This document discusses the rise of the "Fifth Estate" enabled by the Internet. It defines the Fifth Estate as a critical mass of individuals who can source their own information and network with others in ways that support distributed social accountability in various sectors. It outlines how networked individuals are empowering themselves through citizen journalism, political organizing, open data projects, and patient networks. However, it notes the Fifth Estate is not a substitute for institutions and faces challenges from those who oppose its influence. The document draws on various research projects at Oxford University to support its analysis of this emerging concept.

1. The Internet and the Fifth Estate
Bill Dutton
Balliol College &
Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford
Prepared for the Tenth Anglo-Israel Colloquium, Mishkenot
Sha’ananim, Jerusalem, 14-17 November 2013.

2. Role of the Internet: a New Conventional
Wisdom

3. Reconfiguring Access: Information, People, Services, Technology

4. A New Organizational Form:
Enabling Networked Individuals

5. Oxford Internet Surveys
2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013
Cross-sectional Surveys versus Panels
Multi-Stage Probability Sample
England, Scotland & Wales
Respondents: 14 years and older
Face-to-face Interviews, High Response Rates
Sponsorship for 2013 from the Nominet Trust,
Ofcom, UK Research Councils, dot.rural
• Component of World Internet Project (WIP)
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6. Empowering
Networked
Individuals

7. The Fifth Estate
 Press since the 18th Century the ‘Fourth Estate’
 Internet in the 21st - enabling a
Fifth Estate
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Enabling a critical mass of individuals to source
their own information, and network with other
individuals in ways that support distributed social
accountability in business and industry,
government, politics, and the media.

8. The Fourth Estate
“[Edmund] Burke said there were Three Estates
in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery
yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more prominent
far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or
witty saying; it is a literal fact – very momentous
to us in these times.”
Thomas Carlyle (1831), Heroes and HeroWorship, at www.gutenberg.org.etext/1091

9. Feudal Estates into the 21st Century
Estates
Modern
Clergy
Public Intellectuals
Nobility
Business, Industry
and Economic Elites,
including Internet
Industrial Elites
Commons
‘4th Estate’
Feudal
Government and
Politicians
Press
Journalists and the
Mass Media
Mob
Civil Society,
Networked
Individuals, Mobs

10. Montesquieu’s Tripartite System into
the 21st (US Separation of Powers)
Estates
Modern US Parallel
Courts
Judiciary
Monarch
Executive
Parliament
‘4th Estate’
Tripartite
Legislative
Press
Journalists and the
Mass Media
Mob
Civil Society,
Networked
Individuals, Mobs

11. Networked Institutions v Networked
Individuals
 Networked Institutions, such as in e-Health
 Networked Individuals:
 going to the Internet for health and medical
information
 networking patients, e.g., UK Children With
Diabetes Advocacy Group (500 Families)
 networking physicians, e.g., Sermo

12. Arenas:
Networked Institutions
Networked Individuals
News
Online journalism, BBC
Online, Live Micro-Blogging
Netizens, Citizen
Journalists, Bloggers,
Whistleblowers, Leaks,
Churnalism.org, Hacking
Blacklash
Government
Digital Democracy, EConsultation, e-Voting,
Surveillance
Obama campaign, Aung
San Suu Kyi, Arab Springs,
Anti-Bribery Websites, 38
Degrees
Education
Online Learning, Multimedia Backchannels, Informal
Classrooms, MOOCs
Learning, Rate My Teacher,
Khan Academy
Health and Medical
NHS Direct, e-mailing safety Going to the Internet for
alerts
health information, networks
of patients, physicians

13. Fifth Estate not a Substitute for Institutions

14. Fifth Estate Strategies

15. Martha Payne, 9 yr old girl
writes blog for school project in
Scotland: ‘NeverSeconds’
- Produced content: photos &
reviews school lunch in 2012
- Distributed on her blog:
neverseconds.blogspot.com/
- Censored by her institution
(her primary school’s council)
-8,859,514 pages views
-Fostered debate over the
quality of school lunches
nationwide and worldwide

16. Fifth Estate Strategies

17. Sermo: a Collaborative Network Organisation

18. Fifth Estate Strategies

19. Pollution Monitoring Mobile Apps

20. Networked Individuals
• Financial Times 5 March 2013
• Shandong Province, China
• Online exposure of ground water
contamination
• Smartphone apps documenting
smog and air pollution
• China’s new anti-pollution measures

21. Fifth Estate Strategies

24. Enemies of the Fifth Estate

25. The Politics of Protecting the Fifth Estate

26. Research Foundations
• Oxford Internet Surveys: 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009,
2011, 2013 and World Internet Project (WIP)
• The Internet Values Project: OII in collaboration
with INSEAD, comScore, WEF, and ictQATAR
• The Performance of Distributed Problem-Solving
Networks (DPSN) Project (2007-8)
• The Oxford e-Social Science Project (OeSS),
Economic and Social Research Council (2005-12)
• The Fifth Estate Project, supported by the OII,
Oxford Internet Surveys (2003-13), and June Klein,
Electronic Boardroom™