Activity

The ACTIVITY category covers the ways in which humans create, consume, and share information online, as well as relationships and communities that are formed. In many ways, it is the most challenging category to conceptualize and to measure. Ideally, we want to know how well citizens, companies, and public agencies are using the Internet for social, economic, and political ends, and to what extent this contributes to human development and wellbeing. We aspire to include data that covers a wide range of actions, such as the number of people engaged in different types of activities online; the type and quantity of information being produced, accessed, and shared; the formation of civic organizations, professional groups, and new media entities online; the growth and scale of e-commerce and online business; the use of online resources for health, education, and science; and the delivery of government services online and use of digital information to contribute to better governance.

Policy considerations in this category concentrate on how, and to what extent, digital technologies might best be used to increase social welfare: how can digital tools best be leveraged to contribute to better governance or a more informed populace? What factors contribute to or detract from online creativity, innovation, and digitally facilitated economic growth, knowledge accumulation, and scientific discovery?

Within the Activity category, Internet Monitor is working with Morningside Analytics to map blogospheres and Twitterspheres around the world. Data from these maps, along with links to related research publications, is displayed on each country's "Activity" page, where available. Current maps include:

• Arabic Blogosphere
  See also: Bruce Etling, John Kelly, Rob Faris, and John Palfrey, "Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere: Politics, Culture and Dissent," Internet & Democracy Project, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 2009
• Chinese Twittersphere
• Egyptian Twittersphere
• Persian Blogosphere
  See also: John Kelly and Bruce Etling, "Mapping Iran’s Online Public: Politics and Culture in the Persian Blogosphere," Internet and Democracy Project, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 2008. An interactive version of this map is available on the Berkman Center website.
• Persian Twittersphere
• Russian Blogosphere
  See also: Bruce Etling, Karina Alexanyan, John Kelly, Rob Faris, John Palfrey, and Urs Gasser, "Public Discourse in the Russian Blogosphere: Mapping RuNet Politics and Mobilization," Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 2010
• Russian Twittersphere
  See also: John Kelly, Vladimir Barash, Karina Alexanyan, Bruce Etling, Rob Faris, Urs Gasser, and John Palfrey, "Mapping Russian Twitter," Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 2012
• Saudi Arabian Twittersphere

We monitor and report on three main facets of the Internet:

ACCESS: What does it take to get online? How much does it cost? How fast is the connection?

CONTROL: How is content regulated—blocked, taken down, hacked—online? To what extent? By whom?

ACTIVITY: What do people do online? What information do they access? What channels do they use to communicate?