Tomislav Topolovčan

The Net Generation, the Internet, and Political Communication and Participation

Normal 0 false false false HR X-NONE X-NONE Abstract The Net Generation, a generation which grew up with digital media, differ from older generations which entered the world of digital media and the Internet afterwards. The Internet itself opened new possibilities of communication and participation in the sphere of politics as well. Research was conducted among students at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb and Baltazar Zapresic Polytechnic in order to establish the degree to which students, the so called “digital natives”, use the Internet for the purposes of political information, communication, and participation. Over two thirds of participants, young voters, voted in the parliamentary elections in Croatia in 2015, and in order to obtain information on political matters, they prefer using the Internet, but also use television to almost the same extent. According to the research results, the majority of the participants are ready to express their political opinions over the Internet. Half of the participants in no way show readiness to engage in political life by joining a political party, and a very small percentage of them are ready to take part in protest gatherings. In the segment of political participation, members of the Net Generation do not show a statistically significant difference when compared to older students of a non-teacher education polytechnic. Key words: civic education; digital media; E-government; political awareness; young voters. --- Sažetak Net-generaciji, generaciji koja je odrasla s digitalnim medijima, pripisuju se znacajke koje ih razlikuju od pripadnika starijih generacija koja su u svijet digitalnih medija i interneta usle naknadno. Internet je pak otvorio nove mogucnosti komunikacije i participacije i u sferi politike. Među studentima Uciteljskog fakulteta u Zagrebu i Veleucilista Baltazar Zapresic provedeno je istraživanje s ciljem utvrđivanja u kojoj se mjeri studenti, tzv. „digitalni urođenici“, koriste internetom s ciljem politicke informiranosti, politicke komunikacije i participacije. Nesto vise od dvije trecine ispitanika, mladih biraca, glasovalo je na parlamentarnim izborima u Hrvatskoj 2015. godine. Oni preferiraju internet kako bi se informirali o politickim zbivanjima, ali u gotovo istoj mjeri preferiraju i televiziju. Prema rezultatima istraživanja, ispitanici su u najvecem broju spremni iskazati svoje politicko misljenje putem interneta, polovina ispitanika nikako ne pokazuje spremnost da se angažiraju kao clanovi politicke stranke, a u vrlo malom postotku spremni su sudjelovati u protestnim okupljanjima. Pripadnici net-generacije u segmentu politicke participacije ne pokazuju statisticki znacajnu razliku u usporedbi sa studentima neuciteljskog fakulteta starije životne dobi. Kljucne rijeci: digitalni mediji; E-government; građanski odgoj; mladi biraci; politicka informiranost.

Sažetak Net-generaciji, generaciji koja je odrasla s digitalnim medijima, pripisuju se značajke koje ih razlikuju od pripadnika starijih generacija koja su u svijet digitalnih medija i interneta ušle naknadno. Internet je pak otvorio nove mogućnosti komun

Normal 0 false false false HR X-NONE X-NONE Abstract The Net Generation, a generation which grew up with digital media, differ from older generations which entered the world of digital media and the Internet afterwards. The Internet itself opened new possibilities of communication and participation in the sphere of politics as well. Research was conducted among students at the Faculty of Teacher Education in Zagreb and Baltazar Zapresic Polytechnic in order to establish the degree to which students, the so called “digital natives”, use the Internet for the purposes of political information, communication, and participation. Over two thirds of participants, young voters, voted in the parliamentary elections in Croatia in 2015, and in order to obtain information on political matters, they prefer using the Internet, but also use television to almost the same extent. According to the research results, the majority of the participants are ready to express their political opinions over the Internet. Half of the participants in no way show readiness to engage in political life by joining a political party, and a very small percentage of them are ready to take part in protest gatherings. In the segment of political participation, members of the Net Generation do not show a statistically significant difference when compared to older students of a non-teacher education polytechnic. Key words: civic education; digital media; E-government; political awareness; young voters. --- Sažetak Net-generaciji, generaciji koja je odrasla s digitalnim medijima, pripisuju se znacajke koje ih razlikuju od pripadnika starijih generacija koja su u svijet digitalnih medija i interneta usle naknadno. Internet je pak otvorio nove mogucnosti komunikacije i participacije i u sferi politike. Među studentima Uciteljskog fakulteta u Zagrebu i Veleucilista Baltazar Zapresic provedeno je istraživanje s ciljem utvrđivanja u kojoj se mjeri studenti, tzv. „digitalni urođenici“, koriste internetom s ciljem politicke informiranosti, politicke komunikacije i participacije. Nesto vise od dvije trecine ispitanika, mladih biraca, glasovalo je na parlamentarnim izborima u Hrvatskoj 2015. godine. Oni preferiraju internet kako bi se informirali o politickim zbivanjima, ali u gotovo istoj mjeri preferiraju i televiziju. Prema rezultatima istraživanja, ispitanici su u najvecem broju spremni iskazati svoje politicko misljenje putem interneta, polovina ispitanika nikako ne pokazuje spremnost da se angažiraju kao clanovi politicke stranke, a u vrlo malom postotku spremni su sudjelovati u protestnim okupljanjima. Pripadnici net-generacije u segmentu politicke participacije ne pokazuju statisticki znacajnu razliku u usporedbi sa studentima neuciteljskog fakulteta starije životne dobi. Kljucne rijeci: digitalni mediji; E-government; građanski odgoj; mladi biraci; politicka informiranost.