. 87ff.). - Level 0: The lowest level of this classification contains switching the television on and off and zapping from one channel to another. - Level 1: This category concerns the transmission of TV programs with a time delay; offers which enable the user to choose between a variety of given options, such as near-video-on-demand, multi-channel, or multi-perspective programs. - Level 2: Additional information is available. This information can-but does not have to-be related to the program. Presently, electronic program guides or Videotext (additive TV) are available at this level. - Level 3: This level comprises media-on-demand, any form of individual recall of a saved content at any time (passive user-orientation). - Level 4: This highest level of the classification has a direct feedback channel thus facilitating real interaction. Apart from participating through videophone, there is also the possibility to influence the content of a program via e-mail or to vote by using the remote control. Thus, interactivity and the corresponding level are here defined by the technical capability to intervene directly in the program and to modify the flow and depth of information according to individual criteria. However, real interactivity requires a feedback channel from the user to the provider. Only such a feedback channel facilitates a two-sided communication process and makes interaction possible. As such a feedback channel does not yet exist for television in a sufficient enough way and to an exhaustive extent, already existing and well functioning feedback channels are used instead, for example, the telephone. For one or two years now, there have been some new TV shows which make use of the Internet as a feedback channel-enabling totally new concepts of interactivity for the audience. In these shows, music and youth are the predominant subjects. GIGA TV can be used as an excellent case study for this new kind of program. No other

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program provides a higher degree of interactivity: In fact, the users shape a great part of GIGA.

Research design GIGA-TV The concept of GIGA is an early and successful linking-up of television and Internet. GIGA is not a TV channel, but a daily 5-hour live program on NBC Europe, which started in November 1998. Along with a nightly rerun and the one-hour flirt show "Heartbeat", GIGA provides 11 out of 24 hours on NBC. Since November 2000, another two hours have been added with the computer game show GIGA Games. NBC virtually is GIGA, from an economic point of view as well: GIGA's German production company DFA holds 75% of the European NBC subsidiary (Drösser, 2000, p. 97). GIGA has five domains: Stars, Netbeat, Sports and Fun, Games, and Help. The main item of the broadcast's editorial part is the possibility for the viewer to interact. Nearly all of the 4-5 minutes net reporting sequences or moderation blocks offer the user the possibility to intervene. The viewer can react and join almost all of the contributions during the five hours of live show. In contrast to most other shows, interaction is not limited to prize competitions or music requests, but gives the opportunity to ask questions, to give opinions, and to make suggestions. It is possible to communicate in chat rooms, on platforms, and blackboards. As far as human relations are concerned, the audience can join the connected Internet community. In March 2001, the online community consisted of about 146.000 members, which indicates that GIGA-TV can gain numerous fans through the Internet.3 It seems that up until now, the core element of the program has proved to be successful: namely the linking-up of the Web and television to one program with a corresponding Internet presentation and the possibility to interact with the TV program via e-mail by using the Internet as the feedback channel. The whole program can be followed on the Internet, and if someone is interested in getting a deeper insight, he can click on 14 different live webcams and recall current pictures from the New Media Studio. The long-term goal of this entertaining form of interaction is to integrate as many users as possible into the GIGA community. The users

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can stay in touch with programs via e-mail; they can interact in chat rooms, on discussion platforms, and on blackboards. As a result, they are no longer simple users but GIGA friends.4

Method But how interactive is GIGA really? How important is interactivity for the success of the show? Which version of GIGA is more fascinating-GIGA on air or GIGA online? These were some of the questions asked in an online survey among GIGA users. A further aim of the survey was to obtain an answer to the following question: Is the possibility to obtain attention through the show-e.g., when the host in the studio mentions the nickname of a member in connection with questions or criticism-a reason for using GIGA? And if "getting attention" is a motive, is it an important one? A standardized questionnaire, which could be completed online, was available on the URL www.uni-hohenheim.de/kowi/umfrage from 7th to 21st April 2000. Links to the questionnaire were installed on the GIGA sites "Community-News" and the discussion platforms of the online news. Although 197 users completed the questionnaire, generalizations can only be made with circumspection. Apart from the basic problems of online surveys (e.g., Bandilla & Hauptmann, 1998, pp. 38ff), the lack of control of the response rate and therefore of the whole sample presented major difficulties. Despite a thorough second level analysis, in particular with data from GIGA, systematic distortions could not be completely excluded. Nevertheless, we chose this survey method, as the relevant population was to be found exclusively among the GIGA users; we were not interested in nonusers. One of GIGA's basic principles is the active participation through the Web. This leads to the assumption that GIGA users are, at the same time, Internet users which could easily be reached through an online survey. Thus, a non-representative use of the Internet is not a major problem. The control of the response rate remained a critical factor, though. An essential aim of the study was to explore first data about reasons why and a context in which GIGA is used. As a result, the selected procedure seems to be appropriate, especially regarding the relevant population and the weighing-up of alternative survey procedures.

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Findings A first analysis, which concentrated on socio-demographic characteristics, revealed the dominance of men among GIGA users. Almost nine tenth of the users (88%) are male. If one does not assume a systematic distortion in the response behavior, the existing dominance of men among the Internet users seems to be amplified in specific using situations. This result is not improbable if we consider the few gender-specific analysis of data about the use of the Internet (e.g., Feierabend & Klingler, 2000). Although there is a relatively wide range of age among GIGA users-from 12 to 44 yearstwo results demonstrate that GIGA TV is mainly directed at a young target group: the average age is 20 years, the median is 17 years. The level of education is higher-than-average, which is common for Internet users. About a quarter of the respondents go to university, almost half of them have graduated from college or are planning to do so, 20% have a "mittlerer Bildungsabschluss" (middle school qualification), only 6% have stated "Hauptschulabschluss" (basic school qualification) as their highest school qualification. Due to the small number of cases, it is impossible to substantiate a proven relation between the level of education and the intensity of use. However, it is evident that especially the young GIGA users are heavy users of the Web and at the same time heavy television consumers. Considering the relevant population, it is not surprising that the Internet plays such an important role in the lives of a majority of the respondents, at least as far as the use is concerned. 77% are online daily; further 14% are online five or six days a week. On average, a third of the users are online one to two hours per day, a fifth (18%) are online more than five hours. But also regarding these results, a systematic distortion cannot be excluded. It is possible that heavy users completed the questionnaire more often than less frequent users. At the same time, such a time-intensive use is rather typical for men, what might explain-at least to a certain degree-the high proportion of men in the sample. In contrast to many other groups of heavy Internet users, the respondents point out a quite intense television consumption (see van Eimeren & Gerhard, 2000, pp. 345ff.), which is not too surprising considering the concept of GIGA TV. More than three quarters (77%) claimed to watch television daily. One third of all GIGA users watch two to three hours a day,

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which is the German average. Whereas a quarter of the respondents watch less television than the average German with less than two hours, a fifth (21%) watch five to six hours or more per day. Almost one third (31%) of the respondents appear to watch GIGA five times a week-this is just as often as GIGA is broadcasted during one week. One fourth of the audience watch GIGA three or four days a week, another fifth (21%) once or twice. It is remarkable that 12% of the respondents watch GIGA on the weekend, in other words on days when only reruns and summaries are shown. The frequency of watching GIGA TV is partially reflected in the consuming time (number of hours per day). About every fourth GIGA user is shown to watch GIGA two or three hours per day, almost 20% watch GIGA less than two hours a day and another 20% even less than one hour. In contrast, 15% of the respondents watch GIGA three to four hours per day and another 12% even more than four hours (the average consuming time is about 2.8 hours per day). Thus, a strong connection between the frequency and the duration of consumption can be pointed out (p identify who is writing. A single > indicates that the writer has included part of someone else's message in his or hers. All names are actual names except for one pseudonym. Since I was an active participant before I began this study, I have included some of my own postings sent before I began the analysis. The conversations on the list range from casual to intellectual. Obviously many conversational strategies are not possible in e-mail messages. However, conventions have rapidly been established by means of which writers follow some conventions of oral conversation. For example, simultaneous speech is not possible, but other strategies are, including paralinguistic strategies. Turn taking depends on how respondents to a message construct a conversation. As an example of how conversations are constructed, I refer to postings on December 22, 1999. I wrote a message as one long paragraph. Melisa replied by dividing my single paragraph into three at the points where I switched topics, including parts of my message in her reply and creating a collaborative conversation from my monologue. Passages from my message are marked with >: > Thought I would pass on the contents of a paper by a > student /.../ from northern Finland [whose] parents have given all > the children a Finnish first name and Swedish middle name. Now that > she's living in Sweden, she was told it would be much better if > she'd change her name so that she'd have a Swedish name-she was > appalled but felt coerced, and so switched her first and middle > names. /.../ Wow-what a story. Several features parallel conversational strategies. The verb "thought" and the modal form "would" signal that I was not completely confident of the reception of my story because it was not tied to any previous messages. My speech showed characteristics of what has been analyzed as women's speech in the use of such strategies, indicating-if we follow Lakoff (1975)-

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politeness and an associated lack of self-confidence, or-if we follow Coates (1996)-a strategy to include others in the conversation. Melisa's reply, an exclamatory "Wow", was followed by a dash, replicating a pause a person might make in conversation after such a comment. She then indicated with a short response her reception of my story and validated it as worthy of telling and reading/listening to, strategies Coates also notes. I followed up my first story with a second supporting story about my name (not included here) and then told of a related incident, to which Melisa also responded: > /.../ In a faculty coffee room discussion the other day > about the weak state of Swedish students' writing skills, a > colleague told me the problem is all the immigrants-their weak > Swedish, in her view, adversely affects the Swedish kids' language > much more than their parents' and teachers' native Swedish > positively affects their language! Have we heard this before? That's a very scary attitude, isn't it? Of course, I hear those thoughts expressed all the time when I mention that I work teaching Mexican kids English. "They're taking all the resources from 'our' kids" and so on. Grrr.... My exclamation point after relating the coffee room incident paralleled intonation which characterizes spoken language but is not possible except visually in writing. I ended with a rhetorical question when what I really meant was: "We have all heard this many times before, and it is indicative of racism." Coates maintains that women's frequent use of rhetorical questions indicates their conversational skill in both "assert[ing] the group's world view and checking] that consensus still exists" (Coates, 1996, p. 188). Melisa replied by validating that this was a concern, and she mirrored my statement in telling of similar experiences, which let me know that we were in agreement. In her response to my story, Melisa also used a tag question: "... isn't it?" The tag question functioned as another interactional means for her to tell that she had had similar experiences and left the door open for me to

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respond again and extend the topic. She thereby enlarged my story, giving it a broader application and emphasizing the importance of the story beyond my personal experience (see Coates, 1996, pp. 265f., for a similar analysis of oral conversations). The "Grrr...." at the end of her response to this story functioned as a minimal response indicating understanding of my frustration, with the 4 dots as a bridge back to my comments. The key point is that my stories were written as a one-paragraph monologue with strategies inviting others to participate, and Melisa used them to construct a written e-mail conversation that follows many of the rules of oral conversation among female friends. My stories were grammatically and structurally representative of other personal stories related on the list in that they were introduced in the present tense and then related in the past with narrative clauses in temporal sequence, as stories in conversation are (Coates; 1996; Johnstone, 1990; Labov, 1972; Polanyi, 1989). The topic of my first story, names, generated more stories from other people because it was related to the RL situation of many of the list members who have names which distinguish us from the majority society around us. But even some seemingly unrelated messages posted on that day were related to a yet larger conversation that had been going on. There had been extended and complex messages regarding Christmas, especially the infringement it makes on non-Christians. For example, the reason I wrote such a lengthy message was because I was filling time when friends were engaged in Christmas activities. The metamessage had to do with ways in which a minority group is peripheralized and copes. For a more complete picture of conversational strategies, it is necessary to consider some of the postings where the writer claims the floor. These are often more intellectual in tone. Such postings may be in reply to a question or statement made by another member, but they are not always constructed into conversations. This differs from Coates', Polanyi's, and Johnstone's claims that in conversations among peers, it is usually only in storytelling that a speaker is allowed to claim the floor; this may well differentiate e-mail conversations from oral conversations. In the message below, Jeremy included questions from Dawn about "a cultural Jew" and "a religious Jew" at the first of his message as an introduction to his topic and then replied monologically at length: > [] 1. Is it possible to be a religious Jew without being a

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> cultural Jew? > > 2. Are the two ways of being Jewish inextricably linked? To complicate the question, whose Jewish culture? /.../ Should we presume that there is such a thing as a single Jewish culture? /.../I don't really think culture is that simple. I suppose if we were to ask Rabbi Ovadiah of Bartinora, a 16th century Jewish legal authority from Germany (wrote the standard commentary on the Mishnah, for example), about Jewish culture, he might say there is no such thing. /.../ At a certain point, I think that the cultural model becomes complicated because of how phenomenologically-bound it is. /.../

Jeremy continued for three more paragraphs, posing questions to which he suggested answers in a manner similar to Talmudic study sessions. In this list, when the topic calls for lengthy uninterrupted writing, members can take over the floor and present their ideas without interruption as they do so. This is, of course, due to the medium. It is impossible for someone to interrupt a writer who does not submit the message until it is completed. But in turn, the others have the option of not reading and even deleting the message. The process becomes dialogic in a discussion list only after the message has been submitted and others respond (for a discussion of this in chat rooms see Markham, 1998, p. 210). The dialogue, which results from lengthy postings, is similar to the strategy used in debates where people wait their turn and then reply at length. Discussions or debates built on lengthy postings sometimes turn into construction of casual conversation similar to what appears above between Melisa and me. In such cases, the conversation takes off in another direction stylistically and in tone. One recurring topic is the complexity of keeping kosher, which involves keeping separate dishes for cooking and eating dairy and meat. Serious technical explanations, including the folk practice of burying in the ground dishes that have come into contact with nonkosher foods, were replied to by Rebecca in the following message: Okay, I forgot about the burying thing, but I have a friend who insists that he has seen people shove a fork into a potted plant for a month to

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"kasher" it. I'm not sure that I buy that it has any actual value as a cleaning method, but I like it!

Rebecca's opening "Okay" reflected the colloquial tone of her message. Her comments then led away from the more serious questions and prompted similar short personal stories from others, mostly with a tinge of humor, about experiences in making dishes kosher. Yet there is a complex metamessage in both the longer, more serious and the shorter, more lighthearted exchanges: Keeping kosher has long been a cultural marker differentiating Jews from non-Jews. In the last century, not keeping kosher became a subversive act of assimilation by Reform Jews to distinguish themselves from the Orthodox. That, however, has changed. Most of the people on this list identify as Reform or otherwise liberal, and many keep kosher. Both of these are subversive acts, the former against what is seen as the narrow-mindedness of Orthodoxy and the latter as opposing assimilation. The amount of time spent on details and interpretations of the laws of kashrut indicate its importance to many elu_ members. The postings that are least apt to elicit dialogic responses are those, which someone forwards from another source in the form of jokes. This seems to support the concept of the list as a community of people interested in each other. The forwarded jokes are impersonal, while the stories people tell are personal, and the longer, more philosophical discussions are explorations of shared beliefs. (Another paper is being prepared on gender and language on this list. Suffice it to say at this point that conversations here support much of the earlier research, but there is also variation.)

Constructing community Cohen interprets the word "community" as "a group of people [who] (a) have something in common with each other, which (b) distinguishes them in a significant way from the members of other putative groups" (1985, p. 12). He focuses on the boundary as "encapsulat[ing] the identity of the community and ... called into being by the exigencies of social interaction" (1985, p. 12).

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What the members of this group have in common, what sets the norms of the group, is their Jewishness. This places them in contrast to mainstream non-Jewish society, but their beliefs and practices also place them in contrast to Orthodox Jewish groups. Not only do they selectively choose not to follow many Orthodox laws, but some, who refer to themselves as cultural Jews, do not believe in the existence of God. Other areas in which they do not conform to Orthodox law include being married to a non-Jew, having converted or being in the process of converting outside of Orthodoxy, and sexual orientation. Some have chosen to join the discussion list because they have found no RL community where they fit, but others are active participants in local Jewish communities and view elu_ as an extended Jewish community. Acting together, the members delineate the subjective boundaries of the community. An indication of how far traditional Jewish boundaries are stretched in this community is that some of the men have converted without having a brit milah, or circumcision, one of the basic requirements for a Jewish male since the time of Abraham. Several men have identified themselves as gay and seem to be completely accepted by heterosexual members. This in itself involves a major redefinition of community boundaries; the Reform movement is in the process of accepting gays and lesbians equally with heterosexuals, but homosexuality is still prohibited under Orthodox law. One gay man tested the boundaries further after he had been on the list for a while by identifying himself as having had a sex change. He was not rejected, but there were no responses to this. Other members interact when he presents other topics for discussion, but have apparently not yet come to an explicit acceptance of his sex change. However, their implicit acceptance also defines the boundaries. The "process of evaluation" identified by Cohen (1985, p. 69) in relation to those standing at the edge of the boundary has taken place both explicitly and implicitly. And the boundary does explicitly exclude. As noted earlier, Messianic Jews (referred to also as "J4J", or "Jews for Jesus") are not allowed. The group mobilized actively when a World Wide Web search engine included Messianic Jews under the search term "Jewish". Evidently the /.../ search site is posting banners advertising Jews for Jesus in connection with links to Jewish sites. The following comes from a message today /.../:

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[Here Earl pasted in another message he had received]: > Its hard to believe, but its true. Just minutes ago, I verified that >/.../ has incorporated header and bottom banners promoting "Jews > for Jesus" whenever the search engine at /.../ is asked to look up > the word: Jewish. /.../ Earl's message with its embedded forwarded message sparked messages from other members over several days, and some wrote to the search engine site to protest. Faced with such threats, the community bands together. The only incident in which the group banded together against an individual in the community occurred during an intense period after Leah joined. She stated that she had grown up in a secular Jewish family but at the time of joining, she accepted only Orthodox practice and belief. A conversation representative of those that took place while Leah was in the group had to do with conversion. One member described her inner experience as well as the religious legal document she received at her Reform conversion. Leah replied: /.../ that is really beautiful. Except you are not going to like what I have to say next, and please do not take this personally. According to Jewish law, unless you have been converted according to halacha [i.e., Orthodox Jewish law], you are not considered Jewish. /.../ Justin, who had also converted recently, replied: Leah, Do NOT tell someone on here they're not Jewish!!! I'm sorry, I'm gonna flame. While you bring up some very evocative discussion here, you also say some things that are just plain provocative on a liberal Jewish list. Why did you join this list, if you do not respect Reform and Conservative ways of doing things? Leah replied in what members came to see as a typically combative tone: All I intended to do was give over the Orthox POV. If the list can't handle that, then I suggest you ban in perpetuity anyone who is Ortho ... and have a 2/3 Judaism list.

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Melisa mediated, attempting to create a conversation of reconciliation, beginning as follows: Any Jew is welcome here who is willing to respect the validity of all forms of Judaism and who can convey that respect in her/his communication. /.../

Thirteen days after Leah joined the list and following requests to remove her, Melisa took action: Well, she isn't [on the list] now. My first wielding of the moderator stick!

She then reverted to her usual peacekeeping role and, in another message, wrote: I hope those of you who were hurt can forgive me, even you Leah.

Almost audible sighs of both relief that Leah was gone and regret that they had not been able to successfully include her filled elu_'s cyberspace, and support for Melisa was strong. The tone of the list changed radically during this period, and members seemed in consensus that the new member was not adhering to established norms. Nevertheless, despite the ultimate ostracizing of Leah, the exchanges indicated the efforts of group members not to offend. Justin, even in his strongest statements, asked for conciliation in the form of a question: "Can you see the difference ...?", a verbal strategy to draw Leah in. Leah was banned not because of her Orthodox practices and beliefs, but because of her verbal behavior, the only behavior possible on a discussion list, and because she threatened the right of some of the members to belong to the larger Jewish community. In general, the members support each other regardless of differences in opinion or belief. This is a characteristic elu_ holds in common with many contemporary RL and cyber support groups (Andersson, 1999; Galegher et al., 1998; Herrman, 1999). The lack of argument even when there is disagreement differentiates the list from RL families and communities and from those discussion lists where violent flaming takes place (Kellett, 1999). The prevailing conversational practice is to maintain a collaborative floor unless threats to the community are perceived.

Ethnography on the Net 357 Conclusion A sense of belonging is crucial to a community. This discussion list fulfills certain criteria for a community, and discussion topics encompass a range which groups of friends in a community share. But elu_ obviously does not incorporate the full range of activities and relationships, which a community does in RL. Most notably, of course, this is a community where most people have not seen each other in RL and only communicate via CMC, although quite a few have posted photos on the website and some have met. For Melisa's 35th birthday, many sent squares of fabric snail mail for a quilt she then made. As Cohen notes: "... 'community' provides not so much a model, but more an expedient medium for the expression of very diverse interests and aspirations" (1985, p. 108). The community members are people who are culturally linked by their adherence to liberal Judaism as a way of life and linguistically linked by the kinds of written language they convey through cyberspace. The language, e-mail language, functions as a stylistic interlanguage between conversation and the more abbreviated style of some discussion lists and chat rooms. The boundaries of this list are fluid within the limits established by the list owner and agreed to by the members. If we apply a definition of community as a mental construct which has been symbolically constructed through (1) a sense of belonging and identification and (2) a setting of boundaries which include certain concepts and distinguish this community from others, and if we also (3) specify the mode in which this community exists, computer-mediated communication, elu_velu can be described as a specialized Jewish cyber discourse community. The members follow conversational conventions of people who are linked in a community of friends, and the metamessages have to do with Jewishness (see Cohen, 1985, pp. 115-116, on community, and Dashefski, 1972; and Moskow, 1990, for discussions of Jewish identity and identification). This supports Cohen's analysis that rather than becoming obsolete in contemporary society, the process involved in forming communities "calls now to a greater extent than in the past on that sense of self and the ingenuity with which it may be expressed. Community, whether local or ethnic, or in whatever form, need not therefore be seen as an anachronism in urbanindustrial society. Rather, it should be regarded as one of the modalities of

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behavior available within such societies" (Cohen, 1985, p. 117). Gans, who in 1956 projected various directions in which American Jewry might go, indicated that Jewish religion and culture would likely "be a combination of old and new elements" (1956, p. 563) and that the religious element might be strong, if in a different shape from the Eastern European Orthodoxy of many immigrants. This is happening on elu_yelu. [reporting on a phone chat she and Arnie had] It got me to thinking about how both Judaism and the Internet have expanded my sense of community-in both cases, I now feel that I can go into nearly any other town and find friends, and support if I need it. The discussion list, described by Arnie as "community-building", is an outgrowth of not only modern communications technology but a search for community and is manifest in the language used in it, indicating that the Internet and communities on it are becoming a means for extending Judaism as a way of life in the 21st century.

Primary data Eluvelu (1999, July 24). [Discussion list for Liberal Jewish practice and observance, On-line], Available: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elu_velu (1999, July 24-2001, February 18).

References Andersson, K. (1999). Discussion lists: Therapy for our time? Unpublished paper, University of Trollhättan-Uddevalla, Sweden. Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, Α., & Tipton, S. M. (1996). Habits of the heart: Individualism and commitment in American life (updated ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. Bunting, L. J. (1999). My husband, my children, my God ... are my life: An ethnographic study of an e-mail list. Unpublished paper, University of TrollhättanUddevalla, Sweden. Coates, J. (1996). Women talk. Oxford: Blackwell. Cohen, A. P. (1985). The symbolic construction of community. London: Routledge.

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Dashefski, A. (1972). The search goes on: The meaning of religio-ethnic identity and identification. Sociological Analysis, 55(4), 239-245. Ervin-Tropp, S. (1964). An analysis of the interaction of language, topic, and listener. In J. J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (Eds.), American anthropologist special publication: The ethnography of communication (pp. 86-102). Menasha, WI: American Anthropological Association. Galegher, J., Sproull, L., & Kiesler, S. (1998). Legitimacy, authority, and community in electronic support groups. Written Communication, 15(4), 493-530. Gans, H. (1956). The future of American Jewry: Part II. Commentary, 21(6), 555563. Haines, J. (1998, November). "Oil Skins": Trans-Atlantic gay skinhead discourse on the Internet. Paper presented at the NIC Symposium on Intercultural Communication, Göteborg, Sweden. Herrman, L. (1999). Gay-chat: A heterosexual experience. Unpublished paper, University of Trollhättan-Uddevalla, Sweden. Johnstone, B. (1990). Stories, community and place: Narratives from middle America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Kellett, A. (1999). An Internet discussion group: A psychological saviour for the Young Marine Wives. Unpublished paper, University of TrollhättanUddevalla, Sweden. Kylén, E. (1999). Women's talk and relationships: An Internet ethnography of the discussion list PALZ4EVER. Unpublished paper, University of TrollhättanUddevalla, Sweden. Labov, W. (1972). Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English vernacular. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Lakoff, R. (1985). Language and woman's place. New York: Harper & Row. Lorentzson, A. (1999). Women's talk and friendship on a discussion list. Unpublished paper, University of Trollhättan-Uddevalla, Sweden. Markham, A. N. (1998). Life online: Researching real experience in virtual space. Walnut Creek: Atla Mira. Moskow, M. A. (1990). An integrated approach to Judaics and general studies in a Jewish day school. Ethnic Groups, 5(1), 15-28. Polanyi, L. (1989). Telling the American story: A structural and cultural analysis of conversation storytelling. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Seidler, V. J. (2000). Shadows of the Shoah: Jewish identity and belonging. New York: Oxford.

4.5 Explorations in Students' Sense-Making of the Internet Micheline Frenette1

This chapter presents an exploratory study that explored the relevance of sense-making methodology for understanding how university students integrate the Internet into their lives and in what ways their cognitive, emotional, and social experiences may be altered through their Internet practice. Sense-making methodology assumes that humans only use information resources in the context of their own personal trajectory-where they have come from, what they are struggling with, and where they are going. Indepth interviews were conducted with twenty undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25 about their thoughts and practices with regard to the multiple aspects of the Internet. Their responses were analyzed using the core metaphor of the sense-making methodology-the idea that the person's progression through time space involves step-takings across gaps and building bridges (cognitive, emotional, spiritual, physical) from past to future. In the context of Internet use, the kinds of gap-facing and gapbridging emphasized are the asking of questions (implicitly or explicitly), the searching (purposively or capriciously) for answers, and the constructing of answers that work for each person. In closing, reflections are offered on the challenges and promises of studying the social significance of communication technologies in accordance with such a dialogic model of communication.

Introduction As with any new communication medium, the Internet has sparked a great deal of research in the last few years, but few studies focus on the personal significance of this technology for individuals. Sense-making is a phenomenologically-based interpretive approach which has been under development by Dervin and colleagues since the early seventies (Dervin, 1980, 1989, 1998, 1999). It consists of a body of conceptual and theoretical prem-

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ises and a set of related methodologies for assessing how people make sense of their worlds and how they use information and other resources in the process. This chapter examines the relevance of the sense-making approach as a means of revealing how and why people integrate the Internet into their lives. A preliminary investigation with college students will serve as a testing ground for this approach but I will first present some recent research and raise some issues about the contribution of these studies to our understanding of the Internet.

Current studies on the Internet I have organized a selective review of the literature around the four strands of questioning that appear to characterize research on the Internet. A first major line of research is concerned with the uses of the Internet and very often, in regard to the time allocation among different media. Although there is not total agreement (e.g., Kayany & Yelsma, 2000) studies find that, on the whole, the Internet converges and interacts with other media in fulfilling information and interaction needs and that there is no significant or consistent evidence of time displacement of media or social activities (Coffey & Stipp, 1997; Flanagin & Metzger, 2001; Stempel, Hargrove, & Bernt, 2000). Other closely connected research questions focus on particular characteristics of the contents or on the concrete technology supporting the various uses of the Internet. For example, studies conclude that both users and non-users rate the credibility of the Web as remarkably similar to television both in the U.S.A. (Flanagin & Metzger, 2000) and in Germany (Schweiger, 2000) or that higher levels of connectivity and CD-ROM ownership are reflected in using computers for entertainment and to pass time, independently of age (Perse & Dunn, 1998). A second important line of research attempts to match personal characteristics of individuals to their Internet use, whether it be age or personality variables. For instance, many studies point to a generational effect (e.g., Kayany & Yelsma, 2000) and surveys of college students frequently reveal the salience of entertainment as a motive for visiting the WWW among this age group (Althaus & Tewksbury, 2000; Ferguson & Perse, 2000). Another example is the finding that Internet use among young adults is not linked to social disengagement but, on the contrary, to civic engagement, with the

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nuance that this applies to informational uses of the Internet (Shah, Kwak & Holbert, 2001). In another survey of college students, Papacharissi and Rubin (2000) discovered that those who found interpersonal interaction to be rewarding, were mobile, satisfied with their lives, and were less anxious with face-to-face communication, used the Internet as a convenient means of seeking information and entertainment, rather than for interpersonal utility or to fill time. A study by Atkin, Jeffres, and Neuendorf (1998) offered some support for the early adopter profiles derived from diffusion theory since technology orientation (i.e., need for innovativeness) emerged as one of the points of differentiation for Internet access groups. Finally, Internet users in a nation-wide U.S. survey showed signs of more active social lives than nonusers (Robinson, Kestnbaum, Neustadtl, & Alvarez, 2000). A third area of research focuses on the possible deleterious or beneficial effects of the Internet on individuals and society as a whole. On the negative side with regard to individuals, there has been talk about Internet addiction (e.g., Young, 1996) although the evidence appears to be mostly anecdotal. However, one study in particular based on a wide sample and longitudinal data reported that Internet caused social isolation and depression (Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, & Scherlis, 1998). The study received wide coverage but also substantial critique. Indeed, other researchers (e.g., McKenna & Bargh, 2000) claim the evidence about the psychological consequences of the Internet is reassuring for the majority of people. A fourth strand of contemporary inquiry concerns the significance of the Internet as a cultural phenomenon in the context of peoples' lives. Space does not allow me to do justice to (nor to soundly evaluate) some of the qualitative investigations and reflections that are contributing in very significant ways to our understanding of the Internet, particularly as regards children and adolescents (e.g., Abbott, 1998; Buckingham, Harvey & Sefton-Green, 1999; Livingstone & Bovili, 1999; Sefton-Green, 1998; Sjöberg, 1999). Although this body of quality research about media and youth is growing, I concur with Walsh (2000) that some significant gaps remain. In that context, it seems worthwhile to explore sense-making as a new theoretical and methodological avenue, given the limitations of the three other areas of research to be discussed below.

364 Micheline Frenette Questions about current studies A first preoccupation is that research on the Internet is often, explicitly, or implicitly, technology-centered. However active the audience is posited to be, in principle, the beginning and end point of most surveys on uses and effects appear to be the technology itself. One problem is that such findings become rapidly obsolete as endless streams of media products call for ever new surveys to keep up with the situation. More importantly, studies that frame the questions about influence in terms of cause and effect may seriously limit our understanding of the social significance of the phenomenon. Sefton-Green (1998) comments on the technological determinism that guides many contemporary studies: "... it is still surprising that one social development, electronic technology, is being used to explain changes in a whole range of social domains" (Sefton-Green, 1998, p. 14). McKenna and Bargh (2000) also point out that the Internet in and of itself can hardly be considered a main effect cause of any kind of psychological change and thereby remind us not to fall prey to a linear explanatory model. I concur when they call instead for studies designed to grasp the specificity of the new medium. Sense-making methodology, as a phenomenological approach, does not look for causal relationships between people and technology. Instead, it attempts to capture the underlying dynamics of what moves people to turn to media/technology, among the resources available to them, as they endeavor to conduct their lives in the most fulfilling manner possible. A second concern is in relation to the stability and meaning of the relationship between individuals' motives and their uses of specific media, which is the driving question of so many studies. When Ferguson & Perse (2000) conclude that there are more similarities than differences between TV viewing and Web surfing (the latter being an important source of entertainment), I find myself pondering what such a finding really means in the context of people's lives. For instance, would it not be just as interesting, if not more so, to know why some people use the Internet for enjoyment more than for other purposes, why they use the Internet more than other means of relaxation or why the Internet is not a major source of entertainment for others? Instead of describing the connections between motives and people's uses of particular media, sense-making methodology acknowledges the contextual dynamics of people's uses of the information resources available

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to them, thereby cutting across specific technologies. It would lead us to ask, for instance, why the Internet is construed as an agreeable means of relaxation for individuals at this moment and in these circumstances. A third question regards the significance of the studies on the personal and social attributes that presumably explain why people use technologies. Papacharissi and Rubin (2000) suggest "contextual age" as a life-position construct to account for the limitations of using chronological age in communication research. But when they find that those less satisfied with their lives have greater affinity for the Internet, I wonder why more so than other means? Does this finding imply that all those unsatisfied with their lives will turn to the Internet? and that those who get involved in personal relationships on the Internet are necessarily unsatisfied with their lives? Another example comes from the study by Atkin, Jeffres, and Neuendorf (1998) who find that Internet use is related to the need for inno vati veness. This finding implies that some people are not "innovative" enough, which is why they are moderate users or non-users of the Internet. In short, an equation is invariably set up to distinguish the have-nots from the haves and the former must get more of what they lack-education, money, literacy, motivation to read news, computer skill, etc.-so that they can become the haves. In contrast, sense-making assumes that behavior bound to situations and based on cognitive events is best predicted by characteristics of these events, not by a priori characteristics of the participants.

Why sense-making methodology2 Sense-making is a phenomenologically-based interpretive approach which considers individuals as mandated by the human condition to strive to create meaning that connects with their personal life goals as they move through situationally and socially anchored times and places. This metaphor rests on a discontinuity assumption-that reality and life are gap-filled, so that humans must navigate ever-changing conditions in which sense must be made, unmade, and remade. Gappiness is assumed to arise because of differences across time (e.g., self today versus self yesterday, scientific fact today versus scientific fact tomorrow, etc.) and across space (e.g., the experience of a particular condition in differing cultures, communities, material circumstances, etc). "Sense-making refocuses attention from the tran-

366 Micheline Frenette scendent individual or ever-changing and constantly challenged nouns to the verbing, that is, on practices rather than persons, on the hows of human sense-making and sense-unmaking" (Dervin, 1999, p. 735). Across the range of conditions humans face, it is assumed that every potential mode of gap-bridging is useful in some context. In sense-making, these myriad ways are conceptualized as verbings. In simple terms, a nouning approach implies that we are attempting to uncover connections presumed to exist in a quasi-permanent relationship (e.g., belonging to a gender/social group or displaying a particular attitude on the one hand, and the uses one is likely to make of the Internet on the other). For example, in a nouning approach, the Internet might be defined as a technology that saves time, and is, therefore, unequivocally desirable and those who do not share this view are considered lacking in innovativeness. In a verbing approach we learn how people make sense of the Internet in their experiential contexts: People may not think saving time is a priority at this point in their lives or this advantage may be overshadowed by problems the Internet poses for them or by the benefits they gain from other informational sources instead. The aim of the sense-making informed analysis is to provide contextually unique detail as well as a means of ordering unique lived experience in terms of universal categories of movement that are helpful to compare people at different times in the life cycle and across different situations and cultures. Sense-making studies have shown that in contrast to noun categories typically used in media research (e.g., demographic groups, personality factors, lifestyles, and interests), sense-making verbing categories (i.e., time-space-movement-gap) account for more variance in understanding audience sense-making and outcomes with fewer categories. Finally, sensemaking also offers a coherent methodology for data collection and analysis, which guided the study described below.

An exploratory study on sense-making of the Internet The sense-making

interview

An interview was designed in accordance with sense-making's methodological premises (Dervin, 1980) with the goal of understanding how univer-

Explorations in Students ' Sense-Making of the Internet 367 sity students construct meaning from their experience with the Internet. The respondents were met individually and were asked to describe the situations where they first heard about the Internet, began using it and are currently using it. For each turning point, subjects were asked about their life context, needs, and goals, what they struggled with at that point in their lives and whether they also struggled with the Internet (problems, questions, gaps, obstacles), how they resolved those struggles (resources, solutions) and how they evaluated the outcomes (helps, hindrances). Each interview lasted ninety minutes on average and was audio taped.

Data analysis The interview transcripts were analyzed using the core metaphor of the sense-making methodology. Sense-making's verbing-focused category schemes, situation movement states, and utilities (helps), are a set of categories that focus on how the informant sees self as stopped or moving at a particular moment in time. The actual categories vary from study to study but nine category examples are illustrative: decision (where one needs to choose between two or more roads ahead), problematic (being dragged down a road not of your own choosing), spin-out, wash-out (not having a road, losing a road), barrier (knowing where you want to go but something blocks the way), being led (following someone down the road who has traveled it before), observing (watching without being concerned about movement), out to lunch (tuning out, escaping), waiting (waiting for something in particular), and passing time (spending time without waiting for something in particular). Utilities (helps) are used to evaluate the uses of information systems in terms of how they facilitate movement through time-space and fall into categories such as: able to plan, got skills, got out of a bad place, got control, got connected, got support, found direction, got a new perspective, got pleasure, arrived where they wanted, etc.

Subjects Twenty individual interviews were conducted with students from an undergraduate communications program in a large-city university in Quebec,

368 Micheline Frenette Canada. The thirteen females and seven male participants were between the ages of 20 and 26. College students are not representative of the general population but they provide an interesting sample to explore some of the hypotheses of sense-making methodology. As a group, they share some characteristics: They are at the same point in their life cycle, they have a strained economic situation for the most part, they are extremely busy (most work and study long hours), they are knowledgeable, they face institutional pressure from the University to use the Internet, they have access to academic resources to help them with the Internet and campus life gives them the added opportunity of sharing expertise among themselves. It becomes interesting then, to discover whether communication practices differ (for similar or different reasons) and whether similar practices may reveal various meanings within this relatively homogeneous group.

Findings: How students make sense of the Internet In presenting the findings, I have extracted major themes regarding the subjects' interpretations of and intersections with the Internet and I have grouped these themes within the three major categories of the sense-making metaphor with illustrative quotes drawn from the interviews. In keeping with the exploratory nature of this chapter, I will comment on my own understanding of sense-making methodology as I report the findings.

Where one is coming from Within the first part of the sense-making metaphor, an individual's prior experience, actual situation, and personal needs contribute to shaping the significance of the initial circumstances in which the Internet is encountered. Experience During the interviews, it became apparent that students' experiences with media and computers interact with self-perception triggered by the life situation in which the Internet is encountered and thereby play a part in the

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way they construct their own meaning of this technology. Those who had experimented as teenagers on their own or because of favorable circumstances became the leaders in the college setting and their technological expertise, a convenient social asset both with male and female peers. The circumstances in which beginners are introduced to the Internet as young adults can make a significant difference in their experience. Constructive support helped some subjects overcome their computer anxiety and they subsequently went on to develop their skills further, to the point of actually enjoying work with the Internet. "At first I thought it was such a big thing, the media were always talking about the information superhighway, that I felt I could easily get lost in it." Others groped by themselves and some continued experiencing difficulty in closing the gap between their novice status and a satisfactory integration. M o v i n g f r o m a nouning to a verbing perspective allows us to go further than labeling people as innovators or laggards and consider instead h o w o n e ' s k n o w - h o w infuses encounters with the Internet with different meanings. For the expert, it is a passport to new relationships or a showcase for o n e ' s talent; for the beginner, the Internet comes as a reminder of o n e ' s incompetence or as a welcome challenge.

Situation Seeing h o w sense-making about the Internet is necessarily anchored in p e o p l e ' s life situation is another important dimension to examine. Within the metaphor as applied to the Internet, the scheme of "situation" includes their current life-situation, as well as the specific situation they have constructed with regard to the Internet. General

life-situation:

One thing the subjects shared, whatever their

level of comfort with the Internet, was the social and institutional pressure to use it. Also, the rapid diffusion a m o n g their peers results in the Internet being viewed as a generational phenomenon. "In 3-4 years, it simply will not be possible to bypass the Internet." "At first there were three people you knew who had e-mail, now there are three people who don't have it."

370 Micheline Frenette This group of subjects also had in common truly demanding schedules such that they concentrated on the functional uses of the Internet, at least during the school year. To the extent that the Internet helped them manage a complex life situation, it became an asset that seems well worth the investment. Another contextual element derives from the financial constraints common to most students which lead them to juggle costs by different means: share lodging and equipment, subscribe to free servers and tolerate advertising on their computer screen as a consequence, etc. Particular life circumstances or turning points may also spark a specific need for the Internet. For instance, moving to another city to study or going on a year-trip abroad makes the Internet appear as a practical, if not essential, way to keep in touch with family and friends. Hence, a combination of situational elements pushed the interviewees toward the Internet. Some embraced this situation with enthusiasm, while others followed the current more out of a sense of obligation. Situation with the Internet: Some respondents had stabilized their patterns of Internet use, having found some equilibrium with regard to their personal needs. "It is true I couldn't get by without the Internet now. But I am not crazy, I don't go on the Internet three hours each day." "In our day and age, the Internet is important. For the needs I have, things are going well and I enjoy using it."

Tied in with the current situation is their forecasting of how they see themselves with the Internet down the road. Some expressed reserved optimism and plan to integrate it in progressively in different ways as they move from one life situation to the next. Others are reluctant to envision anything other than their present pattern. "The Internet is a tool among many others. It will never be the predominant tool for me unless I am forced to do so at work."

Therefore, viewing a person's sense-making of technology as simultaneously anchored in the past, present, and future seems relevant. Measuring one's progress in mastering the technology can provide added satisfaction;

Explorations in Students ' Sense-Making of the Internet 371 similarly, envisioning extended usage for the future may make today's investment more gratifying.

Needs Needs in relation to the Internet may be explored in two ways, first in terms of how the Internet helps college students meet their needs and second, in terms of the needs they have with respect to the Internet per se. Needs satisfied through the Internet: Respondents use the Internet to satisfy functional personal needs, foremost of which is time management. "That is the great advantage of e-mail, the flexibility, being able to write and reply whenever YOU want to."

Some individuals also get deep personal satisfaction from their technical know-how and their creative accomplishments in relation with the Internet. "I look at my Web site and say, hey I did that! There is a good chance someone else will see it and realize all the work that went into it."

Another need that may be very significant is to feel part of the avant-garde and to identify with the idea of modernity. In some ways, the Internet appeared as a generational phenomenon, something that made young people distinct, that gave them an edge on life and facilitated their insertion into the wider world. "I think it was the novelty of the technology. It was promising, incredible, the new equality. It was the new society, a new era of communication that was opening up for U.S."

Needs with regard to the Internet: On the other hand, some people expressed needs with regard to the Internet that were not satisfied. Several subjects felt that the level of their technical skills did not enable them to feel truly comfortable with the Internet. They were standing on the margins, looking for bridges to familiarity. Some expressed the need for total security with regard to the quality of the information and the reliability of the technical apparatus.

372 Micheline Frenette "I would like it if all the content on all the sites could be verified." "I don't feel like entrusting all my memory, all my knowledge to a computer. If it dies tomorrow, it's dead. The papers will still be there." For some people, the sensual/esthetic experience of media is more important, and the Internet may or may not be meaningful in this regard. For example, some appreciate their computer in a physical way (the sounds, the light, "playing" the keyboard as a musical instrument, ...) while others prefer the physical manipulation of print media (the noise of ruffling the newspaper, the smell of the ink, the control over the whole object,...). "I will never consult a newspaper on the Internet. I like what is concrete. I like to see my newspaper, I want to turn the pages. I don't want to click to get an article." In other cases, personal needs direct them to other media of communication. Thus, respondents who said they greatly valued personal interactions offered it as the reason why they shied away from chatting and virtual relationships. "I enjoy interacting with people a great deal. Nothing can replace that. I always feel like going out. I would be missing something if my leisure time was spent on the Internet." "The way I see it, you can't replace human contact by a computer screen, never, never, in whatever sphere of life." In short, it is quite clear that the Internet is constructed in people's minds as having certain attributes: As a consequence, some shy away from Internet because they want human contact, others throw themselves into the Internet for precisely the same reason.

What one is struggling with Studying people's integration of the Internet according to the sense-making metaphor also involves understanding what they are attempting to achieve and how the Internet may intersect with these ongoing struggles. These struggles are expressed through the problems, questions, obstacles, and

Explorations in Students ' Sense-Making of the Internet 373 gaps they perceive to be standing in the way of their respective accomplishments.

Problems Problems with the Internet: For these University students, a major problem was how to judge the credibility of the information available on the Internet. As to the other kinds of struggles expressed, some were technical, having to do directly with the technology itself such as the failings of computer systems, or with by-products of the Internet, notably unwanted advertising and junk mail. "You're visiting a site and all of sudden, something springs into your face. It's an ad! It gets really annoying." "The junk mail is really annoying. I don't know how they get a hold of our addresses. It's not very secure."

Translating this into the category schemes of situation-movement states, we can say that the case of advertising is an example of a problematic situation, that is, being led down a road not of your own choosing whereas a technical difficulty may be labeled a wash-out (i.e., losing your way), and the reliability of the information requires a decision to be made about its value. It is interesting to observe how people make sense of problems differently according to values, abilities, or degree of interference with other spheres. For example, advertising on the Internet may be a mere technical challenge to solve, and as such, almost a pleasure for one individual, whereas for another, it is a dire reminder of the economic forces that shape contemporary society. Personal problems: Issues of confidentiality and privacy were an important concern for several respondents. Moral dilemmas about virtual friendships were also expressed; some students were hesitant about the nature of these relationships and thought it was a risky endeavor that amounts to escaping from the real world. In other words, they find themselves in a situation movement state where a decision needs to be made about the value of virtual relationships and some decide not to get involved but to observe.

374 Micheline Frenette "It's not real. It's a computer. With a keyboard, you can say anything. For it to be healthy, you need to be in contact with people and to deal with reality even if it is not to your liking. It's important to go out into the world."

Social problems: Even Internet enthusiasts expressed concern about social problems related to the Internet. First and foremost, is the numerical divide, that is, the widening gap between the economically privileged and the others, a situation that is seen to be regrettable in a democratic system. "Democracy is about reaching consensus. How can you work towards consensus if three quarters of the people are information-poor? The Internet will accentuate differences between the privileged and the others."

Some of the moderate users were worried that people may become too dependent on the Internet such that relationships would progressively become depersonalized. "The Internet is going too far too fast, it scares me a little. We will a reach a point of no-return with regard to the Internet. I'm afraid to see what will happen 20 years from now."

Other concerns expressed about the Internet were the rampant commercialization, the amplification of many social problems such as violence and fraud and the effects on physical health of sitting for hours in front of a computer. In short, the social concerns may be seen as problematic (i.e., being dragged down a road involuntarily) because they observed the phenomenon but felt powerless to act upon it on a collective scale. "Human nature being what it is, there will always be abuse and the Internet will not always be used in a constructive manner. That is a little scary."

Questions Strugglings with the Internet were also expressed directly through questions about the reliability of the system, both technically and content-wise and also about the psychological ramifications of using the Internet.

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"What will happen if there is no back-up plan in case of system breakdown?" "How can I tell if it's credible? Is it true or was it written by just anyone?" "I wonder if it makes you more of an individualist? Even if you're with someone-you are typing by yourself."

Obstacles The Internet may be used as a means to overcome obstacles standing in the way of personal achievements but there may also be significant obstacles in dealing with the Internet itself. An important barrier for several respondents who have weaker computer skills had to do with the technical nature of the Internet and the ensuing frustration of powerlessness when faced with the limits of the system (e.g., freeze, crash, unsuccessful downloading of files, etc.). "Sometimes it doesn't work and you are stuck: So now what do I do?" "What blocks me at one point is the machine." "Often it takes a long time or pages are not available. It's frustrating and it makes me furious."

Gaps Just as the Internet may be used to fill gaps in someone's life, so did the respondents express gaps relative to their appropriation of the Internet, the major ones being clearly the lack of skills, computer anxiety, and feeling at a loss in specific situations (e.g., finding help on the Internet). "Sometimes, I try to do things by myself but I can't get too far. What if that thing freezes! Then I'll be stuck. The system is fragile I find." "There's a way of filtering junk mail, I've tried but it's very complicated." Another very significant gap for several participants was understanding the appeal of virtual relationships. Some of them did not feel competent to manage virtual relationships and therefore could not envision authentic relationships being established outside of real-life encounters.

376 Micheline Frenette "I can't imagine that you would form a real friendship. Personally, I need human contact to experience true friendship. Otherwise, it's a bit mechanical." "There you are in front of your screen and you can talk to anyone. I find that really strange."

Hence, they were confused by the fact that people around them did engage in such relationships and dismayed because they did not understand the passion some had developed for the Internet. In sense-making category schemes, they seemed to be observing and tuning out from this phenomenon.

Where one is going to In the third part of the sense-making metaphor, the individual's relationship with technology is examined in regard to his/her personal strivings, that is, seeing to what extent the technology is perceived as a resource or a solution and what uses are developed. The Internet as a resource: The Internet in itself is used by respondents as a resource to help them realize their personal goals, mainly because it is considered an incredible storehouse of information. "I don't think I will ever be blocked, given the possibilities of the Internet ; I have always considered the Internet as an open door." "When I need something, it is clear that the Internet is there and that I can find an answer."

Subjects also provided specific examples of how they used the Internet for different personal objectives: To trace a lost friend, to deal with illness (find out medical and alternative viewpoints), with shyness (find a girlfriend), or with bereavement (design a Web site in memory of a lost parent), to plan and carry out a career change, etc. Strictly speaking, all these activities could be accomplished without the Internet, but some persons felt energized by its convenience and flexibility in helping them get out of a bad place or gain a new perspective on their situation.

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Resources with regard to the Internet: Nonetheless, given that the Internet itself poses a certain number of problems, subjects also have to find resources to deal with the technology. In most cases, the major resource is quite simply themselves, since most felt confident about their coping skills. A clear phenomenon is the social networking surrounding the introduction of the Internet into their lives. "I learned from my friends. And then you show it to your family and it ends up that everyone knows how it works." Indeed, when subjects were introduced to the world of Internet by a friend, it was usually a highly pleasant and productive experience. Hence, the situation-movement state of being led (following someone who has been there before) is a significant way to make their discovery of the Internet more meaningful.

Solutions The solutions that respondents identified to deal with the Internet fall into two major categories, the first one being personal adjustment strategies. This kind is very clearly the major way of solving the problems they encounter with the Internet, and the most frequent solution within this category consists in adjusting their own behavior. For instance, to deal with the problem of the poor quality of information, a strategy may be to restrict their use of Internet as a secondary or complementary source of information; similarly, they learn to block or ignore ads, to be cautious and use common sense, to set clear limits on the time they spend on the Internet or what they use it for. "I take what I need and I leave the rest for the internaute who really like it." "The Internet is an enormous resource that I am glad to have at my disposal but I keep it out of my everyday life and it's fine that way." Another personal adjustment strategy involves improving their skills through formal or informal training. A third kind of strategy in this group is, trying to achieve some kind of acceptance in their minds by taking a

378 Micheline Frenette reasoned stance with regard to what they find objectionable about the Internet. "It's a luxury, so I won't complain." "It is a little worrisome but you can't dwell on it because you would never go on the Internet." "It's like any situation, you need to be on your guard."

Solutions for improving the Internet were rarely expressed by the respondents, seemingly an indication of the extent to which several of them perceived the Internet as an autonomous entity that escapes control. Only a few said they would like to see improvements in the way the Internet functions, for example to make search engines more user-friendly and reliable and to have access to some form of help, even though they immediately dismissed such desires as wishful thinking. "A clearing-house of resource-persons. A huge central office full of intelligent human beings who know how to search on the Internet. That's my dream."

Minority voices also spoke out for some kind of control through legislation of the Internet that should be carried out by some international independent body, but without exception, they simultaneously assumed the idealism of their point of view. "How can we ensure the security of the Internet? My Lord, I guess no one knows." "I don't have any solution in mind but I know something has to be done."

Uses When asked how they used the Internet to help achieve their goals, respondents described in what ways the Internet intersected with various spheres of their lives, the major ones being academic achievement and personal relationships. Academic achievement: As far as their studies are concerned, it is quite clear that the Internet has become indispensable as an academic tool, and

Explorations in Students ' Sense-Making of the Internet 379 most of the subjects were enthusiastic about this new resource; it is viewed not only as a library but also as a very practical way to communicate with professors, teaching assistants, and classmates (especially for group assignments) and to manage the administrative details of academia (register for classes, pay tuition fees, obtain grades, etc.). "I could see it was a whole package of useful information for our assignments. Up until then, we had to go to the library but now, there was this new possibility of finding just about ANYTHING we wanted, on any subject matter." "It is SO rapid and you can find SO MANY things! I get ideas more quickly that way than reading a 400-page book. It saved my life last semester."

Maintaining and establishing relationships: The other major pole of the Internet for our subjects is definitely in the sphere of personal relationships, e-mail being the leading use for just about everyone. Above all, the Internet serves to maintain and extend contacts with family and friends, by facilitating the practical planning of encounters and events and by strengthening the emotional bonding among them (e.g., taking advantage of the written mode for self-disclosure, spontaneously exchanging jokes, thoughts, and greeting cards, etc.) In short, subjects perceived the Internet as a multifaceted communication tool that was helpful in staying connected with others. The Internet is also used by many students as a way to establish new relationships, some of which may remain virtual, while others may become real-life friends or lovers. When asked why it would be more meaningful than placing a personal ad in a newspaper, it appeared that the Internet was perceived to provide more privacy, a wider reach and greater ease for the process as a whole. It is also a convenient way to approach new real-life acquaintances more discreetly than by telephone. Converging with other media: The Internet also comes into play in several other life management areas, one of which is accessing media. Many respondents took advantage of the Internet's unique capabilities to enhance their experience of other media (e.g., viewing missed programs, searching archives, checking the foreign press, ...). Music holds a special place in young adults' lives, and for those competent enough to benefit from it, the Internet provides a significant way of enriching their musical culture by

380 Micheline Frenette allowing them to break through the barriers of commercial media and the music industry. So when they build a personal discotheque directly from the Internet, it is not only a matter of saving money but also of winning a battle against established agents. "The Internet has totally changed the way I enjoy music. It gives you supplementary freedom. It's not because it plays on the radio that music is of high quality. I was getting sick of hearing the same artists and the same songs over and over."

A multiplicity of uses: Since most respondents also work to support themselves, some found confirmation of the professional value of the Internet and others used the Internet as a way of displaying their competence on the job. The Internet is also used as a multi-dimensional planning tool in practically all areas of life (finding a job or an apartment, preparing for a trip, shopping, etc.). The picture of the Internet that emerges most often is that of a stepping-stone to social and cultural activities, although some do use the Internet as a means of entertainment per se; in addition to playing games, they seek information on their hobbies and passions, and they also surf for the pleasure of discovering new topics or new points of view. Translated into sense-making schemes, some are able to plan, some get rested and some gain new perspectives through their explorations of the Web. In summary, the Internet was meaningful to these college students to the extent that it converged with several dimensions of their experience, as they moved forward in their life trajectories.

Discussion Extracting from the findings presented above, this final section of the chapter presents an argument for the application of sense-making to the study of the Internet, both in terms of the promises it holds and the challenges it presents. In the exploratory study reported in this chapter, sense-making methodology was used as a way to understand how university students' sense-making about the Internet connected with sense-making about their own lives. Obviously, there is a wide range of individual differences and circumstances that shape one's experience with the Internet, but some de-

Explorations in Students ' Sense-Making of the Internet 381 gree of convergence did emerge from the interviews. One caveat is that a greater proportion of the subjects interviewed were moderate users or relatively recent newcomers, possibly because they saw the interview as a means to move forward in their understanding of the Internet, which they approached very cautiously. This is a constraint inherent to any qualitative study that rests upon volunteer participation. Nonetheless, the goal of these interviews with college students was to provide a preliminary trial of sensemaking methodology as a way to grasp people's sense-making of the Internet. Some of the major points relating to this purpose are discussed below.

The individual is at the core of the research process Studying media/technology within the sense-making framework involves placing people at the center of the research process, which is conducive to a deeper understanding of the psychological and social dimensions of the Internet phenomenon. Increasingly, responsibility rests on the individual to deal with the way society is organizing itself and the ways in which institutions deliver information and services to citizens. We may be tempted to brush aside some respondents' concerns about social isolation brought on by the Internet as naive but, in fact, these are authentic concerns that need to be understood in their own right and may be more widespread than we think or are led to believe. In fact, there may be a double numerical divide in the sense that even among the socially privileged groups, the technological project may not appear equally meaningful to everyone. A practical consequence of sense-making studies is that the findings could form the basis for organizing relevant support services. For instance, University administrators could profit from understanding the barriers students face with the Internet and design support tools and activities in terms of what people are trying to achieve in their lives with the Internet instead of taking the Internet as a starting point (i.e., "What is it you hope to accomplish with the Internet?" instead of "This is how the Internet works").

The appropriation of technologies is anchored in time and space The contextual nature of people's experiences with technology is a major assumption of sense-making. Intersecting with the numerous levels of per-

382 Micheline Frenette

sonai sense-making are the immediate social environments people live in and the multiple discourses and actions of people around them with regard to the Internet. Further, a wider sociological context embraces all of the above, conveying particular cultural values and discourses about the Internet, which are likely to be echoed in the mass media. Undoubtedly, the Internet is a complex, multi-faceted technology that weaves into different threads of people's lives in ways that are not fixed but that continually evolve according to season, circumstance, entourage, etc. Some of the interviewees actually felt pressured and overwhelmed by the possibilities of the Internet at different points in their lives. As a consequence, the Internet, far from being simple and unified is in fact a radically different phenomenon for different people at different times and to talk about the Internet as if it were a single entity is almost meaningless.

The attributes of the technology are constructed in people's minds Sense-making invites us to consider media not as a finite product in time and space, outside the user, but rather as a constructed entity in the user's mind. Sense-making suggests that the Internet will make sense to people when it appears as a better solution to a problem, serves personal goals more efficiently and merges more conveniently with their life situation. Therefore, to claim that the stated advantages of the Internet are fixed attributes inherent to the technology is to seriously limit our understanding of how people actually come to view it as meaningful for them. To say, for instance, that the Internet is a better means of accessing information and of communicating with people because it saves time and is an immense store of information are commonly accepted claims, but these reasons make sense mostly for people who are in a hurry (time-conscious) and who have the technical know-how to find, organize and interpret the available information. Similarly, to label people who are not enthusiasts of the Net as resistant or reluctant to modernity and for researchers to attempt to find out how they could be persuaded otherwise leads us down a narrower road. Therefore, the more interesting (and challenging) question for research may be to understand how those uses develop in the context of particular life circumstances.

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Conclusion When applied to mediated communication phenomena, the sense-making approach invites us to consider media/technology as catalysts within the individual's personal and contextual dynamics. In this context, communication technology is studied in terms of how people use it to make sense of their world and relate it to their personal goals. Thus, sense-making suggests that a meaningful integration of the Internet will be anchored in students' lived context and relate to what they are struggling with and to what they are attempting to achieve. In many cases, remaining gaps need to be filled with future research but this preliminary exploration will, hopefully, be useful for planning subsequent studies. Even though such research presents a challenge, I think media studies would be enriched if they focused on how audiences and users of technology interpret their worlds and live and struggle in the complexes of social networks and everyday experiences that bind them.

Annotations 1. 2.

I would like to express my appreciation to Brenda Dervin for her pertinent comments on a draft of this chapter. This section draws on Dervin and Frenette (2001).

References Abbott, C. (1998). Making connections: Young people and the Internet. In J. Sefton-Green (Ed.), Digital diversions: Youth culture in the age of multimedia (pp. 84-105). London; UCL Press. Althaus, S. L., & Tewksbury, D. (2000). Patterns of Internet and traditional news media use in a networked community. Political Communication, 17( 1), 21-45. Atkin, D. J., Jeffres, L. W., & Neuendorf, K. A. (1998). Understanding Internet adoption as telecommunications behavior. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 42(9), 475-490. Buckingham, D., Harvey, I., & Sefton-Green, J. (1999). The difference is digital? Digital technology and student media production. Convergence: The journal of research into new media technologies, 5(4), 10-20.

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Coffey, S., & Stipp, H. (1997). The interactions between computer and television usage. Journal of Advertising Research, 37(2), 61-67. Dervin, B. (1980). Communication gaps and inequities: Moving toward a reconceptualization. In B. Dervin & M. J. Voigt (Eds.), Progress in communication sciences, 2, 73-112. Dervin, B. (1989). Users as research inventions: How research categories perpetuate inequities. Journal of Communication, 39(3), 216-231. Dervin, B. (1998). Sense-Making theory and practice: An overview of user interest in knowledge seeking and use. Journal of Knowledge Management, 2(2), 3646. Dervin, B. (1999). On studying information seeking methodologically: The implications of connecting metatheory to method. Information Processing and Management, 35, 727-750. Dervin, B., & Frenette, M. (2001). Sense-making methodology: Communicating communicatively with campaign audiences. In R. E. Rice & C. K. Atkin (Eds.), Public communication campaigns (3rd ed., pp. 69-87). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ferguson, D. Α., & Perse, Ε. M. (2000). The World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 155-174. Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2000). Perceptions of Internet information credibility. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(3), 515-540. Flanagin, A.J., & Metzger, M. J. (2001). Internet use in the contemporary media environment. Human Communication Research, 27(1), 153-181. Kayany, J. M., & Yelsma, P. (2000). Displacement effects of online media in the socio-technical contexts of households. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 215-229. Kraut, R., Patterson, M., Lundmark, V., Kiesler, S., Mukopadhyay, T., & Scherlis, W. (1998). Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being. American Psychologist, 53(9), 10171031. Livingstone, S., & Bovili, M. (1999). Young people, new media. Summary report of the Research Project "Children, young people and the changing media environment ". London: London School of Economics and Political Science. McKenna, Κ. Υ. Α., & Bargh, J. A. (2000). Plan 9 from cyberspace: The implications of the Internet for personality and social psychology. Personality & Social Psychology Review, 4( 1), 57-75. Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. M. (2000). Predictors of Internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 175-196.

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Perse, E. M., & Dunn, D. G. (1998). The utility of home computers and media useimplications of multimedia and connectivity. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 42(4),435-456. Robinson, J. P., Kestnbaum, M., Neustadtl, Α., & Alvarez, A. (2000). Mass media use and social life among Internet users. Social Science Computer Review, 18(4), 490-501. Schweiger, W. (2000). Media credibility-experience or image? A survey on the credibility of the World Wide Web in Germany in comparison to other media. European Journal of Communication, 75(1), 37-59. Sefton-Green, J. (1998). Introduction: Being young in the digital age. In J, SeftonGreen (Ed.), Digital diversions: Youth culture in the age of multimedia (pp. 120). London: UCL Press. Shah, D. V., Kwak, N., & Holbert, R. L. (2001). "Connecting" and "disconnecting " with civic life: Patterns of Internet use and the production of social capital. Political Communication, 18(2), 141-162. Sjöberg, U. (1999). The rise of the electronic individual: A study of how young Swedish teenagers use and perceive Internet. Telematics and Informatics, 16, 113-133. Stempel, G. H., Hargrove, T., & Bernt, J. P. (2000). Relation of growth of use of the Internet to changes in media use from 1995 to 1999. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(1), 71-79. Walsh, D. A. (2000). The challenge of the evolving media environment. Journal of Adolescent Health, 27(2), 69-72. Young, K. S. (1996). Addictive use of the Internet-a case that breaks the stereotype. Psychological Reports, 79(3), 899-902.

Part Five European Research on Interpersonal and Organizational Communication

5.1 Management of Organizational Communication in The Netherlands: Glass Ceiling and Encroachment A. A. van Ruler & Rob de Lange

In the practical and theoretical literature a new field is apparently emerging, focusing on the co-ordination and steering of all marketing communications, public relations, and internal communications at a strategic level known as Management of (Organizational/Corporate) Communication. These various activities can be summarized as the co-ordination and management of the communications of the organization, and interpreted as representing strategic action for which specialized managers must be hired. A survey among 25% of all Dutch organizations with more than 50 staff members shows that in the majority of these organizations communication activities are indeed coordinated in a single department, which is generally positioned high in the organization's hierarchical structure. In few organizations, however, it is such a specific task that it can justifiably be called "Communication Management" and regarded as a specialism at the managerial and strategic level. Half of the departments responsible for coordination of communication activities are not visible as such within the organization and do not have their own budget for communication activities. The question we want to address in this chapter is what causes these discrepancies between literature and practice. The first factor we will explore is the feminization of the communication profession and the so-called "glass ceiling" effect. The second factor we will explore is the profile of the managers of these communication activities and "encroachment" by noncommunication managers. Our analysis shows that encroachment offers a better explanation than the "glass ceiling " effect.

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Introduction Although communication within and around organizations is not at all a new phenomenon, a new field seems to emerge within and for organizations regarding the management of all communications in the context of an organization. Experts on the subject are referring to a field for which a special policy has to be designed and which has to be managed, a field which can no longer be merely seen as a tactical and artistic-creative art but has to be seen as a managerial and strategic field (White & Mazur, 1995). Scientists involved in this field are referring to "strategic planning of communication" (see e.g. Caywood, 1997; Hart, 1995), "integrated communication" (Schultz, Tannenbaum, & Lauterborn, 1994), "strategic interpretation of the orchestration of communication's main forms" (Van Riel, 1995), "management of the communication of the organization" (Grunig, 1992), or to "strategic communication" (Kleinnijenhuis, 1998). With his concept of "corporate communication", Van Riel has indicated that the different forms of organizational communication-traditionally separated into marketing communication (MC), external communication/public relations (EC), and internal communication (IC)-should be centralized under the heading of corporate communication in order to optimize the organization's strategic interests. It is clear that responsibility for this should lie with a single coordinating department at the strategic level. It has also been asserted that strategies should be chosen that correspond to the problems at hand (Windahl, Signitzer, & Olson, 1992). This not only requires co-ordination but also knowledge of content and, thus, specialization in the field of communication and information processes. Moreover, many authors (see e.g. Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 1994; Grunig, 1992; Ruler, 1998; White & Mazur, 1995) stress that while the management of the organization's expressions is important, so also is the management of the expressions of the outside world that are relevant in some way to the organization. In short, they stress the importance of a reciprocal communication system and stipulate that this urges for a specialized management function. It may be concluded that the scientific and professional literature has been concerned for some time with positioning a professional field at policy level, summarized under the common denominator of "Communication Management" or "Management of Organizational/Corporate Communica-

Management of Organizational Communication 391 tion". By this is meant a specific function in a public or private organization, aimed at initiating, directing, and coaching communications within the contexts of the organization itself, its policy framework, and its functioning within its commercial, political, technical, and social environment. It therefore concerns all activities intentionally implemented to direct communication and information processes in order to contribute to achieving the organization's goals. This makes it a strategic management activity aimed at the long-term functioning of the organization in society, as opposed to an operational activity, which does no more than effectuate top management decisions. It also urges for hiring specialists at managerial level, e.g., communication managers instead of communication technicians or artisans. In short, in literature a shift is described from craftsmanship and artisticcreative work towards a specialist function at a management level. Nevertheless, several U.S. studies show that practice lags behind. Two factors are mentioned as influential in this respect: glass ceiling and encroachment. The term "glass ceiling" is used to describe the phenomenon that more or less invisible mechanisms exist that hinder women from climbing up the organizational ladder. While in U.S. practice women are the majority, the glass ceiling is seen as a major influential factor in this respect (see a.o. Dozier, 1988; Grunig, L., 1988, 1992; Hon, Grunig, & Dozier, 1992). Encroachment refers to the assignment of top positions in communication management departments or units to individuals without training or experience in the field. Lauzen and Dozier (1992) found that encroachment is also a major factor in communication management practice. The question put forward in this study is whether this shift towards a specialist function at the management level is reflected in Dutch practice, and if not, whether the glass ceiling or encroachment can be found as factors influencing the development of this specialist managerial function.

Method The data we used in this chapter were extracted from a larger data set, produced in order to create a monitor that can give a representative picture of the professional communication management and consultancy field. For this monitor we have developed a quantitative longitudinal survey meas-

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urement instrument. The survey ran for the first time in 1999. Table 5.1.1 shows the categories, numbers and percentages involved. Although consultancies were also involved in the larger study, this chapter will focus on regular organizations. We confined ourselves to organizations with 50 or more employees in order to be certain that the organizations concerned would have a substantial communication workload. Their addresses were randomly selected from the national address file of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. This file contains 9,468 addresses of organizations in the private sector, the non-profit sector, and semigovernment sector, having 50 or more employees. Since we hoped for a response rate of about 30%, a sample of about 2,500 addresses seemed manageable. The Chamber of Commerce makes use of an automatic randomization procedure. This led to a sample of 1 out of every 4, or 2,367 in all. The national address file did not include organizations in the public sector. These were taken from a list published by the Society of Dutch Municipalities. According to the Society, 50 employees correspond to municipalities of 10,000 inhabitants or more. Applying the same sample factor yielded a list of 103 municipalities. Apart from that, a number of Ministries and Provincial Councils were selected. Altogether this yielded a sample of 2,496 addresses. A questionnaire was mailed to these addresses, accompanied by a letter addressed to "the person responsible for the communication activities". After a second letter had been sent to sample participants as a reminder, we had a total response of 24%. Due to monetary restrictions, it was not possible to evaluate the non-response. Table 5.1.1 Populations, samples, and response Category

Population number

Sample factor

Sample number

Response number

Response as % of sample

Administrations > 10,000 inh.

439

1 :4

111

53

48%

Organizations > 50 pers.

9,468

1 :4

2,385

557

23%

Total

9,907

1 :4

2,496

610

24%

Management of Organizational Communication 393 Results Two sub-questions of the main research question are treated in this chapter: The position of the specialist management function of "Communication Management" within organizations and two factors that seem to influence the growth of this position.

The position of communication management within the organization The position of communication management within the organization will be specified here into four dimensions: the tasks and position of the departments of communication management on the one hand and budgetary autonomy and visibility of this department within the organization on the other hand.

The tasks and position of the responsible

departments

In the literature we found three indicators for the tasks and position of the departments of communication management: the co-ordination of different communication forms within one single department (see e.g., Van Riel, 1995), the position in the organizational hierarchy (see e.g., Dolphin, 1999), and the relationship between organization and communication (see e.g., Grunig, 1992). Over 60% of the responding organizations indicated that they had "one single department from which all communication activities were coordinated". This means that the centralization, as stressed by Van Riel, seems to become rather normal. However, it was obvious that this did not mean that they really co-ordinate all communication activities. Almost all respondents claimed that they themselves were responsible for this co-ordination. But when asked what communication activities they were actually responsible for, they showed a different picture: Only 39% of them were responsible for marketing communication (MC) as well as external communication/public relations (EC) and internal communication (IC). The rest of the respondents who claimed that they headed a coordinating department, indicated to be responsible for only IC and EC, or EC and MC, or either IC, MC, or EC alone. So, centralization exists, but only in a minority of the

394 Α. Α. van Ruler & Rob de Lange cases (22%) are all three functions, as stressed by Van Riel and many other authors, coordinated in one single department. If there is one (more or less) centralizing department, the person responsible for it is high in the organization hierarchy: 24% formed part of the management team itself, 30% were in the staff supporting top management, and another 24% were in the staff supporting the management team. Positions in middle management or at the operational level are found much less frequently: 15% and 6%, respectively. It may be concluded that in 6 out of 10 participating organizations a separated department centralizes the co-ordination of the communication activities, and that these departments operate at the strategic level as described in the literature. Another indication for the position of communication management is found in the answers given to the question about the relationship between communication and organization. Different points of view are put forward in literature. According to Van Riel (1995), communication policy is derived from organization policy. Others, such as Grunig (1989) and Caywood (1997), have argued for a more reciprocal relationship between organization and communication. Many authors see this as a sign of a professionalizing position (Ruler, 1998). In the present study, respondents were asked whether they thought that "from a professional point of view, communication should influence the organization's policy". More than three-quarters of the respondents (77%) said that communication should indeed influence the organization's policy. This suggests that they see communication management and company policy as reciprocal. Moreover, not only 77% thought that this influence should be part of the function, but 72% also indicated that they actually have this influence.

The budgetary autonomy and the visibility of the departments Long-term policy and strategic management require a budget, and many authors stress that a communication manager needs his or her own budgets in order to fulfill to managerial operating. It was striking that almost half of the respondents indicated that they either had no structural budget for communication (40%) or did not know what this budget was (9%). Remarkably, however, the presence or absence of a structural budget did not

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always coincide with the presence or absence of a reported coordinating department. Obviously, for the majority having a single coordinating department does not mean that they also have their own budgets for this coordination. Even more striking is the fact that the position of the department in the hierarchy has hardly any influence on having one's own budget or not. Communication management is apparently given a position at a high level of responsibility, and those responsible for it shape it as a reciprocal function to the organization's policy more often than not, but this is not always reflected in a structural communication budget. We found the same phenomenon regarding the visibility of the department of communication management. In order to get attention for your specialism, it is important to be visible in the organization's hierarchy (see e.g., Mintzberg, 1993). This appears not to be common practice. Although communication responsibilities are placed at a high level, this does not mean that communication is a visible function in the hierarchy of the organization. Visibility is operationalized here as: Is the function labeled as "communication" or does it have any reference to some specialism in its name? The outcomes are presented in Table 5.1.2. Table 5.1.2 Job title of those responsible for communication activities Name

%

Communication*

42%

Marketing/sales

20%

General management

8%

Personnel

6%

Secretariat/office manager

6%

Other name

18%

Of those responsible for communication activities, less than half (42%) reported to have a job title that relates to communication in one way or another. 20% have a job title that is referential to marketing or sales, while another 20% of the respondents show a job title that refers to general management/CEO, personnel, or office management. The category "other

396 Α. Α. van Ruler & Rob de Lange name" covers a wide variety of terms varying from "bookkeeper" or "controller" to "advertising consultant", but respondents who simply answered "manager" or "staff member" also fall into this category. It will come as no surprise that bearing a communication-related job title corresponds with the presence of a coordinating department, but this correspondence is far from complete. Of the more than 60% of organizations that reported to have a special department which co-ordinates communication activities only 55% were headed by a person with some explicit reference to "communication" (or advertising, public relations, etc.) in his or her job title. The conclusion must be that many respondents indicate that there is one special department in which communication activities are coordinated, but that these departments are not always led by a "real" communication manager, that is, a department head who is actually named as such.

Preliminary

conclusion

In a majority of the responding organizations communication management is given a high position in the hierarchy and is treated in a more or less centralized way, but it has less often a visible function at the strategic level and its own budgets. All in all, Dutch communication management may definitely not be regarded as an "emancipated" specialism, since only 32% of the organizations in this research comprised a communication department that was visible in the hierarchy as such and had its own structural budget.

Glass ceiling and encroachment We were led to wonder why communication management is obviously seen as a responsibility at a high level in the hierarchy and is to a certain extent even seen as a steering function to co-ordinate all communications, but cannot be seen as a well-emancipated specialist management function. In literature we found two factors, known under the metaphors of "glass ceiling" and "encroachment", which are mentioned as negatively influencing the managerial role of communication management. The glass ceiling effect means that by more or less invisible mechanisms women are hindered from climbing up the organizational ladder (see a.o. Dozier, 1988; Grunig, L., 1988, 1992; Hon et al., 1992). This barrier maybe invisible, but it is as

Management of Organizational Communication 397 hard as glass and impenetrable. Encroachment relates to trespassing or unwelcome infiltration. In this case, it refers to the assignment of top positions in communication management departments or units to individuals with no training or experience in the field (see Lauzen & Dozier, 1992). We have analyzed our data in order to find out whether glass ceiling or encroachment by non-communication managers could be seen as influencing the results of our study on the emergence of a specialist communication management function at higher level within organizations.

Female majority and the glass ceiling In the United States women are the majority in the communication field (Hon et al., 1992). The Anglo-American Velvet Ghetto Study shows, however, that discrimination keeps women out of the manager role (Cline et al., 1986). Gersh (1986, cf. Hon, Larissa, Grunig, & Dozier, 1992) confirms the findings of the Velvet Ghetto study by stressing that women are assumed to be ineffective managers. Dozier (1988) stated that the technician role forms a ghetto for some women in communication management. Hon et al. (1992) concluded some years later that, although the technician role is relatively transitory for many male practitioners, the technician role is relatively permanent for many female practitioners. The glass ceiling finds its expression in a lack of organizational power (cf. Dozier, 1988). If it exists, this implies that female communication managers are excluded from this organizational power.

Female majority Our data show a predominance of women in the field, including at management level. The ratio of men to women is 60:40. Among those responsible for communication management that have a communication-oriented job title-we labeled them the "real" communication managers-women form a slight majority (54% female versus 46% male). 32% of the men have a job title that includes the term communication and 55% of the women (significance p=0.01). This suggests that in situations where communication is more "visible", relatively more women are employed. Moreover, they differ in age: 80% of all the women responsible for communica-

398 Α. Α. van Ruler & Rob de Lange tion activities are under the age of 40. On average the communication managers are 43 years old and more often male than female; the average "real" communication manager is a 34-year old woman. We may well be witnessing the decline of the older male and the rise of the younger female communication manager. A similar situation can be seen amongst communication employees. Men with communication tasks form a slim majority (54%). However, if we consider positions in which communication tasks are performed exclusively, with no other tasks involved, women form the majority. We distinguished four groups: men exclusively doing communication work (25%), women exclusively doing communication work (30%), men combining communication work with other tasks (29%), and women combining communication work with other tasks (16%). Women exclusively doing communication work form the largest group, in an absolute sense, among the respondents in this research. In a relative sense this effect is even stronger, since the number of men exceeds that of women in the response group as a whole. This male majority in the response group is mainly due to the large group of men who combine communication work with other tasks, compared to the group of women of the same category. It may be assumed that when communication work is perceived to be specialist work, more women than men are employed to do it. If the same comparisons are made for the public sector, these tendencies are even stronger. Here, the feminization of the communication field is a fact.

Glass ceiling The question we want to address is what the implications of this female overrepresentation are for the problem discussed here. Is there, indeed, a glass ceiling effect? It is obvious that the positions of men and women in the organization's hierarchy differ. Table 5.1.3 shows the relative positions. If the person responsible for communication is a man, this increases the likelihood that he is also a member of the management team or has a higher staff function. If this person is a woman, her department has a greater probability of being positioned lower in the organization. The differences are no longer as large as they were in our 1995 Trend Study of Public Relations (Ruler & Lange, 1995), in which not a single woman in the response group

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399

operated at the management level and almost no men worked at the operational level. This might indicate that the position of women responsible for communication activities is improving. Based on this research, however, the conclusion must be that these positions are still not in balance. But the assumption is that women have lesser possibilities to lead a communication department at managerial level than their male colleagues, because of the glass ceiling effect. In that case, it will not vanish over time without certain external interventions (see Table 5.1.4). Table 5.1.3 Position of men and women responsible for communication in organizations Position in hierarchy

Men

Management team

30.0%

18.0%

25.0%

Staff (high)

33.6%

25.8%

30.0%

Staff (low)

16.8%

30.2%

23.0%

Middle management

12.7%

17.0%

15.0%

Operational level

5.8%

7.7%

7.0%

Other

0.9%

1.1%

1.0%

Total %

100.0%

100.0%

100.0%

Total Ν

220

182

402

Women

Total

Table 5.1.4 Correlation between position in the hierarchy, age, education and gender Position Age Education Gender

Age

Education

-0.19** 0.04

-0.24**

0.16**

-0.52**

0.06

Note. ** = significant at the 0.01 level. Table 5.1.4 shows that age and gender correlate significantly with position. But it also shows that gender correlates with age and that women are rela-

400 Α. Α. van Ruler & Rob de Lange tively young. Table 5.1.5 shows that the correlation between gender and position is to a large extent explained by age. The regression model in Table 5.1.5 shows that it is not clear whether a glass ceiling effect actually occurs. It also might simply be a matter of time. Does this mean that, as women get older, they enter these positions? Or do women leave before they reach that point? It is hard to say, because only few women are "advanced in years". Table 5.1.5 Predictors of hierarchical position (standardized regression coefficients) Variables

Beta

Age

0.158

Education

0.083

Gender

0.092

R

2

0.048

Nevertheless, a slightly different picture emerges if we define (the lack of) organizational power in a different way than just "position in the hierarchy". Therefore, we re-defined organizational power as the possibility to lead a "strategic department" and operationalized it by three variables: a high position in the hierarchy, visibility of communication activities in a separated department, and budgetary autonomy. In order to be able to analyze our data again, we isolated the departments which are visible, have a higher position in the hierarchy, and its own budget, called these "strategic departments" and looked for differences between these departments led by men and led by women. The question was whether the so-called "strategic departments" are more often led by men, and whether women are actually excluded from leading these "strategic departments" (see Table 5.1.6). Table 5.1.6 shows that the so-called "strategic departments" are not led by men more often, as the glass ceiling theory would expect. Of the men polled, only 18% lead a "strategic department", while 82% lead a department that does not fit our criteria of organizational power, whereas amongst the women these percentages were 16% and 88% respectively. The difference is not statistically significant. The conclusion must be that there are not many departments that meet our criteria for a "strategic department",

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but those departments that do meet these criteria display an equal ratio of men and women. We therefore assume that men and women are equal in their opportunities for a more strategic approach and that we therefore cannot speak of a true glass ceiling effect in The Netherlands.

Table 5.1.6 The chances for men and women to lead a "strategic department"

Strategic department

Ν Row %

No strategic department

Ν Row % Total Ν Total %

Male

Female

Total

66 64% 18% 295 59% 82% 361 100%

38 36% 16% 207 41% 84% 245 100%

104 100% 502 100% 606

Responsibility for communication management and encroachment This leaves us with the question whether "encroachment" must be seen as a factor that influences the obvious lack of "real" communication management departments in Dutch organizations. Dozier (1988) stressed that women are not only excluded from managerial work in communication management, but also that feminization of a profession goes together with a lack of influence on the decisions to be made on the professional occupation, because those decisions are made by people from other disciplines. This is known under the metaphor "encroachment". Dozier (1988, p. 9) called this "one of the major threats to the profession". In public relations and communication management literature encroachment is operationalized as "the assignment of top positions in public relations departments or units to individuals without training or experience in public relations" (Lauzen & Dozier, 1992). In order to find out whether this is the case in Dutch communication management, we explored the profiles of those responsible for communication management. If encroachment plays a crucial role, the profiles of a substantial number of those responsible for communication

402

Α. Α. van Ruler & Rob de Lange

files of a substantial number of those responsible for communication management must show a non-communication background. This background is operationalized into two variables: Formal education and former vocation, based on the fact that education in communication on a tertiary level has not yet existed for a long time yet in The Netherlands, and, moreover, it is reasonable to say that a long-term experience in the field can be equated with formal education.

Profile As a profession develops, its professional knowledge requirements increase. According to L. Grunig (1992) one of the characteristics of the development of communication management into a fully-fledged profession is that the professionals have acquired a body of knowledge that allows an intellectual approach to the vocation. This implies that practitioners must have graduated from a specialized form of higher education in order to be called "a communication professional". In this group of respondents, 76% have a college or university degree, but only a few graduated in communication: 16% have a communication-related degree (including speech, communication science, social psychology, and the like). Another 16% have a commercial degree. The rest have very diverse educational backgrounds: from law to chemistry, and from history and French literature to theology. Therefore, it is impossible to assume that there is an acquired body of knowledge in practice. But also long-time experience in communication practice is not the case. More than half of the respondents have had their present functions for three years or less. For most of them this was their first entry into the communication field (Table 5.1.7).

Encroachment Table 5.1.7 shows that 14% of the respondents came into communication management from public relations and public information, while 22% had a former vocation in marketing, sales and/or advertising. This corresponds with a lack of professional education. It is obvious that, to a large extent, the profiles of the persons responsible for communication management are

Management of Organizational Communication 403 non-communication profiles. The job titles with no reference to communication are obviously no accident or based on organizational history, but fit with the non-communication backgrounds of the beholders of these agents. For managing communication, one obviously does not need expertise in the field of communication. It is, therefore, impossible to speak of a welldefined function of the management of communication within the organization at a strategic level, let alone to look for professionalization of the field. It is obvious that in the field of communication management encroachment is a normal phenomenon in The Netherlands. Table 5.1.7 Former vocation of those responsible for communication Former function

%

Marketing/sales/advertising

22%

PR and Public Information

14%

Straight from school

7%

Secretariat

3%

Personnel

3%

Journalism

2%

Other function, internal

29%

Other function, external

20%

Conclusion and discussion It may be concluded that a majority of the responding organizations give communication management a high position in the hierarchy, is treated in a more or less centralized way, and that those responsible more often than not shape it as a reciprocal function to the organization's policy. Communication management no longer seems to be an occupation in the very margin of the organization. But it also is obvious that it less often has a visible function at the strategic level and its own budgets. One may wonder, then, how strategic and managerial this function actually is in practice. Dutch communication management may definitely not be regarded as an "emancipated" specialism, since only 32% of the organizations in this re-

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search comprised a communication department that was visible in the hierarchy as such and had its own structural budget. In few organizations it is, therefore, such a specific task that it can justifiably claim the title of "Communication Management" and that it can be regarded as a specialism at a strategic level. Many authors stress that this is due to the fact that women dominate the field and that they do not possess sufficient organizational power because of the glass ceiling effect. "Sullerot's law" (Sullerot, 1979) states that if women become the majority in a certain vocation, then prestige and salary will be lower than if men are the majority. In an earlier study we concluded that the women in this field earn significantly less than men (Ruler & Lange, 1993), and that in commercial companies they earn less and are found at lower positions in the hierarchy than men (Ruler, 1996). Surprisingly, the glass ceiling as defined here, is not that obvious in The Netherlands. Although gender does correlate negatively with higher position, age explains almost half of the variance. Moreover, in cases where departments may be capable of a more strategic approach (here called "strategic departments"), women have equal entering opportunities. Nevertheless, only few departments are in the position to develop such a more managerial and strategic approach. This could be the effect of the encroachment factor. The data show that it is rather normal for communication management to be managed by people who are not communication managers by education or experience. For managing communication, one obviously does not need expertise in the field of communication. It is, therefore, impossible to speak of a well-defined function of the management of communication within the organization at a strategic level, let alone to look for professionalization of the field. It is obvious that in the field of communication management in The Netherlands encroachment is a normal phenomenon. It is reasonable to say that the figures on the development of the communication function in the non-responding organizations is even lower, because they do not have specialists to fill in the questionnaire. This urges for research to the non-response. This research project was a first attempt to get some insight into the practice of what nowadays is known as communication management. Although, this research project was merely aimed at the situation in The Netherlands, it can be expected that these conclusions could be found in

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other (European) countries as well. It is, therefore, necessary to develop a comparative study in more (European) countries. Of course, the attention for communication management in the theoretical and professional literature as a specialized field is from the last decades. Understandably, still fewer practitioners are found in functions at a more strategic level, and little strategic advice is available. Generally, unspecified higher education and tactical skills were seen as necessary prerequisites. Also, communication science has not been of great help for the professional field. Only recently has attention been paid to the development of scientific tools for a more strategic approach, and this attention is still on a modest scale. This applies for most of the European countries, as we found out recently (Ruler, Vercic, Buetschi, & Flodin, 2000). If emancipation of communication management is to be successful, at least three requirements will have to be met. Firstly, communication scientists should pay much more attention to the development of theories and methods for strategic action in communication management. They should do this in co-operation with each other, but also in co-operation with the professional field and its educators, in order to prevent the dispersion of knowledge and linkage problems, as is obviously the case now. A necessary condition would be the intention from both sides to develop this knowledge and share it in a fruitful dialogue. Secondly, a change in attitude is needed in the professional field in relation to the development of knowledge at the analytical level and the exchange of knowledge. If the sector wants to be serious about the development of theories and models for the professional field, then the branch itself will have to take the lead in this respect. They should seek more cooperation with each other and with centers where knowledge may be developed and implemented at a high level. Thirdly, a change in attitude of general managers and CEOs towards communication management is needed. Encroachment is not caused by the profession itself, but is boosted or at least allowed by top management. Recently, several studies (Koot & Sabelis, 2000; Zweekhorst, 2001) have shown that top management in The Netherlands sees communication management above all as "supplying information at CEOs' time". This shows a total lack of understanding of the difficulties of communication processes, let alone the management of it.

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References Caywood, C. L. (1997). Twenty-first century public relations: The strategic stages of integrated communications. In C. L. Caywood (Ed.), The handbook of strategic public relations & integrated communications. New York: McGrawHill. Cline, C. G., Masel-Waters, L., Toth, E. L., Turk, J. V., Smith, H. T., & Johnson, N. (1986). The velvet ghetto: The impact of the increasing percentage of women in public relations and organizational communication. San Francisco: IABC Foundation. Cutlip, S. M., Center, A. H., & Broom, G. M. (1994). Effective public relations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Dolphin, R. R. (1999). The fundamentals of corporate communications. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. Dozier, D. M. (1988). Breaking public relations' glass ceiling. Public Relations Review, 14(3), 6-14. Hon, L. C., Larissa, Α., Grunig, D., & Dozier, D. M. (1992). Women in public relations: Problems and opportunities. In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 422-423). Hillsdale: Erlbaum. Grunig, J. E. (1989). Symmetrical presuppositions as a framework for public relations theory. In C. H. Botan & V. Hazleton, Jr. (Eds.), Public relations theory (pp. 17-44). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (1992). Excellence in public relations and communication management. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. Grunig, L. A. (1988). Women in public relations: An overview. Public Relations Review, 14(1), 3-5. Grunig, L. A. (1992). Power in the public relations department. In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 483-502). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. Hart, N. A. (Ed.). (1995). Strategic public relations. Houndmills: MacMillan Business. Hon, L. Ch., Grunig, L. Α., & Dozier, D. M. (1992). Women in public relations: Problems and opportunities. In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum. Kleinnijenhuis, J. (1998). Strategische communicatie. Amsterdam: VU Boekhandel. Koot, W., & Sabelis, I. (2000). Over leven aan de top: Topmanagers in complexe tijden. Utrecht: Lemma.

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Lauzen, M. M., & Dozier, D. M. (1992). The missing link: The public relations manager role as mediator of organizational environments and power consequences for the function. Journal of Public Relations Research, 4(4), 205-220. Mintzberg, H. (1993). Structures in fives: Designing effective organizations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Ruler, A. A. van (1996). Communicatiemanagement in Nederland. Houten: Bohn Stafleu Van Loghum. Ruler, A. A. van (1998). Strategisch management van communicatie: Introducile van het communicatiekruispunt. Deventer: Samsom. Ruler, A. A. van, & Lange, R. de (1993). Onderzoek naar bedrijfsjournalistiek in Nederland laat veel bedrijf en weinig journalistiek zien. Massacommunicatie, 27(3), 214-231. Ruler, A. A. van, & Lange, R. de (1995). Trendonderzoek public relations 1995. Utrecht: Werkgroep Massacommunicatie en Public Relations, Universiteit Utrecht en Faculteit Communicatie en Journalistiek, Hogeschool van Utrecht. Ruler, A. A. van, & Lange, R. de (1999). Trendonderzoek communicatieberoepspraktijk in Nederland: Monitor communicatiemanagement en advies 1999. Den Haag: Beroepsvereniging voor Communicatie. Ruler, A. A. van, Vercic, D., Buetschi, G., & Flodin, B. (2000). European body of knowledge on public relations/commuication management: Report of the delphi research project 2000. Ghent/Ljubliana: European Public Relations Education and Research Association. Schultz, D. E., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Lauterborn, R. F. (1994). Integrated marketing communications: Putting it together and making it work. Chicago: NTC Business Books. Sullerot, E. (1979). Geschiedenis en sociologie van de vrouwenarbeid. Nijmegen: SUN. Van Riel, C. B. M. (1995). Principles of corporate communication. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall. Windahl, S., Signitzer, B., & Olson, J. T. (1992). Using communication theory: An introduction to planned communication. London: SAGE. White, J., & Mazur, L. (1995). Strategic communications management: Making public relations work. Wokingham: Addison-Wesley Publishing. Zweekhorst, P. A. M. (2001). Communicatiemanagers: Visies van topmanagers. Amsterdam: Boom.

5.2 The Advance of Public Relations as a Discipline: Retrospect and Prospect Joep Cornelissen, Danny Moss, & Phil Harris

The chapter discusses the increased theoretical and practical interest in theories of corporate communication. The development of corporate communication in practice is charted together with the bodies of literature accompanying the subject. Challenges in the new millennium for both the practice of corporate communication as well as the academic disciplines studying the subject, are outlined and discussed.

The sharp increase in recent years in the volume of journal articles and books that deal with the topic of public relations, or related terms such as "corporate communications" and "corporate identity management", or even with the myriad of organizational concepts that incorporate nuances of the term (e.g., issues management), reflects a growing interest into the topic (e.g., Abratt, 1989). This interest is further expressed in a whole range of academic journals entirely devoted to the field such as the Journal of Public Relations Research, the Public Relations Review, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, and the newly established Journal of Public Affairs. This chapter draws explicit attention to the progress and state of the academic literature on public relations by shedding light on two broad themes: the historical development of public relations practice, and the treatment of the field within the academic literature. The guiding argument here is that the function of public relations cannot be understood in an ahistorical and a-sociological way. The chapter therefore attempts to elucidate the broader lines of development in society that have contributed to the development and particular roles of the public relations function and have made interest in public relations more salient and more significant than before. Alongside this historical account of the practice of public relations, the chapter also makes some general observations and recommendations

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regarding the state of academic research on the subject area. For the purposes of this chapter, we define public relations as the managerial function concerned with all forms of communications between an organization and its stakeholders or key publics, and, as such, as encompassing both corporate and marketing communications (see Grunig & Hunt, 1984).

Public relations: A historical perspective There is a widespread, if not universal, belief that a careful scrutiny of history helps in comprehending the present and in envisaging the future, primarily through the instillation of a sense of continuity, and in particular by drawing out patterns of developments in theory and practice. As we look back, we see that a good many public relations researchers nurse this belief (e.g., Grunig and Hunt, 1984; Olasky, 1987), and they are also of the considered opinion that deep knowledge of history can effectively aid in predicting the future, owing to the possibility of cyclicality in events, and the possibility of predicting socio-economic developments to which the practice of public relations is subject. In this section, our concern equally is to identify the main social trends and circumstances that have instigated changes in thinking about and the management of public relations in order to chart, in a historicist sense, the basic developments in the field. Such historicist thinking has, we believe, not yet been fully taken into account as a way of understanding the process and development of public relations and of envisaging and charting the future concerns and issues for the field. The argument for historicism developed here is twofold: Firstly, the nature and development of public relations can only be adequately comprehended by considering its place within a process of historical development. Secondly, as our historical analysis suggests the role and function of public relations is essentially subject to wider historical and social forces. For the purposes of this chapter, the following discussion must inevitably be condensed, but the chapter points the way to more extensive discussions of the issues covered in historical anthologies of public relations in the literature (e.g., Cutlip, 1994; Ewen, 1996; Heath, 1997; Olasky, 1987).

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The past: The transformation of society The function of public relations has its proximate historical roots in the 19th century. The emergence of the function quintessentially hinges upon the liberalization of political systems, markets, and public domains, meaning that, rather pragmatically, people had to be persuaded and induced towards certain actions (where the traditional ties as in feudal societies were tied off; Ewen, 1996; Habermas, 1989; Olasky, 1987; Paisley, 1981). This transformation of political and market systems caused a direct need for interest groups such as political parties and corporations to communicate and differentiate themselves. As writers such as Olasky (1987) and Ewen (1996) have documented, since the end of the 19th century in particular, public relations and "compliance" industries really took off creating images and working to mould public consent for large U.S. corporations such as AT&T, U.S. Railways, General Electric, and DuPont. At this time, political authors such as Walter Lippmann (1922) and John Dewey (1927) also increasingly came to reflect upon the phenomenon of the "public" and upon the impact of such corporate image making on American society. The works of Boorstin (1961) and Boulding (1956) articulated this notion of a "corporate image" further, and interest in this topic clearly gained ground in public and academic discussions in the late 1950s and 1960s (e.g., Böiger, 1959; Lesly, 1959/1960; Tyler, 1957). This increased fascination and engagement with corporate images coincided with a dramatic growth of the graphic design industry in the United States, with companies investing in graphic design for logos, house styles, and other publicity components (Birkigt, Stadler, & Funk, 1995). The 1960s saw a further increase in competition in many markets, a rise of public skepticism and activism towards capitalist organizations, and also a heightened government interference with corporate affairs. The previous arrogant frankness apparent in public statements issued by many companies ("the public be damned") changed as companies realized that they could no longer simply engage in what could be called "private relations" (Olasky, 1987); i.e., making business decisions without concentration on governmental or public opinion. Companies needed to make efforts to portray themselves as ethical organizations and to differentiate themselves in a more democratically ruled market, where the power in the relationship between companies and consumers, customers and prospects was gradually

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shifting towards the latter (Baudrillard & Lotringer, 1998). Aided by the increasing reach of mass media, visual strategies propagating altruistic, service-oriented corporate images soon became commonplace (Ewen, 1996). In sum, the issuing of corporate symbols, and the use of public relations in the form of corporate advertising, media relations, and corporate publications in particular, can thus be seen as a response to a society in which expanding democratic expectations were forcefully combating the outmoded assumption of an old, hierarchical order of institutional, and/or capital monopolies. In the period from 1970 to the early 1980s market and societal conditions continued to change rapidly with publics demanding new ideologies and socially responsible behavior of companies-a demonstration of "corporate citizenship"-with in some cases publics even actively propagating against companies (Heath, 1997). Hence, in addition to the issuing of symbols and communication to uniquely portray a company, companies now also had to clearly respond to specific issues. For example, to restore credibility and trust in their organizations, a number of CEOs stepped forward to personally represent their companies and speak out on matters of public interest, where previously "image masters" had sought to (re)present companies as mere images without any substance (Cheney, 1992). In responding to the plural demands of publics, and in order to minimize externally imposed standards, companies once again recognized the value of various public relations techniques as a tool to help self-regulate the environment by ascertaining and propagating appropriate standards of ethics and by shaping a coherent image for organizations (Cheney & Dionosopoulos, 1989, p. 140). In the early 1980s, the challenges to the Anglo-American business organization from a pluralistic society coincided with a celebration of a consumer ethic of individualism and materialism. These developments, writers such as Harvey (1989) and Olasky (1987) have argued, quickened a decay of traditional corporate virtues in which the display of dramaturgical skill in managing an impression of good performance tended to displace the comparatively unsophisticated ethic of "just exchange" (Harvey, 1989; Olasky, 1987). The global restructuring of capital, labor, and markets that involved a movement away from "Fordism", with eager consumers supporting markets for standardized, mass produced goods, towards market differentiation by appealing corporate design and communication (Harvey, 1989) meant

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that "manufacturers no longer compete on the relative merits of their respective technologies, but on features, design and image" (Ind, 1992, p. 33).

The present: A pluralistic society Throughout the 1990s, ethical notions and environmental concerns were still considered as important issues in the market and societal contexts of companies (Heath, 1994; 1997). Moreover, it can be argued that one result of the transformation into a pluralistic society has been that an organization's stakeholders and members of key publics are more and more inclined to form a corporate image based on a multitude of impressions and characteristics about the company. Here, for example, stakeholder images might even include perceptions of focal company responses to other stakeholders (Wartick, 1992). Recent research in consumer behavior indeed indicates that consumers make purchase decisions (and form images) on "extraneous" criteria such as environmental performance and labor relations records, or the perceived ethical standards of companies, in addition to product features and benefits (Brown & Dacin, 1997; Creyer, 1997). It might also be that, as Harris (1991) for instance argues, as brand choices expand and product homogeneity increases, consumers seek out the organization behind the brand as an extra point of difference and reassurance. This marks an extension from a customer-to-brand bond to an additional customer-to-company bond. From this perspective, the corporate image becomes a filter for overwhelming product multiplicity and a critical difference in a "sea of sameness" (see Biehal & Sheinin, 1998; Brown & Dacin, 1997). Hence, as Kitchen (1993) comments, the reaction of consumers to a company's products may be becoming a function of their attitudes toward the corporate parent; as the successful brand extensions under the corporate banner of Richard Branson's Virgin have illustrated. Similarly, there have been some indications that investors are also increasingly looking at a wider range of characteristics than just financial performance in determining where to invest. In particular, there has been a growing trend towards ethical and social responsibility considerations in deciding on investment decisions (Brown, 1997; Fombrun & Shanley, 1990). Hence, writers have concluded that in this increasingly competitive

414 Joep Cornelissen, Danny Moss, & Phil Harris market-place individuals form an image out of all company or brand "contacts" (Birkigt et al., 1995; Cornelissen, 2000a; Dowling, 1993; Moriarty, 1996): Including all corporate and employee behavior alongside planned advertising and publicity campaigns, and that new, more inclusive communication management-models are needed to communicate and meet the various demands of a company's stakeholders or publics. In addition, throughout the 1990s and within the present practice of public relations it is possible to disentangle a number of closely related developments: the trends towards communication overload, the fragmentation of audiences, and the emergence of interactive media. Taken together, these trends signify the shift of power in the communicative relationship from company to the individual stakeholder or member of the public. For example, the profusion of communication sets limits to the reception capacity of individuals and emphasizes the competition for audience attention among organizations. As a result, individuals are forced to deliberately choose which stimuli they devote their attention to. Interactive media, which to an increasing extent have become employed by companies (e.g., Van Raaij, 1998), provide a further catalyst to this process. That is, in these media the power in information exposure and processing increasingly lies with the individual, reflecting a development from external pacing, i.e., medium and message control by the "sender", to internal pacing, i.e., medium and message control by the "receiver" (Bezjian-Avery, Calder, & Iacobucci, 1998; Van Raaij, 1998). As these new, interactive media gain more prominence in the public relations mix, and enhance the power of the (technology-literate) audience, traditional assumptions and practices of public relations may have to be revised.

The future: Social and technological challenges The preceding sections have briefly given a historical account of the societal, market, and technological conditions impacting the role and practice of public relations. Projecting the larger trends in society, markets, and technology, it is possible to envisage a future in which public relations is increasingly important in meeting the plural demands of society and in providing an additional source of identification for consumers, customers, and prospects. There is also likely to be more pressure on the social ideology or

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"citizenship" of companies, where publics may look to business (as social institutions) to take care of social problems that government has handled ineffectively (Olasky, 1987). Two dilemmas might arise and endure here: Firstly, as Drucker (1980) prophesizes, the ongoing quest for social and moral legitimacy of companies might create considerable tension between a collaborationist or social ideology and economic imperatives for many companies. That is, while companies might on occasion find some "middleway" approaches, for instance, in the use of cause-related marketing (CRM) (e.g., Varadarajan & Menon, 1988)-marketing programs purported to improve corporate performance and help worthy causes by linking fund raising for the benefit of a cause to the purchase of the company's products and/or services-considerable ideological tensions can be expected here in the near future. Secondly, and closely related, academic and professional communities in management and public relations might start to debate the extent to which companies, from a moral standpoint, can engage in matters concerning public welfare. The question here is whether companies can or should apart from being a good "corporate citizen" follow a more radical "social responsibility" approach and start using their power to run, and eventually control, everything from social welfare and community programs to anti-crime campaigns. Under these heightened social and market pressures, it has been argued that public relations, as well as marketing, should seek to build a relationship with publics or stakeholders (e.g., Duncan & Moriarty, 1998) for arguably functional (i.e., nurturing and stimulating transactions, e.g., Gummesson, 1997), as well as moral reasons (i.e., symmetrical communication as an inherently ethical practice, e.g., Grunig & White, 1992). The significance of these relationship-building approaches has been enhanced, if not enforced, by the fragmentation of homogeneous mass audiences into heterogeneous publics and, concomitantly, by the shift from a mass communication monologue to more targeted and interactive forms of communication between companies and stakeholders and key publics. Developments in communication and information technology such as the Internet and database marketing have, through the interactive, one-to-one relationship that these media enable, further stimulated the development of these relationship-building approaches. New circumstances and opportunities for public relations inevitably abound: new channels (the World Wide Web), new challenges (Internet-

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design), and new management models (new communication management models, new metrics). At the moment, however, academics have not fully come to terms with the challenges within this new media landscape, as this area is heavily under-researched, which is perhaps due to the fast pace of developments in this field.

The academic study of public relations Parallel to the increased importance attributed to public relations over the last century, the academic study of the topic has, from a historical perspective, developed relatively slowly. However, the past decades have witnessed a marked increase in the volume of work in this field. The roots of the field are often traced back to the writings of political authors as Lippmann (1922), Dewey (1927), and Bernays (see Ewen, 1996), who are seen as the predecessors of the first academic researchers upon the topic such as Lesly (1959/60), Harlow (1940), and Robinson (1966). Initially, and until well after 1950, research on public relations was mainly completed by researchers working in various "non-communication" fields such as social psychology, sociology, business administration, management, economics, and industrial relations (Redding, 1985). Over the past two decades, however, rather than being treated as a subset of either the larger fields of management or communication research, the academic literature on the topic has proliferated into a defined and distinct area of research. As Grunig (1992) argues: "Only a few years ago, public relations research essentially did not exist in the United States ... Recently, public relations research has grown rapidly both in quantity and theoretical quality. At this point, I believe, public relations scholars have reached the point, where public relations can stand alone as a respected domain within the discipline of communication" (Grunig, 1992, cited in Armbrecht, Avenarius, & Zabel, 1993, p. 9).

Perhaps underscoring this development of public relations into a distinct and cognate area of study, researchers (Botan, 1989, 1993; Grunig and White, 1992; Pearson, 1992; Prior-Miller, 1989; Toth, 1992) have started to articulate the various theoretical approaches apparent in their field. Such efforts began sensitizing researchers to the notion of paradigms-the as-

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sumptions, practices, and agreements among a scholarly community-and bringing up and perhaps legitimizing less mainstream alternatives. Systems theory remains the dominant perspective in public relations research, but increasingly researchers are grounding their work within more critical and interpretive paradigms (see Heath, 1992a,b; Toth, 1992). Such a development warrants specific attention, and depending on the epistemological perspective that one adheres to, can be favored, or scorned. That is, there is an ongoing and enduring debate as to whether scientific progress almost requires some level of consensus in theoretical frameworks, definitions, and methodologies (e.g., Pfeffer, 1993), or whether a pluralism in paradigms should be favored as, it has been argued, this provides us with a better picture of the subject of interest (e.g., Burrell & Morgan, 1979). Equally, within public relations theory, there appears to have been some argument, from the view of the "orthodox" systems-model (Botan, 1993) lamenting the "anarchy" of paradigm proliferation and advocating the adoption of a dominant paradigm. At the same time, however, other writers have argued that the paradigm plurification and the critiques of the dominant systems paradigm indicate the "maturing" of the study of public relations as a discipline (Spicer, 1997; Toth, 1992). Although the answer to these questions is by no means easy, we feel that, in light of the need for further research to identify and evaluate the heuristic value of each paradigm and accompanying theoretical frameworks within public relations theory and research, a choice for a dominant paradigm at the expense of alternative theoretical viewpoints is, at this point, in time not a viable option. Such a stance would foster a "paradigm mentality", which simultaneously proliferates and polarizes perspectives, often inhibits communication across paradigms, biases theorists against opposing explanations, and stimulates development of provincial theories. Rather, a proliferation of paradigms as theoretical lenses to view and investigate phenomena in the field of public relations can, at least at this point in the development of public relations theory, generally be seen as "opening up" the debate, and as subsequently enhancing our understanding of the field. Then, over time when each of these paradigms has been further studied and theorized about, a full "paradigm struggle" might perhaps take place (see Botan, 1993, L'Etang, 1996). Together with this paradigm plurification, debates have also arisen about the appropriate domain and accompanying terminology of the field.

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For example, the traditional focus within public relations studies had been on corporate issue advertising and other corporate publicity components (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). Increasingly, however, researchers have since the early 1980s emphasized the importance of corporate and employee behavior as essentially "communicative", that is, as leaving an impression with key publics or stakeholders of the company (Birkigt & Stadler, 1986; Cornelissen, 2000a; Kennedy, 1977). The consequence of this extended view is a renewed debate about the actual domain of public relations. In this chapter, we defined public relations as the general function for all communications, including behavior, between an organization and its key publics or stakeholders (e.g., Grunig, 1992, 1993; Grunig & Grunig, 1998; Grunig & Hunt, 1984). In contrast, however, other writers (e.g., Argenti, 1998; Van Riel, 1995) have argued that the suggested broadened view of communications must be given a new name, "corporate communication", in order to give explicit expression to the notion that a new synthesis of ideas exists. These writers have made a terminological distinction between public relations, which they regard as merely concerned with media relations, and corporate communication or corporate identity management, which stands for all publicity, symbolism, and behavior employed by a company to leave an impression with key publics (Argenti, 1998; Birkigt & Stadler, 1986; Van Riel, 1995). Although these debates might perhaps be considered as largely nominal and have not really progressed since their inception in the early 1980s, they do emphasize the need for renewed attention to the definition and constituent parameters of the field. Essential questions about the dimensions of the public relations domain have not been addressed to a sufficient degree (e.g., Long & Hazleton, 1987). In addition, we also foresee the need for a clearer conception of the relationship between theory and research on the one hand and the practice of public relations on the other. That is, the discipline of public relations can be regarded as essentially applied and action-oriented towards practice. And because of this applied, action-oriented nature, the discipline would be expected to develop a sound empirical base, utilizing well-established collaborative links with practitioners to ensure validity in the collection and codification of data. Such a discipline might also be expected to develop a rhetoric and discourse which is meaningful to users when communicating its central tenets, concepts, and theories, as well as ensuring the use of relevant dissemination channels to both academic and

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practitioner communities. In other words, the applied nature of public relations research becomes manifest throughout its knowledge-production process (Cornelissen, 2000b). However, as writers as Toth (1986), Pavlik (1987), and Grunig (1992) have argued, such a close connection between theory and practice has not been established yet, primarily as theory has not progressed enough into an established and useful body of knowledge for practitioners.

Conclusion This chapter has discussed, albeit only partially and in brief, the progress and state of the field of public relations. We have focused on historical and societal conditions impacting the role and function of public relations, and have reviewed and assessed the existing academic literature upon the topic. In specific, we further explored some of the challenges for both the practice and the academic study of public relations in the first decade of the new millennium.

References Abratt, R. (1989). A new approach to the corporate image management process. Journal of Marketing Management, 5(1), 63-76. Argenti, P. A. (1998). Corporate communication (2nd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Armbrecht, W., Avenarius, H., & Zabel. V. (1993). Image und PR: Kann Image Gegenstand einer Public Relations Wissenschaft sein? Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Baudrillard, J. (1998). The consumer society: Myths and structures. London: Sage Publications. Bezjian-Avery, Α., Calder, Β., & Iacobucci, D. (1998). New media interactive advertising vs. traditional advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 38(4), 23. Biehal, G. J., & Sheinin, D. A. (1998). Managing the brand in a corporate advertising environment: A decision-making framework for brand managers. Journal of Advertising, 27(2), 99-111. Birkigt, Κ., & Stadler, M. M. (Eds.). (1986). Corporate Identity: Grundlagen, Funktionen, Fallspiele (3rd ed.). Landsberg am Lech: Verlag Moderne Industrie.

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Birkigt, Κ., Stadler, M. M., & Funk, H. J. (Eds.)· (1995). Corporate Identity: Grundlagen, Funktionen, Fallbeispiele (8th ed.). Landsberg am Lech: Verlag Moderne Industrie. Böiger, J. F. (1959). How to evaluate your company image. Journal of Marketing, 24( 10), 7-10. Boorstin, D. J. (1961). The image: Or what happened to the American dream. Harmondsworth: Pelican Books. Botan, C. (1989). Theory development in public relations. In C. H. Botan & V. Hazleton (Eds.), Public relations theory (pp. 99-110). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Botan, C. (1993). Introduction to the paradigm struggle in public relations. Public Relations Review, 79(2), 107-110. Boulding, K. (1956). The image. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Brown, B. (1997). Stock market valuation of reputation for corporate social performance. Corporate Reputation Review, 7(1/2), 76-80. Brown, T. J., & Dacin, A. (1997). The company and the product: Corporate associations and consumer product responses. Journal of Marketing, 67(1), 68-84. Burreil, G., & Morgan, G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis: elements of the sociology of corporate life. London: Heineman Educational Books. Cheney, G. (1991). Rhetoric in an organizational society: Managing multiple identities. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Cheney, G. (1992). The corporate person (re)presents itself. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 165185). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Cheney, G., & Dionosopoulos, G. N. (1989). Public relations? No, relations with publics: A rhetorical-organizational approach to contemporary corporate communications. In C. H. Botan & V. Hazleton (Eds.), Public relations theory (pp. 135-157). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Cornelissen, J. P. (2000a). Corporate image: An audience-centred model. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 5(2), 119-125. Cornelissen, J. P. (2000b). Towards an understanding of the use of academic theories in public relations practice. Public Relations Review, 26(3), 315-326. Creyer, E. M. (1997). The influence of company behavior on purchase intention: do consumers really care about business ethics? Journal of Consumer Marketing, 14(6), 421-432. Cutlip, S. M. (1994). The unseen power: Public relations: A history. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Dewey, J. (1927). The public and its problems. Chicago: Swallow.

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Dowling, G. R. (1993). Developing your company image into a corporate asset. Long Range Planning, 26(2), 101-109. Drucker, P. F. (1980). Managing in turbulent times. New York: Harper and Row. Duncan, T., & Moriarty, S. E. (1998). A communication-based marketing model for managing relationships. Journal of Marketing, 62(4), 1-13. Ewen, S. (1996). PR! A Social History of Spin. New York: Basic Books. Fombrun, C., & Shanley, M. (1990). What's in a name? Reputation building and corporate strategy. Academy of Management Journal, 33(2), 233-258. Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (1992). Excellence in public relations and communication management. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Grunig, J. E. (1993). Image and substance: From symbolic to behavioral relationships. Public Relations Review, ¡9(2), 121-139. Grunig, J. E., & Grunig, L. A. (1998). The relationship between public relations and marketing in excellent organizations: Evidence from the IABC study. Journal of Marketing Communications, 4(3), 141-162. Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. Grunig, J. E., & White, J. (1992). The effect of worldviews on public relations theory and practice. In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 31-64). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Gummesson, E. (1997). Relationship marketing: Von 4P zu 3OR. Munich: Verlag Moderne Industrie. Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere. Cambridge: Polity Press. Harlow, R. F. (1940). The American council on public relations. Public Opinion Quarterly, 4(2), 324-326. Harris, T. L. (1991). The marketers guide to public relations: How today's top companies are using the new PR to gain a competitive edge. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Harvey, D. (1989). The condition of postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell. Heath, R. L. (1992a). The wrangle in the marketplace: A rhetorical perspective of public relations. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 17-36). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Heath, R. L. (1992b). Critical perspectives on public relations. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 37-61). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Heath, R. L. (1994). Management of corporate communication: From interpersonal contacts to external affairs. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

422 Joep Cornelissen, Danny Moss, & Phil Harris Heath, R. L. (1997). Strategic issues management: Organizations and public policy challenges. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Ind, N. (1992). The corporate image: Strategies for effective identity programmes (Rev. ed.). London: Kogan Page. Kennedy, S. H. (1977). Nurturing corporate images: Total communication or ego trip? European Journal of Marketing, 7/(3), 120-164. Kitchen, P. J. (1993). Public relations: A rationale for its development and usage within UK FMCG firms. European Journal of Marketing, 27(7), 53-75. Lesly, P. (1959/1960). Corporate image and the future leaders of business. Public Opinion Quarterly, 23(4), 547-553. L'Etang, J. (1996). Public relations and rhetoric. In J. L'Etang & M. Pieczka (Eds.), Critical Perspectives in public relations (pp. 106-123). London: International Thomson Business Press. Lippmann, W. (1922). Public opinion. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World. Long, L. W., & Hazleton, V. (1987). Public relations: A theoretical and practical response. Public Relations Review, 13, 3-13. Moriarty, S. E. (1996). The circle of synergy: Theoretical perspectives and an evolving IMC research agenda. In E. Thorson & J. Moore (Eds.), Integrated communication: Synergy of persuasive voices (pp. 333-353). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Olasky, M. N. (1987). Corporate public relations: A new historical perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Paisley, W. (1981). Public communication campaigns: The american experience. In R. E. Rice & W. J. Paisley (Eds.), Public communication campaigns (pp. 15-40). Beverly Hills: Sage. Pavlik, J. V. (1987). Public relations: What research tells us. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Pearson, R. (1992). Perspectives on public relations history. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 111130). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pfeffer, J. (1993). Barriers to the advance of organizational science: Paradigm development as a dependent variable. Academy of Management Review, 18(A), 599-620. Prior-Miller, M. (1989). Four major social scientific theories and their value to the public relations researcher. In C. H. Botan & V. Hazleton (Eds.), Public relations theory (pp. 67-81). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Redding, W. C. (1985). Stumbling toward identity: The emergence of organizational communication as a field of study. In R. D. McPhee & P. K. Tompkins (Eds.), Organizational communication: Traditional themes and new directions (pp. 15-54). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

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Robinson, E. J. (1966). Communication and public relations. Columbus (Ohio): Charles E. Merrill Publishing Company. Spicer, C. H. (1997). Organizational public relations: A political perspective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Toth, E. L. (1986). Broadening research in public affairs. Public Relations Review, 7, 27-36. Toth, E. L. (1992). The case for pluralistic studies of public relations: Rhetorical, critical and systems perspectives. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 3-15). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Toth, E. L., & Heath, R. L. (Eds.). (1992). Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Tyler, W. P. (1957). The image, the brand and the consumer. Journal of Marketing, 22, 162-165. Van Raaij, W. F. (1998). Interactive communication: Consumer power and initiative. Journal of Marketing Communications, 4( 1), 1-8. Van Riel, C. B. M. (1995). Principles of corporate communication. Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall. Varadarajan, P. R., & Menon, A. (1988). Cause-related marketing: A coalignment of marketing strategy and corporate philanthropy. Journal of Marketing, 52(7), 58-74. Wartick, S. L. (1992). The relationship between intense media exposure and change in corporate reputation. Business & Society, 31, 33-49.

5.3 A Comparative Study of Communicative Skill: Theory and Practice William Campbell & Andrzej Falkowski

Thirty-nine of Eastern Europe's leading universities and colleges have recently signed a declaration calling for greater recognition and support for liberal arts education in the region. This has been done to further promote the momentum of democratic change needed in countries that have only recently moved away from communism. The intention is to encourage education and training that will prepare the next generation for life in a globalized world, where citizens increasingly take leadership roles. This demands that higher education institutions must search for innovative approaches to teaching and learning, not least as they seek to maximize increasingly scarce resources. Students will be encouraged, even obliged, to take more responsibility for their own learning. As part of the collaboration between staff at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and the University of Lodz over the past five years, we have often questioned whether students at our respective universities enter their chosen courses of study with similar beliefs in their perceived abilities to relate to others. In particular, we (1) have suspected that many are uncertain about their ability to contribute to and manage discussions in groups and (2) we have wondered whether students in Poland differ in this respect from their English counterparts and the extent to which this may be related to their different cultural experiences. In an effort to examine this, we developed and validated the "Guided Group Discussion Self-Estimate Inventory" (GGD-SEI) in Great Britain and in Poland. This exercise revealed significant cultural differences in leadership skill.

In November 2000, 39 of Eastern Europe's leading universities and colleges signed a declaration calling for greater recognition and support for liberal arts education in the region. This was done to further promote the momentum of democratic change in countries that have only recently

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moved away from communism. It is assumed by this group that a different approach to learning and teaching is necessary if education and training provision are to prepare the next generation for life in a globalized world, one in which citizens increasingly take responsibility for their lives, and where necessary, adopt leadership roles. In effect, the group stressed the value of humanities based education to the development of human potential, essential to adaptation to the uncertain world in which we now find ourselves. For generations, Polish citizens have lived within a communist system of economic and political control, one that in many ways has influenced most domains of their public life. We suggest that this has resulted in individuals developing coping strategies often characterized by conformism, passiveness, an absence of engagement with economic life and an apparent lack of personal responsibility for the planning and management of daily life. Our concern is that engagement in such strategies may well be associated with the emergence of psychological barriers that can frustrate the process of economic transformation that is currently taking place in Poland and throughout Eastern Europe; it seems likely that as Poland and other countries embrace capitalist economic and political systems, their citizens will become obliged to develop a greater sense personal responsibility, of agency if you like. To achieve this, their citizens will need to develop an enhanced ability to relate to others from what are currently very different cultures. This will include an ability to manage face-to-face relationships. Consequently, students engaged in higher education in these countries will be encouraged, even obliged, to take more responsibility for their own learning and personal development; this will be achieved through engagement in such activities as the negotiation of learning experiences, completion of study projects through collaborative efforts with their contemporaries, etc. These young people and others will carry out many of these activities in small groups. Indeed, they will find that group activity is likely to be a vital part of almost every job that they enter on leaving university, irrespective of the country in which they have studied or subsequently work. Indeed, they will need to adapt to the culture of the organizations in which they operate. We suggest that they will need to begin to think in very different ways, and on occasion to abandon their traditionally held worldviews. This is a major challenge, at the heart of which is the ability to communicate; citizens will

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increasingly engage in the co-ordination of tasks with others, solve problems, and make decisions on behalf of the organizations in which they work. Communicative ability is now seen across the world as a priority skill, increasingly important as organizations become essentially global in character, not least through the impact of the multi-national corporations. Microsoft rules! As a result of our collaborative research at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and the University of Lodz over the past five years, we have increasingly questioned whether students at our respective universities enter their chosen courses of study with similar beliefs in their perceived abilities to relate to others in a range of (social) learning environments and the extent to which through their educational experiences, they become prepared for the working environments that they are likely to face on completion of their studies. In particular, we have suspected that many are uncertain about their ability to contribute to and manage discussions in groups; we have wondered whether students in Poland differ in this respect from their English counterparts and the extent to which this may be related to their different cultural experiences. We have been surprised by our observations. We have developed, validated, and administered the Guided Group Discussion Self-Estimate Inventory (GGD-SEI) with university students in the UK and in Poland. The exercise revealed significant cultural differences in aspects of leadership skill, an observation of some significance if as is increasingly the case, Eastern European countries utilize western expertise and other resources to promote the development of communicative and other abilities within their own communities. We present our interim findings here and in doing so, are forced to challenge the theoretical assumptions that we used in the construction of our inventory. In effect, the exercise has obliged us to think again about the role and nature of the concept of self in specific forms of social interaction. Hindsight can be so frustrating! We have come to contend that the theory utilized in construction of the GGD-SEI, one in which self-efficacy is seen as a basic fundamental intrapsychic factor governing human activity, is insufficient to explain differences in communicative behaviors within and across cultures. Importantly, we argue that this view of the concept may well be inappropriate. We have begun to develop further theoretically derived variables and components as

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cruciai explanatory variables, which accommodate cultural difference and yet are integrated with self-efficacy theory. We begin here by describing in brief, the process of development and validation of the GGD-SEI Inventory, which was initially developed in the UK and later validated in Poland. The scale's theoretical basis is consistent with the principles of selfefficacy theory in that it was constructed on the assumption that one's sense of personal efficacy mediates the relationship between the knowledge of how to behave and what is actually done (Bandura, 1982). The empirical results of our administration of the scale to English and Polish graduate students and the comparative analysis of these results throws light on the relevance of self-efficacy theory in the context of understanding human behavior and experience and upon its relevance to the development of culturally relevant communication skill education and training provision.

GGD-SEI development in the UK and Poland Martin and Campbell (1998) initially developed and validated the GGDSEI. This is a 19-self item self-report measure designed to promote increased self-awareness of a group leader's self-perceived ability to facilitate guided small group discussion. The scale was administered to 154 British students and after the psychometric procedure of deleting non-significant items (consistent with the principles of factor analysis), the authors obtained the four following factors: (1) Summarizing, (2) Distributing Participation and Encouraging Contribution, (3) Confidence, (4) Contracting. These are seen as fundamental to the perceived ability to manage face-toface group interactions. The factors illustrate that four dimensions can be seen to underlie guided group discussion self-efficacy. Besides demonstrating that the self-perceived ability to manage a small group discussion can be measured, this work also showed that the concept could in important ways be differentiated in that it can be seen as directly related to identifiable dimensions of ability that are in essence, specified categories of skill. Importantly to our mode of investigation, these are amenable to empirical investigation. Martin and Campbell (1999) later showed that the GGD-SEI scale could be effectively used for measuring changes in self-efficacy in each of the

A Comparative Study of Communicative Skill 429 four dimensions. From an evaluation of training interventions, they observed a significant improvement between pre-test and post-test on Summarizing, Encouraging Contributions and Distributing Participation, Confidence, and Contracting. The improvement was observed both at the end of a training program and after a period of work-based practice. The GGD-SEI scale was subsequently adapted to Polish culture and similar research to the British effort was performed. To accomplish the task, a back translation technique was used to accurately adjust the scale to the Polish language: The English version of the Inventory was translated into Polish, and then the Polish version was translated back into English. Some inconsistencies were noted and amended as necessary. Seventy-six Polish subjects were tested and factor analysis of their responses yielded the two following factors: Summarizing, and Controlling. This was a surprising observation but predominance of these two factors was also confirmed in follow-up studies on a larger sample consisting of 141 subjects (Falkowski & Brzezinska, in progress; the detailed results or these investigations are available from the authors). A comparative analysis revealed that the first factor is similar to the English one as it consists of virtually all the same Inventory items. The second factor was composed of those items that relate to the tendency to assert control over the managed group. Specifically, these items were: "Deal with a situation where one or two members of the group dominate", "Appear confident and earn the respect of the group ", and "Deal with a situation where several group members are talking at the same time ". We suggest that this factor is very characteristic of Polish culture in that it is understandable in the context of the social, political, and economic system that operated until recently, one that can be described as in important respects, anti-democratic, indeed, even autocratic in character. This propensity for control may well remain within the Polish psyche, and may be reflected at the interpersonal level in small group contexts. For example, a chairman or group leader operating at almost any level of an organization may not tolerate discussion between members in meetings, preferring to control events and impose his/her views. Little may have changed in the minds of Polish citizens, perhaps because of the specificity of the human cognitive system; individuals may well be ill-equipped to accept the speed of the perceived socio-economic changes and many people may remain unable to adapt to functioning in a different way under the changed conditions. They may well have no new cognitive schema and

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scripts and consequently continue to use their familiar cognitive structures to cope with these new environments. In order to form new, more relevant mental structures, it may be that a transition period is necessary during which new structures can be internalized. Unfortunately, due to the speed at which economic and political change occurs throughout the world today, this may not be available to citizens in such countries in transition. The issue may not even be considered important to policy makers. Our efforts to date reveal substantive differences between Polish and British graduate students in their cognitive schemata, resulting in differences in their perceived abilities to manage group discussion. This difference is significant in that education and training provision adopted from Western European countries may not be appropriate to other cultures as their social organizations continually evolve. In fact, the same can be said of western cultures that are by their very nature also fluid and unstable! At the very least, we suggest that there is a need to explore systematically how the "self' interacts with the materials and methods "imported" from other countries and how personal meanings are constructed by citizens in different cultures, ones no longer bounded by geography, but by beliefs and value systems. For example, fishermen in Norway and Scotland may share much more culture than Scottish bankers do with fishermen in Scotland! We now turn our attention to essential tenets of self-efficacy theory and continue by offering a research perspective on its relationship to more culturally sensitive communicative ability and performance. We are in effect, reporting our work in progress.

Self-efficacy: A concept under scrutiny Bandura (1977) suggests that self-efficacy is a strong determinant of behavioral change. He suggested that there is a strong correlation between changes in self-efficacy and changes in behavior and that there is a causal link between these. The statement that self-efficacy predicts behavior any more than, for example, past experience, is indeed a grand claim one that may not be sustainable when we consider cultural differences between citizens of Western Europe and their Eastern European contemporaries in countries in transition. A fuller discussion of the theory of social learning and the role of efficacy beliefs within is beyond the scope of this discussion

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but we suggest that it is possible to propose a statistical methodology that can be applied to explore the relative impact of self-efficacy beliefs: We have begun to do this by constructing theoretical frameworks that attempt to explain the notion of cause-effect relationship between self-efficacy and performance. These consider broad concepts of human behavior; the first of the working models is presented in Figure 5.3.1 below.

Figure 5.3.1. The relationship between knowledge, personality, self-efficacy, and performance (model I). Consistent with Bandura's social (cognitive) learning theory (op cit), selfefficacy is seen here as having the potential to determine performance and yet, as the model shows, it's difficult to consider this concept without recognizing that self-beliefs may depend so much upon such factors such as personality, abilities, and "knowledge" that the concept is of little explanatory use to us. The reader is asked to note that the knowledge concept in our model is divided into "procedural" and "declarative", an important distinction in the context of small group interaction (we will develop this more fully below). The model presents personal efficacy as the principal factor mediating the relationship between the knowledge of how to behave and what is actually performed in social encounters, the observable behavioral referents if you like. Again consistent with social learning principles, "personality" and "ability" elements are inherent to this model, where ability is understood to be an innate capacity, facilitating the potential for the learning of particular skill(s). These abilities can also be usefully seen as influencers that shape a person's behavior (Krumboltz, 1979); and included in this is the notion of abilities as directly related to genetic factors that can be measured, in part by psychometric tests. Thus, ability can be seen to di-

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rectly influence the learning process and the acquisition of knowledge. Personality factors also seem to be fundamentally related to the concept of self-efficacy. For example, if a subject has a high level of anxiety, as measured by say, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), (Spielberger, 1975), or low level of self-acceptance as measured by any of the range of inventories available to us (though most have not been developed across cultures), then presumably, the recorded level of self-efficacy for this person would also be low. Again, this can be examined empirically. The performance variable can be seen as concerned with overt observable behavior, though the potential for intra-personal behavior exists, though this concept may be in dispute. Self-efficacy is viewed in this model as a characteristic filter, one that mediates the relationship between the subject's potential to perform, and the resultant behavior. The reader will note that by taking this position, we bring to our investigations our own "academic baggage". For a moment, we must pause in our delivery and ask our readers to acknowledge that we are cognizant of the limitations to our (scientific) approach to this study. We trust that our colleagues from the arts and humanities will not despair and hope that they will in due course apply their own research methodologies to these issues. Together, there is much we can discover. However, we now (humbly!) return to our view of how we can examine the tenets of the model presented above: If self-efficacy is measured by the GGD-SEI scale and other variables are measured by selected scales of personality, knowledge, and abilities such as those cited above, then we can use structural equation methodology to seek to specify the cause-effect relationship between these variables. As we have suggested earlier, we are not convinced that although self-efficacy is likely to be an important factor in explaining performance in the group context, it is in our view, unlikely to cause it. However, one variable we consider to be of particular importance in helping us to understand why individuals in different cultures differ in their performances in the group context is that of procedural and declarative knowledge. We suggest that this concept has particular relevance to our research interests and therefore merits closer scrutiny here.

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Procedural and declarative knowledge We have argued that it is useful to consider the subject's knowledge of how to behave by dividing this into two specific kinds of knowledge, namely "procedural" and "declarative". This distinction is well elaborated in the psychological literature (e.g., Anderson, 1982, 1983). In short, if subjects perform well in an interpersonal setting but are unable to articulate this to others or are unaware of their already acquired skills, they can be described as possessing a level of procedural knowledge of how to behave in interpersonal settings. In contrast, other subjects may indeed be able to fluently express details of their acquired skills and their relation to performance. In this instance, we would describe these individuals as possessing a high level of declarative knowledge. Thus, procedural and declarative knowledge can correspond but this may not always be the case. For example, an individual may know how, and can successfully ride a bicycle or carry out some other psychomotor skill, but may be unable to explain this ability to someone else. In respect of communicative skill in groups therefore, a person may be very proficient at managing group social encounters, but may fail to express this skill verbally or in other (self) report ways. And before we go any further with this discussion, we would like to raise another cautionary note with regard to the relationship between selfefficacy beliefs and demonstrable behavior in the small group: It often happens that by acquiring more and more knowledge of a particular subjectmatter, we become more and more aware of the inadequacies of our knowledge; if we learn more we may in fact understand less, as we begin to appreciate the complexities of the issue under scrutiny. It's possible therefore, that under such circumstances, one may record low correlation between self-efficacy and performed skills. In this situation we must then ask the following question: What are the other variables that account for variance in the communication skills observed in a subject's behavior? According to above model, these variables are personality and abilities, abilities that directly influence the process of knowledge acquisition. We are then confronted with the problem of how to improve the correlation between recorded self-efficacy in relation to group management and behavioral performance in the group. This may be an inappropriate question when we acknowledge cultural difference.

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We've recently come to the view therefore, that the above model is insufficiently explanatory, as it seems to us that we must consider the contribution of procedural and declarative knowledge more seriously. We suggest that in developing communicative ability within the small group context (and other interpersonal settings), it is critically important to address the issue of how to improve the correlation between "knowledge" dimensions and performance. We are in the process of constructing a second model to explain the relationship between self-efficacy and other important concepts. To illustrate our current thinking, we offer a brief outline here of an example of the way in which we intend to empirically scrutinize the tenets of our model(s): Let's assume that an individual's procedural knowledge can be measured in the following way; the GGD-SEI inventory is completed not only by an individual to estimate his or her self-efficacy but also by "experts" who observe the individual in' action, both doing so to estimate perceptions of communicative skill. (If this same inventory is applied to both the subjects and experts then a slight linguistic change of items inventory is necessary to construct this others' measure). This then provides us with at least some external criteria with which to compare subjects' and experts' views and enables us to calculate an estimate of the level of consistency of both the subjects' self-efficacy and the experts' views of perceptions of communicative skill. This may be particularly important in respect of procedural and declarative knowledge because a subject may not think about his or her ability or may simply believe that he or she doesn't appear confident to group members or earn their respect when performing. And yet to the expert, the person may perform successfully (item 14 of the GGD-SEI Inventory). In this instance, it's reasonable to suggest that the subject is unaware of this aspect of communicative skill. The individual may have learned skills at the procedural level only, i.e., performs skillfully but doesn't know that this is the case. Further, we take the view that the process of increasing self-awareness also includes the process of acquiring socially approved norms and standards of social behavior. In U.K. universities such as MMU, there are educational programs offered to students of a wide range of academic studies in which they have excellent opportunities to learn culturally defined communication standards of performance, estimation, or reference points. Therefore, it's not unreasonable to assume that for these students, the correlation between actual communicative ability and reported self-efficacy, as

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measured by the GGD-SEI, will be high. In Poland, in contrast, we suggest that this correlation is likely to be low as there are few, if any, such personal development programs. Students in Poland are therefore unlikely to have access to such estimation standards. This doesn't mean that Polish students and other citizens are not effective managers of, and participants in, group discussion, but if they have learned their skills by trial and error, or by watching more experienced colleagues, they may not be able to express them verbally or via forms of self-report such as the GGD-SEI. The point here is that we can explore the dynamics of the "knowledge" concept across cultures and in doing so begin to understand its nature and function. And, we can do this empirically. We now believe that a different model of the relationship between knowledge, self-efficacy, and performance is warranted, one that enhances the importance of "knowledge". Before presenting our latest version, it may be illuminating to have a brief look at how cultural norms may impact in a directly observable way upon the behavior of leaders and participants in small group discussion.

Performance in-group discussions: Cultural influence Let's return for a moment to the data collected from our study of communicative dimensions of graduate students in the U.K. and Poland. We suggested that the controlling factor, which expresses the tendency to assert control over the managed group, is characteristic of Polish citizens. Group leaders acting in this way would employ what we call an "autocratic" style of management. It can be illustrated by Figure 5.3.2. The reader will note that there are far more exchanges between the leader and the individual group members, with few relationships developing between the respondents themselves. In effect, the leader seeks to control the group and the course of the discussion. However, another possibility emerges, one that will become more evident if students in higher education assume more responsibility for their learning: The leader will only control and interfere with relationships between respondents to a "moderate" degree. Such a strategy allows for a relatively natural course of discussion and encourages spontaneous interaction between respondents (Figure 5.3.2, right hand). Such action is frequently accompanied in UK universi-

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ties with exercises in which the students are asked to reflect upon their respective contributions to the group activities. And a third style of group management is possible whereby the leader takes little or no control over the group. In effect, he or she seeks to stay outside the group process allowing the respondents to interact at will. This can be described as a "democratic" style of group leadership (see Figure 5.3.2, bottom). In effect it's possible to view leadership behaviors as existing on a continuum reflecting at one end, an autocratic style of leadership to democratic management practices at the other. This latter style of leadership would be characteristic of student led collaborative project work in UK higher education courses and is increasingly common within organizations where employees work together on group problem-solving tasks. Autocratic Style:

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Internet access has been growing even stronger than PC access, but it is also starting to slow down (Figure 7.1.1). Currently, over 100 million Americans have Internet access-at home, in offices, schools, and colleges. Most use takes place in offices, but home use is also rising. Interestingly, home use peaks around the same time as TV usage levels, namely between 9 and 10 p.m. This suggests that questions about a possible reduction of TV usage as a result of Web usage are quite appropriate. To assess the relationship between the use of the old and new media, we can refer to measures that track usage with a high degree of accuracy: Two companies, Media Metrix and NetRatings, employ electronic measures to produce detailed usage data based on large samples of users. (Thus, we don't have to rely on survey estimates by respondents anymore.) These "Web ratings" indicate that most home users do not use the Internet every day and, even though usage trends upwards, it is still quite low compared to TV. In fact, for most people, the Internet accounts for only a small amount of total media usage (Figure 7.1.2). Further, this is not only true of adults, but also true of the young generation, often described as indicator of future media use (Figure 7.1.3). Claims that TV usage in the U.S. has already gone down as a result of the Internet are simply inaccurate.

Evolutionary trends The developments thus far have shown the early, widely publicized predictions by the technology-prophets to be wrong. The adoption of the new media and changes in the way the various media are being used have been much slower than predicted. Change is probably much better described as "evolutionary" than as a "revolution". But what will the future bring? Internet usage is increasing and, more importantly perhaps, new technological changes will bring further changes in the media. Given the fast moving changes and the mixed record for predictors, it may not be surprising that there is no consensus among analysts. However, the most recent thinking is not as divergent as it was just a few months ago. The technology experts at Jupiter and Forrester have always thought that media usage would shift towards the Internet and that TV usage would suffer most. Their most recent analyses, however, do not stress this argument as much as in the past. Instead they emphasize that interactive TV is going

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to grow fast. It seems they believe TV use will drop less than originally anticipated because the new technologies will make TV more attractive.

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In contrast, Veronis/Suhler have always been "bullish" on the old media. Their analysts point to TV use measures, which indicate no drop in TV use among Internet users. (This is in contrast to surveys in which users tend to claim they watch less TV now because of Web usage. U.S. Nielsen data, just as German GfK data do not show a significant drop in viewing.) These

582 Horst Stipp analysts conclude that the two media have many different functions and speculate that broadband may allow consumers to save time shopping, etc., and, therefore, to spend more time relaxing with the old-fashioned TV. Who is correct? The recent shift in Jupiter's and Forrester's analysis is quite significant. For the first time since they started predicting the future of the media, they seem to acknowledge a point this author has made in previous articles (for example, Media Perspektiven, 2/1998): Interactivity, which is offered by the Internet and by technological advanced TV sets, cable, and satellite boxes, is not always an advantage. "Passive" non-interactive TV does fulfill very important consumer needs. It should be added that there is one trend in media usage that everyone agrees on, an increase in "multi-tasking". Multi-tasking-in this context, the use of different media at the same time or engaging in other activities while using a mass medium-is not new. New is the increased tendency for busy Internet users to at least occasionally use the Internet while watching TV, or more precisely going back and forth between the two. (In the U.S., about half of the homes have a PC and TV in the same room.)

A new convergence model The term "convergence" is usually used in connection with technology (interactive ) or the merging of companies (AOL and Time-Warner). Here we want to focus on a third aspect: convergence in consumer behavior. As media companies noticed the interest of many consumers to interact with media content, they started to develop strategies across media. The obvious goal: not to loose consumers to the new medium and to keep them with the same company, regardless of the media they use. Such strategies are usually employed to extend successful television franchises, which typically have many more users than websites, to the Web. Early examples in the U.S. were the 1996 Summer Olympics and the Superbowl broadcasts which suggested that viewers go to the Web for more information. Also, a few programs added some Web content, at first, with mixed success. The most successful TV-Web content and user convergence, thus far, has occurred not just in the U.S., but also in Europe: The "Millionaire" and "Big Brother" shows have very successful Web components. (In fact, "Big

Interaction between Online-Communication and TV-Viewing 583 Brother" has made RTL Online in Germany a major player. A similar success story does not exist in the U.S.) Clearly, TV drives Internet traffic. The fact that Internet users continue to watch TV and the crosspromotions between TV and the Internet have helped traditional media companies remain strong and gives them good prospects for the future. Most of the big American media brands on the Web are connected with traditional players: CNN.com, MSNBC.com, and also the New York Times' website.

What happened to the "Internet revolution"? All the data point to slower change in consumer behavior than often anticipated, change will continue to be more evolutionary than revolutionary. Consumers have explored the advantages of interactivity, but most found that interactivity is not always necessary or superior. They have customized websites and may have tried to create their own "me-TV" (Eli Noam's term), but found that a mass appeal Hollywood movie, produced for $100 million, can actually be more entertaining than a cartoon on the Web produced for a very narrow audience segment. Most consumers have not replaced old media habits with new ones. Instead, they have embraced the diversity and variety offered through the new technologies, adapted their behaviors, but they have resisted giving up old favorites. The first data on broadband users do not indicate the beginning of a revolutionary change either. Therefore, we predict continuous slow change in media use patterns in he U.S. as well as in Germany. (The German ARD/ZDF Online Study supports this point of view.) Reflecting on this— some may say "conservative"-point of view, I would like to mention an essay in the New York Times which dealt with the question why so many "high-tech experts" tend to make extremely optimistic forecasts regarding the progress of the new media. The essay quoted one of those "experts" saying that careful forecasts don't get you an audience, but that exciting predictions get people to subscribe to the service. The fast speed of technological change and the need to have information about the future create a real dilemma: the faster the change, the more difficult to predict future developments. Even the best data analysis cannot provide all the answers, especially not long term. However, we can look at the available data and

584 Horst Stipp make inferences for the next several years, even if that is less exciting than making exciting predictions about radical change.

References Coffey, S., & Stipp, H. (1997). The interactions between computer and television Usage. Journal of Advertising Research, 37(2), 61-67. Frederick, J. (1999, December 19). The virtual science of high-tech forecasting. New York Times Magazine, p. 73. Jupiter Vision Report (2000). Streaming video. Web Technologies, 5. Veronis, Suhler & Associates (1999, November). Communications Industry Forecast, 13.

7.2 Can Big Brother and His Siblings Play Together More? The Potential for Transatlantic Work on Media Coverage of Science and the Environment Michael Nitz

This chapter utilizes environmental and science-related issues as a context in which to discuss potential avenues for transatlantic work on media coverage. Culture is suggested to be a key variable in explaining different paths towards understanding these issues. Framing theory is offered as a potential tool for understanding and explaining media portrayals of scientific and environmental issues. Implications of such an approach for interactions between U.S. and European theorizing and research are discussed.

The potential for transatlantic work on media coverage of science and the environment The temperatures (and tempers) have been rising in recent years as the United States and Europe have been debating a wide range of environmental and science-related issues. The United States claims that European fears over genetically altered food are exaggerated. Europeans, especially Germans, are seriously alarmed about the United States' withdrawal from the Kyoto accord on global warming. American scholars at European conferences are met with boos and catcalls when they speak skeptically about global warming and the environment. As the European Union plans eastward expansion and integration, the concern over environmental degradation during the Soviet years is becoming readily visible. Eastern European countries are being "forced" (in their eyes) to choose between economic growth and environmental rehabilitation. Are these really mutually exclusive or is it possible to create some sort of sustainable dichotomy? This chapter attempts to explore some of the potential factors behind these inconsistencies. First, justification will be made for utilizing science

586 Michael Nitz and environmental issues as case studies of how media coverage is similar and disparate between the United States and Europe. Second, culture is posited as a key variable in explaining and understanding inconsistencies. Third, framing theory is proffered as a toy that American and European media researchers can utilize as they "play together" in the exploration of future interactions in media research on coverage of environmental and science-related issues. These issues transcend international boundaries in both nature and impact and have many facets, including economic, technological, legal, and social-political-cultural factors. The debate encompasses ideological views, political views, and moral convictions. The communication process is characterized by a shaping and forming of expectations of and by the countries involved. These expectations develop and operate in a public communication context as the media and various other policy-makers influence each other in the process of public opinion building.

Media coverage The news media play a powerful role in framing this public opinion process. Mass media are an important and often the primary source for information about environmental and science issues (Griffin & Dunwoody, 1995; Shanahan & McComas, 1997). The mass media can disseminate opinions, while at the same time conveying the impression that these issues are important. Policy-makers from various countries both affect and are affected by this dissemination of opinion. More importantly, many rely on the media for perceptions of life in other countries, especially in instances where they have had little experience in that country.

Nature of coverage If the media play such a powerful role in the framing of discussion, then what does this coverage look like? Television coverage of the environment is poisoned by inconsistencies, distortions, cyclical, and sporadic attention, and a misrepresentation of data (Nitz & Jarvis, 1998; Nitz, Jarvis, & Kenski, 1996; Shanahan & McComas, 1997). While some media outlets employ a reporter on science and environmental beats, a "rule of least effort"

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seems to be generally applicable to the large majority of issues (Griffin & Dunwoody, 1995, p. 281). In an effort to be sensational, timely, and simple, the media tend to underemphasize risks and overdramatize spins on disputes in environmental reporting (Friedman, Dunwoody, & Rogers, 1999; Shanahan, 1999). A majority of stories seem to be framed from a political rather than a scientific perspective (Lacey & Longman, 1993). European television, including German, also suffers from an increasing paucity of quality science and environmental coverage (de Cheveigne & Cheddadi, 1998; López, Moinet, & Fayard, 1998; Nitz, Janssen, Herrman, & Huber, in press; Persitzky, 1998). Gunter and Mughan (2000), in studying democracy and the media from a comparative perspective, point to an alarming trend in European media towards a "commercialization and dumbing down of the broadcast media" (p. 445). Germany is chosen as a specific country whose media developments have closely followed those in the United States. Under its current leadership, Germany is becoming a critical catalyst towards expanding and integrating other European countries (particularly those in Eastern Europe) into a coherent entity. Germany's citizens elected an environmental-leaning party into the ruling coalition government. The environment is very high on the agendas of both the public and the media (Brosius & Kepplinger, 1990; Schoenbach & Becker, 1995). Germans also appear to be concerned about events outside of Germany such as foot-and-mouth disease and America's stance on global warming. There is strong interest and much popular support in Germany for the development of ecologically safe energy sources and production processes, as well as widespread public awareness of environmental problems and broad support for environmental protection measures and initiatives. Unfortunately, for science and the environment, Germans are exposing themselves to less and less political and information shows (Kaase, 2000). Television is a popular source of information in Germany (Kleinsteuber & Thomass, 1998). Germans are turning on the set in larger numbers and for longer hours. Entertainment is taking on a larger focus, especially as the private channels begin to break up the cartel between the established parties and the public networks (Dolff, Schaeffner, Maurer, & Breinker, 2000; Kleinsteuber & Thomass, 1998). Newspapers may still play a significant role in influencing opinion (Eilders, 1997). However, when they come into conflict with television, Germans trust television by almost three to one

588 Michael Nitz over radio and newspapers (Kaase, 2000). Thus, while Germans (and Europeans) may have a richer depth and breadth of knowledge about science and environmental issues than Americans (Krampen, 1999), media developments seem to be indicating that this gap will be shortly closed. Nonetheless, differences remain between United States and European media in terms of their coverage of science and environmental issues. Semetko and Valkenburg (2000) indicate that this could be the case, at least with Dutch television. Wu (2000) also found differences across 38 different countries' news coverage. World citizens display a wide variety of interest and involvement with environmental and science issues (Smith, 1996), depending on the specific issues, demographic factors, and geographical location (Andrews, 1998; Carmen, 1998). Concern is associated with different trade-offs that stimulate inconsistent responses.

Culture One of the primary factors thought to be responsible for this inconsistency among citizens' responses to messages about science and the environment is culture (Hansen, 1991). Nitz et al. (in press) found an example of this in their analysis of German news coverage of global warming. A national newspaper, "taz", ran a series of editorials that blamed Americans (and their love of SUVs) for most of the world's environmental problems. Yet Germans also were criticized for their love of the autobahn. Culture contains many concepts and ideas, but some of the more relevant ones for this chapter include integration of a society's knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes, education that transmits important values to a nation, and a body of shared beliefs, values, attitudes, opinions, and practices of an organization or entity (Jurin, Danter, & Roush, 2000). Hansen (1991) argues that some environmental and science issues exhibit more cultural resonance than others, which subsequently leads to corresponding levels of concern and focus in public debate. Varying cultural perspectives could consequently alter perhaps both the way media cover issues (Peters, 1999) and the way people respond to this coverage. Cultural factors influence goals and priorities about the characterization and control of risk. Culture is a critical factor, not only in the pursuit of science, but also in the formulation of policy decisions. For ex-

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ample, Europeans adopt a "cooperative" approach and Americans adopt a more "confrontational" approach (Gunter & Mughan, 2000). Hansen (1991) admonishes that culture can privilege the advancement of some issues or frames at the expense of others. Hansen goes on to state that the media are a key variable in determining culture. This chapter therefore argues that the media cover science and environmental issues differently in different countries. Surprisingly, little comparative research has been conducted on the different ways countries frame and discuss science and environmental issues. Yet, it is hard to imagine transboundary problems (food safety, global warming, missile defense) being solved without international cooperation. Since environmental and science issues (global warming, foot-and-mouth disease, nuclear waste transport) know few geographical boundaries, and since the media are such a critical source of information on these issues, this chapter asserts that media coverage of science and environmental issues should be examined in a variety of countries.

Theoretical perspective This chapter attempts to offer framing theory as the tool for examining how media in the United States and Europe cover environmental and science issues. Shanahan (1999) states it is not only important to look at what issues the mass media address, but, perhaps even more importantly, how these issues are covered. The media can have a strong impact by constructing social reality by actively setting and creating frames of reference for audiences. Entman (1993) defines framing as selection salience-the media select some aspects and make them more salient. Certainly, it is possible that the United States and European media may be selecting certain frames over others in their coverage of science and environmental issues. Iyengar (1991) suggested that news reports may be usefully analyzed by their "thematic" or "episodic" content. The thematic framing of news attempts to place events in broad context of related events, to show effects of events, and to discuss possible implications and outcomes that may result. It gives the viewer helpful background knowledge regarding the cause and effect of problems. In general, thematic stories do better at informing citizens.

590 Michael Nitz Episodic framing, by contrast, presents public issues as concrete events, as specific instances, occurring more or less in isolation. It only provides snapshots of an issue. It too can enhance learning, but the learning is often disjointed and unconnected to a larger context. Most studies have found television to be predominately episodic (Iyengar, 1991; Nitz et al., 1996; Schoenbach & Becker, 1995). Schoenbach and Becker note that German and European television focuses on events over processes. The impact of such episodic story telling has potential to have a priming effect on the public's perceptions of salience of sources and symbols used in environmental coverage (Iyengar, 1991).

Responsibility and solutions One of the most controversial issues in the framing of television news stories on science and environmental issues is the question of responsibility for causes and treatments of problems. Causal responsibility addresses the source of a problem while treatment responsibility addresses who is to solve a problem. A framing process in which the media ferret out those responsible for causing problems rather than excavating potential solutions for those problems does little to encourage rational decision-making at the policy level. There has been plenty of blame thrown around for the culprits responsible for scientific and environmental problems. Countries tend to blame each other rather than work together to achieve a solution. Yet these issues are complex with many deserving some modicum of blame. When policy-makers can agree, they will need the consent of the governed. This is nearly impossible since media coverage frequently frames problems from a causal, or blame, perspective. The ability of individuals is hindered to comprehend the significance of a problem, let alone form an opinion in favor of preventive solutions. To the degree that people do not hold society responsible for issues, they are less apt to favor government initiatives.

Sources/viewpoints/bias The sources selected for information could be significant determinants of the media's potential ability to prime viewers about the nature of particular issues. Cantrill and Oravec (1996) note that with "our environment, what

Can Big Brother and His Siblings Play Together More? 591 we say is what we see, ..." (p. 1). Unfortunately, journalists tend to use the most available eyes when seeking information for environmental issues (Davis, 1995; Hendry, 1994). Trumbo (1996) finds that news stories are using more and more politicians, rather than scientists, in stories about the environment. This has relevance for transatlantic media research as policymakers may rely on media sources in their own countries, which could cloud their perceptions of what is going on in other countries. It is important to examine these sources from both United States and European media to determine what viewpoints or biases exist in their respective visions of scientific and environmental issues.

Technical/cultural

focus

Paystrup (1994) notes that technical approaches focus narrowly on scientific risks or the results of scientific studies. In contrast, cultural approaches expand the focus to include the lay public's perception of dangers and threats that are "broader and deeper than those associated with the actual risk event itself' (p. 1). Technical-cultural distinctions become important for U.S.-European discussions on science and the environment in that people are more likely to practice environmentally sound behavior if advocacy messages are simple, clear, and understandable to one's cultural context. Most stories contain technical foci with an emphasis on scientific reports, computer models, and predictions of risk (Nitz & Jarvis, 1998). Cultural stories may be best suited for citizen learning since they speak within a framework that simplifies complicated issues into a language the public can understand. People are much more receptive to a cultural frame that is easily understood and that drives home the negative consequences of inaction. Cultural stories are longer and seem to be able to increase the public's awareness and understanding of scientifically complex issues. Further, whether journalists admit it or not, they base their work in certain values and these values permeate news accounts (Peters, 1999). Economics, politics, and science Framing theory becomes critically relevant for theorizing in a transatlantic context when one factors in economic, political, and scientific areas. As

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Cantrill and Oravec (1996) point out, "solving the puzzle of environmental communication requires diligent attention to myriad factors, including the forces of cognition, context, and culture, ..." (p. 4). Environmental degradation has its roots in economic processes and is seen to depend on different levels of economic activities and how they develop. Governments try to adopt changes to alleviate this degradation. The question, however, is that many of these proposed changes are claimed to be disadvantageous and costly for economic progress. Costs are scarcely present in news stories. Without referring to financial costs, the resistance against a reduction of emission rates, for example, makes no sense. Without referring to social costs of economic production, the demand for reduction of emission rates is more difficult to justify. Political frames occupy a significant and often primary position in news stories on the environment (Nitz, 2000). While the public can learn from television, the increasing scope of the political frame indicates Cantrill's (1993) briar patch of ideas is becoming more and more tangled as sources in these stories simply bicker rather than proposing concrete solutions to problems. It is possible that the conflict and drama intrinsic to political news may encourage individuals to take environmental stories less seriously. News programs could approach the difficult task of explaining the complex science inherent in environmental issues in one of two ways. First, they could explain the science to give the viewer some background knowledge. Second, they could adopt a rather critical attitude towards the issue and examine the "quality" of the science. It is important to examine how televised news media cover the science aspect, since much of the U.S.Europe debate over issues like mad cow disease of global warming centers around whose science gets preferential treatment in the world court of public opinion.

Implications of media framing theory for U.S. - European media research This chapter argues that framing theory can explain countries' public communication on science and the environment. In the past, research on framing theory (and most media theories for that matter) has operated within

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national vacuums. Policy issues (especially scientific and environmental) will require that cross-national perspectives be implemented to help understand and explain how cultural frames predict countries' stances on these issues. Transatlantic policy-makers operating in these arenas need to be aware of how the media frame issues so that they can have an awareness of how they are being portrayed and how they can respond to and perhaps help shape these frames within and across constituencies. Science and environmental issues are an inherent component of risk management, one of the most difficult and challenging issues confronting nations in the new millennium. It is at the forefront of the scientific, political, and public policy agendas (Kaase, 2000). Public understanding of scientifically related issues is critical to enlightened policy-making. Many of these issues are scientifically complex and require at least some degree of literacy or competency in evaluating risk. Public evaluation of risk is a critical dimension affecting debate on solutions to alleviate or eliminate risk. This chapter argues that in the absence of first-hand, intimate experience with a country, the media become a critical societal institution delineating the standards one uses to evaluate the degree of risk involved in a scientific or environmental issue. The media are one, if not the primary source for information. Television news coverage is generally inadequate. Unfortunately, most citizens in the United States and Europe get their news from television. Citizens cannot be motivated to support policies designed to manage science and environmental issues if news media coverage paints a mixed picture. Policymakers responsible for communicating a country's stance on an issue cannot rally their constituencies if media coverage inadequately addresses what these problems are and provides conflicting information about these issues. The problem is exacerbated for those who have little contact with an issue or country. The potential effects of such media coverage may lead to uninformed publics and superficial discussion. One of the key resources that need to be managed in this regard is the information communicated through the media. Transatlantic researchers need to precisely examine the similarities and differences between information in United States and European media to ensure that the various citizenries are operating from a somewhat consistent foundation. A related, more positive, implication illustrating the importance of framing theory is that the way media frame an issue can also stimulate involve-

594 Michael Nitz ment in decision-making about scientific and environmental issues. Looking at patterns of involvement helps transatlantic scholars to conceptualize participation, a process central to understanding of democratic cultures. As Neuman, Just, and Crigler (1992) state, media promote interest (or disinterest) in an issue. Print media then amplify and elaborate the complexities of the issue. Publics then are able to actively reinterpret the images, fragments, and signals they find in the mass media. On the other hand, highly involved publics, or organizations with a high stake in an environmental or science issue, can affect media coverage, or build the media's agenda. This is counter-balanced by the involvement of professional and legal (i.e., governmental) mandates and agencies. As Kaase (2000) notes, the processes devised by governments in Europe and North America to secure public input into risk management decisions suggest that the role of participation is a tough balancing act. Governments can be paralyzed by insistent public demand. Alternatively, they can be too restrictive of individual citizens' participation in the decision-making process. In either case, this chapter argues that the way media frame issues can affect involvement in the political process. Analyzing media from a transatlantic, comparative perspective can alert governments to possible problems and opportunities, while avoiding ethnocentric approaches to solutions. One country may have several, not necessarily agreeing, self-interests. This is especially true in a world in which the "great audience" is splintered and dissolved by cable and narrow niches (Carey, 1995, p. 396). This says the notion of those who participate in common polity is difficult to imagine. Nonetheless, framing is a concept that can cut across political boundaries. Gunter and Mughan (2000) believe, as does this chapter, that communication media are a key channel through which information flows to citizens. The political effects of this information are shaped by interactions between leaders and citizens. Schönbach and Becker (1995) note that the needs and motives of the audience are the most important catalysts of media effects on mass public opinion. Politicians certainly try to divine these motives and self-interests. They anticipate that the media's agenda will become the public's agenda. In many cases, politicians hope this would be true since they are trying to get their agenda to be the media's agenda. Polls can force leaders of organizations to act merely due to the fact that leaders believe the media will have an impact (Schönbach & Becker, 1995). The

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media serve as a link among members of different sectors and help leaders communicate their ideas and opinions to the general public. Framing theory proves particularly useful in this regard. Transatlantic research of media coverage can identify common cultural frames that can be integrated into a framework that can guide fruitful diplomacy and avoid most of the acrimony and grandstanding that exists between the United States and Europe on science and environmental issues. Scheufele agrees that future research should address the processes that influence the creation or change of frames applied by journalists (Scheufele, 1999, p. 115). The key, Scheufele says, is to determine what structural factors of the media, including individual cultures and biases of journalists (Peters, 1999), can influence framing of news content. Framing theory can help transatlantic media researchers in this area by helping to explain the impact of varying degrees of oversight of broadcast media in the United States and Europe (especially in Eastern Europe). Framing becomes a process of setting, forming, and building a cultural structure that enables policy-makers in the United States and Europe to if not resolve, then at least understand each other on science and environmental issues (Nitz et al., in press). Certainly there are many competing economic, political, and cultural interests between the United States and Europe. Countries hold divergent views about the causes and solutions to scientific and environmental issues. However, science and environmental issues are international in scope. Thus, it behooves future researchers of media communication to continue to examine similarities and differences in coverage of science and environmental issues in United States and European media in order to help disentangle citizens and policy-makers from Cantrill's (1993) "briar patch". What is needed for better management of resources and policy-making is a thorough discussion of how the world can work together to solve a problem. It is critical to remember Bowman's (1996) caution that government spending and policy-making on scientific and environmental problems is shaped in response to a public that gets most of its information at the doorstep and in the living room!

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References Andrews, C. (1998). Public policy and the geography of U.S. environmentalism. Social Science Quarterly, 79, 55-73. Bowman, C. (1996). Needed: A recommitment. Nieman Reports, 40, 5-8. Brosius, H., & Kepplinger, H. (1990). The agenda-setting function of television news. Communication Research, 17, 183-211. Cantrill, J. (1993). Communication and our environment: Categorizing research in environmental advocacy. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 21, 36-66. Cantrill, J., & Oravec, C. (Eds.). (1996). The symbolic earth: Discourse and our creation of the environment. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press. Carey, J. (1995). The press, public opinion, and public discourse. In C. Salmon & T. Glasser (Eds.), Public opinion and the communication of consent (pp. 373402). New York: Guilford. Carmen, C. (1998). Dimensions of environmental policy support in the U.S. Social Science Quarterly, 79, 717-733. Davis, J. (1995). The effects of message framing on response to environmental communications. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 72, 285299. De Cheveigne, S., & Cheddadi, N. (1998, September). Science in European TV news. Paper presented at the 5th Annual International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Berlin. Dolff, Α., Schaeffner, R., Maurer, D., & Breinker, C. (2000). Deutschland-Einig Fernsehland?: Nutzungsmuster und Einstellungen in Ost und West. Koeln: IP Deutschland. Eilders, C. (1997). Editorials and public opinion. Paper presented at the annual International Conference on Media and Politics, Brussels. Entman, R. (1993). Framing: Towards clarification of a fractured paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43, 51-58. Friedman, S., Dunwoody, S., & Rogers, C. (Eds.). (1999). Communicating uncertainty: Media coverage of new and controversial science. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Griffin, R., & Dunwoody, S. (1995). Impacts of information subsidies and community structure on local press coverage of environmental contamination. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 72, 271-284. Gunter, R., & Mughan, A. (2000). The political impact of the media: A reassessment. In R. Gunter & A. Mughan (Eds.), Democracy and the media: A comparative perspective (pp. 402-447). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Hansen, A. (1991). The media and the social construction of the environment. Media, Culture, and Society, 13, 443-458. Hendry, J. (1994). The three voices of the media: A case study of the television media's coverage of the controversy surrounding a toxic waste incinerator. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Speech Communication Association, New Orleans, LA, United States. Jurin, R., Danter, K., & Roush, D. (2000). Environmental communication: Skills and practices for natural resource managers, scientists, and engineers. Boston: Pearson Custom Publishing. Kaase, M. (2000). Germany: A society and a media system in transition. In R. Gunther & A. Mughan (Eds.), Democracy and the media: A comparative perspective (pp. 375-401). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kleinsteuber, H., & Thomass, Β. (1998, April). TV in Deutschland. Magazine on Politics, Culture, Business and Science, 2, 24-30. Krampen, G. (1999). Environmental attitudes and ecological behavior in Germany: Empirical results and analyses with reference to the surveys "Environmental consciousness in Germany 1991-1998". Berlin: Umweltbundesamt. Lacey, C., & Longman, D. (1993). The press and public access to the environment and development debate. The Sociological Review, 41, 207-244. López, M., Moinet, Ν., & Fayard, P. (1998, September). Shift in process-trends of science coverage in the European daily press. Paper presented at the 5th Annual International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Berlin. Neuman, W., Just, M., & Crigler, A. (1992). Common knowledge: News and the construction of personal meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Nitz, M. (2000). The media as a tool for communication on the environment and sustainablity. In W. Filho (Ed.), Communicating sustainability (pp. 45-68). Frankfurt: Peter Lang. Nitz, M., Janssen, V., Herrman, M., & Huber, S. (in press). Everything you need to know or just hot air? A survey of German news reporting on global warming. In B. Short (Ed.), Proceedings of the annual conference on communication and our environment. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona University Press. Nitz, M., & Jarvis, S. (1998, September). Science in the News: The potential impact of scientists as sources in televised news stories about global warming. Paper presented at the 5th Annual International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Berlin. Nitz, M., Jarvis, S., & Kenski, H. (1996). Television news coverage of global warming. World Resource Review, 8, 158-173.

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Paystnip, P. (1994, November). There's more to it than crying wolf: Uncovering deeper concerns behind an endangered species recovery plan's "Not-in-mybackyard" protest. Paper presented at the annual conference of the Speech Communication Association, New Orleans, LA, United States. Persitzky, C. (1998, Sepember). Environmental reporting in television: A content analysis. Paper presented at the 5th Annual International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology, Berlin. Peters, H. (1999). The interaction of journalists and scientific experts: Cooperation and conflict between two professional cultures. In E. Scanion, E. Whitelegg, & S. Yates (Eds.), Communicating science: Contexts and channels (pp. 252269). London: Routledge. Schönbach, Κ., & Becker, L. (1995). Origins and consequences of mediated public opinion. In C. Salmon & T. Glasser (Eds.), Public opinion and the communication of consent (pp. 323-347). New York: Guilford. Scheufeie, D. (1999). Framing as a theory of media effects. Journal of Communication, 49(1), 103-122. Semetko, H., & Valkenburg, P. (2000). Framing European politics: A content analysis of press and television news. Journal of Communication, 50, 93-109. Shanahan, J. (1999). Nature stories. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. Shanahan, J., & McComas, K. (1997). Television's portrayal of the environment: 1991-1995. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74, 147-159. Smith, T. (1996). Environmental and scientific knowledge around the world. GSS Cross National Report, 16. Trumbo, C. (1996). Constructing climate change: Claims and frames in U.S. news coverage of an environmental issue. Public Understanding of Science, 5, 269283. Wu, H. (2000). Systemic determinants of international news coverage: A comparison of 38 countries. Journal of Communication, 50, 110-130.

7.3 The Converging Approaches of American and European Dialogue: Combining Pragmatic and Theoretical Ideas in the Resolution of Complex Problems Scott C. Hammond & Matthew L. Sanders

In today's hypermediated environment where globalization has increased the complexity of social problems and the methods of resolving them, scholars from America and Europe have been developing several approaches to dialogic theory to explain and to deal with these situations. Although research by both Americans and Europeans is leading to the same place, generally the American approach is pragmatic and the European approach is theoretical. The European conceptualization of dialogue has been founded on the research of Mikhail Bahkitn, David Böhm, and others, who have developed the idea that dialogue is self-organizing, nonlinear, holistic, and underdetermined. For European scholars, dialogue provides us with a better understanding of communication. The American conceptualization of dialogue first developed with the creation of American democracy and the Constitutional Convention, when the problem of political oppression was solved through dialogue. Mary Parker Follett is considered the first to develop and implement dialogic techniques for solving problems in business, and then, ironically, was furthered by European scholar Patrick DeMare, who used dialogue as a tool to enhance psychological therapy. Both of these approaches have enabled scholars to understand dialogue more fully. As these two lines of inquiry mature, it is clear that they are complementary and lead toward common ground in the process of solving complex social problems.

As the world becomes global, social changes lead to new kinds of conflict and unrest. The attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the United States, the ongoing conflict in the former Yugoslavia, the emergence and re-emergence of violence in Northern Ireland are just a few of

600 Scott C. Hammond & Matthew L. Sanders the many conflicts in our world that cannot be explained by simplistic single variables such as religion, economics, politics, or ethnicity. The complexity of these problems stretches our imagination and creates an imperative for communication scholars to find non-violent discursive means for problem resolution that include people with extremely different notions about communicative processes. In this hypermediated, global environment where cell phones, e-mail, satellite video links, and other new communicative technology are available, and where time zones are crossed with ease, the transcendence of ideas is still illusive. Traditionally, western problem resolution techniques have dialectically pitted opposing sides in a forum of confrontation. But Tannen (1998) argues that dialectic confrontation does not give voice to the diverse stakeholders vested in complex social problems. In recent years communication scholars from Europe and the United States have focused on dialogue as a means of moving towards nonviolence complex problem resolution. In Europe during the last 30 years, Bakhtin (1981), Foucault (1990), Delueze (1995), and Luhmann (1995) have posed critical questions that directly or indirectly question how humans confront themselves and others in dialogue. In the United States, recent popular books by Senge (1992), Tannen (1998), Isaacs (1999), and others have prescribed dialogue as a practical means of transcending issues of race, gender, business strategy, and creativity, as well as building stronger communities. More academic approaches in the Southern Journal of Communication and Communication Theory have emphasized the need for empirical research in the study of dialogue. Courses in the academy have emerged and are being taught on college campuses (Hyde & Bineham, 2000), in corporate training, and some scholars have argued that dialogue skills should be a part of modern education in developing countries such as China (Hammond & Gao, 2001). Even the popular press has appealed to a popular audience, offering dialogue as an essential skill for the citizen of the 21st century (Weisbord, 1992; Wheatley, 1992). From this populist intellectual fury has emerged serious and significant scholarship among American and European scholars that seems to have polarized, with the United States around the practical pole, and Europe around the theoretical pole. In this chapter, we will show that the European contribution to understanding dialogue is more theoretical and focuses on why dialogue is needed, while the American approach is more practical and

The Converging Approaches of American and European Dialogue 601 focuses on how dialogue can be made more effective, why both approaches are dependent on each other just as theory is dependent on experience to create validity, and how scholars are now developing them together to explain and solve complex problems. First, we will explain how European scholars have contributed three important conceptualizations of dialogue, suggesting that it is a self-organizing process that is essentially non-linear. European scholars, most notably Bakhtin, have centered their theory on the reconstruction of identity, and the ongoing discourse of on permanent questions. Next, we will move to the more pragmatic American approach and discuss the interest in how dialogues can be used to solve social problems, create business strategy and create a more pregnant learning environment. The American pragmatiste use dialogue in the creation of business enterprise, community, and in the enhancing and furthering of democracy. Finally, we will show the interdependence of these two approaches and demonstrate how the theories of European scholars are being tested and made practical by American scholars. The reader should note that this chapter focuses on three important conceptual and practical contributions. This list is not exhaustive nor are the implications of these concepts fully developed in this chapter. They simply illustrate the theory-to-action approach of the Europeans and the action-totheory approach of the Americans, both of which have lead to the same place.

The contribution of European theory Hawes (1999) says the move from dialectic to dialogic allows for the discursive reframing of political and experiential forces in real time. Dialogue, according to Hawes, allows for the mediation of power that includes instabilities and tensions that come with the various representations inherent in qualitative distinction. Simply put, Hawes sees dialogue as the real time discursive confrontation of agency in our daily lives. This idea was envisioned by Bakhtin (1986). He imagined individuals discursively creating their own identity while connecting with a group that may or may not affirm their identity. Bakhtin displays the inherent tension between the self

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and the other in dialogue and suggests that dialogue is a self-organizing process that is holistic, non-linear, and underdetermined. Heavily influenced by Bakhtin and others, Hammond (1996) has argued that dialogic self-organization occurs when a group addresses self-process (How will I work in this group?), self-content (What is my relationship with the stated topic?), other-process (How will this group work together?), and other-content (What are the various views on the topic that are at play in this group?). While clearly this is a simplistic representation of what is a very complicated process, the idea is that dialogue is a self-organizing social process that can only be understood through a practical holistic view. This holistic view holds that the individual with real and active agency cannot be separated from the whole, and each participant in the dialogue plays an essential role as a part of that whole. Primary in Bakhtin's (1993) assertions are the ethical responsibilities of the dialogic communicator to hold the space for both self and other, even if the other is contrary or nonaffirming. In dialectic processes the communicator is responsible only to his or her own message. Rhetorical defenses and critical counter attacks are simply strategies to defend the cherished idea of the individual. But in dialogue agents are not only responsible for their own words, they are responsible to hold a space where others can also emerge and willingly share their own words as well. As we come to understand dialogue holistically, we realize that as a part of the whole, dialogue is not linear. David Böhm, although born in the United States, spent his intellectual career in the United Kingdom. He became interested in dialogue when he became concerned that scientists could not think outside the accepted ideology of their own communities. In a short essay entitled "On Dialogue," Böhm (1990) says that dialogue is a word of Greek origin-ώ'α meaning through and logos meaning word. Böhm argues that in dialogue, meaning flows through the participant. The deep objective in dialogue is the creation of shared meaning. Böhm contrasts this with discussion, which comes from the same word root as percussion and concussion. In discussion, the objective is to hit others with your already established meaning until they agree to agree. For Böhm, the objective of dialogue is the creation of "tacit knowledge" within a group. According to Böhm, tacit knowledge is the unwritten language that creates context and content. Böhm says tacit knowledge helps us learn to ride a bike when all the words in the world cannot adequately ex-

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plain it. It is nonlinear and requires an environment that facilitates selforganization in order to emerge. If order emerges, then dialogue, according to Böhm, becomes a way a group can think together. Böhm (1990) says, "An example of people thinking together would be that somebody would get an idea, somebody else would take it up, somebody else would add to it. The thought would flow-rather than there being a lot of different people, each trying to persuade or convince others" (p. 13). For Böhm (1990, p. 15), dialogue becomes especially potent when it is used to create common meaning and community: "If we could all share a common meaning, we would be participating together. We would be partaking of the common meaning-just as people partake of food together. We will be taking part and communicating and creating a common meaning. That would be participation, which means both 'to partake o f and 'to take part in'."

The creation of common meaning does not imply that the group comes to some sort of fixed point where it can then stop. The creation of meaning in a dialogue is an ongoing process that is always flowing, and inherently underdetermined. Bakhtin and Böhm acknowledge the problematic of meaning created by human agency. Underdetermination, and to some extent the indeterminacy of translation (Quine, 1966), create the need to communicate. Dialogue assumes that humans must go beyond just communication to a social communion that allows for insight, shared meaning, and transcendence. But transcendence is always fleeting (Hammond, 1996) and thus, dialogue is always only partially successful.

Contribution of American pragmatiste One of the authors once heard a popular dialogue facilitator tell a group of American business executives that he did not know why dialogue "worked", nor did he really care. But he knew how it could help move them towards a solution to their problems. American children learn the pragmatics of dialogue from a very young age in the story of the birth of their nation. While some believe that the pragmatic practices of American dialogue may have their roots in Quaker religious practices (Palmer, 1999), for most, vivid conceptualization of dialogue came in the Constitutional Convention

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held in 1776. The story of this historical meeting is told and retold in American culture as a dialogue where men with different ideas and agendas came together to create the American government in order to solve the problem of political oppression. The Constitutional Convention was everything European scholars would have presupposed, it was an effort to bring together a whole in a non-linear self organizing process with an underdetermined outcome. Today historians are still writing about the implications of this event and legal scholars are still interpreting the meaning. But there is also a great deal of cohesive shared meaning about this event. From this birth of American democracy came "tacit knowledge" programmed into the American culture about the appropriate ways to solve complex problems within groups and communities. Problem solving in the American culture is not always conceptually linked with the principles of American democracy, but the indirect influence of this historical event cannot be denied even through it is not always visible. For the next century-and-a-half, however, Americans did not seem to pay a great deal of attention to dialogue. The rhetorical and dialectic models of communication prevailed in a society still trying to make real the lofty notions of founding citizens. In the 1920s Mary Parker Follett took on the more hierarchical models of communication from a pragmatic perspective. She argued that the balance of power had shifted to industry and that workers voices were being silenced. She said that industry was moving from a holistic model to a hierarchical model where domination was more frequent than compromise (Follett, 1995a, p. 68). She created schemes to integrate the needs and desires of different sides that were clearly dialogic that she defined as "self-organizing" to counter this trend, but never used the word "dialogue". These schemes were very practical and prescriptive, giving those who used them the knowledge of how these dialogues should take place. In an essay on co-ordination and integration of conflicts of interest she explained the technique involved in achieving the desired results (Follett, 1995a). In short, Follett describes a process of surfacing the various and seemingly conflicting "fields of desire" (p. 76) in any given situation. In a dialogic réévaluation of interests, she proposes that there will be group realignment. The "breaking up of wholes" (p. 77) as she described it, will lead to the formation of new self-contained conceptual wholes. While Follett (1995b) predated the European scholars described in the previous section, her practical way of achieving dialogue in a business con-

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text amazingly contains the three critical concepts that would later be proposed by Bakhtin and Böhm. She describes this process as ongoing and holistic with individual and group identities at play. It is a non-linear "examination of symbols" (p. 78) that is fraught with danger and opportunities for increased creativity and production. Follett's model proposes that symbols are inherently underdetermined, driving a need for additional communication and cooperative work. In other words, meaning is the goal of dialogue and underdetermination is the motivation. But underdetermination is also a by-product of dialogue. The practicalization of dialogue that began in the United States with religious traditions moved into the political sphere with the Constitutional Conventional, and Follett moved it's application into business. Much of what we will continue to discuss will be the practical application of dialogue to business, but first a pragmatic side trip that takes us back to the other side of the Atlantic. Swedish born psychotherapist Patrick DeMare adds therapy to the list of practical applications to dialogue. DeMare began experimenting with shell-shocked soldiers who had survived Dunkirk, but there were too many soldiers to work with directly so he created healing groups of soldiers with 60-70 in a community. He taught the soldiers how to use dialogue to heal each other (DeMare, Piper, & Thompson, 1991). DeMare adds an important element to the practical understanding of dialogue because he examines how dialogue influences individual's psychology. DeMare shows how moving to common meaning through selforganization can be therapeutic even though shared meaning is inherently problematic. Building on Follett's work in business and DeMare's notion of how dialogue can be therapeutic, and drawing heavily on Böhm, Weisbord (1982) in the early 1980s developed a popular practice for businesses called "future search". Future search is an approach to planning or community building that assembles relevant stakeholders and enables them to step outside of the formal organizational structure and face each other through a series of structured exercises that lead to a resolution of issues. The workshop design involves from 30 to 800 people who work in small groups of eight to twelve in specific exercises followed by formal reports to the whole group. The tables are usually arranged so that people who generally do not associate with each other sit together. For example, a CEO of a company, a mail room clerk, customers, line workers, and managers may sit in dialogue and resolve a particular problem as part of an exercise. After

606 Scott C. Hammond & Matthew L. Sanders each exercise and a report out, the groups are mixed again, sometimes by work specialty, but usually for maximum diversity. The conferences generally last 2 to 3 days, with follow-up sessions of various lengths. The exact design of each future search varies, and the operational assumptions found in the design of future search conferences are consistent with self-organization, holism, non-linearity, and underdetermination. Future search assumes that the complex problems facing organizations and communities require complex solutions beyond the expertise of one leader or a group of leaders. It assumes that the expertise to solve the issues facing a community or business is found within the stakeholders of that group. In the case of a business then, the stake holders might include representatives, or in some cases all the employees, customers, community members, government regulators, professional association members, stock holders, board members, etc. When these stakeholders are assembled, they are first given a series of exercises that ask them to describe important accomplishments of the past. Once the common history of the organization is created by the group and the present identification needs of the individual are being serviced in the process, then the problems and opportunities of the future can be addressed in a new light. The method depends on dialogue. This produces so much information about the whole system that participants move from the certainty of their own position to confusion, chaos, sometimes frustration, and ultimately to being open to new perspectives. Facilitators are to look for common ground to be established in the large microcosm of the system before any planning for the future is made. Dialogue is powerful because all participants, even those who have traditionally been marginalized, begin to see the whole system for the first time and to take ownership in it. Weisbord hopes this will lead to the perception that there is no "enemy out there", but rather that the participants can focus on their common relationship with their environment. Note that the future search and the symbolic interventions recommended by Follett do not hold problematic the notion of capitalism or democracy. They assume that all parties come with a desire to increase productivity, efficiency, and contribution. In the next section we provide an example of the intersection between the theoretical and the practice and suggest implications for further theorizing.

The Converging Approaches of American and European Dialogue 607 A case study In 1999 in the Hotel Metopole in Brussels, Belgium a group of 23 people from 17 countries met to develop a strategic plan for their nongovernmental organization. Each had invested a good portion of their career building this organization in their global region. Each was dependent on the other for resources, information, support, and credibility. One of the authors of this article was charged with facilitating the meeting and bringing this diverse group together in dialogue to reach some agreement about their common future. The task was immense. Some were from third world countries will little access to modern communication. Thus communication protocols needed to be adjusted. Others came from non-democratic political systems where they were constantly viewed with suspicion and sometimes harassed by government agents. Still others were dealing with culturally based value differences regarding race, gender, and sexual orientation. For one participant, issues of sexual orientation seemed like the only question on the table. Another was driven only by finances, while still another seemed to believe that affiliation and collaboration with other NGO's was essential. Within five minutes of the starting point of the meeting the group was shouting at each other. Within seven minutes one person was threatening to leave and return five thousand miles to their home. How this group moved from anger and frustration to harmony around key decisions illustrates the critical contributions of European thinkers and American pragmatiste in dialogue theory. Using some practical application of underdetermination, we suspended the agenda and began with each person sharing their history of the organization. In order to established everyone's identity, we asked each participant to take as much time as was needed and tell about their career, their organization, and their environment. This took almost all of the first day but it was very important because in their non-linear identifying narratives, participants began to find common group or shared meaning. In the creation of narratives about themselves the participants laid a foundation for transcendence. As Böhm suggested, the partaking of common meaning created a bond where agency could be honored, subjectivity displayed, yet common concerns could still be communicated. Once the group had addressed the issues regarding self, it could selforganize and move into the content and process issues that were on the

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agenda for the meeting. In the end the group made radical changes to the organization. Not a single participant imagined or predicted the outcome. One participant said in a reflexive debriefing: "We are capable of so much more than we think we are once we can associate or identify with the group identity."

Implications This chapter is not to say that dialogue is a practical cure-all for conflict. The Brussels group resolved some conflicts and in the process created some new ones. Nor do we suggest there have not been important ideas contributed to the notion of dialogue by American theorists such as Jaspers, Buber, or Merton. It is also clear that some Europeans have not been pragmatic in their applications of dialogue. Clearly there has been a lot of cross over. Many American scholars, like Hawes, have based their approach to dialogue on European scholars such as Bakhtin, while some European scholars like DeMare have been influenced by practical Americans. But there has clearly been an intervention bias in the conceptualization of dialogue by American scholars. Americans want to conceptualize of dialogue in a way that they can use it to solve problems in the community. On the other hand there is a clear explanatory bias in European scholars who want to hold the practice of dialogue to be problematic. In suggesting models that are selforganizing, non-linear, underdetermined, etc., they suggest that the pursuit of common meaning, while a worthy pursuit, is problematic. Thus, the European conceptualization of dialogue is profound in its philosophical implications and significant in its descriptive capability. The American approach, on the other hand, is practical and prescriptive, implying through the imposing lens of a democratic people that dialogue is a cure-all for many social ills. One might even argue that the intent of the American project is entirely different than the European in a simple way with broad implications. While American dialogue practitioners are looking for and hoping for better and more effective ways of communicating, European scholars are looking for a better understanding of communication.

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References Bakhtin, M. M. (1981). Discourse in the novel. In M. M. Bakhtin (Ed.), The dialogic imagination (pp. 259-422). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Bakhtin. M. M. (1986). The problem of speech genres. In M. M. Bakhtin (Ed.), Speech genres and other late essays (pp. 60-102). Austin, TX: University of Austin Press. Bakhtin, M. M. (1993). Toward a philosophy of the act. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. Böhm, D. (1990). On dialogue. Ojai, California: David Böhm Seminars. Delueze, G. (1995). Negotiations. New York: Columbia University Press. DeMare, P., Piper, R., & Thompson, S. (1991). Koinonia: From hate, through dialogue to culture in the large group. London: Karnac. Follett, M. P. (1995a). Creative experience. In M. P. Follett & P. Graham (Eds.), Prophet of management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Follett, M. P. (1995b). Freedom and co-ordination. In M. P. Follett & P. Graham (Eds.), Prophet of management. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Foucault, M. (1990). An archeology of knowledge. In P. Bizzell & B. Herzberg (Eds.), The Rhetorical Tradition. Boston: St. Martin's Press. Hammond, S. (1996). Communication and the new science of complexity: A paradigmatic critique. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Utah. Hammond, S., & Gao, H. (2001). Dialogic method and Chinese education policy. Unpublished manuscript. Hawes, L. C. (1999). The dialogics of conversation: Power, control, vulnerability. Communication Theoy, 9, 229-264. Hyde, B., & Bineham, J. L. (2000). From debate to dialogue: Toward a pedagogy of nonpolarized public discourse. Southern Communication Journal, 65, 208223. Isaacs, W. (1999). Dialogue and the art of thinking together. New York: Doubleday Luhmann, N. (1995). The paradoxy of observing systems. Cultural Critique, 31, 37-55. Palmer, P. (1999). The courage to teach. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Quine, W. V. O. (1966). Ways of paradox. New York: Random House. Senge, P. (1992). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday. Tannen, D. (1998). The argument culture. New York: Random House. Weisbord, M. (1992). Discovering common ground. San Francisco: BerrettKoehler.

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Wheatley, M. (1992). Future search conferences and the new science: What process should we trust? In M. Weisbord (Ed.), Discovering common ground (pp. 105-110). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Contributors Heinz Bonfadelli Institut für Publizistikwissenschaft und Medienforschung (IPMZ) Universität Zürich Kurvenstr. 17 CH 8035 Zürich, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] Frank Brettschneider Department of Communication University of Augsburg Universitätsstr. 10 D 85135 Augsburg E-mail: [email protected] Malgorzata Brzezinska University of Lodz Department of Psychology uL.Kopernika 55 PL 90-553 Lodz Goran Bubas University of Zagreb Faculty of Organization and Informatics Pavlinska 2 42000 Varazdin, Croatia E-mail: [email protected] William Campbell Centre for Human Communication Faculty of Community Studies, Law and Education Manchester Metropolitan University 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Manchester M20 2RR, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected]

612

Contributors

Joep Cornelissen Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs Manchester Metropolitan University Aytoun Street Manchester Ml 3GH, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Christine Daymon The Media School Bournemouth University Talbot Campus, Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] David Dickson School of Communication University of Ulster Jordanstown Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim BT37 OQB,United Kingdom Thomas Döbler University of Hohenheim Department of Communication Science and Social Research (540 A) Fruwirthstr. 49 D 70599 Stuttgart E-mail: [email protected] Andrzej Falkowski University of Lodz Department of Psychology uL.Kopernika 55 PL 90-553 Lodz E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors

Micheline Frenette Department of Communication Université de Montréal P.O. Box 6128, Sta Centre-Ville Montréal, Québec Canada H3C 3J8 E-mail: [email protected] Julia GiUen Institute of Education Manchester Metropolitan University 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Manchester M20 2RR, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Angela Goddard Centre for Human Communication Faculty of Community Studies, Law and Education Manchester Metropolitan University 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Manchester M20 2RR, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Scott C. Hammond Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Owen Hargie School of Communication University of Ulster Jordanstown Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim BT37 OQB, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected]

613

614

Contributors

Phil Harris Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) Aytoun Street Manchester Ml 3GH, United Kingdom Email: [email protected] Torsten Haux FOCUS TV Prinzregentenstraße 78 Postfach 810164 D 81901 München, Germany E-mail: [email protected] Dietrich Kerlen Institut fur Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft Buchwissenschaft und Buchwirtschaft Klostergasse 5 D 04109 Leipzig E-mail: [email protected] http://www. uni-leipzig.de/~buchwiss. Rob de Lange Hogeschool van Utrecht Faculty of Communication and Journalism P.O. Box 8611 3503 RP Utrecht, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected] Andy P. D. Liefhooghe School of Psychology & Counselling University of Surrey Roehampton West Hill London SW15 3 SN, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors 615 Kate Mackenzie Davey School of Management & Organizational Psychology Birkbeck College Malet St London WC1E 7HX, United Kingdom E-mail : [email protected] .uk David Martin Centre for Human Communication Faculty of Community Studies, Law and Education Manchester Metropolitan University 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Manchester M20 2RR, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Lindsey Mean Patterson Centre for Human Communication, Faculty of Community Studies, Law and Education Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) 799 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury Manchester M20 2RR, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected] Michal Anne Moskow Department of Humanities University of Trollhättan-Uddevalla Box 1240 SE 462 28 Vänersborg, Sweden E-mail: [email protected] Danny Moss Centre for Corporate and Public Affairs Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) Aytoun Street Manchester Ml 3GH, United Kingdom E-mail: [email protected]

616 Contributors Hans-UUrich Mühlenfeld Universität Bremen EMPAS Celsiusstraße D 28359 Bremen E-mail: muehlenfeld@sfbl 86.uni-bremen.de Michael Nitz School of Communication University of North Dakota P.O. Box 7169 Grand Forks, North Dakota 58202-7169, USA Seanenne Rainey School of Communication University of Ulster Jordanstown Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim, BT37 OQB, United Kingdom E-mail: S. [email protected] Matthias Rath Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg Postfach 220 D 71602 Ludwigsburg E-mail: [email protected] Keith Roe Department of Communication, Catholic University of Leuven, Van Evenstraat 2A, 3000- Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors

Veerle Van Rompaey K.U.Leuven, Faculteit Sociale Wetenschappen Department of Communication Van Evenstraat 2A 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail: [email protected] A. A. van Ruler Free University of Amsterdam Faculty of Social Cultural Sciences De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands E-mail: [email protected], Matthew L. Sanders Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602, U.S.A. Michael Schenk University of Hohenheim Department of Communication Science & Social Research (540 A) Fruwirthstr. 49 D 70599 Stuttgart E-mail: [email protected] Angela Schorr Media Psychology Lab University of Siegen, Faculty 2 57068 Siegen, Germany E-mail: [email protected] http://www.medienpsychologisches-labor.de

618

Contributors

Birgit Stark University of Hohenheim Department of Communication Science & Social Research (540 A) Fruwirthstr. 49 D 70599 Stuttgart E-mail: [email protected] Matthias Steinmann Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SBC Giacomettistrasse 1 3000 Bern 15 E-mail: [email protected] Horst Stipp Primary and Strategic Research National Broadcasting Company, Inc. 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Room 2519E New York, NY 10112, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Ayseli Usluata Department of Public Relations and Publicity Faculty of Communications Yeditepe University Istanbul, Turkey E-mail: [email protected] Heidi Vandebosch Department of Communication Science Catholic University of Leuven E. Van Evenstraat 2a 3000 Leuven, Belgium E-mail: [email protected]

Contributors 619

René Weber Berlin Technical University Institute of Psychology Department of Statistics and Methodology Franklinstraße 28/29 PO Box FR3-8 D 10587 Berlin, Germany E-mail: [email protected] http://www.gp.tu-berlin.de/users/w/weber

Iñaki Zabaleta Department of Journalism University of the Basque Country UPV-EHU Apartado 644 48080 Bilbao, Spain E-mail: [email protected]

Author Index A Abbott, C 363, 383 Abercrombie, Ν 216, 229 Abramson, P. R 542, 548 Abratt, R 409, 419 Âkerstrôm, M 235, 247 Alasuutari, Ρ 245,247 Alexander, D. C 60,104 Allan, G 225, 229 Allen, Ν 551, 577 Althaus, S. L 362, 383 Altmeppen, K.-D.... 5, 21, 26, 27, 28, 50, 55 Alvarez, A 363, 385 Alvesson, M.. 152,166, 442, 455 Anderson, Chr 251, 268 Anderson, J. R 433, 438 Anderson, L 556, 570 Anderson, P. Β 226, 229 Andersson, Κ 356, 358 Andrews, C 588, 596 Andrews, L 152,167 Antaki, C 501,512 Arceneaux, E. R 226, 229 Archetti, E 499, 512 Argenti, P. A 418,429 Armanda, S.-J 523,533 Armbrecht, W 416,419 Ashforth, Β. E 443, 445, 446, 453, 455 Ashley, M 570 Atkin, D. J 6, 24, 32, 38, 48, 50, 363, 365, 383

Atkinson, J Auberson, H Aune, Κ. S Austin, J. L Avenarius, H Aveni, A

160,166 236,247 472, 474 175,184 416, 419 519, 532 Β

Bach, Β. W 556, 570 Backhaus, Κ 139,146 Bakan, D XIV, 459, 473 Bakhtin, M. M 325,330, 331, 333,334,335,336,337, 339, 341, 600, 601,602, 605,608, 609 Balcioglu, S 520, 524, 529, 532 Baldwin, P. J 236, 247 Balon, R. E . 235, 247 Bandilla, W 315,323 Bandura, A.... 428,430, 431, 438 Bantz, C. R 148,166 Baran, S. J Χ, XI, XVI, 7, 8, 32, 33, 50, 63,103, 233, 247 Bargh, J. A 363, 364, 384 Barker, J. R 442, 443, 455 Barker, R 551,570 Barley, S 148,169 Barnatt, C 160,166 Barnett, G. A 8,31,5/ Barnett, S 92, 93, 95,103 Baron, Ν 326, 341 Barton, D 481,492 Baudrillard, J 412, 419

622

Author Index

Baxter, L 566, 570 Beck, Κ 31, 52 Becker, L 587, 590, 594, 598 Beentjes, H. J. W. J.. 19, 51, 220, 229 Bellah, R. Ν 347,55« Belugi, U 482, 493 Belz, C 20, 29, 30,51 Beniger, J. R 252, 268 Bennebroek Gravenhorst, Κ. M. 501, 503, 511, 512 Benoit, W. L 445, 455 Bentele, G 5, 31, SI Berg, Κ 254, 268 Berger, C. R 6,7,31,51 Berger, Ρ 148,166 Berger, P. L 62,103 Berghaus, M.. 206, 212, 310, 323 Bernstein, Β 216, 224, 229 Bemt, J. Ρ 362, 385 Besken, S 528, 532 Bezjian-Avery, A 91, 92,103, 414, 419 Biber, D 326, 341 Bickenbach, M 180,184 Biehal, G. J AU, 419 Billig, M 330, 341,443, 455 Bineham, J. L 600, 609 Bink, S 5, 11, 12, 13,52 Birkigt, Κ 411,414,418, 419 Blanchard, R. 0 23, 51 Blumer, H 235,247 Blumler, J. G.... 62, 63,103,106, 233, 248 Bodon, J 6, 24, 53 Boehm, M 150, 151,168 Boggs, S. Τ 487,490,494

Böhm, D 599, 602, 603, 605, 607, 609 Böiger, J. F 411,420 Bolz, Ν 179,184 Bonfadelli, H XIII, 18, 19, 51, 289,290, 306 Boorman, S 559, 573 Boorstin, D. J 411,420 Boos, M 79,104 Bordeaux, M. A 480, 492 Bormann, E. G 150, 151,166 Botan, C 416,417,420 Boulding, Κ 411,420 Bourdieu, Ρ 327, 340, 341 Boventer, H 191,197 Bovili, M 220,230, 363, 384 Bowman, C 595, 596 Brackenridge, C 498, 515 Bradshaw, Ρ 500, 512 Bratko, D 460, 462, 472, 473 Breiman, L 277, 283 Breinker, C 587, 596 Brennan, D 272, 285 Brettschneider, F XII, XIII, 251,252, 255,263,267, 268 Brieger, R. L 559, 573 Brinson, S. L 445, 455 Brittan, A 501, 512 Broom, G. M 390, 406 Brosius, H 587,596 Brown, A 497,499, 500, 512 Brown, R 482, 493 Brown, T. J 413,420 Bruins, J 501, 503, 511, 512 Brunner, H 326, 341 Bryant, J 32, 51, 62, 63, 87, 89,104,108, 201,212

Author Index 623 Bryson, L

498, 512

Brzezinska, M 429, 439 Buá, M 273,283 Bubas, G XIV, 459, 460,462, 472, 473 Buchanan, D 552, 571 Büchner, Β 215,283 Buchwald, M 191,197 Buckingham, D 363, 383 Buetschi, G 405,407 Buhrmester, D 462, 473 Buller, D. Β 59, 76, 78,104 Bullís, C 556, 566, 570 Bunting, L. J 346, 358 Burgoon, J. Κ 59, 76, 78, 79, 104, 111 Burkart, R 6, 51 Burleson, Β. R 460,461, 463, 472, 473, 474 Burns, Τ 148,166 Burrell, G ΑΠ, 420 Büschken, J.... 137, 139, 140,146 Buzzanell, P. M 442, 455

C Cacioppo, J. Τ 208,213 Cahill, D. J 566, 572 Cairns, E 552, 570 Calas, M. B....441, 455, 498, 513 Calder, Β.... 91, 92,103, 414, 419 Camarata, M. R 551,570 Cameron, G. Τ 107 Campbell, J. P.... 84, 96, 103,106 Campbell, W XIV, 25, 54, 428, 439 Cantor, M 148,166

Centrili, J 590, 592, 595, 596 Carey, J 594, 596 Carlone, D 552, 570 Carlone, D. A 7, 22, 23, 52 Carmen, C 588, 596 Caroline, D 442, 452, 455 Caron, A. H 215,230 Carter, D 226, 229 Carter, R 328, 329, 330, 333, 341 Cashman, Τ 563, 570 Cate, R 566, 571 Cattin, Ρ 272, 283 Cave, M 276, 284 Caywood, C. L 390, 394, 406 Center, A. H 390, 406 Chafe, W 326, 341 Chaffee, S. H 7,31,52 Chaiken, S 208, 212 Cheddadi, Ν 587, 596 Cheney, G 412, 420, 442,452, 455 Chia, R 151,166 Christie, Β 77,109 Ciampi«, Ρ 551,563,570 Clarke, J 216,230 Clegg, S. R 442, 455 Clemen, R. Τ 274, 283 Clemmer, D 236, 247 Cline, C. G... 397, 406 Coates, J 348, 350, 351,35« Coffey, S 362, 384, 584 Cohen, A. P... 353, 354, 357, 358 Cohen, J 280, 283 Collins, M. A 272,284 Conant, J 60,104 Condor, S 455, 501, 512

624

Author Index

Conway, Ν 552, 571 Cook, G 329, 341 Cooke, D. J 236,247 Cooper, R 271,272, 283 Corbin, J 155,169 Cordes, J . W 93,107 Cornelissen, J. Ρ XIV, 409, 414, 418, 419, 420 Costa, P. Τ 471, 473, 474 Coyle, J . R 6%,1\,104 Craig, R. Τ 7, 22, 23,52 Creedon, P. J 498,499,511, 513 Creyer, Ε. M 413, 420 Crigler, A 594, 597 Critcher, C.... 216, 230, 499, 500, 513 Crow, G 225, 229 Crystal, D 329, 341, 487, 493 Cullen, D 498, 513 Cupach, W. R 472, 474 Currier, Τ 519, 532 Cutlip, S. M... 390, 406,410, 420 D D'Ambra, J 77,108 d'Haenens, L 5, 11, 12, 13, 52, 220,229 Dacin, A 413,420 Daft, R. L 77, 79,104,110, 498, 513 Dahm, Η 142,146, 313,323 Daisley, M 331,341 Danet, Β 331,341 Danowski, J. A 8, 31, 51 Danter, Κ 588,597

Dashefski, A 357, 359 Davidson, Μ. E 84, 96, 103, 106 Davis, D. Κ Χ,ΧΙ,Χνί,Ί, 8, 32, 50, 63,103, 233, 247 Davis, Η 149,166 Davis, J 591, 596 Daymon, C 147, 153,166 De Cheveigne, S 5X1,596 De Vos, L 59, 64, 65, 74, 75, 87, 88, 98,110 Deal, Τ 551,570 Dearing, J 209, 212 Deci, E 83,104 Dede, C 2X6,230 Deetz, S 442, 455 DeGooyer, D 455 DeKoch, R 563, 570 Delueze, G 600, 609 DeMare, Ρ 599, 605, 608, 609 Dervin, Β 293, 306, 361, 366, 384 Desousa, M. A 518, 519, 532 Dewey, J 411,416,420 DGPuK 5,6, 7,52 Diamond, 1 555, 571 Dickson, D XV, 25, 54, 551, 553, 565, 566, 568, 570, 571 Dillard, J. Ρ 460, 473 Dionosopoulos, G. Ν 412, 420 Döbler, Th XII, XIII, 127, 309,310,323 Dolff, A 587, 596 Doll, J 275, 284 Dolphin, R. R 393,406 Dominick, J. R 60,104 Don, A 86,107

Author Index

Donohue, G. Α.. ....289, 291, 306 Donsbach, W . 27, 28, 52, 254, 268 Douzou, S 215, 230 Dowley, Κ. M.... 542, 549 Dowling, G. R... 414, 421 Downes, E. J ..71,72, 79,104 Dozier, D. M ...391,396,397, 401,406, 407 Drosser, Chr 314,323 Drucker, P. F 415, 421 Drucker, S. J ....216,217,230 Duck, S 566, 570 Duncan, M. C.... ...498,499, 500, 501, 511, 513 Duncan, Τ 415,421 Dunn, D. G 362, 385 Dunning, E ...497, 498, 499, 501, 513 Dunwoody, S .... 586, 587, 596 Duquin, M. E 497, 513 Duranti, A 338, 341 Dyer, W. G 151,166 Dyson, E 290, 306 E Eastman, S. Τ 276, 283 Eckert, G 572 Edley, Ν 511, 573 Edwards, D 455, 501,513 Eechambadi, Ν 271,284 Eggert, Η 20, 52 Eggins, S 328, 341 Egunkaria, E 545, 547, 548 Ehmig, S. C 25,29,52 Ehrenberg, A. S. C 272, 284

625

Ehrlich, S 153,167 Eilders, C 587, 596 Eimeren van, Β 316, 323 Einarsen, S 445, 446, 455 Eisenberg, E. M.... 148, 152,166, 167, 444, 455 Elliott, Ρ 245, 247 Emerson, C 325, 330, 341 Entman, R 589, 596 Erbring, L 289, 296, 298, 300, 302, 306 Ervin-Tropp, S 347, 359 Ettema, J. S.... 292, 293, 294, 306 Eulau, H 251,268 European Commission 5, 10, 11, 12,52 Ewen, S 410,411,412,416, 421 Eyal, Ch. H 252, 270 Eysenck, H. J 235, 247 F Fabiani, J.-L 236,247 Falkowski, Α.XIV, 425, 429, 439 Farace, R 568, 571 Faules, D. F 60,104 Fayard, Ρ 587, 597 Feierabend, S 316, 323 Ferguson, D. A 362, 364, 384 Ferguson, J 572 Ferrara, Κ 326, 341 Festa, R 272,283 Finnegan, J. R.290, 293, 294, 307 Fisher, R. A 519, 532 Fishman, M 252, 268 Fitzgerald, Ν. M 566, 571

626

Author Index

Fitzsimons, M 274, 283 Flanagin, A. J 362, 384 Flodin, Β 405, 407 Floyd, Κ 59, 76, 78,104 Flusser, V 179,184 Follett, Μ. Ρ 599, 604, 605, 606, 609 Fombrun, C 413, 421 Foucault, M 500, 501,503, 506, 510, 511, 513, 600,609 Franzmann, Β 19, 52 Frederick, J 584 Frenette, M XIII, 361, 384 Frey, H 79,104 Friedman, J. H 211,283 Friedman, S 587, 596 Frissen, V 216,230 Fritz, A 20,51 Fröhlich, R 24, 53 Früh, W 204,212 Funk, H. J 411, 420 Funkhouser, G. R 252,268 Furman, W 462, 473 G Gabriel, Y 441, 455 Gadamer, H. G 177,184 Gagliardi, Ρ 151,267 Galegher, J 347, 348, 356, 359 Galtung, J 236,248 Gamson, W. A 203,212 Gane, M 455 Gans, H 358,359 Gao, H 600, 609 Garbe, C 20, 52 Garitaonandia, C 542, 548

Garland, 1 273, 283 Garson, G. D 277, 283 Garvin-Doxas, Κ 455 Gates, Β 290, 306 Gaziano, C 290,306 Gaziano, E 290, 306 Gee, J. Ρ 492,493 Geertz, C 154,167 Genova, Β. Κ. L 294, 306 Gensch, D 272, 273, 284 Gerbner, G 202,212 Gergen, Κ 441,456 Gerhard, Η 316, 323 Gerhardi, S.... 446, 453, 454, 456 Gibbs, R 330, 333, 340, 341 Giddens, A 216,230 Gillen, J 333, 341, 479, 480, 481,482, 483,487, 488, 490, 493 Gilligan, C 442, 456 Giroux, L 215,230 Gitlin, Τ 148,167 Glaser, Β 155,167 Gleich, U 61,709 Glotz, Ρ 290, 306 Goddard, A XIII, 325, 328, 333,341 Goergen, Chr 251,269 Goerlich, Β 272,284 Goertz, L 312,323 Goffman, E....325, 329, 330, 331, 334, 336, 337, 339, 340, 341 Goodhardt, G. J 272, 273,284 Gordon, Α. Η 412,474 Görke, A 6, 53 Gottlieb, D 216,230 Graber, D. A 252,270

Author Index 627 Gramsci, Α.... 443, 506, 509, 573 Grant, D AAA, 456 Gray, Ρ 225,237 Green, L 500, 513 Green, P. E 137,146 Greenall, R 483, 493 Greenberg, B. S 294, 306 Greendorfer, S. L 499, 514 Greene, J 572 Greenfield, Ρ 89,109 Gregory, Κ 148,167 Griffin, R 586, 587, 596 Griffiths, M 89,104 Grimes, A. J 152, 153,767 Grinyer, P. H 165,167 Grodal, Τ 88,105 Groococ, V 519, 532 Grunig, D 391,397, 406 Grunig, J. E 390, 394, 406, 410, 415, 416, 418,419, 421 Grunig, L. A 391,393,396, 402, 406, 418, 421 Grunwald, A 195,797 Guba, E. G 155,767 Guest, D 552, 571 Gummesson, E 415, 421 Gumpert, G 216,217,230 Gunter, R 587, 589, 594, 596 Gurevitch, M . . . 62,106, 233,248

H Ha, L 71,72, 75,78, 90,105 Haack,J 65,105 Habermas, J AU, 421 Haddon, L 215,230 Hägen, M 312,323

Haines, J 346,359 Hall, Κ 340, 342 Hall, M. A 498, 513 Hall, Ν 483,493 Haller, M 20, 29, 30, 57 Halliday, M 333, 342 Hammond, S XV, 572, 599, 600, 602, 603, 609 Hannafin, M. J 58, 80,105 Hansen, A 588, 589, 597 Hansen, C. D AA\,456 Hargie, C 564, 566, 568, 569, 577 Hargie, O XV, 25, 54, 551, 552, 553, 554, 556, 564, 570, 571, 572 Hargrove, Τ 362,385 Harlow, R. F 416, 421 Harms, 1 87,105 Harris, C 215,237 Harris, J. C 497, 498, 514 Harris, L 152,767 Harris, Ρ XIV, 409 Harris, T. L 413,427 Hart, N. A 390, 406 Hartmann, Ρ 225,231 Harvey, D 412,427 Harvey, 1 363, 383 Harwood, J 77,105 Hasan, R 333, 342 Hasebrink, U 275, 284 Haseman, W. D.... 81, 83, 85, 86, 106 Hassard, J 152,167 Hatch, M . J 153,167,168 Haugtvedt, C. P... 90, 91, 95,108 Hauptmann, Ρ 315, 323

628

Author Index

Hauser, P. M 235,247 Haux, Τ XIII Hawes, L. C 601,608,609 Hawkins, R. Ρ 64,105 Hazleton, V 418,422 Headen, R. S 273,284 Heath, R. L 410,412,413, 417, 421, 422, 423 Heeter, C 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 84,91,95,96, 97,100,105 Heij, P. M 62,64,105 Hendry, J 591,597 Hennink, M 555, 571 Henriques, J 444, 456 Hepp, A 196,197 Herring, S 78, 79, 97,105 Herrman, L 356, 359 Hen-man, M 587, 597 Hertog, J 293,307 Hetherington, M. J 260, 268 Hickson, M 6, 24, 53 Hiltz, S. R 331, 342 Hirsch, Ρ 148,167 Hirschman, Α. 0 442, 456 Hoffman, B. J 461,474 Hoffmann, D. L 68,107 Hoffmann-Riem, W... 84, 98,105 Hogg, M 501,515 Holbert, R. L 363,555 Holden, Κ. J 220, 230 Hollander, Β 91,107 Hollway, W 444, 456 Holmes, J 480, 494 Holtz-Bacha, C 24, 53 Hon, L. C 391,396, 397,406 Hopkins, Ν 501,573 Hopper, R 480,491,494

Horen, J. Η 276, 284 Horstmann, R 294,306 Horton, D 61,105 Howison, J 236,247 Howitt, D 235,248 Huber, S 587, 597 Huckfeldt, R 251,2*9 Huczynski, A..445, 456, 552, 571 Humphrey, R. H.... 443, 453, 455 Hunold, G. W 196,197 Hunt, Τ 410,418,421 Hurley, J. R 461,475 Huston, A 89,109 Huston, T. L 566, 571 Hutson-Comeaux, S. L. .472, 473 Hyde, Β 600, 609 I Iacobucci, D 91, 92,103, 414, 419 Ind, Ν 413, 422 Ingalsbe, Ν 568, 571 Inglehart, R 542, 548 International Marketing CommitteeATT, 11, 13,15, 16, 55 Isaacs, W 600, 609 Iyengar, S 589, 590

Jäckel, M.... 60, 61, 64,105, 312, 323 Jackson, Ρ 565,571 James, E. L 71, 72, 75,78, 90, 105

Author Index

Jankowski, Ν 5, 55, 542, 548 Jansen, S. C. ..499, 506, 510, 514 Janssen, V 587, 597 Jarvis, S 586, 591,597 Jeffres, L. W 6, 24, 32, 38, 48, 50, 363, 365, 383 Jelinek, M 148,167 Jenkins, R 500, 514 Jensen, J 65, 95, 98,105 Jensen, Κ 499, 513 Johnson, M 330, 342 Johnson, Ν 406 Johnsson-Smaragdi, U. 19, 20, 53 Johnstone, Β 351,359 Jonas, K. J 79,104 Jonassen, D. H... 84, 96, 103,106 Jones, S 5, 53 Jorgensen, S 81,110 Judd, Τ 502, 514 Jurin, R 588, 597 Just, M 594, 597 Jüttner, S 184 Κ Kaase, M 587,588, 593,594, 597 Kahn, E 293,307 Kahnweiler, W. M 441, 456 Kane, M. J 499,514 Karahanna, E 77,110 Karmasin, H 196,198 Karmasin, M 196,198 Katona, G 252, 269 Katz, E.... 62,106, 202, 212, 233, 246, 248 Kayany, J. M 362, 384

629

Kayser, F 128,146 Kellett, A 356, 359 Kellner, D 498, 514 Kelly, J. R 472, 473 Kennedy, A 551,570 Kennedy, S. H 418,422 Kenski, H 586, 597 Keppler, A 61,106 Kepplinger, H. M 252,269, 587,596 Kerlen, D XII, 171, 179, 184 Kestnbaum, M 363, 385 Kettanurak, V 81, 83, 85, 86, 100,106 Keve, P. W 236, 248 Khabaza, Τ 274, 283 Khan, Β. H 58,106 Khosroshahi, F 503, 514 Kidd, Β 498, 514 Kiefer, M-L 254, 268 Kiesler, S 77,106,109,230, 347, 359, 363, 384 Kieweit, D. R 251,269 Kim, M. S 472, 474 Kinkema, K. M 497, 498, 514 Kirchgäßner, G 251,269 Kirste, 1 184 Kitchen, P. J 413,422 Klapper, J 202, 213 Kleinnijenhuis, J 390, 406 Kleinsteuber, H. J 195, 196, 198, 312, 323, 587, 597 Klimmt, C 88,106 Kline, G. F 292, 293, 294, 306 Klingler, W 316,323 Klompmaker, J. E 273, 284 Knight, Ρ 568, 572

630

Author Index

Knights, D 151,167 Knobel, M 479, 494 Knobloch, S.... 88, 100,106,110, 310,323 Köcher, R 20,57 Koehly, L. M 567, 571 Koestler, A 329, 342 Kohring, M 6,53 Konrad, Κ 83,84,106 Koolstra, C. M... 19, 51, 220,229 Koot, W 405, 406 Kosicki, G. M 203,275 Krampen, G 588, 597 Krappmann, L 60,106 Kraut, R 89,109, 225, 230, 363, 384 Krcmar, M 215,230 Kreiner, Κ 160,167 Kring, Α. M 472, 474 Kroeber-Riel, W 207, 213 Krotz, F 60,61,62,106 Krueger, R 577 Krüger, U. M 255,269 Krüger-Fürhoff, I. M 20, 52 Krugman, D. M 221, 222,231 Krugman, H 209,213 Krumboltz, J. D 431, 439 Kubey, R. W 215,230 Kuhn, T. S 60,107 Kumpfmüller, M 20, 52 Kunkel, A. W 472, 474 Kwak, N. 290, 294, 306, 363, 385 Kylén, E 346, 359 L Labov, W

351,359

Lacey, C 587, 597 Lafay, J.-D 251,269 Lakoff, G 330, 340, 342 Lakoff, R 349, 359 Lange, R. de XIII, 389, 398, 404, 407 Lankshear, C 479, 494 Lapchick, R 498, 514 Larissa, A 397, 406 Lauf, E 50, 53 Laurel, Β 86,107, 331,342 Lauterborn, R. F 390, 407 Lauzen, M. M 391,397,401, 407 Le Diberder, A 272,283 Lee, Κ 480, 482,493 Legge, Κ 442, 445, 456 Lengel, R. H 77, 79,104,110 Lesly, Ρ 411,416,422 L'Etang, J 417,422 Levine, M 501,572,573 Levy, M. R 63,93,707,215, 230 Lewis, M. W 152, 153,167 Lewis-Beck, M. S.. 251,268, 269 Leymann, H 445, 456 Lichty, L. W 275, 284 Liebert, Τ 5, 57 Liefhooghe, A XIV Lincoln, Y. S 154,167 Lindlof, T. R 235, 236, 237, 248 Lines, S 25, 54 Lippmann, W 411,416,422 Listhaug, 0 251, 269 Livingstone, S 215, 216, 220, 230, 363, 384, 565, 577

Author Index 631 Livingstone, S. M 233, 248 Llamas, J. Ρ 209,213 Löffelholz, M 5, 21, 26, 27, 28, 50, 55 Long, L . W 418, 422 Longman, D 587, 597 Loosen, W 312, 323 López Montez, G. M 107 López, Β 542, 548 López, G. M 79 López, M 587, 597 López-Escobar, E 209, 213 Lorentzson, A 346, 359 Lotringer, S 412 Luckmann, T... 62,103, 148,166 Ludlow, Ρ 326,342 Luhmann, Ν.... 60,107, 206,213, 600, 609 Lukes, S 442, 456 Lukesch, H 89,107 Lull, J 63,107, 215, 231 Lundmark, V 230, 363,384 Lunt, Ρ 565, 571 Luyken, G.-M 25, 53 Lyotard, J-F 497, 499, 506, 510, 514

M Ma, R 325, 340,342 MacAllister, 1 251,269 Mac Arthur, Β 519,532 Mackenzie Davey, Κ XIV MacLean, M 70, 111 Madsen, R 347, 358 Maier, J 251,270 Maier, M 6,53

Maingueneau, D... 498, 499, 501, 503, 508, 510, 511, 514 Mamlin, L 572 Mansfield, E. D 461,474 Markham, A 444, 456 Markham, Α. Ν 352,359 Marseille, Ν 19, 57 Marsh, D 260, 270 Martello, J 483, 493 Martin, D 162, 428, 439, 572 Martin, J 150, 151, 152, 153, 155, 159,161,162, 163,767 Martin, M 518, 533 Marusic, 1 460,462,472, 473 Masel-Waters, L 406 Mathews, Κ. M 567, 572 Maurer, D 587, 596 Mazur, L 390, 407 McAdams, D. Ρ 461,474 McCarthy, M 328, 341 McCloskey, D 6, 53 McComas, Κ 586, 598 McCombs, M. E... 206, 209, 213, 252, 270 McConnell-Ginet, S 510, 514 McCrae, R. R 471, 473, 474 McCrone, Κ. E 497,499, 514 McDonald, Ρ 150,168 McDougal, W 532 McGuire, T. W 77,106 McKenna, K. Y. A 363, 364, 384 McLaughlin-Cook, N.... 553, 572 McLeod, J. M 203, 213 McMillan, S. J 71,72, 79,104 McQuail, D.... 203, 213, 233, 248 Mead, G. H 60, 62,107

632 Author Index Mean Patterson, L. J. ...XIV, 497, 504, 508, 510, 514 Medhurst, M. J 518, 519, 532 Media Perspektiven 17, 19, 55 Meek, M 481,494 Meier, L 311,323 Menon, A 415,423 Messner, M. A 497, 498, 499, 500, 501,511,513, 514 Metochi, M 552, 571 Metzger, M. J 362, 384 Meyer, J 551,571 Meyer, Κ 519,532 Meyer, R 194, 195, 197,198 Meyerson, D. E 152,167,168 Meyrowitz, J 216,231 Michie, J 552,571 Middleton, D 455 Miller, Α. Η 251, 269 Miller, Α. M 226, 229 Miller, C 505, 510,575 Mills, A. J 501, 502, 515 Millward, L 565, 572 Mininni, G 480, 487, 488, 494 Mintzberg, H 395, 407 Misanchuk, E. R 58, 68, 69, 80,81,82,709 Modigliani, A 203,212 Mohan, M. L 152,168 Moi, Τ 333, 342 Moinet, Ν 587, 597 Mondak, J . J 251,269 Monge, Ρ 568, 571 Moore, G. H 188,198 Moores, S 234,248 Moragas, M. de 542, 548 More, E 77, 70S

Morgan, D 555, 565, 572 Morgan, D. H. J 215,237 Morgan, G 152,168, 417, 420 Morgan, M 215,237 Moriarty, S. E 414,415,427, 422 Morley, D 148, 150, 151,769 Morley, D. D 215, 237, 234, 248 Morris, J 551, 572 Mory, P., 5, 24, 53 Moskow, M. A.... XIII, 345, 357, 359 Mosley, Ρ 260, 269 Moss, D XIV Mowlana, H 539, 548 Mughan, A 587, 589, 594, 596 Mühlenfeld, H.-U XII Muijs, D 89,108 Mukopadhyay, T... 230, 363, 384 Müller, M 260, 269 Müller, W 26, 53 Mumby, D. Κ 147, 149,168, 442, 444, 452, 456 Murdock, G 225,231 Murphy, A 152,167 Mutz, D. C 251,269 Myhrvold, Ν 290, 306 Ν Negroponte, Ν 290, Nelson, P. E Nelson, R. E 556, Neuendorf, Κ. Α.... 363, Neuman, W Neustadtl, A

306, 577 7, 53 567, 572 365, 383 594, 597 363, 385

Author Index

Newhagen, J. E 93,107 Neys, A 236,248 Nias, D. K . B 235, 247 Nicolás, J. D 542, 549 Nicolini, D 446, 456 Nie, Ν. H 289, 296, 298, 300, 302, 306 Nieland, J.-U 313,323 Nitz, M XV, 585, 586, 587, 588,590, 591, 592, 595, 597 Noelle-Neumann, E 131,146, 202, 254, 269 Noppen, A 183,185 normsan, I. J 568, 572 Norpoth, H 251,269 Novak, G. J 91,107 Novak, T. Ρ 68,107 Nunberg, G 176,185 O Oakes, P.J 501, 515 O'Donnell, H 499, 506, 509, 510,515 O'Donnell-Trujillo, Ν... 148, 149, 153,168 Ogbonna, E 152,167 O'Guinn, T. C 208, 213 Oiartzabal, A 539,549 O'Keefe, G. J 492, 494 Olasky, Μ. Ν 410,411,412, 415,422 Olien, C . N 289, 291, 306 Oliver, S 568, 572 Olshen, R 277, 283 Olson, J. Τ 390, 407 Olson, Ρ 181,185

Ong, W Or avec, C Oren, Τ Ostergaard, Β. S Oswick, C

633

479, 494 590, 592, 596 86,107 542, 549 444, 456

Ρ Pacanowsky, Μ. E 148, 149, 153,168 Paisley, W 411, « 2 Palmer, Μ. Τ 460, 473 Palmer, Ρ 603, 609 Palmgreen, Ρ 233,248 Papacharissi, Ζ 363, 365, 384 Pardun, C. J 221, 222, 231 Parisi, Ν 236,248 Parker, M 148, 153, 163, 166, 168 Patterson, M 230, 363, 384 Pavlik, J. V 419, 422 Paystrup, Ρ 591, 598 Pearson, R 416, 422 Peck, K. L 58, 80,105 Pepper, G. L 553, 572 Perse, Ε. M 62,108,109, 362, 364,384, 385 Persitzky, C 587, 598 Peters, Α. M 487, 490, 494 Peters, H 588, 591,595,59« Petersen, Th 131,146 Petterson, A 327, 342 Petty, R. E 208,213 Pfeffer, J 417, 422 Pfetsch, Β 255,269 Pfuhl, Ε. Η 235,248 Phillips, Ν 460, 475

634

Author Index

Pillis, E.G. de 8,22,31,53 Pingree, S 64,105 Piper, R 524, 605, 609 Pittam, J 326, 331,342 Pittman, G 566, 570 Plant, S 333, 342 Platt, A. S 532 Polanyi, L 351,359 Potter, J 293,307, 443,444, 456, 497, 501,503,505,508, 510, 511, 513, 515 Powell, R. A 62,109 Prehn, 0 542, 548 Prior-Miller, M 416,422 Prussog-Wagner, A 84,107 Putnam, L. L 151,76«

Q Quine, W.V. 0

603,609 R

Radley, A 455 Rafaeli, S 59, 67, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 87, 95, 97,108 Rainey, S XV, 551, 553, 566, 568, 570 Rakow, L. F 226,231, 492, 494 Ramamurthy, K.... 81, 83, 85, 86, 106 Rampton, Β 330,342 Rasmussen, Τ 216, 217, 227, 231 Rath, M...XII, 187, 194, 196,198 Rattinger, H 251,270

Rayburn, J. D 233, 248 Rayner, C 446, 456 Reardon, Κ. Κ 7, 8, 22, 31, 53, 60,108 Redding, W . C 416,422 Reddy, M 333, 342 Redfern, S. J 568, 572 Reicher, S. D 501, 513, 515 Reinhold, A 271, 284 Reis, H. Τ 462,473 Renckstorf, Κ 62, 64,108 Renn, 0 194,198 Rice, R. E 57, 77,108 Riggio, R. E 462, 474 Riley, Ρ 148,166 Rinearson, Ρ 290, 306 Rintel, E. S 326, 331,342 Robbins, S 564, 572 Robertson, J 86,108 Robinson, E. J 416, 423 Robinson, G. J 523, 533 Robinson, J. Ρ 363, 385 Rock, Ρ 62,108 Rockwell, S. C 87, 89,108 Roe, Κ XII, 89,108, 215, 243, 248 Roehm, Η. A 90,91,95,108 Rogers, C 587, 596 Rogers, Ε. M 60,108, 130, 131,146, 206, 209, 212,213 Rojek, C 216, 231 Rollet, E 9, 54 Rompaey, Veer le Van XII Ronald, 1 549 Rosendahl, Th 138,146 Rosengren, K. E... 233, 243, 248, 252, 270

Author Index 635 Rosenthal, D 290, 306 Rössler, Ρ 142,146,270, 313, 323 Roth, Η 252, 269 Roush, D 588, 597 Rubin, Α. M 62, 63,108,109, 363, 365, 384 Ruhrmann, G 6, 29, 32, S3, 313,323 Ruler, Α. Α. van XIII, 389, 390, 394, 398, 404, 405, 407 Russell, Η 568, 571 Rust, R. Τ 271,284 Rutter, D 480, 494 Ryan, R 83,104

S Sabelis, 1 405, 406 Sabo, D 499, 506,510, 514 Sackmann, S. A 149, 152,168 Sacks, H 328, 342, 491, 494 Salwen, M. Β 32, 54 Samarajiva, R 5, 53 Samter, W 460, 461, 463, 473, 474 Sanders, D 260, 270, 599 Sanders, M XV Sassenberg, Κ 79,104 Savenye, W. C 103,109 Scase, R 149,166 Schaeffner, R 587,596 Schallert, D. L 103,109 Schegloff, E 491, Schein, Ε. H 150, 151, 156, 168 Schenk, M XII, XVI, 32, 54,

6 1 , 6 2 , 1 0 9 , 1 2 7 , 142,146, 201,206,212, 213,313,323 Scherlis, W 230, 363, 384 Scheufeie, D 595, 598 Schiffrin, A 180,185 Schiffrin, D 325, 342 Scholz, J 84,107 Schönbach, Κ 204,310,525, 594, 598 Schorr, A XI, XVI, 3, 17,25, 54, 62,91, 102, 103,109 Schramm, H 88,110 Schramm, W 6,7,22,31,54 Schrape, Κ 17, 54, 84,109 Schultz, D. E 390, 407 Schultz, M 153, 160,167,168 Schultz, Τ 93, 94,109 Schulz, W 207, 213, 258,270, 292, 306 Schumacher, Τ 150,168 Schiimchen, A 128,146 Schweiger, W 362, 385 Schwier, R. A 58, 68, 69, 80, 81, 82,109 Sefton-Green, J 363, 364, 383, 385 Segar, D 572 Seidler, J 519,532 Seidler, V. J 347,359 Sellheim, A 20,29, 30, 51 Semetko, H 588, 598 Senge, Ρ 600, 609 Shah, D. V 363, 385 Shaman, Ρ 272, 273,284 Shamp, S 91,107 Shanahan, J... 215, 231, 586, 587, 589,598

636

Author Index

Shanley, M 413, 421 Shannon, C 70,109 Shannon, C. E 443, 456 Shapiro, M. J 499, 506, 510, 515 Shaw, D. F 206,213, 252,270 Shearer, C 274, 283 Sheehan, M 552, 571 Sheinin, D. A 413,419 Shepherd, G. J 31,54 Sherrard, C 501,511,575 Shin, E. C 103,109 Shivy, V. A 567,57/ Shockley-Zalabak, Ρ 151,169 Short, J 11,109 Shrum, L. J 208, 213 Sias, P. M 566, 572 Siegel, J 77,106 Siehl, C 150,167 Sieveking, V 181, 755 Signitzer, Β 390, 407 Silver, Β. D 542,549 Silverstone, R 5, 53, 215,231 Sims, R 58, 65, 81, 82, 83, 96, 109 Sitkin, S.B 150, 151, id« Six, U 61,109 Sjöberg, U 363,385 Sklair, L 497,498,499, 515 Slack, Τ 498, 513, 515 Slade, D 328,341 Smith, Η. Τ 406 Smith, M 568,572 Smith, Τ 588, 598 Snow, C 481, 482, 494 Snyder, E. E 499, 500, 515 Snyder, R 551,572

Soldini, F 236, 247 Solomon, D. H 460, 473 Spears, M. C 568, 571 Spender, J.-C 165,167 Spicer, C . H 417,423 Spielberger, C. D 432, 439 Spiers-Glebe, L 455 Spitzberg, Β. H 459, 460, 470, 472,473, 474 Spreitzer, E 499, 500, 515 Sproull, L 77,109, 347, 359 Srinivasan, V 137,146 Srull, T. Κ 207,214 Stacks, D. W 6, 24, 32, 53, 54 Stadler, M. M 411, 418, 419, 420 Stake, R 154,169 Stappers, J 542, 548 Stark, Β XII, XIII, 127, 309, 310, 323 Starkey, Κ 160, 766 Stein, E. W 77, 78,110 Steinmann, M XI Stempel, G. H 362, 385 Stenström, A.-B 485, 491, 494 Stephenson, H 5, 24, 53 Steuer, J 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,74, 95,96, 98,110 Stiftung Lesen 20, 54 Sting, S 179,185 Stipp, H XV, 54, 84, 85,110, 362,384, 577, 584 Stohl, C 442, 452,455,456 Stone, A. R 326, 327, 332, 333,340, 342 Stone, C. J 277, 283 Strage, A 461,474

Author Index

Straka, G. A 82,110 Straub, D 77,110 Straub, J 455 Strauss, A 155,167,169 Strebkowski, R 86,110 Street, R. L 32, 51, 62, 63, 104 Stringer, M 552, 572 Sturm, H 204, 214 Subrahmanyam, Κ 89,109 Sudweeks, F 72, 73, 75,108 Sugden, J 497,498,499, 500, 507, 511,575 Sulanowski, Β. Κ 492, 494 Sullerot, E 404,407 Sullivan, W. M 347, 358 Surra, C 566, 571 Swanson, D. L 233,248 Swidler, A 347, 358 Swift, Κ 505,510,515 Sykes, G. M 236,249 Τ Tambling, J 327, 328, 342 Tannen, D 326, 328, 329, 341, 343 Tannenbaum, S. 1 390, 407 Tapscott, D 290, 306 Tate, C 480,481,495 Tavakoli, M 276, 284 Taylor, Β 552, 570 Teel, J. E 273,284 Teichert, Th 137,146 Tekeli, S 528, 533 Tewksbury, D 362, 383 Thomass, Β 587, 597

637

Thompson, J 81,110 Thompson, S 605, 609 Thorson, E 68, 71,104 Tichenor, Ph. J 289, 291, 292, 293, 306 Tierney, W 572 Timmer, G 24, 54 Tipton, S. M 347, 358 Toch, H 236, 249 Tod, D 25, 54 Toison, D 568, 572 Tomalin, D. A 568, 572 Tomlinson, A 497, 498,499, 500, 507, 511,575 Toth, E. L 406, 416, 417,419, 423 Tourish, D.... 551, 552, 553, 554, 556, 564, 568, 569, 577, 572 Tracy, Ε. M 572 Trapnell, P. D 459, 460, 471, 472, 474, 475 Traub, S 83, 84,106 Trevarthen, C 484, 491, 494 Treviño, L. Κ 77, 78, 79,110 Trujillo, Ν 150,169, 499, 575 Trumbo, C 591,59« Turk, J. V 406 Turkle, S 79,110 Turner, J. C 501, 575 Turoff, M 331,542 Tyler, W. Ρ 411,423 U Urwin, C Usluata, A Uspensky, Β

444, 456 XV, 517,518,533 339, 343

638 Author Index

W

V Valkenburg, Ρ

588, 598

Wakshlag, J. J

275, 285

Van Dijk, J

303,306

Walkerdine, V

444, 456

Wallace, Ρ

326, 343

Walsh, D. A

363,385

Van Dijk, J. A. G

59, 64, 65,

74, 75, 87, 88, 98,110 Van Dijk, T. A

497, 498, 503,

511,575

Walther, J. Β

65, 76, 77, 78,

79, 97, 111

Van Maanen, J

148,169

Wang, M

Van Meurs, L

272, 284

Ward, H

260, 270

Van Raaij, W. F

414,423

Warde, A

216,229

Van Riel, C. Β. M

390, 393,

Warnock, M

197,198

394, 407, m , 423 Vandebosch, H

480, 481,495

Warren, A

XII, 233, 237,

243, 248, 249

480, 481,495

Wartick, S . L

AU, 423

Weaver, D

23, 54, 252, 270

Varadarajan, P. R

415, 423

Weaver, W

70,109, 443, 456

Veach, S. R

487, 494

Weber, R

Venkatesh, A

216,231

Webster, J

Venn, C

444, 456

Webster, J. G

Vercic, D

405, 407

Weiber, R

Veronis, Suhler & Associates 578, 584 Vesting, Τ

84, 98,105

Vice, S Viswanath, Κ

XIII 77, 78,110 275,284, 285 138,146

Weick, Κ

441,442, 456

Weimann, G

61,111

Weinberger, M

565, 572

338,343

Weinert, F. E

83, 111

290, 293, 294,

Weisbord, M

600, 605, 606,

307

609

Vitalari, Ν. Ρ

216,231

Voermanek, A

87,105

Vollbracht, M

256, 260, 261,

Weischenberg, S

27,28, 50, 54, 312,323 Wentling, J.W Werry, C

270

Volosinov, V. Ν

334,343

Voort, T. H. A. van der

19, 51,

217,25/ 326, 331,339,545

Westley, Β Westmoreland, G Wetherall, M

220, 229

5, 22, 23, 26,

70, 111 572 501, 515

Vorderer, P.... 61, 69, 88, 95,110

Whalen, S

Vygotsky, L. S

Whannel, G

498, 515

Wheatley, M

600, 610

488, 491,494

329, 343,485,

455

Author Index 639 White, A 498, 515 White, H 559, 573 White, J 390, 407,415,416, 421 Whittemore, G 326, 341 Wiggins, J. S .459,460,471, 472, 474, 475 Wilhoit, G. C 23, 54 Willbrand, M. L... 480, 492 Williams, E 77,109 Williams, J 500, 515 Willmott, H... 151,167, 442, 443, 455, 456 Wilson. S 556,570 Windahl, S 63,107, 390, 407 Winter, R 196,197 Wirth, W ..294, 296, 307 Wittenberg, M. T. 462, 473 6, 53 Woelke, J Wohl, R 61,105 Woodhouse, J 500, 515 Wu, H 588, 598

Wyer, R. S Wyndham, J

207,214 272,285

Y Ybema, S . B Yelsma, Ρ Yin, R Yiu-Fai, Y Youn, S Young, E Young, K. S

152, 153,169 362, 384 148, 154,169 68,107 276, 284 148,169 363, 385 Ζ

Zabaleta, I XV, 535, Zabel. V Zaller, J Zapf, D Zeller, R. A Zillmann, D Zweekhorst, P. Α. M

536, 549 416,4/9 254, 270 445, 457 565, 573 201,212 405, 407

Subject Index

accounts XIV, 441,443, 446, 448,450,453,591 active audience see audience, active active TV-user 309 activity 63 ff., 82 audience 6 Iff. addressee 195, 334, 337 agency XIV, 326,426, 459ff., 538, 60Iff., 607 agenda setting 32, 46, 209ff., 252 agenda setting model 205 aggression 445, 500, 553 ambiguity.... 160ff, 223, 444, 449 ambivalence ;... 449f. analysis 147 cluster 31, 217 comparative 77 conjoint 127, 130, 137ff. content.... XI, 33f., 38ff., 46ff., 203,461,517,519,588 conversation 328ff, 336, 349,351 discourse.... 203, 325, 328, 346 factor 428f., 437f, 461ff. anthropology 442 applied research see research, applied attitudes .... 61, 65, 131, 135, 194, 202ff, 235, 238, 254, 298,

301, 304f., 322, 366, 405,413, 470, 527, 544, 588, 592 political 29, 252ff. audience Xff., 3, 23, 27f., 33ff., 58ff, 70ff., 84, 87ff, 118f., 123, 136, 154f., 182, 21 Of., 234, 245, 27Iff., 296f., 310ff., 317, 322,334, 337f., 366, 383,414f., 517, 521,536, 546, 583, 589, 600 active 32, 62ff., 74, 233 audience activity see activity, audience audience research see research, audience audio-matching 121, 123 audiovisual industry 8ff. Β backchannel 485, 491 Basque language see language, Basque book 17ff., 37, 75,87, 171ff., 216, 240, 243ff., 490, 520, 526, 546, 600 Book 20 broadcast message 333f. bullying XIV, 441 ff.

caller (telephone) 322, 481 cartoons.... XV, 517ff., 583

642

Subject Index

ceiling effect 292, see also glass ceiling effect cell phone see telephone, cell phone character 150, 163,337,339 chat 93f., 178,216, 226ff., 318ff., 325, 327, 3 3 I f , 336f, 372, 528, see also Interni Relay Chat (IRC) chat room 94, 314f, 325, 3 3 I f f , 337, 352, 357 child language development..479 childhood 87, 103, 177, 329, 491 children XII, XIV, 19f, 64, 89f, 102f, 133, 177, 217ff, 226, 228, 235, 239, 349, 363, 450,453, 479ff, 488, 491, 509,552, 603 choice.,68ff, 85, 87, 90, 95, 98ff. media 77 co-culture 147, 162ff. cognitive effects .... 201, 206, 211 college students 316, 362f, 368, 371, 380f, 461 communication IX, X l f f , 5ff, 13, 22ff, 30ff, 57f, 7 I f f , 80, 9 I f f , 99ff, 147ff, 156f, 160ff, 174ff, 202, 227, 236, 241,303, 326f,330ff, 347, 372, 379, 389f, 396ff,418, 443,450, 460, 462, 487,491, 498, 538, 551,554, 556, 558, 560, 562, 567f, 599f, 603ff. active 62, 64, 84 bilateral 73

computer-mediated 32,41, 75, 78f, 85, 97, 325f, 331, 333, 340, 346, 357, 383 corporate.. 390f, 409, 412,418 environmental 592 external 390, 393,566 face-to-face 60f, 75ff, 96f, 326, 363, 428, 479ff. face-to-interface 75, 97 health 30f,41,44,49 human 5,8,31,46, 49, 62, 76ff, 484 interactive 75, 93 inter-group 5 51 f f , 5 61 f f , 566, 569 internal 149, 389f, 393, 443, 552, 566, 569 interpersonal 7 f , 30ff, 58, 61,70, 75,80, 93, 96f, 102, 212,459ff, 468ff. marketing 389, 393,410 mass X, 4 f f , 30f,38,41, 47f, 58ff, 70, 74ff, 96, 98, 291,415 media 62, 64, 97ff. meta330 non-verbal 482 online XIII, 289f, 309, 577 organizational Xllff, 7, 30f, 49, 389f, 399,442, 551,553,569 personal 206, 212 persuasive 204, 519 political 4, 7, 3 0 f , 4 1 f , 4 8 public 7,592 reciprocal 7 I f , 90

Subject Index 643 relational 552 strategic 390 visual 30,41 communication management ...XIV, 389ff., 40Iff., 414, 416 communication process Xlff., 7f., 57, 62, 99f., 289, 295, 312f., 405, 462,467f.,481, 586 communication research see research, communication communication rules 150f. communication science ..IX, 5, 7, 21, 24f., 30,58ff„ 100, 184, 193, 275,312, 402, 405 communication skill 293,428, 433, 459ff. communication studies 25, 31, 37, 79, 147ff, 155, 164f.,201, 215,236, 295,321,327, 329, 345, 361ff.,380,391f, 397f., 404f., 416ff., 425, 429,432, 435ff., 441f., 460f., 468, 471f., 479ff., 489, 491, 554f., 563ff. communication technology.... 14, 57, 70, 73, 13Iff., 176, 195, 215,358, 361,383,479, 492, 535f. communication work 398 communicative competence XIV, 459,465 communicative cues 480 communicogram 556, 561 communion XIV, 459ff., 603 community XIII, 30, 188, 210, 345, 347, 353ff., 365, 415, 419,427, 535, 539f., 543f„

547, 552ff., 557f., 561 ff., 600ff. academic 152, 325 Basque XV, 535, 542ff. cyber 345f., 357 discourse 345, 347, 357 Internet 314, 358 Jewish 354 linguistic 535ff. online....314, 318f., 321,345f., 356, 358 scientific 33, 39, 62 working 309 compartmentalization ...215,217, 22If., 228 computer 3, llff., 32, 37,41, 57f., 63, 66ff, 76ff., 93, 98, 101, 127, 150, 180,215,217, 219ff., 298, 304f.,312, 314, 322, 326, 333, 346, 362, 365, 368ff., 479f., 577f., 582, 591 computer anxiety 369, 375 computer games see games, computer computer skill 304f., 365, 375 consensus 149, 156, 164, 195, 208f., 374, 563, 580 constructivism 62, 81, 95, 103 consumer 11, 15, 64, 88ff., 96ff, 127, 142, 210, 266, 316f., 41 I f f , 578, 582f. consumer needs.... 58, 84, 90, 96, 577, 582 convergence.... 10f., 15, 120, 381, 577f„582 media...6, 13, 15, 57ff., 87, 92, 117,379

644

Subject Index

conversation 60, 90, 96, 154, 227, 240, 310, 328f, 345ff., 446, 481f.,485ff., 501,559 corporate citizen 412,415 corporate image see image, corporate creative language play 325, 329, 331 creativity 97, 149, 155, 181, 325, 327, 329, 600, 605 Critical Incident Technique 555f., 568f. critical theory 46, 443 Cronbach's alpha 265, 46If. cultivation theory 46, 205 cultural identity see identity, cultural cultural meaning 345f., 491 cultural practice 479, 485 cultural stereotype 517ff. cultural studies approach...X, 32, 46, 63f., 148 culture EX, XII, XIV, 32, 147ff., 161ff., 171, 174,331, 334, 340, 345ff., 352, 365f„ 379, 427, 429f., 432, 435,438, 491,507, 536f., 540, 544, 546, 552, 585ff„ 595, 604 book 172 information 178 media 196 organizational 148f., 152, 165,426,441,454 performation 175, 180 political 542 culture formation 150, 153, 158,163

customer 21, 58, 90f., 96, 140, 142, 145, 156, 183,411,414, 545, 547, 605f. cyberspace see space, cyberD decoder 128f., 145 decontextualization 481 f. deregulation 271, 537 descriptivistic fallacy 189 dialogic model of communication 361 dialogue ....61, 85f., 90f„ 96, 101, 161ff, 173,312, 326, 328, 338, 352, 405, 480, 599ff. differentiation...26, 74, 126, 152, 158, 162, 164, 175, 177, 363, 412 diffusion 27, 127, 204ff., 215, 289, 291,296, 301,363,369, 537 digital divide 12, 13 digital television see television, digital digitalization 27, 57, 172, 215 digitization 10, 127, 310 discourse 7, 70, 77, 96, 153, 176, 327ff., 334, 336, 340, 382,418, 443ff, 450, 452, 454, 488, 492, 497ff., 506, 51 Of., 544, 547, 601 telephone .480, 482, 489, 49If. discourse rules 480 discursive practice 497, 501 disembodiment 333 dissensus 163f.

Subject Index 645 distribution (media) 9ff, 29, 117, 123,127, 130, 134, 137, 145, 172, 180ff. diversification 116, 535 dynamic transactional model. 204 E early adopters 130, 578 early majority 130f., 134 East Germany 263, 267 economy IX, Xllf., 3, 9f., 39, 41,59, 149, 184, 197, 2 5 I f , 255ff, 527f. education 8, 23ff., 29, 58, 65, 80, 85,95,100, 133, 179, 241, 243, 246, 263ff, 29Iff., 316, 399, 402, 404, 425ff., 436, 438,543,545,600 bilingual 545 educational deficits 294 electronic measurement.... 115ff, 123,125 e-mail 11,59, 77f, 90, 93f, 216,218, 220, 226ff, 301, 304, 31 Of, 313ff, 318, 346, 348,351,357,371,379, 547, 600 empirical research see research, empirical empiricism 187ff. employees Xlllf, 156f, 392, 398, 436,441 f f , 504, 545, 552, 554, 558f, 561ff, 606 encroachment 389, 391, 396f, 40 Iff. entertainment 30, 71, 85ff, 95,

98ff, 131,207, 292, 296, 303, 305, 320f,362, 364, 380, 587 interactive 87ff, 95 environment XV, 159, 162, 215,260, 340, 427, 445, 480f, 551, 562f, 585ff, 600, 606 communication 71 learning 83, 85 media 215, 295f. mediated 66f. political 210 prison 234, 236 social ...XI, 206,334,382, 391 technical 32, 337 virtual ..59, 66, 68f„ 80, 82, 96 working 552, 555, 558 ethics 171, 188ff, 193f„412 applied XII, 187, 190ff. empirical 188 media XII, 187, 190ff. ethnography XIII, 345ff. ethnomethodology 540 extraversion 464f, 47If. F face-to-face communication...see communication, face-to-face face-to-face dialogue 326 face-to-face interaction see interaction, face-to-face face-to-face talk see communication, face-to-face family XII, XIV, 215ff, 238f, 242, 347, 355, 370, 377, 379, 488,525,529f, 567 family studies 215ff, 223, 228

646 Subject Index feedback 60f., 73, 77f., 81, 236, 443, 462, 466, 470, 480 feedback channel XIII, 309ff„ 320ff. focus group 446, 555, 557, 565, 569 football...XIV, 337, 497ff., 509ff. fragmentation 7, 10, 31, 33, 78, 116, 152, 162ff., 297,414f. framework 25, 115, 152, 157, 164, 173f., 178,180, 190, 193, 330,391,417,473, 500, 541, 546, 591 cultural XII, 152, 159, 162ff., 539f., 595 legal IX, 12, 194, 545 political 10 sense-making 148ff., 157, 159, 165,381 framing 161, 165, 203, 329f., 334, 502, 507ff, 585f., 589f., 594f. episodic 590 thematic 589 framing theory 585f., 589ff. free-TV 136 G games.... 127, 138, 309, 380, 487, 505, 508 computer 19, 59, 86ff., 103, 220, 222,225, 240, 245, 301ff., 311, 314 electronic 19 video 67, 88, 220, 224

gender 30, 202, 301, 303, 316, 347, 353, 366, 399,404, 459, 470, 472, 497, 520, 555, 600, 607 gender bias 498 generational divide 19 genre preferences 134 glass ceiling effect..389ff., 396ff. global warming 585, 588f. globalization 535ff., 544, 599 H health communication see communication, health heavy viewers 208 heteroglossia 330, 337, 339 holistic view 152, 602 homepage see website human communication see communication, human I identity.. 171,177, 179, 183, 204, 242, 244, 330, 346, 353,455, 471,497, 500f., 503, 506ff„ 535,540, 544, 601 company 159 corporate 409, 418 cultural 3,9, 196 disciplinary 31 economic 3 European 3 group 605, 608 Jewish 345, 357

Subject Index 647 linguistic 3 masculine 499, 51 Of. national 335, 498f. organizational 6 political 536, 552 image.... 3, 26, 29, 210, 238, 335, 501, 517ff., 526, 53If., 553 corporate 41 Iff. external 462,466, 470 organizational 149 relational 462, 466, 470 selfXII, 197, 233, 235f., 242, 244 in-depth interview see interview, in-depth individualization 27, 178, 215ff., 223f., 535f. infancy 311, 49If. information and communication industry 5 information and communication technology (ICT) XII, 5,12, 27, 32, 215ff., 224, 227, 229, 535ff. information processing 64, 78, 207ff, 296 information science 5, 7, 24 information society XII, 23, 171, 176ff., 192, 290, 305, 537 innovators 369 integration 8, 10, 152, 156, 158, 162, 164, 196, 369, 372, 383, 473, 585, 588, 604 interaction 60f, 64ff, 72, 74, 80ff, 85,88, 90, 139ff., 158, 160, 165, 202ff, 3 lOff., 319f., 325, 329ff., 345f., 350, 362,

435, 443, 460, 462, 467ff., 479ff., 488, 504, 523, 567, 577, 585f., 594 communicative... 147f., 160ff., 459, 468,470, 472f. computer-mediated 79 face-to-face 59, 77, 96, 327, 428, 480 group 428, 431 interpersonal 363, 454, 459, 464f., 470ff. local 278f. mediated 59f„ 62, 77, 80 parasocial 6 If., 102 personal 372 proactive 82 social 30, 41, 44, 60ff, 76, 79, 162, 330,353,427,482 interactive media see media, interactive interactivity ....XI, XIII, 11, 57ff., 64ff., 80ff., 99ff., 127, 309ff., 318, 321,582 media... 78, 89, 92, 97, 99, 101 perceived 88, lOOff. pseudo95,97, 99, lOlf. true 74, 95, 97ff. user-to-user 57 interlanguage 357 Internet.. XIII, lOff., 30, 37, 57f, 70f., 85, 87,90ff., 101, 115ff., 125, 128, 133, 171, 181ff., 191 f., 196, 204,216,218, 226f., 267, 271, 274, 289ff, 296ff., 309ff., 314ff, 319ff., 325, 331, 341, 345f., 354, 358, 361ff.,415, 538, 546f, 577ff.

648 Subject Index Internet access 11, 57, 220, 289f., 296ff., 305, 346, 363, 578, 580 Internet discussion list 345 Internet Relay Chat (IRC)... XIII, 325ff., 336ff., see also chat Internet research see research, Internet Internet usage XIII, llff., 117, 121,204, 222, 225,229, 289, 296ff., 309ff., 320, 361ff„ 376ff., 578, 580ff. Internet user 14f., 119f., 289ff., 311, 315f., 321,363, 365, 547, 58Iff. interpersonal communication see communication, interpersonal interpersonal communication competence 459, 472 Interpersonal Communication Competence Inventory 459, 462 interpersonal communication dimension 472 Interpersonal Communication Skills Questionnaires 462 Interpersonal Competence Questionnaire 459, 461 intertextual pattern 339 intertextual relationship.334, 336 intertextuality 335f., 339 interview 99, 116f., 120, 129ff., 136, 138ff., 147, 154, 217f„ 228, 237, 242, 299, 331, 367f., 381f., 485, 531, 556, 558, 566, 568

in-depth 218, 228, 234ff., 242,245, 361 qualitative 48, 242,246 sense-making 366 involvement 89, 99, 239, 246, 326, 467,470, 561,594 J journalism IX, 5f., 20ff., 30, 191,403 online 93 journalistic competence 27f. Κ knowledge gap 204f., 289ff. knowledge gap hypothesis .. XIII, 290ff., 299, 305 L labeling 369,443,453f. labor market 256, 260f. language XlVf., 26, 30, 33, 41,44, 156, 17 If., 175, 177, 192, 325ff., 334f., 339f., 347, 350, 353, 357f., 429, 441,443, 479, 481,483,487, 492, 500, 518, 537ff„ 552,562 Basque 535, 543ff. inter357 learning 81, 83, 85, 95f., 103, 179, 267, 329, 425f., 431, 435, 590f, 601 computer-aided 80 self-directed 82f„ 86

Subject Index 649 situated 83, 103 legitimacy 31, 161, 193,415, 442ff„ 452, 454 leisure time 17ff., 372 lifestyle 235,346, 366 light viewers 208, 211 limited effect theory.. X, 64, 202, 233 linguistic capabilities 492 linguistic code 486, 492 linguistic universe ... 535ff., 541f. literacy 479ff„ 593 literariness 325ff., 336 loneliness 241 M magazine 20, 181,216, 234, 239, 242f., 246, 546, 547 management 12, 155ff., 379, 394f., 398f., 405, 409, 415f., 442ff., 557, 569, 595 change 171, 176 conflict 46Iff., 470f. content 20 corporate identity 409, 418 group 433,436 human resource 445, 454 interaction..78, 460, 462, 467f. mood 88 public relations 410 risk 593f. strategic 391, 394 time 371 marketing 68, 87,91, 115, 128, 181 ff., 389f., 393, 395, 402f„ 415

marketing strategy 127, 145 masculinity XIV, 497ff., 506, 51 Of. mass communication see communication, mass mass media see media, mass media IXff, 3ff, 19ff., 26ff., 34ff., 42f., 46, 6Iff., 69ff., 84, 87, 93,98,117, 120,125,148, 187, 191 ff., 201f., 207, 215, 217f., 220, 223, 228f., 233ff., 24Iff., 25If., 256, 260, 272, 289, 292, 294, 296,317, 362ff, 368, 372, 381f.,414, 418, 497f., 510, 517ff., 522, 527f., 531, 535ff, 545, 547, 577f., 581f.,585ff. audiovisual 9, 25, 88, 171f., 177f. communication....57, 67, 76ff., 92, 96, 98,480, 594 digital 37, 172 electronic 115ff., 121, 172, 340 individual X, 3f. interactive 72, 89ff., 95, 97, 102f., 317, 414f. mass Xlf., 3, 7, 17, 23,31, 38f., 60ff., 70, 76, 84, 92, 94, 98f., 172, 196, 201ff., 233ff., 243, 246, 252, 254, 260, 265, 290f., 297, 382, 412, 538, 543, 545, 577, 586,594 new IX, 5, 13, 15,29,37ff., 44, 49, 57, 59, 65, 69f., 91f., 96, 98, 129, 172, 176, 191, 195,223,296, 304f„ 314,

650 Subject Index 416,535,537, 543,577, 580,583 news 21 Off., 586, 593 old 129,297, 577,581,583 online 21,29, 119 print 15, 17, 19f., 90, 118, 171,254, 293,298, 372, 546f., 594 traditional IX, 17, 27, 29, 37ff., 57ff., 64, 67, 84, 87, 90ff., 97f., 216, 290, 292, 296, 577, 583 usage 63 media assessment 187, 194ff. media business.... 3ff., 8f., 21, 26, 98 media character 242 media consumption 17, 19, 89, 233f., 243, 316f., see also media use media coverage XV, 237, 251, 254ff., 260ff., 266ff., 498, 518, 585ff. media culture 26 media effects.... Xlf., 59, 6 3 f , 92, 102, 187, 189, 193f., 201ff, 212,235, 254, 260, 594 media effects research see research, media effects media history 41, 44 media market IX, Xlf., 8, 25, 34f., 118, 192 media politics 4,8 media psychology 41, 191 media reality ....see reality, media media research see research, media

media science IX, XI, 3ff., 33, 46, 50, 57, 60, 184 media sociology 41 media studies XII, 5, 19ff., 44, 103, 125, 129f., 147ff., 164f„ 206, 209,211,215,223,228, 233ff., 243ff., 252, 272ff., 289, 298, 300,315,321,345, 361 ff., 380ff., 392,517, 542, 590 media system 4, 36, 67, 70, 292f„ 537, 543 Media Tenor 254 media usage XI, 13ff., 57ff., 68, 84f., 95, lOOff., 117,173, 209, 215, 233ff, 242f., 246, 265, 292f., 296,311,318, 577, 580, 582 media usage patterns XII, XV, 13, 19, 63,234, 303, 577,583 media use paradigm 46f. media violence 89, 207, 234 mediated communication ..see communication, mediated metamessage.. 330, 351, 353, 357 moderate effect theory X motivation 81, 83, 86, 193, 208, 293f., 309, 320, 365, 461f., 467, 605 multimedia 9, 21, 29, 58f., 68, 80ff., 95, 116f., 180, 191,220, 228 multimedia technology.... 84, 215 multi-party talk 332, 339 multi-perspective approach 152 multiple correlation 280

Subject Index 651 Ν narrative.. 86, 150, 441, 443,445, 463f., 470, 482, 607 narrator 331,337, 339 naturalistic fallacy.... 187ff., 193, 195 negativism 254, 260, 266 network 1 If., 15,25,40, 88, 183,202, 206, 273, 277f., 545, 567f., 587 neural XIII, 271ff„ 277, 280 research 4, 33 social.. 212, 293, 377,383, 555 social analysis (SNA) 556, 567 neural network see also network, neural new media see media, new news coverage.... Xllf., 258, 260, 263, 588 news factors 254 newscast 93, 255f., 263, 265, 267 newspaper. 15ff., 37f., 48, 67, 70, 93f., 117, 171,209,216, 234, 238ff„ 246, 260, 263, 265, 267, 295,372, 379,517, 519ff., 528, 530, 546f., 587f. online 302 newsroom 260, 266 non-verbal behavior 339f. normative predication 189 norms.... 149, 157, 165, 188, 242, 244, 354, 356, 434,480, 492, 500, 539 cultural 347, 435 organizational 445

novice

277, 302, 341,492 O

objectivity 29, 568 observation... 147, 150, 154, 207, 234, 260, 409, 427, 429, 479, 480, 483, 488, 499 old media see media, old online communication channel 309 organization Xllff., 79, 147ff., 161ff„ 298, 389ff., 403f., 410ff., 418, 429, 441ff, 504, 511, 555ff., 567,588, 606f. Ρ panel 116ff., 279 online 115, 118, 125 paradigm 32, 46f., 63f., 153, 235, 295f., 416f., 446 parents 218, 221f., 225, 227f., 349f., 483, 488 pass time 236, 244, 362 Passivemeter 120, 123 pay-TV 37, 87, 271 digital XII, 127ff. Peoplemeter 120 perception XIII, 149, 202, 25Iff., 260ff, 329f., 434, 520, 528, 552, 554, 586, 590f., 606 performance 85, 88, 118, 158, 251,338,413,415, 430ff, 437f., 443,450, 480, 505, 567f. personal computer ..see computer

652

Subject Index

personality 62, 64, 89, 103, 362, 366, 43Iff., 437f., 444, 452, 460, 463, 471f., 520, 540 personalization 217 persuasion 32, 92, 102, 115, 204f., 462, 466,470,519 play 325, 329f., 336,479,488, 505 pluralistic society 412f. policy-making 586, 590ff. political science 22 power XIV, 6, 192, 397, 400, 404, 411,414f., 441ff., 452ff., 500f., 518, 520, 527ff., 564, 604 communicative 93 practical philosophy 188 prediction 115, 272ff„ 577f., 583f. presence 66, 69, 72f., 77, 162, 216f., 241, 326f., 333,346, 394ff., 510, 565 online 325, 339 physical 60f. social 73,77, 80 tele66ff. presenter 31 Of. pretense 479, 488, 490, 492 print media see media, print privacy 25,215,217, 221, 225ff., 236, 241, 244, 379 privatization 216f., 223f., 525, 527,537 program guide 129, 136, 313 pseudointeractivity see interactivity, pseudopsycholinguistics 479

psychology 73, 83, 479 developmental 480f. educational 80, 85, 95 media 41, 191 social 59f., 402, 416 public 207, 209, 216, 251ff., 260ff„ 266, 414, 529, 591 public affairs 292ff., 409 public domain 411 public relations XIV, 30f., 389f., 393, 396, 398, 401f„ 409ff., 553 public service broadcasting... 129

qualitative method 8, 47f., 233 quantitative method 8,47f. questionnaire 68, 129, 315f., 392, 404, 459ff, 565 R radio XI, 13,37, 85,92,101, 115ff., 120, 123, 125, 220f., 234, 246, 321,335,380, 538, 545f., 588 digital 119, 125 radio listeners 119f., 123 radio market 116 radio program 123, 236 radio usage.... 17f., 117, 121,204, 216, 243,254,317 Radiocontrol 115, 119ff. Radiocontrol Watch 121, 123, 125 random sample see sample, random

Subject Index 653 reality XII, 74f., 97, 115, 118, 127, 147f., 155, 157, 162ff„ 175, 187f., 189f., 193, 195,202, 205,208, 251ff., 258, 260, 267, 337, 365, 538ff., 547 media 3,49, 75, 98f., 125, 191ff„ 252ff., 258, 261, 266, 546f. organizational 157f. social XIV, 147ff., 160, 163ff„ 208, 589 virtual 82 reception 61, 91, 96, 98, 116, 121, 175, 177, 195,289, 296, 349 reception studies 233f. reception theory 233 recipient 34, 60ff., 73f., 95ff., 191ff, 202ff., 254, 265,292, 312 recontextualization 48 If. reliability ....274, 276, 371, 373f., 565f., 568 research IX, XII, 4, 25f., 30, 33,35,44, 59, 115f., 119, 125f., 130, 187,192 advertising 58 applied XII, 58, 77, 118 audience 23, 35, 38, 48, 59, 61,63, 116, 123 cognition XII communication IXff., XV, 3ff.,22ff., 30ff., 41, 49, 57, 63ff.,75ff„ 97, 100, 183, 201,275,312, 365,405,

416, 540, 553, 595 diffusion 204 education 76, 80f., 102 empirical X, 22, 29, 31, 33, 47f., 58, 101, 148f„ 187, 190, 193f, 20If., 289, 293f., 298, 600 interaction 61 interactivity 57ff., 64, 67f., 74, 76, 85, 93ff. Internet 15, 117, 120, 364 market 58 media...IXff., XV, 3ff., 21, 24, 33ff.,46ff., 60, 87, 89,103, 115, 118, 120, 123, 154, 172, 187, 190, 193, 196, 276, 366, 542, 547, 586, 592, 595 media effects .. 59, 64, 90, 187, 189, 193, 196, 201ff., 206 print 120 public opinion... 120, 192, 195, 251 public relations.. 410,416, 419 qualitative 8,47f., 118, 203, 228,234 quantitative.... 8, 47f., 234, 271 radio 115, 117, 119f. television 115, 120 research methods X, 8, 23, 29, 3If., 36, 47ff„ 120, 154, 234, 237, 271,492, 555 research user type 116, 118 responsivity 72f. Retrospective Interview Technique (RIT) 556, 566

654 Subject Index

salience 206, 208f., 589f. sample 89, 94, 123, 130ff., 143, 154, 203, 217, 274, 280f., 298,316, 363,368, 392, 429, 461,468,491,554, 568 random 131,237, 279f. satire 518 science 31, 41, 50 segmentation 27, 84, 116 selective exposure 202 self-assessment 459, 461 self-disclosure 379,463, 467f., 471 self-efficacy 427ff, 437f., 471 self-image see image, selfself-presentation ... 336, 339, 462, 466,470f. sense-making 147, 149, 153, 361ff., 376, 380ff. sense-making methodology . XIII, 361, 364ff, 380 setting (letter) 172, 183 show (TV show).. 99, 238, 309ff. game 310f.,314 reality 84 Web311 soccer 127, 144, 242, 497 social construction 441, 443 social isolation 216, 363, 381 social learning theories X, 64, 43 Of. social network see network, social social presence see presence, social

social reality ....see reality, social social responsibility 413, 415 social science.... EXf., 5ff., 23, 34, 50, 74, 96, 180, 197, 460 social skill 28, 459, 462, 473 sociogram 556, 568 sociolinguistics 329, 543 source credibility.. 244, 254, 296, 362, 373 space 215ff., 221ff., 365ff., 381f.,437, 481,537, 540f., 602 cyberXIII, 71, 335, 340, 345ff., 356f. physical 215ff., 228, 340 symbolic 215,223, 228 speaker 333, 335, 351,485, 544f. sport 98, 127, 129, 134, 136, 138,140, 144f. statistics 81,481 descriptive 47 inferential X, 47f., 278 structural equation model 251, 263 subjective assessment.... 277, 282 subjectivity 607 subscription 136, 145 survey 23,29, 117, 127, 129ff, 140, 145, 195,203, 237, 247, 260, 263, 290,296, 298, 302ff.,363f.,391,542, 580f. online 93f., 309,315 symbolic interactionism.... 60, 62 symbolic space see space, symbolic

Subject Index

Τ tacit knowledge 602, 604 technology assessment 194ff. telecontrol 123 telelearning 310 telephone ...XIV, 11, 15, 60, 76f., 79, 85, 127, 159, 216, 218f., 227f., 239, 298, 301,310,313, 322, 348, 358, 379, 479ff., 547 cellphone 11, 13, 15,57, 101, 133,600 television ..Xlf., 9ff., 37f„ 48, 57, 60, 70, 85, 87, 90, 92, 101, 115ff., 123, 127, 134f., 145, 147, 153, 156, 160, 192, 202, 205,208,211,215,218, 221, 223, 228, 234, 239f., 245f., 254f., 261, 271f., 275ff., 282, 292ff., 309ff., 320f., 362, 364, 480, 538, 545f., 564, 577, 582, 586f., 590, 592 cyber 309 digital XIII, 11, 13, 15, 116, 118, 120, 123, 125, 127ff., 142, 144f., 271, 309 interactive 59, 87f„ 98, 309, 32If., 580, 582 online 123 reality 193 television genre 134 television market. 128f., 271, 275 television news. Xllf., 129, 138f., 146, 203, 205, 207, 209f., 239f., 246, 251, 254ff., 266f., 590,593

655

television program XII, 9, 12, 59, 70, 99, 123, 127ff„ 133ff., 138, 140, 145f., 154, 234, 236, 239ff., 245ff., 255,265,271, 274ff., 279f., 282, 309ff., 32If., 582 television usage.... 16, 37, 64, 85, 121,204,216, 221f., 228, 241, 243, 245, 263, 271ff., 316ff., 577ff. television viewers XIII, 84, 87f., 99, 119f., 127ff., 134, 145,208,215,272, 276, 309f, 312,314, 32If., 582 television viewing pattern... XIII, 127, 129, 135, 271f., 282 time (amount of)... 125, 201, 273, 279, 291,298, 353, 367, 381f., 481,540,581 time series 203, 252, 261, 273, 275, 278f. traditional media see media, traditional training... 85, 100, 191, 377, 391, 397, 401, 425ff., 438, 489, 554, 557f., 562ff., 600 academic.... XI, 3, 6, 20ff„ 183 professional 3, 12, 25 transformation 85, 171, 176f., 203,411 TV set....67, 70, 219ff., 228, 246, 322, 578, 582 TV show see show typology (of families) 217f., 228 typology (of media use) 63

656

Subject Index

U unemployment XIII, 251, 256, 258, 266f., 525 Universalmeter 119ff. uses and gratifications approach X, 32, 46, 61ff., 74, 204f., 233ff., 242, 246

virtual friendship 373 virtual places 179, 340 virtual relationship 372ff., 379 visual communication see communication, visual visual generation 17, 19 voice XIV, 330, 336ff., 441ff. W

V value system 9, 188, 192, 430 variance 272, 274, 280, 282, 366, 404,433, 463ff. verbal behavior 356 video conferencing ....76, 79, 331 video-on-demand 136, 312f. videophone 310,313 viewing time 15, 17, 134, 136 virtual context 216, 226, 229

Web see Internet Web ratings 580 Web surfing see Internet usage Web usage see Internet usage website 10, 68, 71, 90, 94, 96, 311, 317f., 348, 357,538, 547 West Germany 263 World Wide Web see Internet worldview 196, 426