Negative Impacts of IT on Communities

While it is impossible to generalize about all online environments, certain features inhibit constructive behavior in online areas. The same anonymity--or at least absence of social clues--that protected marginalized voices can shield those who would harm the community as well. At very least, the absence of standard social cues necessitates some sort of common structure for exchange to take place. Sometimes it is good to set aside this social structure, as in secret ballots, but it is harder engage in constructive behavior without a mechanism linking that behavior to a person that bears its responsibility. In the absence of tying names to persons, or even having constant pseudonyms that can cultivate reputations, it is possible to rapidly degenerate into bathroom-wall type message boards. We see anonymous online groups turning towards reputation building mechanisms such as Slashdot’s karma or EBay’s feedback system to avoid such problems. Constructed social cues can take the place of "natural" ones.

Suppose there is a community taking full advantage of some technological system to interact and express ideas. How much of what is actually said is valid? It is difficult for an individual to sort out what is useful and what is not relevant or important for that individual, since determining relevance requires at least some effort. This problem is known as the signal-to noise problem, it can be thought of as the downside to the ease of communication. If expressing oneself in digital form is so easy, knowing when to listen can be difficult and very frustrating.

Aside from the access difficulties, a final caution about IT in development is one of true impact. If using Internet technology makes the community feel more empowered, or even worse, makes others believe a community is empowered without actually enhancing a community’s ability to help itself, it can do far more harm than good. Some e-government efforts seem to be one way information sources, simply pamphlets online, but policy-makers may feel that enough resources have been expended. Care must be taken not create an illusion of participation that can cause more damage to the community and undermine future development efforts.

Allan Friedman
January, 2002