With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment. In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing--and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained--or lost--by the decisions we make today.

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The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom

The rapid growth of the Internet provides a wealth of new research opportunities for psychologists. Internet data collection methods, with a focus on self-report questionnaires from self-selected samples, are evaluated and compared with traditional paper-and-pencil methods. Six preconceptions about Internet samples and data quality are evaluated by comparing a new large Internet sample (N = 361,703) with a set of 510 published traditional samples. Internet samples are shown to be relatively diverse with respect to gender, socioeconomic status, geographic region, and age. Moreover, Internet findings generalize across presentation formats, are not adversely affected by nonserious or repeat responders, and are consistent with findings from traditional methods. It is concluded that Internet methods can contribute to many areas of psychology.

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Should we trust web-based studies? A comparative analysis of six preconceptions about internet questionnaires.

The wealth of networks : how social production transformsmarkets and freedom

Knowledge sharing: A review and directions for future research

A cognitive-behavioral model of pathological Internet use

The Internet could change the lives of average citizens as much as did the telephone in the early part of the 20th century and television in the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers and social critics are debating whether the Internet is improving or harming participation in community life and social relationships. This research examined the social and psychological impact of the Internet on 169 people in 73 households during their first 1 to 2 years on-line. We used longitudinal data to examine the effects of the Internet on social involvement and psychological well-being. In this sample, the Internet was used extensively for communication. Nonetheless, greater use of the Internet was associated with declines in participants' communication with family members in the household, declines in the size of their social circle, and increases in their depression and loneliness. These findings have implications for research, for public policy and for the design of technology.

Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?

Although experts should be well positioned to convey their superior knowledge and skill to novices, the organization of that knowledge, and particularly its level of abstraction, may make it difficult for them to do so. Using an electronic circuit-wiring task, the authors found that experts as compared with beginners used more abstract and advanced statements and fewer concrete statements when providing task instructions to novices. In a 2nd study, the authors found that beginner-instructed novices performed better than expert-instructed novices and reported fewer problems with the instructions when performing the same task. In Study 2, the authors found that although novices performed better on the target task when instructed by beginners, they did better on a different task within the same domain when instructed by experts. The evidence suggests that the abstract, advanced concepts conveyed by experts facilitated the transfer of learning between the different tasks.

Bothered by abstraction: the effect of expertise on knowledge transfer and subsequent novice performance.

sing the Internet at home causes small but reliable declines in social and psychological well-being, according to our findings after conducting one of the first prospective studies examining the domestication of the Internet—the integration of the Internet into the home (see R. Kraut et al. “Internet Paradox: A Social Technology that Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological Well-Being,” Amer. Psych., Sept. 1998). Because this research is controversial, we offer some comments to help readers understand the results and decide how they might respond to them as consumers and as technology developers. The HomeNet project (see homenet.hcii.cs.cmu.edu/ progress/research.html for the full report and more), studied a sample of 169 people in Pittsburgh during their first year or two online. As people in this sample used the Internet more, they reported keeping up with fewer friends, spending less time talking with their families, experiencing more daily life stressors, and feeling more lonely and depressed. These results occured even though interpersonal communication was their most important reason for using the Internet. If accurate, the results are troubling. These effects were not large, but they contradict many popular beliefs about the Internet, and they were a surprise. Should they lead us to reconsider how to use the Internet or what Internet services to offer? The remainder of this column addresses important issues.

Social impact of the Internet: what does it mean?

Instrumentation and techniques in physiological psychology.


Purpose
This paper aims to determine whether performing an emotional intelligence (EI) intervention improves employees’ self-perceived emotional–social competencies (ESC) to achieve relational outcomes in firms based in China.


Design/methodology/approach
Based on a qualitative, interpretive approach through purposive sampling, this paper explored the impacts the Strengths Deployment Inventory (SDI) 2.0 intervention might have upon Chinese employees regarding ESC and relational outcomes. Data was collected from 18 semi-structured interviews with Chinese executives and individual contributors.


Findings
The findings suggested that ESC could be developed and improved in Chinese employees. The SDI 2.0 intervention may effectively bring about positive EI shifts and relevant attitudinal and behavioral changes related to work relationships.


Practical implications
The developed ESC and relational outcomes provide practitioners with insight to better understand the role training plays in organizational effectiveness, as well as to implement the SDI 2.0 program in human resource practices of Chinese organizations to develop personnel and promote high-quality work relationships.


Originality/value
This study gains significance by highlighting the effectiveness of the SDI 2.0 intervention in enhancing respondents’ ESC with relational outcomes from the perspectives of Chinese firms. Thus, supporting the effectiveness of EI training in the Chinese workplace and introducing the EI training literature the SDI 2.0 tool.


Michael Patterson

Papers

Internet paradox: A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being?

Bothered by abstraction: the effect of expertise on knowledge transfer and subsequent novice performance.

Social impact of the Internet: what does it mean?

Instrumentation and techniques in physiological psychology.

Improving self-perceived emotional–social competencies with relational outcomes through the strength deployment inventory