8/6/2019 Media Literacy Dossier Hargittai and Walejko 2008 SummarybyWang

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Wang, Yinhan; 2011, Media Literacy Dossier: research review 4(Hargittai and Walejko 2008), LSE Media Policy Project, April 12.

Full reference details of reviewed article:Hargittai, E., & Walejko, G. (2008). The participation divide: Content creation andsharing in the digital age. Information, Communication & Society, 11(2), 239-256.

Conceptions/definition of media literacy (or related concept) usedTerms like digital literacy and new media literacy are not explicitly defined inthe article, but it engages with concepts such as digital inequality andparticipation gap, and seeks to drive the attention from the digital divide

differences in access to ICTs to the participation divide differential use,literacy and experiences that might contribute to different level of engagementwith participatory, creative pursuits online.

Research method/scope of empirical workTo explore the practices of online content creation and sharing, the authorsran a paper-and-pencil survey to 1060 first-year students from University ofIllinois, Chicago. The survey collected data about demographic information,internet use experiences, whether they create any types of content eitheronline or offline (such as music, poetry or fiction, artistic photography, and filmor video), and whether they post online any of their own creations or remix

from others work.

Key findings- 3 in 5 students report engaging in at least one of the creative activites

online. Music is the most popular pursuit (34.2%), then artisticphotography (27.6%), poetry/fiction (25.9%), and finally film/video(22.6%).

- Logistic regression shows that parental education level mediatesstudents creative activities; students whose parents have highereducation attainment are more likely to engage in creative contentcreation.

- 2 in 5 students report sharing any type of content online. Among thosewho post content online, poetry/fiction is the most commonly postedcontent (50.9%), then video (49.8%), then posting artistic photos onsocial networking sites (35.2%), and finally music (28.7%).

- Although there is significant difference between genders regardingsharing content online, after controlling for Internet experiences, thedifference no longer exists. In other words, users online abilitymediates online content sharing.

Key implications for research and policymaking

Only one intervening factor (user skill) is used to examine the relationship ofonline content sharing and gender. More qualitative data and more fine-tuned

8/6/2019 Media Literacy Dossier Hargittai and Walejko 2008 SummarybyWang

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measure of online ability should be developed to explore other intervening

factors in differential Internet uses. Understanding the participation gap mayhelp to understand social inequality.