I. Methodology
II. Theoretical Considerations: Cultural Identity, Cultural Space and US Latinos
III. Television
IV. The Internet
V. Results of the Pilot Survey
VI. Implications and Conclusions
VII. References
VIII. Appendix A. Copy of Email Survey
IX. Appendix B. Internet Terms
Introduction
As the volume of transnational cultural flows continues to increase,
greater understandings are needed of what cultural space and cultural
identity
might mean for real people Ð both those at the margins and those who
are more privileged (by dominant cultures and political-economies) within
society. The spatial bias of electronic media necessitate research
approaches
that seek to understand the matrices of (1) the political-economy of text
production and distribution, (2) the cultural implications of these texts
within the social uses of audiences, and (3) the potential for beneficial
uses of new media environments which can be seen as vital means for
reducing
the hegemony of 1 over 2.
David Morley and Kevin Robins (1995) have asked how communication
systems
are involved in the construction and maintenance of cultural identities
in an era of changing patterns of global and local image and information
spaces. My thesis will attempt to begin such an inquiry by analyzing the
cultural uses of the conglomeration of information and communication
technologies
that run through what is commonly referred to now as "the Internet."
Although the Internet is largely populated by English-language sites
and technologies (with a heavy US influence), it is accessed by people
of almost every nation and contains numerous cultural and social spaces.
Yet despite the growing cultural, social, political and economic
significance
of the new, networked information and communication technologies of the
Internet, there are no established theoretical and methodological models
for understanding and analyzing the implications of peoples' cultural
uses
of these technologies. This is a major obstacle for the future of
Internet
and New Media Studies.
To find some appropriate and developed concepts with which to explore
cultural uses of Internet technologies, this thesis first looks to
literature
on the nature of identity construction, cultural identity and cultural
uses of television. Television has been studied for many years due to the
prominence it has achieved all over the world as a domestically consumed
information and entertainment medium.
The cultural uses of media by US Latinos are explored in this thesis
as a focal point for placing this inquiry of identity and cultural uses
of media and the Internet within the context of real cultural groups and
the daily lives of real people. The focus here is on the role played by
Spanish-language television and Internet use in the cultural identity
construction
of some Latinos. The goal of this inquiry will be to help answer my
primary
research question: What is the nature of the use of new, networked
communication
and information technologies for (1) cultural identity maintenance and
(2) cultural reproduction in an age of rapid change and convergence in
communication technologies? A secondary research question is: How does
the cultural use of new communication and information technologies differ
from the cultural use of television?
As stated above, the principal reason that this thesis takes up
questions
of cultural uses of television is to help find concepts with which to
study
cultural uses of the Internet Ð a new arena of research where very
little scholarly theoretical and empirical work has been done. Much of
the best and most useful research on social and cultural uses of media
have focused on television. Furthermore, there is available information
on the Spanish-language television industry and the use of US
Spanish-language
television by US Latinos.
As this thesis shows, the heterogeneous nature of US Latino
identities,
cultures and cultural uses of media in the USA called for an in-depth
look
at these issues and helped to further understandings of cultural uses of
the Internet. In addition to there being a lack of theoretical
development
concerning Internet use, there are also not many precedents for ways to
gather useful data on this subject. Therefore, the strategy of this
thesis
has been: (1) to explore useful concepts on cultural identity
construction
and cultural uses of television (this was done through literature reviews
and theoretical synthesis and covers issues of US Latino cultural
identities
and uses of Spanish-language television), (2) to design and use a pilot
study for gathering information about US Latinos' cultural uses of the
Internet, and (3) to take the results of this study and the concepts of
identity and television use to offer some insights on the nature of
cultural
identity maintenance and cultural reproduction via the use of Internet
information and communication technologies.
Ever since Marx and Engles, some scholars and activists have been
concerned
with the locus of control of the means of production being the hands of
a small power elite. We now live in a society where not only the means
of physical production are owned and run by the capitalist class, but the
means of symbolic (i.e. cultural) production are as well. With commercial
television, this is a constant flow of texts Ð carefully created
cultural
encodings designed to gather the largest possible audience to sell to
advertisers.
Commercial television production is thus committed to reproducing the
most
dominant and popular ideologies, lifestyles and cultural symbols,
neglecting
positive representations and tastes of groups marginalized within
societies.
Commercial sites on the Internet also produce content according to this
capitalist logic. Yet, at the same time, Internet technologies present
many more opportunities for marginalized (and other) groups for
expression,
publication and horizontal communication. As scholars we must work to
better
understand what this means for culture, ideology and identity.
Television is, culturally, the most important medium in much of the
world. Many scholars, such as those working from the Birmingham school,
have criticized this growing cultural significance while studying active
audience uses of this medium. The near future of
entertainment/information
technology promises continued convergence of media platforms. Push
(television)
and pull (World Wide Web) options might coexists in multimedia
environments.
The reality of present and future communication technologies
necessitates
the application of various research traditions within reception and media
studies to grapple with the growing frequency and importance of
multimedia
use for cultural identity and social and political interaction. My thesis
work will attempt to address this concern by analyzing the various ways
that both Spanish-language television and the Internet are used by
various
Latino groups to facilitate identity construction and cultural
maintenance.
Implications are drawn as to how media use for cultural identity
construction
might be influenced as Latinos and others engage in the more
participatory
processes of Internet use.
Newly introduced media technologies have always assumed massive
cultural
significance in that quite literally the symbols of a society or
societies
are communicated within a different syntax and with varying strategies
with each new medium. The introduction of radio and film, for example,
had profound effects in many Latin American countries where they were
vital
tools in creating a sense of nation and national identity and culture.
One of the main goals of this thesis is to argue that for culturally
marginalized
groups such as US Latinos, selective use of television texts has been an
important strategy for cultural identity maintenance. Networked
technologies
can be used for cultural maintenance and reproduction and other
empowerment
outcomes for members of marginalized groups.
Network access can provide a variety of alternative cultural and
social
spaces to the pervasive cultural grip of English and Spanish-language
transnational
media corporations. Yet the use of networked information and
communication
technologies is mostly the privilege of relatively elite groups of middle
and upper class peoples in wealthy areas of the world. Public Internet
access projects and participatory communication policies must be
implemented
if the democratic and empowerment potential of network use is to be
realized.
By discussing the limited benefits of television use and the greater
possibilities
of Internet use for cultural reproduction and other empowerment
processes,
this thesis seeks to inform access projects, policy and future
considerations
of the many issues involved.
Concerning television use, an exploration of both the social and
individual
uses and gratifications of Spanish-language television has been grounded
within an informed look at the development and the current status of the
commercial US Spanish-language broadcasting industry. This literature
review
shows that while the economic and political goals of the commercial media
work towards the cultural and political merging of heterogeneous US
Latino
groups, selective exposure/uses can include cultural maintenance that
reinforces
diverse cultural identities. For Internet use, both identity construction
and cultural expression will be explored by surveying US Latinos who use
the Internet. This data will be synthesized with concepts of cultural
identity
and media use for cultural maintenance for the purpose of deriving a
better
understanding of the different processes involved for cultural uses of
Internet technologies.
There are many reasons why audiovisual spaces, particularly mainstream
Spanish-language television and the alternative cultural spaces available
on the Internet, might be important to US Latinos. When many
Anglo-American
peoples think of 'American television culture' they think of programming
offered by the major English-language networks: Sienfeld, pro football,
Dan Rather, The Simpsons, Oprah, N.Y.P.D Blue, Regis and Kathy Lee,
General
Hospital. Programs are created to attract the largest possible audiences
to sell to advertisers.
The legacy of US media studies, both traditional quantitative content
analysis and textual criticism, have demonstrated the disparities,
inequalities
and biases of the mainstream media, both entertainment and news (if the
two can be separated). Among these critics have been an increasingly
vocal
and visible group, concerned with the position of Latino images and
cultures
in US television programs and other mediums as well (Subervi-Velez,
1994).
Jimmy Smits from N.Y.P.D. Blue, for example, represents one of the few
Latino television stars, or Latino actors in general, to be found on
prime
time US television. Furthermore, US Latinos in the mainstream
English-language
news are more often framed as problems: illegal immigrants or gang
members
(Subervi-Velez, 1994).1 Preferred language, social/political issues,
information,
and images and cultural symbols likely to be valued by multicultural US
Latino groups, are lacking in the mainstream English-language audiovisual
spaces. Thus these audiences often chose Spanish-language channels when
such media are available. This is one of the main reasons that
advertisers
interested in marketing to the potentially vast US Latino (or rather
official
"Hispanic") audience, about ten percent of the US population, do so
through
Telemundo and Univision, the major US Spanish-language networks.
Figure 1.
There are around 25 million people classified by the government
as Hispanic living in the US (Figure 1). These descriptions, "Hispanics,"
"Mexican-Americans," "Cuban-Americans," etc,.. are part of the official
dominate nomenclature. Indeed, many people who have immigrated from
Mexico
and now reside in the US do chose to call themselves Mexican or
Mexican-American,
but these terms come with much cultural baggage no matter which side of
the border you live on. The term "Hispanic" was not widely used until
government
agencies began to use the it in the 1970s. A person is of Hispanic origin
if the person's ancestry is Mexican, Mexican-American., Chicano, Puerto
Rican, Dominican; from any Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean,
Central or South America; or from Spain (Oboler, 1995:1).3 Suzanne Oboler
in, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives (1995), states:
Oboler notes in her work that various political forces have been
responsible
for how Latinos are defined, and that these definitions have affected how
individuals and groups define and understand themselves. Many Chicanos
in the US Southwest and Puerto Ricans, for example, have been living
under
US colonization for many generations, yet they are considered under that
same Hispanic label as the wave of Latin American immigrants arriving in
larger numbers in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Oboler, 1995). In media and
political arenas, both television giants and Latino journalists and
politicians
seek various unities and convergences (cultural and socio-political) of
diverse Latino groups to further their perspective market oriented and
political goals.4 Felix Padilla has offered the term "Latinismo" to
describe
projects and movements for Latino political unity for the purpose of
addressing
social and economic inequalities (Oboler, 1995).
The criticisms of the US English-language media discussed above can
be seen within the "liberal" tradition of (mainly US) mass communication
research. Liberal feminist media studies in the US, for example, have
used
techniques such as content analysis of female representations on
mainstream
television to illustrate the frequent use of negative stereotypes and
other
inequities (Steves, 1987). Although liberal feminists have been widely
criticized in the past for neglecting questions of race and class, media
studies of Latino representations in the US have often used similar
techniques
and arguments (Subervi-Velez, 1994). Where identity is concerned, the
some
US researchers in this "liberal" tradition posit (though sometimes not
explicitly) that the inadequate and negative representations of women and
Latinos (and other marginalized groups as well) in the media are likely
to have detrimental effects on the identity construction and self-view
of members of these groups.
Questions of Television Use
Although it seems doubtful that Spanish-language television provides
more equitable representations of women, it does offer a
cultural/representational
sanctuary for many US Latinos. The vast networking, communication and
expression
capabilities of the Internet can be seen as another sanctuary/source for
desired representations. When the task is to discuss how these cultural
spaces interact with cultural identity, liberal mass communication
research
methods and theoretical assumptions are inadequate. Instead, we must look
to reception studies, cultural studies and critical communication theory.
Chapter Three of this thesis covers several concepts from these areas of
study which have been applied to understandings of the interaction of
television
texts and their audiences. Particular attention will be paid to how US
Latinos use Spanish-language television for cultural identity
construction
and maintenance.
Of the different approaches that been used to study processes of
television
use, reception studies have been particularly pivotal in mapping out the
vital role of the audience/media consumer(s), in the construction of uses
and meanings during processes of reception. The concept of the active
audience
Ð that users of television, radio and other media selectively expose
themselves to certain texts (programs) and selectively (both consciously
and unconsciously) make meaning of these texts Ð has been one of the
most important observations within relatively recent media and
communication
studies. Theories of selective exposure are vital to any understanding
of how heterogeneous groups of US Latinos use messages within available
cultural and social spaces to help construct individual and collective
identities.
Selectivity is first encountered in an audience's decision to
view/consume
certain programs that match their personal preferences, tastes and
viewing
habits. Uses and gratifications research has aimed to find out what
motivates
program selection and what audiences "get out of" their viewing
experiences
(entertainment, companionship, information, etc...). Reception studies
can be seen as going further. This emerging area of research has worked
from the uses and gratification focus on audiences (as opposed to texts),
and cultural studies' concern with how social and cultural power
relations
affect reception and the production of meaning within mediated
experiences
and other social events as well.
British cultural and communication studies have been particularly
influential
in the development of what is now known as reception studies
(particularly
due to the work of British scholars Stuart Hall and David Morley, which
is discussed at several points throughout this thesis). Students of
reception
studies have looked at questions of (1) the role social/group
environments
in television consumption (Morley), (2) social uses of media texts, and
(3) the nature of encoding and decoding processes (Hall). Chapter Three
discusses how these three areas of research offer ideas of how processes
of television consumption influence individual and group identities. It
is the research of Stuart Hall (and others) on the nature of text
encoding
and decoding, however, that is most fundamental in connecting the
political-economy
of text production with the possible consequences of this logic on the
cultural identity of audiences (while at the same time not relapsing into
an implicit appropriation of "direct effects" to explain away assumptions
about the indoctrinating power of the mass media).
In "Encoding, Decoding" (1980), Hall insists that we understand the
moment(s) of the creation of the text and the moment(s) of reception and
creation of meaning as distinct situations taking place in different
environments
(social, political, economic). Encoding occurs when the media, as
cultural
producers, take information and ideas and put them into linguistic codes.
These coded texts are designed to work to "enforce, win plausibility for
and command as legitimate a decoding of the event within the limit of
dominant
definitions in which it has been connotatively signified" (Hall,
1980:134).
For commercial television this means encoding that frame and define
commercialism, consumption, capitalism, and other concepts such as
versions
of democracy and individuality, all as natural, positive-goods Ð
institutions,
customs and lifestyles not to be questioned. Hall considers a dominant
reading, one in which a viewer accepts and buys into the meanings that
a text is intended to convey. Yet, other decodings, which are important
in understandings of the active audience, are possible. With a negotiated
reading an audience only accepts part of what the text has been designed
to convey while disagreeing with other parts or creating alternative
meanings
as well. An oppositional reading/decoding involves an audience's complete
usurpation of the text, creating an alternative and often critical
meaning/interpretation.
Another important aspect of the decoding process is conscious and
unconscious
identification with certain symbols or events occurring within a text.
Thus, a Latina watching a Spanish-language program might recognize a
situation
in the text as sexist, (which can be negotiated or oppositional stance)
while identifying with a strong, matronly figure.
Although negotiated and oppositional readings are possible, these are
limited due to social and cultural institutions, and other sources of
social
power, that reinforce and facilitate dominant readings. The motivations
and institutional structures that affect text production must therefore
be explored as extremely relevant locations that influence cultural
identity.
Chapter Three includes a discussion of the development and current
political-economy
of the US Spanish-language television industry as a necessary step for
understanding encoding and decoding battles waged within and around the
mainstream US Latino audiovisual spaces and US Latino identity by the
corporate
Spanish-language cultural industries and US Latino communities and
individuals
themselves. Today, some US Latino communities are not only faced with
questions
of the motivations and powers behind Spanish-language broadcasts, but
often,
and more importantly, whether any Latino-oriented-audiovisual spaces are
offered at all in places where the cultural needs of Latinos are not a
priority for commercial industries. This is the case in the city of
Raleigh,
NC, where a grassroots group of US Latinos is pushing for greater cable
access to Spanish-language television (The Raleigh News and Observer,
1997,
August 14). As mentioned before, Internet access is another issue
affected
by the politics of culture and economics.
Questions of Internet Use
Understandings of the hegemonic-like cultural power of the media and
the selective exposure of audiences are invaluable to media studies.
However,
much more work still needs to be done to reconcile these two areas of
observation
and scholarship. If networked, computer-mediated cultural and social
spaces
might become (at least for some groups) the most dominant
information/entertainment/communication
model in the future (eclipsing or engulfing television as we know it),
then both concepts (hegemony and selective exposure) must be revised in
consideration to what they might offer for analysis of Internet use and
the evolving cultural implications of the information/communication
"revolution."
Compared to broadcast and cable television, the information and
entertainment
options available on the World Wide Web are incredibly vast and diverse
despite the economic barriers to network and hardware access. Audio,
video,
text-based, hyper-text and real-time communication are currently being
used. Rather than creating beneficial meanings from limited numbers of
sources, multifarious texts matching specific interests and needs are
more
likely to be available via the Web or other Internet technologies. Most
significantly, Internet access allows for many types of participation in
communication processes. This fact has significant implications for
identity
construction, cultural maintenance, the creation of cultural texts and
social networking. Through engaging in such processes, the empowerment
potential of Internet use is great (Lillie). As some postmodernists have
pointed out, such opportunities can be especially important to members
of groups marginalized culturally and socially by mainstream society.
"Virtual
communities" have been studied as communities of association where
individuals
use computer networks to express themselves and to commune with members
of a particular identity group (Braddlee, 1993). Yet utopian predictions
concerning the Net's impact on human civilization often bypass the
social,
economic and political inequalities in which the mechanisms of cyberspace
exist. English-language and corporate culture are certainly greatly over
represented. Furthermore, the information and communication technologies
used via the Internet are, for the most part, only available for upper
middle-class peoples in highly-industrialized nations.
When considering the present and future of new, networked information
and communication technologie, it is certain that while they seem to have
many positive and democratizing uses, there are also many obstacles that
limit this potential. Thus, to begin with, the cultural, political,
social
and even economic implications of Internet use by marginalized groups
(and
also by developing nations) must be explored to see if any of the Net's
potential is being realized. A second step is to analyze (1) which
technologies
are being used (2) to different ends (3) by what groups or interests.
This
information should be used in policy considerations for access projects
and NII (National Information Infrastructure) initiatives.
I. Methodology
Given the complex and diverse nature of this thesis research, I hope
to offer a multidisciplinary and positional approach. Positionality (a
term similar in meaning to standpoint epistomology) is a key concept in
this challenge towards considering the pervasive cultural realm which
many
students of cultural studies have recognized as blurring the distinctions
between cause and effect. This connotes an epistemological, practical and
vital respect for the lived experiences and heterogeneous environments
in which people consume, mediate and create cultural symbols. It also
recognizes
the limitations and layered conceits of scholarly authority where myths
of "others" are produced within many of the same discourses that have
sprung
from the Godhead of modernity, facilitating various forms of
marginalization
through capitalism and hegemonic power structures. A positional analysis
can be a powerful alternative to the external cultural definitions
offered
by traditional, mainstream, hegemonic mass communicated messages.
Positionality
quite simply refers to the subjective nature of personal and group
interpretations
of reality, and thus, a positional analysis seeks to gather knowledges
from various perspectives and contexts relating to research subjects. The
epistemological standpoint of the researcher must be acknowledged in
relation
to the cultural projects and other issues important to research subjects.
As a researcher, my epistemological standpoint has been highly
influenced
by the opportunity to attend (1) a private liberal art college, and (2)
a public university for a Master's degree. My political views are
socialist.
I was raised in a middle-class, Caucasian family in a college-town in
North
Carolina (USA). Although my beliefs and experiences have certainly guided
my assumptions and conclusions, the methods I chose to gather data on US
Latino's cultural uses of the Internet have given some individuals who
are US Latinos a voice within this research. Furthermore, much of the
purpose
of this research has been to explore how to go about studying the
cultural
uses of new, networked information and communication technologies. Thus,
paying attention to the research process and the types of results
achieved
has been important for helping to offer a theoretical and methodological
framework for future work. Finally, I think that the physical isolation,
and often inaccessible syntax of academia creates hierarchical or at
least
skewed relationships between most scholarly work and the lives of the
real
communities that are often studied. With this in mind I plan to publish
my thesis, once it is completed, on the Web. The (information) elitist
nature of the Internet not withstanding, I believe that this is the most
logical and most doable way of taking advantage of an increasinly global
technology to enhance interconnectedness with a wide array of communities
and interests.
To reiterate, my main research question is twofold: What is the nature
of the use of new, networked communication and information technologies
for (1) cultural identity maintenance and (2) cultural reproduction in
an age of rapid change and convergence in communication technologies? The
secondary research question (How is the cultural use of new communication
and information technologies different than television use for this
purpose?)
is largely a sub-category of the primary question and is answered during
the course of the thesis. My research methods for answering my main
question
have been (1) theoretical synthesis, and (2) a qualitative pilot study
of Internet use which consists of an email survey of US Latino Internet
users. In attempting to develop an approach to this research, I found
that
theoretical perspectives of Internet use are still are in their infancy.
Furthermore, the literature on cultural identity and the cultural
significance
of media use are fragmented and complex. Thus, this thesis continually
strives to extract and built on the most useful concepts of collective
identity and media use which are then applied to the results of the pilot
study to help answer the main research question. In drawing conclusions
from the research, I have begun to suggest (in Chapter Six) some useful,
yet preliminary, concepts for a theoretical framework for understanding
cultural uses of Internet technologies (a project that I plan to work on
in the future).
The theoretical challenge/goal involved is to utilize the knowledge
bases and theories covered to explore the nature of individual and group
media use for cultural identity and expression. This endeavor is vital
for being able to apply some these concepts to the use of Internet
technologies
as well. Thus, much of the thesis is devoted to this theoretical
synthesis.
I started by looking at what has been written about collective identity,
cultural space, and television use (particularly US Latinos' use of
Spanish-language
television) because there is useful research on these subjects. This
literature
review and theoretical synthesis is taken up mostly in chapters Two and
Three. Chapter Two tackles three questions in order to establish a
conceptual
background for the thesis. These questions are: (1) What is the nature
of cultural identity construction within "late modernity?", (2) What are
"cultural spaces" and how are they affected by the dominant, capitalist
audiovisual industries? and, (3) Who are US Latinos, and how might their
identities be affected by colonization of their cultural spaces? The
concepts
drawn from looking at these questions are then applied to research on
television
use which is covered in Chapter Three. Discussion in this chapter
concerns
how television in general, and also Spanish-language television, may be
used for cultural maintenance and draws heavily on Manual
CastellsÕ
theories of collective identity formation and other ideas about the
nature
of cultural identity. Lastly, a look at the US Spanish-language
television
industry is offered to help contextualize research of television use by
US Latinos. We come out of these two chapters with an understanding of
several key concepts of what cultural identity might be and how it can
be influenced and maintained through the consumption of domestic media.
This theoretical framework is then utilized to analyze the data collected
in the pilot study. Chapter Five presents the results of this study,
while
Chapter Six will answer the main research question by discussing the
implications
of the survey results and concepts from earlier chapters. The purpose of
Chapter Four is to briefly cover some background information and research
on the Internet as a context for discussing the results of the pilot
study.
The original, "virtual" fieldwork (the pilot study) for this project
analyzes Internet use for cultural identity maintenance, expression and
communication. I am calling this "virtual" fieldwork a pilot study due
to the fact that I am attempting to develop this as a useful technique
for answering questions about Internet use. This pilot study is thus both
a means to gathering data, and is also an end in itself, since one of the
purposes of this thesis is to develop a methodological model for
researching
the uses of new, networked information and communication technologies.
The steps taken in this virtual pilot study were as follows: A) I
visited
Web sites created by US Latinos and which offered information or other
content for and about US Latinos.
Seventeen questions were included in the survey. A copy of the
complete
emailed survey (which also had demographics questions and a section on
anonymity) is offered as Appendix A. The survey questions are presented
below in four series. Each series contains related questions and a brief
discussion of why these questions were chosen for my pilot study.
Survey Questions: Series One
1. What US Latino/Hispanic media do you use regularly? a) magazines
b) television c)newspapers d) radio
2. Do you use US Spanish-language media? a) not at all b) sometimes
c) frequently
2.1. If so, what Spanish-language media do you use? (chose those that
apply) a) magazines b) television c) newspapers d) radio e) list others
3. Do you consider Spanish-language television to be a viable cultural
resource?
3.1. If so, why?
Questions numbers one through three were included to be able to
compare
the importance of various Latino and Spanish-language media for each
respondent
to their Internet use. I hoped that question three, furthermore, would
help add to the knowledge gathered in Chapter Three about the importance
of Spanish-language television for some US Latinos. Some of the data on
Spanish-language television use suggests that bicultural and low (Latin
American heritage)5 groups might get less out of using this medium. I
wanted
to see how many of my respondents used Spanish-language television and
whether they think it is valuable as a Latino cultural space.
Series Two
4. Do you feel that your culture, the cultural background and heritage
that you and your family identify with are marginalized or
underrepresented
within the mainstream culture in the US? Please explain.
For question four, I was wondering if feelings of marginalization
might
predict (1) the respondents attitudes about the cultural significance of
Internet use, and (2) the cultural and political content of their pages.
Series Three
5. How many years have you been using the Internet?
6. From where do you have/get Internet access? a) home b) work c)
library
d) friend(s) e)list other
Question six is particularly important for discovering the social
environment
of Internet use. One of the major differences between television and
Internet
use may be the nature of social environments which can significantly
influence
the mediation and interpretation of texts. The number of years a
respondent
has been using the Internet will be an important factor in future
research
where a larger number of subjects are surveyed. At that point I may be
able to draw conclusions on whether the nature of Internet use may change
as more experience and knowledge about cultural resources are gained by
individual users.
Series Four
7. Do you have a personal or group web page?
7.1. If so what is the URL?
8. What kind of content have you put on your Web page?
8.1. Is your Web page important to you as a site for cultural
expression?
8.2. Why or why not?
Questions seven and eight were used to find out the nature of cultural
reproduction and participation of respondents via the World Wide Web. The
Web is definitely one of the most culturally significant technologies
available
through the Internet due to the wide range of media that users can access
and consume, while also being able to publish their own texts. The
creation
of a personal or group Web page can represent an important use of new,
networked media. Those who create "Latino" Web pages may also be helping
to create virtual communities of US Latinos.
Series Five
9. Have you visited Web pages created by and for Latinos? Why?
9.1. What is the cultural significance of Web pages created by and for
Latinos?
10. Have you interacted with other US Latinos via the Internet?
10.1. What specific Internet technologies have you used to do this?
(email, listserves, the Web, etc)
10.2. Why are these interactions important to you? (culturally and
otherwise)
11. Of the Latino oriented Web sites that you use (or have used), what
percentage would you estimate are US sites, versus sites originating
within
Latin American countries?
12. Do you use the Internet to communicate with people who live in
Latin
America?
13. Do you think that interaction with people and (Web) sites from
Latin
America influences your cultural identity? How so?
14. Has your perception of Latino communities and culture in the US
been influenced by your Internet use?
15. How has your identification with these cultures been influenced
by your Internet use?
The next series of questions, helped to find out how and why the Net
is used for cultural maintenance and cultural communication. Numbers
nine,
ten, fourteen and fifteen aimed to assess whether respondents felt that
interaction with US Latinos and US Latino culture(s) (via the Internet)
was important to them, and how it was important to them. Similarly,
eleven
through thirteen assessed the importance of interaction with people and
sites from Latin America.
Series Six
16. Do you think Internet access projects in poorer Latino communities
could be beneficial? Why or why not?
17. Lastly, please describe your cultural identity, what you think it
is and what influences it.
Question sixteen was included to see what kind of support there is for
Internet access projects in poor communities. Part of my motivation in
writing this thesis was to produce research that could help to document
the potential benefits of such projects. Finally, by asking the last
question,
I hoped to see how the respondents described their cultural identity, in
hopes of furthering my own understanding of it, and for supplementing the
discussion of cultural identity offered in this thesis.
In addition to these main questions, there were also several included
to gather demographic information on the subjects. These were: (1)
current
city/area of residence, (2) place of birth, (3) year of birth, (4)
estimated
personal or family income, (5) marriage status, (6) whether the
respondent
have children, (7) highest level of formal education, and (8) how often
they used Spanish.
The last section of the survey was Òanonymity,Ó which
allowed the respondents to chose a level of confidentiality for the
information
that they provided for this research. I also transferred the finished
surveys
to my home computer. Once all the surveys were on my hard-drive I deleted
most of the correspondence between myself and the respondents, including
the surveys, that were on my email server. The Human Research Review
Committee
advised deleting all the surveys and personal information on the
respondents
(such as email addresses) after the thesis was completed. The down side
of this is that this data (the surveys) would no longer be available for
future use in their original form. In similar research down-the-road, I
plan to ask the respondents permission to be able to keep their
information
and surveys in storage. I did keep the email addressed and URLs of a few
respondents who were interested in further correspondence about the
issues
covered in my thesis and in the surveys.
The term [Hispanic] fails to recognize the extremely rich
ethnic
and racial diversity of Latin Americans, for example, Argentineans of
Italian,
German or French, descent; Mexicans of Irish or Japanese ancestry; Cubans
with Spanish, Lebanese, African or Chinese forebears; Peruvians of
English,
Russian-Jewish or Inca lineage; Venezuelans of Polish or Uruguayan stock;
Brazilians of Korean or Greek heritageÐ the varieties go on. And, of
course, there are those many Latin Americans who are entirely or partly
African and American Indian ancestry with some of the above thrown in
(Oboler,
1995: xiv).
B) Next, I emailed some of these Web authors to find a volunteer
group
of US Latino Internet users for an email survey designed to gather data
to help answer my research question.
C) Most of these surveys were completed and emailed back to me, at
which point they were processed and used to help answer the main research
question.