The Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society published a special issue on "The Digital Divide at the Nexus of Social Justice, Media Justice, and Ethics" including a contribution by Marina Micheli, Christoph Lutz and myself. We develop the concept of the digital footprint as the aggregate of data derived from the digitally traceable … Continue reading 2018 Articles on Digital Inequality

The 2018 World Internet Project Meeting started in Paris, hosted by Sciences Po, with a public conference day addressing the impact of the Internet on societal participation and cross-national perspectives. Organized and hosted by the French World Internet Project partner M@arsouin, the internal meeting continued in Brest, Brittany. The Swiss team presented new results on … Continue reading World Internet Project Meeting in France

In April we will be presenting a new longitudinal analysis of Swiss World Internet Project data at the Annual Conference of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research that addresses the adoption rates of the (mobile) Internet and specific uses, how these have evolved between 2011 and 2017, which digital divides regarding use, skills, and … Continue reading Evolution of and Divides in the Swiss Information Society 2011–2017

Four new research reports on Internet use and related topics in Switzerland have been published. Next to some basic figures on Swiss Internet users in 2017 (see figure), we also explored issues such as trust in online content, privacy, and digital well-being.  

I recently presented an overview of our most recent studies on digital inequality to argue the relevance of studying Internet use at the Polish Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy and Sociology (IFiS PAN) in Warsaw. The conference was dedicated to a transdisciplinary approach to discussing new directions in the sociology of social problems and featured … Continue reading Why Does Internet Use Matter?

An article I coauthored has been accepted for publication in Socius, an open access journal supported by the American Sociological Association. A general mobilizing effect of the Internet on political participation has been difficult to demonstrate. This study takes a digital inequality perspective and analyzes the role of Internet expertise for the social structuration of … Continue reading Digital Inequality and Online Political Participation

This year's Annual Meeting of the World Internet Project took place in Moscow hosted by the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and Moscow City University. After an open day featuring eCity and eGovernment panels, 25 national partners presented and discussed new findings on Internet use in their respective countries and regions. The Swiss team focused on … Continue reading World Internet Project Meeting in Moscow

I recently participated in the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation held at Princeton University. Course materials are available here. https://twitter.com/chris_bail/status/880912406867849216