Category Archives: Uncategorized

13 Dec

New article out

I have a new article out with Beverly Bondad-Brown and Ron Rice.

Bondad-Brown, B., Rice, R. E., & Pearce, K. E. (2012). Understanding the role of motivations, audience activity, generational cohort, & contextual age in online video use & recommendations. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 56, 471-493.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08838151.2012.732139?journalCode=hbem20

We worked on this project in 2005-2006 when YouTube and online video watching was first hitting the scene. As happens, it took this long to get out as a publication. I don’t see myself working on online video again in the future, but this project was a lot of fun.

06 Dec

Today in the Clusterf#*k that is Azerbaijani Internet Policy

think of the children

A fun new trend in the constant stream of nonsense that is the Azerbaijani government’s Internet policy. (tl;dr the government is setting up new ways to control the Internet without appearing to control the Internet.)

Keep those Azerbaijani kids off the Interwebz! Now we’re worried about the kids!

Here are some news stories (some copy and pasted from databases)

Azerbaijan promotes distance learning, but children`s Internet access needs control
AzerNEWS ( Azerbaijan ) – Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Author: Nigar Orujova
A new Internet portal for children will be created in Azerbaijan in the coming months to broadcast educational TV programs, the Education Ministry`s ICT Bureau head Samir Mammadov said Tuesday, adding that the ministry has launched the implementation of the Tehsil TV (Educational TV) project.
“The project`s primary goal is to inform Azerbaijani population of the country`s educational programs, pro­jects and overall situation in the Azerbaijani education system, including news and lessons,” Mammadov said. He said the portal will be a platform for all those involved in the process of education — teachers, schoolchildren and their parents.
Under the project, the Education Ministry has ordered recording a number of programs and lessons for the portal, while signing a contract with a studio to record such programs on a regular basis is still ahead.
“The project, implemented in the frame of the state program on the education system`s informatization, will be presented in the near future,” Mammadov added.
The use of the Internet for educational purposes is invaluable, as the Web can easily provide a schoolchild with all the required information. However, schoolchildren` Web usage should be controlled by parents and teachers.
According to the head of the State Committee for Family, Women and Children`s Affairs, Hijran Huseynova, the government should take substantial action to limit the use of the Internet by schoolchildren.
“The use of the Internet in order to improve the education of children is positive, but on the other hand, through the Internet , children have access to unnecessary information,” she commented. “Moreover, this leads to serious problems and causes dangerous results. In this issue, first of all, parents need to be in control. At the same time, a serious approach should be exercised at schools.”
A package of amendments and addenda to the domestic legislation has been drafted to ensure control over children`s use of the Web both at Internet cafes and at home, chief adviser for the State Committee, Parviz Aliyev, said on Monday.
The committee has conducted monitoring in Internet cafes [ed: great!] to examine the situation in this area. The results showed that children were going to “ Internet clubs” during lessons and visit websites with negative impact, Aliyev said.
“The monitoring revealed that sometimes children do not go to school day after day and spend time in Internet cafes,” Aliyev said. “Parents think that children are at school while the school does not inform parents about their children`s absence. Parents [often] are not interested in their children`s school attendance, they do not build relations with the school. The monitoring revealed that 15 schoolchildren were at Internet clubs during lessons.”
Some of the proposals made pertain to age limits for children`s access to Internet cafes, the time spent there and websites they should be allowed to visit.
According to Aliyev, it is also proposed to install cameras in Internet cafes to keep track of visitors during the day. [ed: lovely.]
Fines are envisioned for Internet cafes violating these requirements and parents who do not supervise their children. The Internet cafes ignoring warnings will face administrative penalties and may be closed.
According to Aliyev, the proposals also envision Internet service providers` applying filters for children who use the Internet at home.
Aliyev said the package of proposals has been submitted to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies.

Parental and governmental control
AzerNEWS ( Azerbaijan ) – Wednesday, December 5, 2012
A lack of internet skills among parents could harm their children. However, restrictions on Internet use are not the way out. Otherwise, poor knowledge of the Internet may have a negative impact on children`s education and employment opportunities.
Parents should examine their children`s use of the Web to be sure that they use it properly. There are a number of websites with sexually explicit information, which can be detrimental to a child. Moreover, some dangerous and suspicious people who come to chat rooms may be a threat to minors.
Even if parents are Internet -illiterate, there are some tips to protect the child from offensive content on the Internet . Parents should control how much time their children spend on the Internet and enquire what they do online.
Microsoft, the world`s largest software company, is also concerned about Internet safety. In association with the American Academy of Pediatrics, Microsoft has developed age-based guidance for Internet use with family safety settings, which is available on the company`s website.
Notwithstanding modern Internet filters, guidance by parents who know their child and his or her habits best is more helpful to protect children.

Minister: Informatization level of Azerbaijani educational system to be satisfactory
Trend News Agency (Baku, Azerbaijan ) – Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Author: H. Valiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
Nov. 28–Azerbaijani Education Ministry have submitted the next phase of project on informatization of educational system to the government of the country, the Minister of Education Misir Mardanov told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the minister, ratification of the project, implementation of which is envisaged within 7 years, is expected. Work on informatization of educational system, connecting schools to the global network and enhancing the skills of teaching staff in the field of information technology will be continued within the project.
“The current level of educational system’s informatization can be considered as satisfactory, and the level of informatization will grow further with the financing of the field,” he said.
According to Mardanov, today more than half of teaching staff, about 80.000 teachers, have been trained to enhance their skills in information technology. According to these figures, Azerbaijan exceeds average indicators.
As for equipping schools with computer equipment, today one computer falls to the share of 20 students, the minister said.
“Our main goal is not to reduce the number, for the computers, issued to schools, to be used for the intended purpose . Also one of the important aspects is to improve the literacy level of teachers in information technology, as well as increasing the number of schools connected to the Internet ” Mardanov said.

Here’s a link to a similar story in Azerbaijani.

In other Azerbaijani Internet bullshit…

Azerbaijan prepares norms for usage of state language in internet
Azeri-Press News Agency ( Azerbaijan ) – Tuesday, December 4, 2012
The norms for usage of the state language in the internet are being prepared in Azerbaijan , director of Linguistics Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences Fakhraddin Veysalli told APA. According to him, for this purpose, a research group has been already established at the Linguistics Institute: “The research group is working on these norms. The norms for usage of the state language in the internet will be created within year and a half or two years. It aims to create common norms, which will be observed by the citizens of the country while using internet .”
Fakhraddin Veysalli said that the norms must be admitted by all members of the society and considered necessary for all. After having been prepared the norms will be discussed at the Presidium of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences and submitted to the government of Azerbaijan .
“Despite free internet , the use of language must be controlled. After these rules are confirmed under the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, their use will be controlled. According to the State Program on the development of linguistics, the Monitoring Group, which will be set up at the Linguistics Institute, will exercise control over the issue,” he said.

And we all know how much I love talking about Internet penetration in Azerbaijan. Looks like full Internet penetration (which NO COUNTRY has yet to achieve) will be reached in Azerbaijan in 2015.

It never gets boring.

23 Nov

I Got 99 Problems, But Statistical Triangulation Ain’t One

I often have conversations with people about Internet penetration rates.

The point I’d like to make is that these statistics are complicated and it is hard to get at the “right” number. That’s why we try to triangulate — look at different sources of data to see if things seem right. We also should always assess the credibility of the source of the data.

For this example I chose mobile phone penetration.

Data sources:

ITU is the UN’s official statistics and these numbers come from the governments themselves who usually get the numbers from the telecommunications companies. These companies count number of SIM cards sold and it is not unusual for people to have multiple SIM cards. This is data to be highly skeptical about.

Caucasus Barometer, Gallup, and EBRD are surveys taken face-to-face in households. All use different sampling techniques and are collected by different organizations. None are perfect, but they’re as good as we’ve got. Of the three, I trust Gallup the least.

Noteworthy:
All of these were collected at different times of the year.

Margin of error varies in all of these.

A ~4-6 point difference is within the margin of error and shouldn’t be looked at with too much suspicion.

So what do we see?

– Look at the huge difference between the ITU and the Caucasus Barometer in all three countries in 2004.
– 2006 is a little better, but Georgia’s a little too far off to be left to chance.
– 2007 is a little questionable in both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
– 2008 is really off in Armenia and not great in Azerbaijan.
– 2009 isn’t bad.
– 2010 is all over the place. My thought is that by the time you’d are at more than three-quarters of households having phones, the ones that don’t are also probably the ones that are less likely be be surveyed – the poorest of the poor, for example.
– The 2011 difference between the CB and the ITU is likely due to SIM counting. While a household may own a phone, they may have a lot of SIMs too.

21 Nov

Let’s talk about sex baby (in Azerbaijan)

I’m writing about gender inequality in Azerbaijan (as usual) and was reminded about attitudes toward sex in the Caucasus.

I had read some reports a few years back that looked at adolescent sex in the Caucasus countries, but thought that I’d summarize some of the interesting findings here and contextualize with my own observations.

The NGO ASTRA Youth did a study of Eurasia overall, but the Azerbaijan report starts on page 9.

This report notes how adolescents in Azerbaijan are heavily monitored by family and their social environment.

The report doesn’t mention, but it should be obvious, that multi-generational households present another “challenge” to sexual privacy for Azerbaijani youth. The opportunities for them to be alone or alone with a partner in a household are seldom. This leads to some youth finding makeout spots in semi-public places.

The ASTRA report finds that a little over a half of Azerbaijani adolescence used any form of contraception during their first sexual experience. (And of those that did, nearly all used a condom.)

The ASTRA report drew a lot of its findings from the most comprehensive study of adolescent sexual behavior in Azerbaijan – a 2006 study by the UNFPA (page 31 is where the sex report is). While the sampling wasn’t fantastic, this is a glimpse into reality. Moreover, asking adolescents about their sexual activity, in particular in a society where it is frowned upon, is challenging. I would love to see something more in-depth done.

YOUNG MARRIAGE

Women ages 20-24 were asked when they first got married. 9.6% of urban respondents and 15.2% of rural respondents were married by age 18. (I wish they had separated Baku, regional cities, and rural, but alas.) Only 0.4% of urban and 1.1% of these women were married by age 15. (Table 10 shows breakdowns by region.)

In my observations, there is a strong expectation that new Azerbaijani wives begin having children. (Especially male children). Of the 15-19 year old married women, almost half (46.3%) of urban brides and two-thirds (65.7%) of rural brides have been pregnant or had a child.

SEXUAL ACTIVITY

In Azerbaijan there is a strong expectation for girls to remain virgins until they are married. (This is not the same case for boys.)

The UN survey asked 15-19 year old girls about their sexual activity (defined as sexually active in the last 4 weeks).

* 4.1% of Baku 15-19 year old girls reported being sexually active.
* 5.4% of urban 15-19 year old girls reported being sexually active (but a large number of those girls are married).
* 11.7% of rural 15-19 year old girls reported being sexually active (but again, a large number of those girls are married.)

With regard to virginity, 20-24 year old women were asked when they first had sex.

* 0.3% of Baku girls had sex by age 15, 9.2% had sex by age 18. 35.7% of Baku 20-24 year old girls had their first sexual experience at marriage.
* 0.4% of urban girls had sex by age 15, 9.3% had sex by age 18. 35.6% of urban 20-24 year old girls had their first sexual experience at marriage.
* 0.9% of rural girls had sex by age 15, 14.2% had sex by age 18. 46.0% of rural 20-24 year old girls had their first sexual experience at marriage.
* National average (although I strongly believe in separating rural and urban in these cases): 0.7% of girls had sex by age 15, 11.5% had sex by age 18. 39.3% of 20-24 year old girls had their first sexual experience at marriage.

FORCE

Sadly there are some notable results with regard to forced sex.

* 3% of married 15-25 year old women in Baku experienced spousal rape.
* 1.2% of all 15-24 year old women in Baku experienced rape as their first sexual experience.
* Nationally, 2.2% of married 15-25 year old women experienced spousal rape.
* Nationally, 2.2% of all 15-24 year old women experienced rape as their first sexual experience.

AGE

In my observations, it is not uncommon for Azerbaijani grooms to be older than brides. The data shows this as well. (See Tables 15 and 16 in the report.)

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

I’ve written on domestic violence in the region before, and it is fairly prevalent in Azerbaijan as well. See the last chapter of the UN report for more on this.

—

Summarizing all of this was interesting, but my next step will to do my own analysis of the DHS 2006 data on these issues. Stay tuned.

16 Nov

Tech inequality in Georgia

Link to full document.

While politicians love to cite percentage of Internet users as a meaningful metric for Internet development, this may not be the case. In this example from late 2011 in Georgia, we use that the sociodemographic differences between those that do not know what the Internet is, those who never use the Internet, and those that use the Internet daily are stark.
Moreover, there are tremendous differences between what daily Internet users are doing online and what those that infrequently access are doing.
Capital-enhancing activities like reading blogs, reading news, or searching for information are much more likely when the user is online daily.
So what are these weekly and monthly Internet users doing? NOT MUCH.

Thus, be skeptical when you read or hear about X% of people in a country are online. That may include the old man who got online at an Internet cafe once 4 years ago. It might include the woman who only uses the Internet when her son opens Skype for her on a holiday to speak with distant family.
These individuals are not experiencing the benefits of the Internet that the daily users are. And given that those with daily access tend to be those already advantaged in Georgian society, the Internet may contribute to greater inequality as those with resources continue to gain access to more resources: a Matthew Effect.

16 Nov

Technology Inequality in Azerbaijan

Link to full document.

While politicians love to cite percentage of Internet users as a meaningful metric for Internet development, this may not be the case. In this example from late 2011 in Azerbaijan, we use that the sociodemographic differences between those that do not know what the Internet is, those who never use the Internet, and those that use the Internet daily are stark.
What are Azerbaijani Internet users doing? If around half of daily users are noting these popular activities, where are the other half going?

Thus, be skeptical when you read or hear about X% of people in a country are online. That may include the old man who got online at an Internet cafe once 4 years ago. It might include the woman who only uses the Internet when her son opens Skype for her on a holiday to speak with distant family.

Azerbaijan is still in the early adopter stage of Internet diffusion. Thus it is unsurprising that elites are doing elite things online. As time goes on and more Azerbaijanis get online, it will be interesting to see what activities they engage in. If Azerbaijani later adopters are anything like those in Armenia and Georgia, we’ll see a tremendous gap between what elites are doing online and what everyone else does.

15 Nov

Technology Inequality in Armenia

Link to full version.

While politicians love to cite percentage of Internet users as a meaningful metric for Internet development, this may not be the case. In this example from late 2011 in Armenia, we use that the sociodemographic differences between those that do not know what the Internet is, those who never use the Internet, and those that use the Internet daily are stark.
Moreover, there are tremendous differences between what daily Internet users are doing online and what those that infrequently access are doing.
Capital-enhancing activities like reading blogs, reading news, or searching for information are much more likely when the user is online daily.
So what are these weekly and monthly Internet users doing? NOT MUCH.

Thus, be skeptical when you read or hear about X% of people in a country are online. That may include the old man who got online at an Internet cafe once 4 years ago. It might include the woman who only uses the Internet when her son opens Skype for her on a holiday to speak with distant family.
These individuals are not experiencing the benefits of the Internet that the daily users are. And given that those with daily access tend to be those already advantaged in Armenian society, the Internet may contribute to greater inequality as those with resources continue to gain access to more resources: a Matthew Effect.

11 Nov

Azerbaijan enjoys internet freedom, president says

Azerbaijan enjoys internet freedom, president says
BBC Monitoring International Reports – Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Excerpt from report by private Azerbaijani news agency Turan

6 November: President Ilham Aliyev has welcomed the participants in the Seventh Annual Internet Governance Forum under way in Baku [where the statement was apparently read out]. The forum has been organized by the UN and the Azerbaijani government.

[Passage omitted: General comments on the internet contained in Aliyev’s welcoming address]

Aliyev believes that Azerbaijan pays special attention to development of information and communications technologies and the internet . About 65 per cent of the country’s population have internet access, and the country has already started to use the latest technology – 4G.

Aliyev believes that there is internet freedom in Azerbaijan . Thus, online radio and online TV, electronic newspapers and magazines, and foreign and domestic social networking websites are widespread in Azerbaijan . Thousands of bloggers act freely on the internet in Azerbaijan .

In conclusion, Aliyev expresses support for any well-intentioned online activities that aim to build friendly ties between people and nations and to form equal relations based on mutual respect.

[Passage omitted: Turan news agency quotes unnamed international organizations as criticizing the situation with online freedom of expression in Azerbaijan and as saying that despite the lack of a practice of filtering and blocking websites in this country, some online dissidents are still persecuted.]

[BBCM note: On 6 November, APA news agency quoted Azerbaijani Communications and Information Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov as saying in a speech at the forum that there is a need for joint fight to ensure online security and prevent cyber crime. The report also quoted Abbasov as saying that use of social networking websites is widespread in Azerbaijan and these activities are not controlled by any agency. “Online TV, newspapers and websites have been developing in this country in the past few years, and no interference or pressure is applied to their activities.”

In a separate report on 6 November, Turan quoted Ali Hasanov, chief of the public and political department of the Presidential Administration, as telling journalists on the sidelines of the forum that no blogger is persecuted or is in jail in this country. “They [blogggers] can express their thoughts very freely, which is evidence to the freedom of the internet in the country,” he said.]
Original Language: Russian
Section: Azerbaijan , Armenia and Georgia
Index Terms: AZERI ; INTERNET ; AZERBAIJAN ; MEDIA ; TECHNOLOGY ; LEADER ; DOMESTIC POLITICAL
Original Source: Turan news agency, Baku
Record Number: 14269435839FD370
Sources: Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 0739 gmt 6 Nov 12; APA news agency, Baku, in Azeri 1018 gmt 6 Nov 12; Turan news agency, Baku, in Russian 0959 gmt 6 Nov 12/