woensdag 14 maart 2012

Addressing the digital divide in a postPC world

We are living in a postPC world. The rapid integration of computer and internet technologies in videogame consoles, televisions, digital broadcast boxes and the advance of  devices as smartphones and tablets have changed the digital landscape for good. This has important policy implications for governmental actors, especially in policy areas that concern the digital divide.

I choose to lose the hyphen in ‘post-PC’. I do this because I want to make sure the issues addressed in this blog are not confused with a time period that describes a period ‘after’ the PC-area. In fact, even though personal computers --even laptops-- are quickly losing ground to postPC devices, our time is not post-PC. PCs are still –and increasingly so- an everyday reality in offices and educational institutions. PostPC therefore, does not mean that the PC and its impacts on social processes are in the past. However the postPC world, or the advance of postPC devices and the integration of computer technologies in everyday devices –soon our and microwaves and refrigerators will be connected to the web-, has important implications of its own which are completely undertheorized. I will here address the implications of these developments for the digital divide. First, a postPC world might potentially lead to new cleavages between the digital literate and the digital have-nots or will-nots. Second, besides the negative effects, this development will also bring in a host of new tools to address the digital divide. PostPC developments therefore have, somewhat paradoxical, the potential to both deepen and lessen the digital divide.

I have written about the digital divide before. In a previous blog I concluded that the ICT and new media revolutions are no different from other tech-revolutions (radio, television, etc.) and that therefore, as with revolutions in the past, the digital divide will lessen in time. The young, rich, better educated and generally better-off are always frontrunners in new technology-usage and other demographic groups will eventually catch up. ICT usage has never been easier and more accessible due to ever more advanced and streamlined  interfaces and assisting tools. However, this lessening of digital inequality might not come linearly. Instead, it will probably come to in a three-steps-forward-one-step-back fashion.

It is not hard to theorize why and how postPC devices could deepen the digital divide. The causes for this are mostly economic. Smartphones, tablets and mobile-internet are expensive. Demographic groups that are already struggling to keep up –or even catch up- with PC-developments might lack the financial means to start playing the keep-up race with these new technologies as well. Tablet and smartphones, at the same time, are becoming increasingly integrated in social life. Not being able to participate in this might result in increasing pressures on those who have already fallen behind.

However, postPC devices at the same have also the potential to lessen the digital divide for two reasons. First, in a postPC world, one does not necessarily need to have a PC or laptop to participate in the digital aspects of social life. It is true that having PostPC devices with internet connectivity in addition to a laptop or PC is very expensive. However, these new devices have already started to replace PCs and laptops, both in general task performance and in market share. In some cases they are as, or even less, expensive than laptops. Second, due to the use of touchscreens and advanced interfaces, postPC devices are generally more accessible for the digital illiterate than PCs. As advances in this area continue to be made at an unprecedented pace, the need for PCs, laptops, even home internet-access might disappear.

This has important policy implications for governmental actors. We should start thinking about removing the PC out of digital literacy policy. Tablets or smartphones are becoming ever more useful in addressing the digital divide. Also, instead of concentrating on home internet access we should look at mobile communications speeds and coverage or (free) city-wide Wi-Fi. This process could be similar to the advance of the cell phone in Africa, where a lack of resources and technological capability made home telephones unfeasible. Instead of implementing relatively expensive home access points, communication went wireless. A postPC world has other implications as well but these are the most pressing.

There is also an important task for academics and (other) ICT-experts. We must stop trying to catch up with the rapid advance of computer and internet technologies. We can no longer keep lagging behind. We should advance thought and theorizing on issues already on the horizon. The postPC world is already here. It is time to explore its potential.

zondag 11 maart 2012

Prospects for personalized political marketing

Contextual or targeted advertising has in a relatively short time become a force to be reckoned with. Pioneered by Google’s AdSense, targeting advertising has become a multibillion dollar industry. Although normative questions around these advertising schemes have yet to be addressed, they seem to be here to stay. This blog will explore the prospects of this type of advertising for political marketing.

It is only a matter of time before targeted advertising will be used by political parties. In fact the first contours of this could already be seen in the last Dutch elections. Besides having some (but not great) success with regular campaigning options, the liberal party (VVD) in the Netherlands, by implementing marketing strategies from the private sector, had the most prominent and successful campaign in the national elections. Even those voters outside traditional campaigning landscapes were confronted with appealing liberal party slogans and ideas on billboards and on television: much more than has ever been done before.

Example: In every commercial before, between and after a key-party leader’s debate was a liberal party commercial. This in-your-face campaigning style was ridiculed by some, but proved to be both viable and powerful. Even today, people remember and/or know what the liberal party was/is about. Many of the slogans used in its campaigns are remembered to this day. How different is it for those other two traditional ‘ruling parties’: the labour party (PvdA) and Christen-democrats (CDA) who two years later still struggle with communicating their identity to voters.

Targeted advertising is something that will probably be implemented by the liberal party in elections to come. I concentrate here on the Dutch liberal party here for the following reasons:

  1. They had the most efficient and up to date marketing schemes in last elections, which heavily borrowed from the private sector. This will continue in the future.
  2. Because of the relatively high economic status of its electorate, the party has in the past struggled with traditional campaigning options. Its electorate is less willing ànd has less time to volunteer with canvassing.
  3. (Therefore) Unlike the other traditional ruling parties, which are now quickly becoming electorally marginalized, the liberal party has been able, and willing, to implement private sector marketing schemes in the past.
  4. The party has an electoral individual bias. Targeting individuals in addition to “the great masses” is in the party’s nature.

There is no reason why targeted or contextual advertising could not, or would not, be used by political parties. Search-queries, IP web browsing histories, shopping results, etc. are all powerful tools in analysing voter preferences and for vote-maximization.

How might targeted advertising be put to use in political marketing? For example: as with general online advertising, web users could be confronted with the party’s advertisements after visiting the party website. Internet users who are regularly visiting sports websites could be confronted with a slogan concerning a party’s position on sports and a link to the section of the party’s program concerning sports. These strategies are very easy to implement and the implications could be enormous. Advertising schemes could also be much more complex. Web users who visit (political) websites with key-words on them concerning either broad social-economic or very specific policy areas could be confronted with slogans and (sections from) party program that are streamlined to fit their preferences. There are no technological limitations to this: the algorithms to do this are already put to use by the private sector.

There are normative questions involved. One could ask if the market for political campaigns is the same as that of consumer goods and services. Shouldn’t political parties be held –and hold themselves- to greater scrutiny than private institutions? Although I believe these are important questions, I also believe that these questions will be answered through the democratic process. If it in fact proves to be considered unethical behaviour by the electorate, these targeted schemes will disappear quickly enough. However, we should keep a close eye on developments in this area and shine light on them when they surface. For surface they will.