Digital Futures Project: Who Trusts Digital Information?

The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism created the World Internet Project, which includes the Digital Future Project and similar studies across the globe.

The recently released 2010 Digital Futures Project looks at a variety of trends, including the public's lack of "trust" in information online. Maybe that is the angle librarians need to take -- how they can teach students how to evaluate information so they can determine which sources of info they can trust. Here are highlights from "Media Use and Trust" section of the report:

• Views about Sources of Information and Entertainment:In the current Digital Future Project, a large majority of respondents age 17 and older said that the Internet was an important or very important source of information for them -- higher than the figure reported for television, newspapers, or radio. Comparing the views of users about the importance of entertainment sources, television ranks highest, with 79% of users saying it is an important or very important entertainment source for them, compared to the Internet, radio, and newspapers. (Page 67)
  

• Reliability of Information Online: Views of Internet Users: For the third year in a row, a declining percentage of Internet users said that most or all of the information online is reliable. (Page 71)
  

• Online Information: Reliability and Accuracy of Frequently-Visited Web Sites: Internet users have much more faith in the Web sites they visit regularly than they do in information online overall, but that faith continues to decline. (Page 73)
  

• Web Sites: Which Are Reliable and Accurate, and Which Are Not?:The percentage of Internet users who said that most or all of the information posted by individuals, governments, and established media is reliable and accurate rose slightly in the current Digital Future Study. (Page 75)
  

• Social Networking Sites: Reliability and Accuracy: A new question for the Digital Future Project found that only 15% of users said that most or all of the information on social networking sites is reliable and accurate. (Page 81)
  

• Search Engines: Reliability and Accuracy: A majority of Internet users said that most or all of the information provided by search engines such as Google is reliable and accurate. However, 12% of users said that only a small portion or none of the information provided by search engines is reliable and accurate, up slightly from 10% in 2008.(Page 82)
  

• Trust in the Internet: Forty-two percent of respondents said they have some trust or a lot of trust in the Internet. Fourteen percent of respondents said they have no trust in the Internet. (Page 84)
  

• TV Viewing and Time-Shifting:Time-shifting of video viewing is increasing, but only marginally. (Page 86)
  

• Trends in Online Media Use:Internet users continue to report considerable time each week using a variety of online media, but in the current study, use of the two most popular online media declined. (Page 88)
  

• Twitter, E-books, Internet Video, and Audio Podcasts:In several new questions for this year’s Digital Future Study, Internet users were asked about their use of media that have been growing in popularity, including Twitter, e-books, and audio podcasts. Among other responses, the study found that 1/2 of those who go online have used free micro-blogs such as Twitter or Facebook. (Page 89)
  

• Would You Miss The Print Edition of Your Newspaper? While Internet users report that they devote significant amounts of time to reading online newspapers, 62% of users who read newspapers offline said they would miss the print edition of their newspaper if it ceased to exist -- an increase for the second year in a row. However, 22% of users who read newspapers said they would not miss the print edition of their newspaper, down from 24% in 2008. Page 91)
  

• Does Online Content Lead to Canceled Print Subscriptions? Even though large percentages of users who read newspapers would miss the print edition of the publication if it was no longer available (see the previous question), a notable percentage of Internet users – 18% -- said they stopped a subscription for a newspaper or magazine because they now get the same or related content online, a decline from 22% in 2008. (Page 91)
  

• Cell Phones and Text Messages:Text messaging by cell phone users has more than doubled in only two years; overall, cell phone users who send text messages average 38 messages per day, compared to 16 in 2007. More specifically, text messaging is almost exclusively a medium for young cell phone users; the number of messages sent per day is by far the highest among those under 18 -- 81 per day in the current study, up from 33 per day in 2007. (Page 99)
  

• Posting Information Online: Blogs, Photos, and Maintaining Personal Web Pages:Content creation and distribution by Internet users on a blog, through a display of photos, or on a personal Web page, continues to increase substantially, while the percentage of respondents maintaining a personal Web site has remained generally stable for three years. (Page 100)

Read on -- the report covers all sorts of trends.

RESEARCH: Pew Study on the Internet

According to the newest Pew Internet & American Life Project, the biggest consumer broadband users are young people and households with four or more Internet-connected devices. Here is an introduction from Mary Madden's ALA LITA presentation on "Four or More: The New Demographic". Slideshow (36 slides).

"Trends in social media and cloud computing are often examined through the lens of younger users and broadband users, who have consistently been more actively engaged online when compared with other groups. This presentation highlights new research on teens, young adults and social media use while also identifying a new leading edge group that deserves the same attention: those who own four or more internet-connected devices."

Text Messaging Services by Libraries - Research Grant

San Jose State University Graduate School of Information and Library Science received an IMLS grant to study role of text messaging in Reference Services. Here is the SJSU GSIS announcement:

Use of text messaging is skyrocketing, and our nation’s libraries are starting to explore new ways to tap into this increasingly popular communication platform to connect with their patrons.

Dr. Lili Luo, an assistant professor with the San Jose School of Library and Information Science, will conduct the first in-depth research regarding how libraries can meet their patron’s information-seeking needs via text messaging. Thanks to a $122,683 grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Luo will conduct a two-year study of how libraries can use text messaging as a platform for providing virtual reference services, as well as how they can collaboratively deliver services and expand their ability to meet patron needs during challenging economic times.

Engaging a New Generation of Library Users: Exploring a Multi-Library Collaborative Model to Deliver Text Reference Service will investigate how text reference service is different from other types of virtual reference services (such as email and instant messaging) and how it can fulfill users’ information needs. Luo will also study whether text reference provides an opportunity for libraries to engage new users, including our nation’s teens — the fastest growing group of individuals using text messaging. Luo will study the rich pool of data available via InfoQuest, the nation’s first large-scale collaboration by numerous libraries to provide text reference services. Launched in July 2009 by Alliance Library System, today more than 60 libraries from multiple states participate in InfoQuest. They include a wide array of library types, including urban, suburban, and rural libraries, small and large libraries, and public, academic, school, and law libraries.

The project’s goal is to learn from InfoQuest’s innovative national model, gleaning new knowledge regarding how to implement, manage, and assess a collaborative text reference service model, as well as factors libraries should consider when deciding whether or not to participate in a text reference collaboration. Results will establish a solid understanding of the text reference user community and provide a roadmap for libraries interested in adopting texting to meet patrons’ information needs.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums, announced the award on June 15, 2010.