Issue publics and the Internet: How interested individuals use the Net

摘要

America can be seen as an amalgamation of many different issue publics, or groups that are composed of citizens with high concern for a single public issue. The amalgamation of various issue publics suggests that there exists a large population of people who are educated and interested in public affairs despite theories to the contrary. If the American public is interested in one or two issues that are of personal importance (but does not always have ample time to become educated or involved in all issues), the Internet may affect how issue publics interact with policy. This is due to the fact that the Internet can serve as a short cut to information and as a forum for political discussion. Given their tendency to educate, discuss and mobilize around certain issues of personal importance, the question of whether issue publics will utilize the Internet as a form of political participation has yet to be fully answered.;This research uses two data sets and depth interviews to examine how issue public members use the Internet. It is hypothesized that issue public members use the technology to find specific information on social and policy issues, share information with one another, use sites with opposing points of view, and find the Internet to be a valuable social and political tool. Generally speaking, issue public members are highly adept at finding issue-specific information on the Internet, are not likely to use synchronous functions such as chat rooms and bulletin boards, and share information via e-mail and links. Certain issue publics visit sites with opposing points of view and are also likely to attend online discussions that are relevant to their issues of interest, though this finding was not applicable to all issue publics. Finally, the interviews revealed that issue public members value the technology and feel that it is an integral part of their social and political lives. This entirety of this research suggests that issue public members use the Internet for productive ends.