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GPB 4/ COM 7146: Public Interest Communication- From National Traditions to International Governance:. A Comparative Analysis of National Contributions To the WSIS. Jeremy Shtern. Agenda. Introduction WSIS ( SMSI) Public Service Broadcasting Topic Overview
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GPB 4/ COM 7146:Public Interest Communication- From National Traditions to International Governance: A Comparative Analysis of National Contributions To the WSIS Jeremy Shtern
Agenda • Introduction • WSIS (SMSI) • Public Service Broadcasting • Topic Overview • Methodology: define, describe, defend • Case Studies • Conclusions/ Suggestions for further research
1. Introduction 1.1 research question General: How is the concept of public service broadcasting being transferred into the discussions of internet governance? Specific: How do governments contributions’ to the WSIS reflect their national traditions of public service broadcasting?
1. Introduction cont… 1.2 context of this study doctoral project:‘From Broadcasting to Communication: Public Service Communication and the Internet’ 1.3 aims of this study • “theory building” (Livingstone 2003) • Prototype concepts, metrics and identify areas for further research • Engage WSIS, Canada in global context and PSB in transition as research subjects
2. • Why a Summit on the Information Society? http://www.itu.int/wsis/basic/why.html • Phase 1: Geneva 10-12 Dec., 2003 “The objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake. At the Geneva Phase of WSIS: • 43 Heads of state/government and Vice-Presidents, • 82 Ministers • 26 Vice-Ministers and Heads of delegation • as well as high-level representatives from international organizations, private sector, and civil society • More than 11,000 participants from 176 countries attended the Summit and related events.”
3. Public Service Broadcasting • Definition: “the issue of public service broadcasting can be reduced to this: What social and cultural goals require a specially mandated, non-commercially driven organization, publicly owned, publicly funded to the extent necessary, and publicly accountable?” (Raboy, 1995 p. 2)
Overview • Communication/ Culture Issues: public interest communication in the WSIS process, links between PSB and internet governance discussions • Policies Public Service Broadcasting structures, National government level contributions to WSIS • Nations Canada, U.K., U.S.A.
4. Methodology 4.1 Comparative analysis: Define • “the similarities and differences (mainly differences) of conditions or outcomes among large scale social units, usually regions, nations, societies and cultures” (Smelser 2003 p. 645- italics and brackets in original) • “a study that compares two or more nations with respect to some common activity” (Edelstein 1982 p. 14).
4. Methodology cont... 4.2 Describe: Key Points • “Seek relations among dimensions of national variation” • “Diversity within a common frame work” • “Methodological standardization favored” • “Meta-theoretical: theory building, modeling”
4. Methodology cont... 4.2.1: sampling choices: “diversity within a common framework”: different perspectives from similar actors • Countries seeming to have differing levels of contribution to/ perspectives on WSIS • Countries with differing traditions of PSB • Developed/Western countries: Despite presence of PSB in developing countries, difference in perspectives on digital divide issues too great for comparison of WSIS contributions
4. Methodology cont... 4.2.2 Research design issues • Methodological standardization/ creation of a common framework • Need to move beyond description (compare & analyze) “although comparative research readily generates national findings together with some rather broad, perhaps global conclusions, the interpretative effort devoted directly to cross-national analysis can be distinctly underwhelming, too often taking the form of nation-by-chapter reporting which leaves the making of comparisons up to the reader” (Livingstone 2003 p. 481)
4. Methodology cont... Conclusions Canada U.S.A PSB- WSIS? • ‘Soft’ methods • Unit by Unit • Qualitative • Descriptions • Documentation • as source • ‘Hard’ methods • Theme by theme • Metric created, • data mapped • Standardized • categories U.K.
4. Methodology cont... 4.3: defend “ I believe that at this stage of out thinking, most social scientists have come to endorse the valid view that the best methodological strategy In comparative study is to gain a foothold wherever we can. This means relying on multiple kinds of data and methods- quantitative and qualitative, hard and soft, objective and intuitive- and using and weighing all of them in an effort to improve our understanding and explanations” (Smelser 2003 p.648)
Metric- “Accessibility”: PSB/WSIS policy Correlations WSIS- public interest PSB: public interest PSB: market reliance WSIS- market reliance
Preliminary Results: PSB/WSIS policy Correlations WSIS- public interest Weak Correlation Strong Correlation PSB: public interest PSB: market reliance Weak Correlation Strong Correlation WSIS- market reliance
6. Conclusions • Comparative analysis provides valuable methodological tool for theory building, developing conceptual ideas • Metric needs further refinement • Larger population samples to suggest significance in tendencies observed through metric • Value of triangluation and using multiple, mixed (qualitative + quantitative) methods
