Modeling citizenship offline and online: Internet use, information, and political action during the 2008 election campaign

This dissertation explores three conceptions of citizenship proposed by scholars to understand how information and communication technologies (ICTs) affect the everyday life of U.S. citizens. These conceptions are digital, informed, and political citizenship. Standard linear models of political behavior and the comprehensive model of information seeking are applied to identify the relevant factors and outcomes for a model of what constitutes online and offline citizenship. The study applies an interdisciplinary approach that integrates and extends current research in political behavior as it relates to citizenship and political action. Citizenship on the Internet emphasizes one of three key factors depending on how citizenship is defined: Internet use, information, or political action. The research model assesses the significance of digital citizenship, informed citizenship as a function of digital citizenship, and political citizenship as a function of digital and informed citizenship. The model is tested using the 2008 Civic Engagement survey from the Pew Internet & American Life project. Findings demonstrate that digital citizenship is a function of informed citizenship. However, digital and informed citizenship may or may not be a function of political citizenship. The explanatory power of digital and informed citizenship relates to how political citizenship is defined. Political citizenship defined as online activism or content creation significantly correlates with digital and informed citizenship even when controlling for other known factors. In contrast, other forms of political citizenship such as offline actions and engagement with social media show no correlations between digital and informed citizenship. Research results indicate that political interest and political talk have more relevance for offline political citizenship and social media use. This thesis demonstrates how interdisciplinary studies in information seeking and its effects advance empirical research in library and information science by drawing on theoretically and empirically grounded political science, sociology, and communication research. Future research should examine the possibility for social media to stimulate alternative models of citizenship that do not rely on traditional political institutions for political action and engagement.