The Pew Internet and American Life Project some new studies out. "How the Public Perceives Community Information Systems" looks at how Americans feel about their ability to get and use information about their communities from their local governments and media. Pew surveyed folks in three cities: Philadelphia, PA; Macon, GA; and San Jose, CA.
My favorite result from the survey: when people think their local government does a good job of sharing information, they are more likely to be satisfied with the overall quality of their community. Government transparency matters. School board, city commission, county commission: amp up the websites, crank out the information, keep everything on the record, and folks are more likely to get the impression that you're doing the right things for your community.
My second favorite result: hook more people up to broadband Internet, and you might get more complainers at City Hall. Pew finds that home broadband connection correlates with negative perceptions of some measures of civic performance. It's not a universal correlation: for example, the survey found broadband correlating with lower ratings for local government in San Jose and Philadelphia, lower ratings for local schools and non-profits in Philsdelphia, and lower ratings for finding emergency information in San Jose. Pew reports none of these correlations in Macon. The results suggest that better Web access may inspire some folks to learn more about their communities and discover problems that warrant some complaining.
Not that government officials should be afraid of expanding broadband access: we want those eyeballs on government to help identify and fix problems. Plus, the survey shows a clear relationship between broadband and increased use of the Internet to talk about local issues. Inform your citizens, then be ready to fix the problems they get informed about!
Among local news organizations, television still gets the highest marks for keeping folks informed, with 74% saying their local TV stations do excellent or good work. Local radio and newspapers are a close second (69% and 68%, respectively), followed by local magazines and newsletters (53%). We bloggers and other Web sources of local info are still at the bottom of the heap, getting just 50% of folks to say we're doing an excellent or good job. Must... blog... harder!
Must also Facebook harder: 32% of Internet users get local news from social networking sites. 19% get local news from blogs. Those consumption numbers correspond to local news production numbers: 32% of Internet users report posting local news and related updates on their Facebook or other social networking account, while just 12% report blogging on local news. Those numbers make sense: it takes more time to compose blog posts than Facebook updates. It's also easier to direct local news at a built-in friend network on Facebook than to sustain a full local news blog.
But Twitter still sucks: 7% of Web users report getting local news 140 characters at a time, and 6% report posting local news there. From my experience, it's harder to find neighbors and build the strong ties on Twitter that seem to support common interest in local news.
Newspaper and television still rank as the most important sources for general information, while the Web comes in third. But when folks really want the nitty gritty on specific topics that matter to them, they see the Web as their most important information source. The Web also takes first place for folks looking for work. (I can vouch for the latter: every job but one that I've applied for in the last twelve months has popped onto my radar first online.)
This survey suggests that the Internet, while not dominating civic discourse, is becoming a more integral part of the public sphere. It allows more people to have more conversations and different conversations (e.g., conversations supported with hyperlinks to news articles and statistical data). That increased information may lead some people to complain more about civic affairs, but don't shoot the messenger! If Web users complain more, it's not because Google made them grouchy; it's because they've learned more about their communities and discovered things that need fixing.