PROJECT INTERNET CATALONIA (PIC)

This study analyzes the everyday practices, social values, and attitudes of the Catalan population in the process of transition towards the network society. It analyzes behavior online and off-line, investigating the specific role of Internet uses in influencing practices and attitudes. It is based on the answers to a survey of 3,005 individuals, a representative sample of the Catalan population in 2002. The survey was conducted between February and May 2002, and was based on face-to-face interviews using a questionnaire of 179 questions. Secondary sources were used to place the Catalan findings, particularly on the uses of the Internet, in the global context. The analysis was completed in 2007 by incorporating new secondary data. The study covered social practices of work, communication, sociability, uses of space and time, uses of the Internet, cultural identity, political practice, associationism, and formation of individual projects. A number of statistical models were built to provide a causal analysis of each one of these areas of study. The most striking finding refers to the relationship between Internet uses and the construction of autonomy by social actors. Using factor analysis, the study defined five indexes of autonomy that were statistically independent: personal autonomy, professional autonomy, communicative autonomy, body autonomy, and socio-political autonomy. Each one of these independent autonomy indexes were closely associated with frequency and intensity of Internet use, and the relationship when controlled by socio-demographic variables. On the basis of this study it is possible to claim that Internet is a significant platform for the construction of autonomy in the network society. Overall, Catalan society seems to be changing along paths similar to those of other societies in transition, with the added emphasis of the role of territory and family in strengthening social relations, with the positive contribution of the Internet to a very dense pattern of social interaction.

Research Team
Dr Manuel Castells, professor at the UOC and co-director of the research project
Dr Imma Tubella, professor at the UOC and co-director of the research project
Dr Teresa Sancho, professor at the UOC
Dr Meritxell Roca, researcher at the IN3
M. Isabel Díaz de Isla, researcher at the IN3
Dr Barry Wellman, professor and director of NetLab at the University of Toronto and tutor at the UOC

In collaboration with:
Jèsica Aracil i Berta García, research assistants

The survey by questionnaire, the codification of the questionnaires and the initial statistical processing were carried out by a team from the Institut d'Estudis Metropolitans i Regionals de Barcelona (Barcelona’s Institute of Metropolitan and Regional Studies) on the basis of a questionnaire created by IN3 researchers. Definition of variables, construction of the definitive database and statistical analysis were overseen by Dr Teresa Sancho, from the IN3.

With the support of:
The Catalan government’s Presidency Office and its Department for Universities, Research and Information Society

Research started in:
October, 2001. Survey conducted from February to May, 2002.

Research report completed in:
July, 2002

Published in:
July, 2002