The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy 2009 EUR 24063 EN The mission of the JRC-IPTS is to provide customer-driven support to the EU policy-making process by developing science-based responses to policy challenges that have both a socio-economic as well as a scientific/technological dimension. European Commission Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies Contact information Address: Edificio Expo. c/ Inca Garcilaso, 3. E-41092 Seville (Spain) E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: +34 954488318 Fax: +34 954488300 http://ipts.jrc.ec.europa.eu http://www.jrc.ec.europa.eu Legal Notice Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of this publication. Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union Freephone number (*): 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (*) Certain mobile telephone operators do not allow access to 00 800 numbers or these calls may be billed. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server http://europa.eu/ JRC54327 EUR 24063 EN ISBN 978-92-79-13813-3 ISSN 1018-5593 DOI 10.2791/29872 Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities © European Communities, 2009 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged Printed in Spain Acknowledgements This report was produced by the Information Society Unit at the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The research was carried out in the context of an Exploratory Project on Social Computing started in 2007, and a subsequent set of research projects co-financed by IPTS, and the European Commission’s Directorates General Education and Culture, Information Society and Media, and Enterprise and Industry during 2007 and 2008. The editors would like to thank the authors and also all the external experts who provided valuable guidance and comments on the various documents of the project. Special thanks go to the External Steering Committee members who guided the project from the start and peer-reviewed the final version of the Report. The editors would also like to thank former IPTS colleagues and all European Commission colleagues for their support and policy guidance throughout the research project. Finally, the editors are grateful to the internal IPTS management and staff for their trust, support, guidance and valuable comments. The authors by chapter Chapter 1: Key Findings, Future Prospects, and Policy Challenges - Clara Centeno, Wainer Lusoli, Gianluca Misuraca, Yves Punie and David Broster Chapter 2: The Adoption and Use of Social Computing - Corina Pascu Chapter 3: Social Computing from a Business Perspective - Sven Lindmark The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society Economy and Information EU the on Computing Social of Impact The Chapter 4: Social Computing and the Mobile Ecosystem - Claudio Feijóo Chapter 5: Social Computing and Identity - Wainer Lusoli and Romina Cachia Chapter 6: Social Computing and Learning - Kirsti Ala-Mutka Chapter 7: Social Computing and Social Inclusion - Stefano Kluzer and Alexandra Haché Chapter 8: Social Computing and Health - José A. Valverde Chapter 9: Social Computing and Governance - Gianluca Misuraca Editors Yves Punie, Wainer Lusoli, Clara Centeno, Gianluca Misuraca and David Broster External Steering Committee and Peer Reviewers Ilkka Tuomi, Oy Meaning Processing Ltd (FI), Jean Paul Simon, JPS Public Policy Consulting and LECG (FR), and Stefano Micelli, Venice International University (IT). 3 External Experts (Validation Workshop of the Exploratory Research Project, Jan 2008) Caroline Bassett, University of Sussex Media Studies (UK) Roland Beelaard, Board Wikimedia Netherlands (NL) Marco Bettiol, Department of Business Economics - Ca’ Foscari University (IT) Lee Bryant, Independent Consultant (UK) Aknowledgements Claudio Dondi, Scienter (IT) Andreas Ebert, EU Microsoft Corp. (BE) Valerie Frissen, TNO (NL) Antonio Fumero, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES) Ajit Jaokar, Independent Consultant (UK) Paul Keller, Kennisland, Amsterdan (NL) Nick Kings, British Telecom (UK) Isidro Maya Jariego, University of Sevilla (ES) Paul Miller, Schoolofeverything (UK) James Munro, Patient Opinion, Sheffield (UK) Jaume Nualart, Independent Consultant (ES) Jo Pierson, Free University Brussels, SMIT-IBBT (BE) Patrice Riemens, Waag society old - new media, Amsterdam (NL) Richard Straub, Advisor to the Chairman, IBM, EMEA and EDMC (FR). Former IPTS colleagues David Osimo (now at Tech4i2, UK) and Martin Ulbrich (now at EC DG EMPL) IPTS Steering Committee of the Exploratory Research Project Marc Bodganowicz, Jean-Claude Burgelman (now at EC DG RTD), Clara Centeno and Ioannis Maghiros. IPTS Editorial support Margherita Bacigalupo and Patricia Farrer. 4 Table of contents Preface 7 Executive Summary 9 Part I: Main messages 15 1. Key Findings, Future Prospects and Policy Implications 15 1.1. What is Social Computing, what is new and major impacts 15 1.2. Cross-cutting findings 20 1.3. Future prospects of Social Computing 23 1.4. Policy challenges and opportunities 26 Part II: On defining Social Computing, its Scope and Significance 33 2. The Adoption and Use of Social Computing 33 2.1. Introduction 33 2.2. The state of Social Computing 33 2.3. Demographic profiles of adopters 36 2.4. What comes next? 36 Society Economy and Information EU the on Computing Social of Impact The 2.5. Policy implications 40 2.6 References 40 3. Social Computing from a Business Perspective 43 3.1. The Social Computing industry and its value chain 43 3.2. Business models for application providers 46 3.3. Industrial impact 48 3.4. Europe’s position in Social Computing 51 3.5. Policy implications 55 3.6 References 56 4. Social Computing and the Mobile Ecosystem 61 4.1. Industry and its market expectations 62 4.2. The user’s behaviour 64 4.3. Challenges and opportunities 66 5 4.4. Trust and perceived value 68 4.5. Policy implications 69 4.6 References 70 5. Social Computing and Identity 73 5.1. Technical trends: social identity management 73 5.2. Social trends: identity construction and disclosure in Social Computing 74 5.3. Economic trends: the economics of identity in Social Computing 75 Table of contents of Table 5.4. Challenges 76 5.5. Policy implications 79 5.6 References 80 Part III: Sectoral Impacts of Social Computing: Opportunities and Challenges 87 6. Social Computing and Learning 87 6.1. Social computing for education and training 87 6.2. Emerging trends and drivers 88 6.3. Challenges 91 6.4. Policy implications 92 6.5 References 93 7. Social Computing and Social Inclusion 97 7.1. Social exclusion and digital exclusion 97 7.2. Social computing, digital inclusion and social inclusion 100 7.3. Emerging trends and drivers 103 7.4. Challenges 105 7.5. Policy implications 106 7.6 References 107 8. Social Computing and Health 111 8.1. European healthcare and health 2.0 111 8.2. Opportunities for Social Computing and health 113 8.3. Challenges for Social Computing and health 116 8.4. Policy implications 117 8.5 References 118 9. Social Computing and Governance 121 9.1. Introduction 121 9.2. Emerging trends and drivers 121 9.3. Assessing impacts of Social Computing for governance 122 9.4. Opportunities and challenges 130 9.5. Policy implications 131 6 9.6 References 133 Preface At the European Council held in Lisbon in March 2000, EU15 Heads of Government set a goal for Europe to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. This goal was renewed in 2005 to emphasise growth and jobs and with plans to facilitate innovation through the take-up of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and higher investment in human capital. In this context, this report, and the research that lies behind it, focuses on “Social Computing” that enables user-centric, collaborative knowledge sharing, community-building activities using the Internet. Globally, the Internet is used by some 1.7 billion people1 (24.7% of the population) and by some 318 million Europeans (64%).2 Social computing has exhibited a prolific growth since its genesis in the early years of this decade and, since 2005, has achieved unprecedented levels of EU and global usage. Current estimates indicate more than 130 million Europeans3 are involved in social computing and are interacting in a broad spectrum of commercial, leisure and social domains. It is very likely that all readers will have had some social computing experience in either an active or passive role as encounters with Social Computing have become mainstream for the vast majority of Internet users. Searches for information will frequently transport us to Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook or similar, or else to Blogs and other forms of collaborative on-line applications that have adopted the so-called Web 2.0 paradigm. For the younger generations, social computing has provided a medium for expression of interests and opinions, for collaboration and for building communities unbounded by locality. Beyond the initial wave of “getting involved”, social computing is now in a period of consolidation The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society Economy and Information EU the on Computing Social of Impact The and maturation enabling individuals, and groups, to access and contribute to knowledge on an ever increasing and already vast array of topics. Examining the evidence in this report and elsewhere, it is relatively easy to see how, over the coming years, social computing could play an increasingly important role in re-engaging citizens in political debate, in securing social cohesion and harmony, and it could provide a platform for dialogue on the grand challenges of the EU and the rest of the world.