MEASURING THE INTERNET: HOST COUNTS VERSUS BUSINESS PLANS

The excessive media attention in and economic hopes placed on the Internet mean that measures of its size and distribution have been undertaken more often with an eye to business plans than to methodological rigour.This paper examines one disinterested source of Internet statistics, the Internet Domain Survey, to provide accurate measures of Internet size and distribution. Methodological issues in utilizing this survey are discussed to ensure the significance of findings is understood and to identify key methodological problems in a new field of research. Two particular problems are identified; the need to define user per computer host ratios and to identify the national origin of computers with international domain names. Statistics are presented from the five Internet Domain Surveys from January 1998 to January 2000 in the following categories: overall size, regional distribution, human development and economic distribution, linguistic distribution and user numbers. The conclusion is reached that even as the Internet is growing in all regions world-wide it remains concentrated in the highly developed nations. Some consideration of the implications of this for wider debates around the Internet is given.     

Whose voice is heard in online deliberation?: A study of participation and representation in political debates on the internet

One of the core elements of the vision of 'electronic democracy' is the hope that the Internet permits free and equal access to political debates. However, experiences with online discourse challenge this view. The digital divide being one obstacle to participation, even more interesting is the fact that online communication is constrained in ways similar to the offline world. This paper attempts to reassess the question of whether the Internet makes political debate more open to voices that are normally not heard in the political field. Based on empirical evidence from a large-scale online deliberation, it analyses who participates in political debates on the Internet and whose views are represented. The results challenge both the optimistic and the sceptical view on electronic democracy. A theoretical model is developed that is able to explain the results. It extends current research by including the cultural practices of technology use and the specific effects of large-scale communication in the analysis. Though preliminary this model can help to inform the designers of online deliberations to make the most of their democratic potential.     

网络货币若干法律问题研究

网络货币是网络服务商为解决网上小额支付而推出的一种具有准货币性质的电子支付工具。网络货币的产生和发展对现行金融体系形成了一定的影响和挑战。如何规范和促进网络货币的发展，是当前需要认真研究的重要课题。     

网络时代高校思想政治教育目标的价值取向

文章从网络时代高校思想政治教育所面临的机遇和挑战,探讨网络时代高校思想政治教育目标的价值取向,并联系当代高校思想政治教育实践进行现实考量,提出网络时代高校思想政治教育目标的价值取向的实现路径。     

高校网络德育信息传播模式的优化及实现途径

高校网络德育信息的传播过程 ,是德育工作者与受众之间凭借网络媒介进行沟通或信息交流的过程。研究网络德育信息传播的过程 ,优化网络德育信息传播的模式 ,是发挥网络德育作用的有效途径。提高网络德育工作者的信息素养和加强信息源的组织、开发与管理 ,对优化高校网络德育信息传播有着重要的理论与现实意义。     

浅析网络设计符号

网络是符号化的虚拟世界,用符号学的观点去分析网络的时候,会发现其中的符号与现实世界中的符号存在很大的区别。文章通过分析网络符号系统,探讨了网络设计符号的"外延"与"内涵"的意义,进而从不同的角度阐述了网络设计符号的特性以及文化价值。     

论日语教学中对网络资源的运用

随着互联网技术的发展和网络资源的不断丰富,网络资源对计算机辅助教学的促进作用日益提高。但在日语教学中,还存在着日语任课教师不了解可利用的网络资源,以及不清楚如何在网络教学模式下发挥教师的指导作用等严重问题。针对上述问题,从教学的角度介绍了日语网络资源,并就如何在网络环境下的计算机辅助日语教学中发挥教师的指导作用提出了建议和看法。     

Mediated Relationships

This paper is about the Internet as a new mode of meeting people and forming relationships. It is argued that the rapidly growing number of Internet 'dating resources' constitute a domain where people are entering into particular forms of interactions that are characterized by interactional 'rules' that facilitate the building of 'trust' between users. Authenticity and 'emotional communication' is, as Giddens (The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, Love and Eroticism in Modern Societies, Polity Press, Cambridge, 1992) has suggested, central to the 'pure relationships' of our late modern era. It is therefore appropriate that information and communication technologies are supplementing or replacing traditional routes to potentially romantic encounters that have in the past been mediated by the marriage broker, shadkhan or others taking similar roles.     

The political use of the internet: Some insights from two surveys of Italian students

Interest in the Internet's impact on political participation has grown over the last five years. The main claim of most social scientists is to consider the Internet as a new resource for political engagement. However, this claim has not always been backed up by empirical analysis. The aim of this article is to provide empirical evidence on a subject that previous surveys on the Internet have generally ignored: the influence of individual political characteristics on Internet use. The authors compare data from two distinct surveys, carried out in two different periods but which contain some common batteries of questions referring to political participation and Internet use for political purposes. One survey was carried out in 2001 and focused on students at the University of Florence. The second was carried out in 2002 and focused on the participants in the European Social Forum in Florence. The empirical results and interpretations offered are based on a sample of 397 students, extracted from the two databases. The focus of the research is on exploring whether and how the political use of the Internet is shaped by the political characteristics of users, in this case students. The findings of the two studies suggest that, firstly, the more students are engaged in different social and political organizations, the more they use the Internet to achieve political purposes; and, secondly, that different styles of Internet use (to retrieve alternative information, to discuss and to perform political actions) are associated with the political characteristics of users. In particular, the characteristics of offline participation are reproduced online: the Internet is appropriated and shaped by political practices of users.