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dissertation entitled

Hip Hop Headz and Digital Equity: A Descriptive
Study of Internet Usage by African American
Male College Students

presented by

Allison Clark

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7HIP HOP HEADZ AND DIGITAL EQUITY: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF
INTERNET USAGE BY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE COLLEGE STUDENTS
By

Allison Clark

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fitlfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Mass Media Ph.D. Program
College of Communications Arts and Sciences

2002

ABSTRACT
HIP HOP HEADZ AND DIGITAL EQUITY: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY OF
INTERNET USAGE BY AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE COLLEGE
STUDENTS
By

Allison Clark

The purpose of this study is to begin to build a body of knowledge
to address an important research issue: how to assess the relevance of
culturally specific information technology for the African American male.
Hip Hop Culture and the Internet are two of the most influential
phenomena of the past 25 years. Does Hip Hop Culture influence the
Internet usage of African American male college students? This study
examined the Internet usage of African American male college
undergraduates who participate in Hip Hop Culture. Specifically, this
study investigated how African American male college students interact
with the Internet to obtain Hip Hop Culture to gratify their desire for
culturally related content.

The uses and gratifications approach was coupled with Ludenic
(play) theory to create a theoretical framework for the study. This
framework allowed the researcher to differentiate the roles of interactivity
and play in both Hip Hop Culture and the use of the Internet. This

framework facilitated this researcher’s empirical assessment of the

expectations, needs, and uses and gratifications of the African American
male college students in this study.

The methodology involved the use of focus groups of African
American male undergraduate college students. Some were selected from
participants from various Historically Black Colleges and Universities
(HBCUS) in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) Summer
Research Opportunity Program (SROP). Other subjects were selected from
a predominately white midwestern institution (PWI).

The data from the focus group sessions were examined with the
assistance of the statistical program CatPac (Category Package). This
program employs cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling (MDS).
CatPac Statistical software was used to analyze the subjects’ perceptions
of the influence of Hip Hop Culture on their Internet usage as well as the
uses and gratifications of their Internet usage. The focus group summary
method was applied to the focus groups’ conversational transcripts to
complement the quantitative analysis of CatPac.

This study pioneers a culturally specific approach as an intervention
strategy to narrow the digital divide. The results of the study indicate that
Hip Hop Culture does influence the subjects’ use ofthe Internet. Results
also indicate that content can be the driver, even when connectivity is an
issue. If African American males are to fully participate in the global
economy, as well as our national political and social structures, then their

levels of Internet use and access must be increased.

Copyfightby
ALLISON CLARK

2002

Dedicated to
My godsons,
William Perry and Charlie Perry II
In Loving Memory of Their Mother,

Queen Candace

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank those who supported me thrOughout the writing
process. I would like to thank my Committee Chairperson, Dr. Thomas
Muth. Thank you for encouraging me with words of support and wisdom.
Thank you to my Dissertation Director, Dr. Geneva Smitherman, and a
bad sista—I hope I can be halfthe scholar that you are. To my remaining
committee members, Dr. Bonnie Reece and Dr. Larry Redd, thank you for
your guidance and constructive comments, but mostly for believing in me.

I would like to acknowledge the financial support received from the
National Science Foundation under award number 0089592. Thank you.

Thanks also to Nancy Ashley, for helping me keep all of the MSU
deadlines and procedures. Thanks to Marilyn Britt for sanity checks and
encouragement. Much thanks to my NCSA family, especially Stephanie
Drake, Steve Kleinvehn, Cristina Beldica, Tim Wentling, Shirley Shore,
George Estes, Jeff Carpenter, Jackie Kern, Alex Farthing, Scott Lathrop.
and Tom Prudhomme.

Thanks to my friends that kept me fed—Cheryl Melchi, Sharon Tettegah,
and Chris Brown. Additional thanks to Chris Brown who not only cooked
but also read drafts and commented on the document. Thanks to Jeri
Kyle—more pray, more power.

To Bryant York, computer scientist, mentor, and friend—you believed and
you made this happen.

Special thanks to my on-again, off-again midwife and birth coach, Derrick
Weathersby.

Thanks to my family, especially to Aunt Ethel, who believed and
encouraged me all along. To my mom, whose scholarly advice to me as I
was growing up was, “They got theirs, you tryin’ to get yours.” Well
Mom, I finally got mine!

To Jesus the Christ, You are my first love.

vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER l—INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1
Problem Statement ........................................................................................................ 2
Significance and Purpose of the Study ......................................................................... 5
Organization of the Study ........................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER 2—REVIEW OF LITERATURE .................................................................. 11
Digital Divide .............................................................................................................. 12
History of the Internet ................................................................................................. 16
Hip Hop Culture .......................................................................................................... 18
F lippin’ the Script on Technology Through Participatory Development ................... 27
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Predominately White Institutions 34
The Role of Play on the Internet and in Hip Hop Culture .......................................... 36

CHAPTER 3—THEORY, RESEARCH, DESIGN, AND METHODOLOGY ............... 41
Theoretical Framework—Uses and Gratifications Theory/Approach and
Play/Ludenic Theory ................................................................................................... 41
Research and Analysis Design .................................................................................... 47

Focus Groups ........................................................................................................ 47
Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis ................................................... 49
Statistical Package and Focus Group Summary ................................................... 50
Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 51
Method ........................................................................................................................ 52
Pretest and Instrumentation Development ............................................................ 52
Subjects ................................................................................................................. 53
Procedure .............................................................................................................. 55
Location ................................................................................................................ 56
Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 58

CHAPTER 4—RESULTS ................................................................................................ 60
Presentation of PWI Focus Groups’ CatPac Data ....................................................... 61
Presentation of HBCU Focus Groups’ CatPac Data ................................................... 65
Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 69

Research Question 1 ............................................................................................. 70
Research Question 2 ............................................................................................. 77
Research Question 3 ............................................................................................. 85

vii

CHAPTER 5—DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY .......................................................... 92

Overview of Study ...................................................................................................... 92
Play and Interactivity of Hip Hop and the Internet ..................................................... 95
Discussion of Findings ................................................................................................ 96
Issues of Access ........................................................................................................ 100
Unintended Gratifications: Impact of Culturally Specific Approach on
Nonusers of the Internet ............................................................................................ 104
Conclusion and Future Implications ......................................................................... 107
APPENDIX A—GLOSSARY OF HIP HOP TERMS ................................................... 112
APPENDIX B—FOCUS GROUP QUESTION GUIDE ............................................... 115
APPENDIX C—CONSENT FORM .............................................................................. 116
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 118

viii

LIST OF TABLES

Table l. PWI Focus Groups’ Word Frequency Table ...................................................... 62
Table 2. HBCU Focus Groups’ Word Frequency Table ................................................... 67
Table 3. PWI Focus Group Subcluster lb—Use Web for Hip Hop ................................. 70
Table 4. HBCU Subcluster 1b—Use Web for Hip Hop ................................................... 76
Table 5. PW] Subcluster 2b—Use Internet When Want Music ....................................... 78
Table 6. PW] Subcluster 2C—Use Internet for School .................................................... 80
Table 7. HBCU Subcluster la—Use of Internet for Mail and Class ................................ 83
Table 8. HBCU Subcluster 2b——Like to Have the Internet for School Use ..................... 84

Table 9. PWI Focus Groups Subcluster la—Views on Intemet’s Impact on African
American Male Nonusers ....................................................................................... 106

ix

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Hip Hop and the Internet Uses and Gratifications Conceptual Model .............. 46

Figure 2. PWI Focus Groups’ Dendogram of Influences of Hip Hop Culture
on Internet Usage ...................................................................................................... 65

Figure 3. HBCU Focus Groups’ Dendogram of Influences of Hip Hop Culture on
Internet Usage ........................................................................................................... 69

CHAPTER l—INTRODUCTION

“The Internet represents the most important technological
development of our generation (emphasis added); its effects may surpass
those of television and could, over the decades, equal the influence of the
printing press” (UCLA Center for Communication Policy, 2000, p. 1). The
rapid growth of information technology has impacted the world and has
changed the way society functions. Prior to the creation of the Internet,
computers were used to work with self-contained files and information.
Computers are now used as an interactive communication too].

To date, Moore’s 19605 law predicting that computer chip
capability would double every 18 months has held fast. Although Moore’s
Law was not created to address the social implications of technology, it
does demonstrate how the creation of a simple computer chip has
impacted society. Computers will continue to rapidly become more
powerful, pervasive, and ubiquitous. The astonishingly accelerated growth
rate of information technology has fueled debates on social justice
issues—such as digital equity. Continued rapid growth could prove to be a
detriment to the African American male if creative measures are not
taken. The concern of digital equity for all US. citizens has led to
numerous commissioned studies, symposia, and workshops by government
and the private sector (see National Telecommunication and Information
Administration [NTIA], 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000; Pew Internet &

American Life Project, 2001; Web-Based Education Commission [WBEC],

2000; Booz Allen & Hamilton, The Gallup Organization, & EVAXX Inc.,
2000; Myers, 2000). It was the Department of Commerce’s NTIA surveys,
“Falling Through the Net 1—3” and “Falling Through the Net: Toward
Digital Inclusion,” that investigated the phenomenon of digital inequity.
It was the 1998 report, “Falling Through the Net II: New Data on the
Digital Divide” that officiallyused the term Digital Divide for the first
time. Digital Divide refers to the gap between those Americans who have
access to and effectively use information technologies and those who do
not have access (NTIA, 2000). Although the Department of Commerce’s
commissioned studies on the Digital Divide indicated that African
Americans have increased their access to the Internet, they still lag behind
in Internet access as compared to white Americans (NTIA, 2000). The
aforementioned studies clearly demonstrate that the Internet can provide a

vast opportunity or a threat.
Problem Statement

Information Technology will be one of the key factors driving
progress in the 21St century...lt will provide a vehicle for
economic growth. (President's Information Technology
Advisory Committee, 1999, p. l)

The Internet is rapidly changing the way the world conducts
business———the most menial job will soon require the use of technology.
Because America is shifting from an industrial economy to an information

economy, computer literacy will be necessary for survival.

Although the Internet has improved our quality of life by impacting
the way we work, learn, and play, it also threatens to further exacerbate
the problems of African Americans by moving them toward a permanently
disadvantaged caste status (NTIA, 1999). “Since emancipation, blacks
have operated at the margins of the industrial economy...As wealth in this
country shifts toward an information economy, the question is whether
blacks will be once more relegated to a fringe position” (Slater, 1994, p.
96). PBS’s website, Life on the Internet, demonstrates the impact of the
Internet on every citizen of the world. The Internet is fast becoming a way
of life. It has changed the way we communicate, learn, and conduct
business:

And even as the Internet offers a singe Global Village, it

threatens to create a 2nd class citizenship among those

without access. As a new generation grows up as accustomed

to communicating through a keyboard as in person, life on the

Internet will become an increasingly important part of life on
Earth (PBS, 2000).

Blacks could become part of this second-class citizenship if action is not
taken to bring them from the historical fringe of technology.

Results of the 2001 Pew Research Center’s report, African-
Americans and the Internet, indicate a severe shortage of African
American males online. Women of all races—including African American
women—are predominant among new Internet users. However, it must be
noted that according to the United States 2000 Census Report, the female

population outnumbers the male population, with 100 females for every

96.3 males. For African Americans, there are 90.5 African American
males for every 100 African American females.

Of the 7.5 million African Americans online, 4 million are women.
Just as women of all races are predominant among new Internet users, so
too are African American women.

In just the past six months, about 1.2 million African-

American women accessed the Internet for the first time,

compared to approximately 750,000 African-American men.

That has opened up a notable gender gap in the black online

population and this represents a different situation from the

one that has taken place in the online white population.

Among white Internet users there is an even split between the
sexes (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2001, p. 6).

Research on what will motivate African American males to “log on”
is imperative. If this trend does not change, it could prove to have a
detrimental impact on the African American community. The Internet has
crossed international borders. If African American males are to fully
participate in the global economy, as well as in our national political and
social structure, then their levels of Internet use and access must be
increased.

Early research on African Americans and the Internet dealt with
issues of access to physical infrastructure. Recent research examines what
African Americans do once they are online. Research on what actually
motivates, or would motivate, African Americans to go online is scarce,
particularly with regard to African American males. Evidence is emerging
that mere access is not enough. In the groundbreaking book, Technicolor:

Race, Technology, and Everyday Life, the editors move beyond the

dominant paradigm of race, economics, and technology. They point out
that although African Americans have been labeled as victims of
technology, this label should not be used to justify how technology and
information are distributed. “...historically people of color have been
casualties of technologically enabled systems of oppression, from colonial
expansion, to the racial sciences of craniology and phrenology, to
surveillance and information gathering” (Nelson, Tu, & Hines, 2001, p.
3). The Internet could break the negative impact that technology has had
on the African American community. The technology of the Internet has
the potential to act as a powerful economic empowerment tool for the
African American community. Perhaps African American culture is the
incentive needed to connect African Americans to technology.
Specifically, Hip Hop Culture may be a culturally specific approach that
is needed to attract more young African American males to the Internet.
Chapter 2 discusses the relevant technology as well as the literature of

Hip Hop Culture.
Significance and Purpose of the Study

Although there is an abundance of literature on Hip Hop Culture
and on the Internet, there is a dearth of literature on Hip Hop Culture and
the Internet. The data from this study lay a foundation to generate
hypotheses in this untapped area of research (Morgan, 1988, 1993).

The purpose of this study is to begin to build a body of knowledge

to address an important research issue: how to create and assess a

culturally specific information technology base for the African American
male. This study examined the Internet usage of African American male
college undergraduates who participate in Hip Hop Culture. Specifically,
this study investigated how African American male college students
interact with the Internet to obtain Hip Hop Culture to gratify their desire
for culturally related content. There are researchers who believe that
computer technology is a way to reach the disenfranchised African
American male youth (Bialo & Sivin, 1989a; Carver, 1999; Casey, 1992).
In Carver’s study of young African American males’ use of computers, he
found that the students reported positive feelings about the social
interactions that occurred during their computer usage. He identified the
need for a “degree of social interaction, or cooperative learning” (1999, p.
26) as being one of the primary components that have an effect on the
African American males’ learning while using computers.

In Who Am I? The Development of the African American Male
Identity, Corbin and Pruitt (1999) explore factors that contribute to an
African American male’s perception of his identity. Several of these
identity factors are relevant to this study—the importance of peers,
“coolness,” and masculinity. These dynamics help to compensate for
feelings of insecurity in a Eurocentric world. The “cool pose” describes
the style, language, clothing, and overall attitude and demeanor of African
American males. A foundation is laid to have a sense of personal

achievement and self-worth. The cool pose further separates them from

the Eurocentric world. The cool pose is an essential component of Hip
Hop Culture.

Corbin and Pruitt go on to acknowledge the influence and impact of
Hip Hop Culture on African American males. “It is the connection
between the young African American male and rap artist that contributes
to the development of the young African American male identity. Some
adults have identified this connection and have worked to establish
programs that promote positive identity development” (Corbin & Pruitt,
l999,p.75)

Hip Hop Culture and the Internet are two of the most influential
phenomena of the past 25 years. Both were relatively unknown to the
general public at their inception but have had significant international
impact within the last 10 years (D & Jah, 1997; Hardy, 1993; Leiner et
al., 2000; PBS, 2000). If the Internet is the great societal equalizer
(NTIA, 2000) and if Hip Hop music is the soundtrack of generation X
(Rebensdorf, 1997), can the cool pose of Hip Hop Culture influence
Internet usage of African American male college students? This study
attempts to answer this question by examining the Internet usage of
African American male college undergraduates who are participants in
Hip Hop Culture. It utilizes a combination of a theoretical framework of
uses and gratifications as well as play or Ludenic theory. This study

describes the subjects’ views on how Hip Hop Culture has influenced their

use of the Internet. This study also examines the Internet uses and
gratifications of the participants.

It is this researcher’s contention that computer technology must be
made relevant to young African American males, beyond the few
educational models that currently exist. Hip Hop Culture is a way of life
for the majority of African American males youth. Hip Hop possesses the
assets of coolness (Corbin & Pruitt, 1999) and the social interaction
(Carver, 1999) that researchers have deemed important to the young
African American male computer user. Coolness is a critical attribute of
maleness for black males. especially youth. The cool pose and social
interaction are traits of Hip Hop Culture. The combination of social
interaction and coolness have the potential to make computer technology
relevant to African American males. Hip Hop Culture has the power to
make computing cool. Therefore, it is feasible to conjecture that computer
technology can be combined with Hip Hop Culture to make it appealing to
this population. Hip Hop Culture appears to have the potential to entice
these youth into becoming technological creators and innovators through a
process known as participatory development. The philosophy of
participatory development is that social capital is built by the
contributions of all citizens. Decisions are made by all participants and
not by those who are in power. Perhaps young African American males
can “flip the script” (modern slang for semantic inversion, which is the

manipulation or rhetorical maneuvering of the semantic structure of

European American language [EAL] [Smitherman, 1997]) on the Internet
by displaying the same ingenuity they used on language and music
technology to make it their own.

As mentioned, the purpose of this study is to begin to build a body
of knowledge that is intended to address an important research issue: how
to create and assess culturally specific information technology for the
African American male. Towards this end, this study examined whether
culturally specific content, Hip Hop Culture, attracts African American
male college students to use the Internet. The methodology involved the
use of focus groups of African American male college students who were
selected from participants in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
(CIC) Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), who are from
various Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUS) and from a
predominately white midwestern institution (PWI).

The data from four separate focus group sessions were examined
with the assistance of the statistical program CatPac (Category Package).
This program employs cluster analysis and the multidimensional scaling
(MDS) method. CatPac statistical software was used to analyze the
African American male undergraduates’ perceptions of the influence of
Hip Hop Culture on their Internet usage and the uses and gratifications of
their Internet usage. The focus group summary method was applied to the
transcripts of the focus group sessions to complement the quantitative

analysis of CatPac.

This study pioneers a culturally specific approach to information
technology. The results generated from this study could allow researchers
to construct more research questions, hypotheses, and data in the specific
area of Hip Hop Culture’s influence on Internet usage by African

American male college students.
Organization of the Study

Chapter Two is a discussion of the relevant literature. Included is
research focusing on the Digital Divide. The history of the Internet is then
reviewed. Hip Hop Culture and the technological innovations created by
this culture are discussed. The application of participatory development in
flippin’ the technological script in the lives of African American males is
examined.'The chapter ends with a review of the role of play on the
Internet and in Hip Hop Culture.

Chapter Three presents the conceptual framework, theory, and
research questions of the study. It describes the research methodology,
data collection, and analysis.

Chapter Four presents the results of the study.

Chapter Five presents a discussion, summary, and implications of

the results as well as directions for future research.

10

CHAPTER 2—REVIEW OF LITERATURE

General academic research on the social, economic, and political
impact of cyberspace is just emerging. Therefore it is no surprise that
there have been few investigations regarding race. As noted in chapter 1,
existing research that addresses African Americans and the Internet is
primarily limited to issues of access to infrastructure. The critical study
of race in cyberspace is an emerging field of study for academics.

There is an abundance of literature regarding the social malaise of
the young African American male and the need for programs and policies
to rectify the situation (Blake & Darling, 1994; Corbin & Pruitt, 1999;
Gibbs, 1984; Oliver, 1989). According to these researchers, African
American males have poor educational backgrounds, low SAT scores, and
low earning potentials. The African American male has been labeled “at
risk,” an “endangered species,” and even a “menace to society.” There are
researchers who believe that computer technology is a way to reach these
youth (Bialo & Sivin, 1989a; Carver, 1999; Casey, 1992). However,
current technological innovations threaten to further exacerbate the
problems of young African American males by moving them toward a
permanently disadvantaged caste status (NTIA, 1999). As emphasized in
chapter 1, the Internet has changed the way society functions. It has
improved our quality of life by impacting the way we work and play. It is
crucial, therefore, that digital equity is ensured for all citizens. “Schools

use the Internet as a vast electronic library, with untold possibilities.

11

Doctors use the Internet to consult with colleagues half a world away”

(PBS, 2000).

Digital Divide

The term digital divide refers to the gap between those Americans
who have access to and effectively use information technologies and those
who have not (NTIA, 2000). Two Department of Commerce surveys,
Falling Through the Net 1—3 and Falling Through the Net: Toward Digital
Inclusion, investigated this phenomenon. Although the Department of
Commerce-commissioned studies on the digital divide (NTIA, 1995, 1998,
1999, 2000) indicated that African Americans have increased their access
to the Internet, they still lagbehind in Internet access as compared to
white Americans (NTIA, 2000). From December 1998 to August 2000, the
numbers have increased for white non-Hispanic Americans from 29.8% to
46.1%, an expansion rate of 58.5% (NTIA, 2000). Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders lead in access with a gain from 36.0% to 56.8%. During
this same time period, African American access rose from 11.2% to
23.5%, an expansion rate of 109.8%.

The results of the 2001 Pew Research Center’s report, African-
Americans and the Internet, contains the most recent data specific to
African American’s access and use of the Internet. During the year 2001,
48% of the 7.5 million African American computer users logged on to the
Web for the first time. The majority of online users of this community are

African American women at 56% of the total number of Black users. In

12

the African American online community. 61% of first-time users were
Black women.

The Pew Report was the first report to survey what'African
Americans were actually doing online once they gained access to the
Internet. More than their white online counterparts, online Blacks
download music and audio and video clips, seek spiritual or religious
information, and become educated on health care and hobbies. Although
Blacks use email to sustain relationships with family and friends, they are
less likely to use email than whites to sustain friendships.

The rapid gains in Internet access and use by African Americans are
encouraging. However, the report notes, “Despite this substantial growth,
African Americans still .lag behind their white counterparts in Internet
access and computer use” (Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2001, p.
6). White users of computers are at 63%, while a little over 50% of
African Americans use computers. Internet access for rural African
Americans stands at 22%, compared to 41% of suburban and 35% of urban
African Americans who have online access.

The have-nots of the digital divide need more than access to the
Internet. Darien Dash, pioneer and activist in the Internet community and
founder of Digital Mafia Entertainment, has demonstrated in his work that
it takes more than access to the Internet to draw African Americans to it.
African Americans, like other ethnic groups, desire culturally relevant

content on the Internet. As a panelist at the National Telecommunications

13

and Information Administration’s Digital Divide Summit, Darien Dash
stated, “There is a void in content, information, and services that would
attach greater value to the interactive experience of minorities”
(Department of Commerce, 1999, website).

The limited literature suggests that all college students are more
likely to have Internet access than noncollege attendees (Rebensdorf,
1997; Teslik, 1998). Therefore one can surmise that more African
American male college undergraduates have Internet access than African
American males not attending college. This study begins to build an
African American male Internet user paradigm by examining members of
this population who have access to the Internet. Future studies can build
on the results of this study by investigating the use of Hip Hop to attract
African American male nonUsers to the Internet.

The Internet has evolved into a mass communication medium
similar to print and traditional broadcast (Morris & Ogan, 1996). As with
print and electronic media, societal inequities have been magnified by the
Internet. It could be stated that the digital divide has an affinity with the
knowledge gap media theory. McQuail observes in “Sociology of Mass
Communication” (1985), that knowledge gap refers to the correspondences
between media use and information levels obtained by the information
rich—the haves—and the information poor—the have-nots. In other
words, those who already know how to glean information from media, the

educated information rich, continue to gain more information from the

14

media—thus widening the gap between themselves and those who don’t
have information or know how to seek it. This knowledge gap may close
or widen over time (McQuail, 1985). According to the 1999 Department of
Commerce NTIA report, during the period from 1997 to 1998 the level of
access to the Internet, between those with the highest and lowest levels of
education, widened by 25%.

The social, economic, and political implications of a continuing gap
between those with access and those without access to the Internet are
staggering, given current demographic projections. The October 2000
NTIA supplemental report indicates that white American individuals lead
in Internet use (emphasis added) with 50.3%. Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders follow with 49.4%, then African American non-Hispanics with
29.3%, and Hispanics with 23.7%. The only populations with use rates
higher than their household online connections were African Americans
and whites at 23.5% and 46.1%, respectively (NTIA, 2000). The more
recent findings of the 2001 Pew Research Center report on African
Americans’ use of the Internet indicate that more African Americans (a
little over 50%) have logged on since the NITA October 2000 report, but
they still lag behind the 63% of whites who have logged on. Creative
programs and policies are needed to narrow the digital divide by creating
digital equity. This is a complex issue requiring expertise in a number of

disciplines. This study begins to identify the motivation of African

15

American male college students to engage in the use of the Internet and

possible ways to increase and expand that usage.
History of the Internet

In 1969 the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) ofthe
US. government conceived a Cold War project that would later become
the Internet. The original purpose of the Internet, then known as the
Advanced Research Projects Agency Network or ARPAnet, was to create a
command structure that was centralized and controlled for the United
States Armed Forces (Hardy, I993). The ARPAnet’s original design
enabled decentralization from the mainframe computer concept to a peer-
to-peer structure. This new network allowed research computers at one
university to communicate with research computers at other universities
(Leiner et al., 2000; Zakon, 2000). In 1972 Vinton Cerf was elected the
first chairman of the InterNetworking Working Group (INWG). This
organization was charged with setting the standards that would govern the
growing network. Cerf later became known as the “Father of the Internet”
(PBS, 2000). The ARPAnet project did not anticipate the popularity of
electronic mail, which became the most widely used application on the
Internet (Leiner et al., 2000). This is significant, as the founders of the
Internet did not foresee the potential impact of the Internet beyond its
original purpose. This indicates that there are many unexplored
applications ofthe Internet that can unexpected impacts various

communities.

16

The next Internet historical milestone occurred in 1976 with the
creation of UNIX-to-UNIX-copy protocol (UUCP) by Mike Lesk of AT&T
Bell Labs. UUCP was later improved to enable users to log on remotely,
transfer files. and send and receive electronic mail (Hardy, 1993; PBS,
2000).

Between 1982 and 1987 Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn were key members
of the team that created Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP), which is the common language of all Internet computers.
TCP/IP enables computers to communicate with each other, thereby
forming a network. This particular capability created the Internet as we
know it today (PBS, 2000).

The innovation and further refinement of the Internet continued
through government-funded programs. The Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and
various university computer scientists created the Computer Science
Research Network (CSNET) so that major universities could connect to
ARPAnet sites. These connections gave those universities advantages in
recruiting students and conducting research (Hardy, 1993; PBS, 2000).
NSF then issued a request for proposals inviting universities to participate
in CSNET.

As access to the Net increased, so did innovation. UNIX User
Network (Usenet) implemented the UUCP Protocol to provide news and

items of interest to participants. The Because It’s Time network

17

(BITNET) was started by City University of New York (CUNY). BITNET
used email to distribute information to its participants; the mechanism
used to distribute BITNET email is known as listserv (Hardy, 1993). In
1977—1978 Ward Christianson created the first computer bulletin board
system (BBS), which became another popular forum on the Internet
(Hardy, 1993).

The most popular portion of the Internet is the World Wide Web
(Leiner et al., 2000; PBS, 2000). Tim Berners-Lee saw the value in
combining the concept of the Internet with hypertext to present
information in a nonsequential manner (Leiner et al., 2000). Marc
Andreesen was a member of the team at the National Center for
Supercomputing Applications-(NCSA) that built on hypertext technology
to create NCSA Mosaic, the first graphical browser for the World Wide
Web (PBS, 2000). Mosaic enabled users to access millions of pages of
information. Thirty years after its earliest incarnation, the Internet is a
public communications network available to hundreds of millions of

people worldwide.
Hip Hop Culture

Hip Hop was incubated in the milieu of racial tensions, urban
decay, and economic and political strife during the mid-19705 in the
South Bronx. Hip Hop was a form of expression and self-identification for
the disenfranchised African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Puerto Rican

youth who had been involved in involuntary massive relocations to the

18

South Bronx in the name of urban renewal (Rose, 1994). Hip Hop headz
(or experts) agree that Hip Hop Culture consists of four categories of
expression that are rooted in African American popular culture: (a)
graffiti, an urban form of art where words and pictures are drawn with
spray paint on walls, trains, and other urban “bulletin boards”; (b) break
dancing, a specific style of dance that is often very athletic and almost
always done to music created by Hip Hop DJS or MCs; dancers snap their
joints into angular positions by “popping” and “locking” them; (c) MCing,
the art of writing and performing rhymes, usually over rhythm-heavy
music; and (d) DJing, the use of turntables to manipulate records and to
create new music.

In Black Noise (1994). Rose expands on the cultural and oral
paradigm of Hip Hop by claiming that the four pillars of Hip Hop
expression are only some facets of Hip Hop Culture. She states, “...Hip
Hop style is black urban renewal” (p. 61). Rose emphasizes that it is
important not to oversimplify the creation of Hip Hop Culture by simply
relegating it to the African American Oral Tradition. Instead, Rose builds
upon previous analyses of Hip Hop that label it (a) as a cultural
expression that extends the African American Oral Tradition, (b) brands it
as counter-capitalistic, or (c) as commercialism. Rose does this to “show
how both postmodern and premodern interpretive frames fail to do justice
to its complexities, and how Hip Hop’s primary properties of flow,

layering, and rupture simultaneously reflect and contest the social roles

19

open to urban inner-city youths at the end of the twentieth century” (p.
22). Flow, layering, and rupture are Rose’s attempt to describe stylistic
continuities among the four pillars (or elements) Of Hip Hop——
breakdancing, graffiti-writing, DJing, and MCing.

Indeed, there were many other factors that contributed to the
creation of Hip Hop Culture—the New York urban terrain in the 19705
and Afro-Diasporic traditions created as a result of Africans being
enslaved in America. The African American oral traditions evolved out of
the enslavement of Africans. It was from these conditions that enslaved
Africans recreated and reshaped the language and music of European
Americans. Smitherman acknowledges the complexities of Hip Hop’s
evolution. Smitherman identifies Hip Hop Culture as more than a form of
cultural expreSsion; it is also a type of resistance discourse. She states,
“The rap music of the Hip Hop Nation simultaneously reflects the cultural
evolution of the Black Oral Tradition and the construction of a
contemporary resistance rhetoric” (Smitherman, 1997, p. 21). The African
American Oral Tradition of storytelling stems from an African orally
oriented background. The crucial difference in American culture lies in
the contrasting mode between African Americans’ oral orientation and
European Americans’ print-oriented culture (Smitherman, 1986).

African American langUage and style are the building blocks of the
oral music tradition. The joy and pain ofthe blues, the freestyle and

improvisation ofjazz, the call and response ofthe Black Church, the

20

toasting and jive talk of radio disc jockeys are the foundations of Hip
Hop. Smitherman (1997) states that because all Black music is central to
the African American community, it has played a major role in shaping
African American Language—therefore the influence of Hip Hop is
nothing new. It is clear that Hip Hop stretches back farther than even
most Hip Hop headz realize. It is therefore important to examine the
validity and origins of the language and style of Black music—African
American Language (AAL).

It was in the environment of the New World that African American
Language (AAL) was created.

Africans in enslavement were forced to use English—their

version of English, that is—as a common language because

the slaver’s practice was to mix Africans from different

ethnic-linguistic groups in order to foil communication and

rebellion. However, enslaved Africans stepped up to the

challenge and made English work for them by creating a new

language using the English language vocabulary. This

counter-language was formed by assigning alternate, and

sometimes oppositional, meanings to English words. It was a

coded language that allowed them to talk about Black

business publicly and even to talk about ole massa himself
right in front of his face (Smitherman, 2000, p. 26).

It has been long recognized by anthropologists, linguists, and
psychologists that language is an extension of one’s culture (Ervin-Tripp
& Mitchell-Kernan, 1977; Labov, 1970, 1972). In traditional African
society the word is imperative; it is fundamental and the fashioning
instrument of society (Smitherman, 1977). For most African Americans,
their language structure has components of what is known as Black

English Vernacular (BEV) or AAL. It is estimated that over 80% of

21

African Americans speak AAL to some extent (Simpkins & Simpkins.
1981).

African American speech has two dimensions: language and style.
For purposes of analysis, linguists separate the two, but they often
overlap. This fact is frequently overlooked in discussions of African
American Language (AAL) (Smitherman, 1986). Language refers to
sounds and grammatical structure, while style refers to the way speakers
put sounds and grammatical structure together to communicate meaning.
“Language is the words, style is what you do with the words”
(Smitherman, 1986, p. 16).

AAL evolved as part of the culturalization process of African
Americans and has been demonstrated by linguists to have structured
syntax and‘grammar (Dillard, 1980; Labov, 1970; Smitherman, 1986,
1997; Cook & Levy, 1973; Labov, 1970). Enslaved Africans attempted to
fit words and sounds of a new language into a basic idiomatic mold and
structure of their native tongue.

The history, development, and evolution of AAL is an interesting
one. In Perspectives on Black English (1980), J. L. Dillard traces the
historical development of AAL linguistically, from the time of the slave
trade to the post-Emancipation era. Similar to Smitherman (1986), Dillard
hypothesized that AAL resulted from a process of pidginization-
creolization. This process occurred because AAL was a language used to

trade between groups of people with different language backgrounds. It is

22

a mixture of the grammars and lexicons of two languages (Dillard, 1980).
A pidgin language has rules and regular sentence constructions, like any
other language. Historically, not many languages have been pidginized,
although theoretically any language can be pidginized.

Pidgin languages arose during the slave trade. Portuguese Trade
Pidgin (Dillard, 1980) was developed to participate in world trade; its
development was driven by economics—not by a commitment to language
structure. Portuguese, French, and English slave traders had to
communicate with Africans who came from 80 different tribes along the
West Coast of Africa (Dillard, 1980). The enslaved Africans were forced
to adopt many of the Portuguese, French, and English words but
maintained-their own grammatical systems. Dillard theorizes that due to
the conditions of the West African slave trade, “it seems reasonable to
believe that Pidgin English was in use in the slave trade by the beginning
of the seventeenth century, if not slightly earlier” (p. 22).

Later, house servants acquired the most standard English given the
proximity to their masters, while Plantation Creole became the dominant
language of field hands (Dillard, 1980). After Emancipation field slaves
simply became agricultural workers and sharecroppers. Under this system
the use of Plantation Creole did not change much.

Today Hip Hop and rap have evolved into a means of political self-

expression for many young African Americans (Cook, 1996; Costello &

23

Wallace, 1990; George, 1992; Hager, 1984; Smitherman, 1997, 2000;
Spencer, 1991).

In African American Culture, creativity is called into existence by
speaking—all dance, religion, and music is produced by oral expression.
One fact is clear—rap music uses language creatively. A classic Hip Hop
song is considered to have “an original use of slang, unusual and
unexpected rhymes, and strong visual imagery” (Hager, 1984, p. 57).
These lyrics were rapped or spoken over preexisting music by artists such
as James Brown, George Clinton, Parliament P-Funk, and The Last Poets,
a trio of formerly incarcerated African Americans, who released
“Hustler’s Convention” (Toop, 2000). “Hustler’s Convention” is
considered a. foundational song of Hip Hop Culture.

Prior to the explosion of rap music the term rap had a different
meaning in the African American community. Rap originally referred to a
man’s creative conversation to a woman for the purposes of seducing her;
it evolved to refer to someone who could speak cleverly and forcefully on
any subject (Smitherman, 2000). Rap music encompasses all these
meanings and more. (The Hip Hop terms rap and DJing are rooted in
Black radio.)

In the African American community, disc jockeys, or DJS, were
looked upon as cultural heroes (Smitherman, 2000; Williams, 1998). The
status of hero can be attributed to their ability to rap—to speak cleverly

and forcefully. “Rhyming and signifying” were ways the DIS entertained

24

their audience (Barlow, 1999). Barlow goes on to give an account of how
Black DJS were hired “because of their mastery of the latest street slang,
or ‘jive talk’, and because of their ability to speak in rhymes” (p. 104).
Signifying can be traced back to West Africa via slavery (Smitherman,
1986). Signifying is best described as humorous verbal warfare that
utilizes barbs and ridicule with the ultimate goal of humiliating one’s
opponent. “The dozens” or “yo’ momma” jokes are the best known
examples of signifying (see Smitherman, “If I'm Lyin, I'm Flyin: An
Introduction to the Art of the Snap,” (1995)).

In Williams’ Legendary Pioneers ofBlack Radio (1998), Black disc
jockeys are dubbed masters of improvisational culture. According to
Williams, improvisational culture is the African American communication
style that is rooted in Central and West African cultures. Black disc
jockeys are likened to the storytelling groits, or tribal oral historians, of
Africa. Radio disc jockeys employ the same technique as the African groit
by “rapping” in narrative form. “The most important aspect of the groits’
performance is audience participation and reaction. Therefore, the groit’s
goal is to both entertain and instruct the audience. Audiences react to oral
performance by establishing a relationship with the groit” (Williams,
l998,p.3)

African American radio disc jockeys also entertained and amused
their audiences with prison-style raps. In The Life: The Lore and Folk

Poetry of the Black Hustler, the authors document “the Toasts,” a form of

25

poetic storytelling prevalent in prisons throughout the 19505 and 19605.
“They are like jokes: no one knows who created them, and everyone has
his own version...good tellers may be highly valued and in much demand”
(Wepman, Newman, & Binderman, 1976, p. 44—45).

The DJS and MCS of Hip Hop Culture continue to be the groits of
the African American community. Rap music reflects the pleasure and
pain of Black life in America; yet Hip Hop Culture has grown into an
international phenomenon. The audience for this form of cultural
expression has grown significantly from the first commercially successful
rap song—“Rappers Delight,” released in October 1979 (George, 1992;
Rose, 1994; Toop, 2000). MCing, or rapping, has had the greatest
commercialsuccess of the four basic elements of Hip Hop. According to
the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) consumer profile
report, the total Hip HOp market for the year 2000 was $14.3 billion. The
RIAA is “a trade association whose members create, manufacture and/or
distribute approximately 90% of all legitimated sound recordings
produced and sold in the United States” (RIAA, 2001). The number one
slot for market share went to Rock with 25% of the market. Rap/Hip Hop
Music buyers replaced Country music consumers as the second largest
segment (12.9%) in domestic sales of sound recordings. Country music
had dominated this position for the previous decade.

As the centuries passed, AAL continued to evolve dynamically. The

language and style of Hip Hop Culture is a continuation of African

26

American oral culture. AAL is the backbone of Hip Hop. Hip Hoppers
contribute to the continued development of African American oral culture
through a technique known as semantic inversion, or, in modern slang,
“flippin’ the script.” Smitherman states that the term semantic inversion
was coined by the late linguist Grace Holt to describe the manipulation or
rhetorical maneuvering of the semantic structure of European American
language (EAL) (Smitherman, 1997). Smitherman cites an example of
flippin’ the script, or semantic inversion, using the word “fat,” spelled
“phat” in Hip Hop. According to Smitherman, “phat” refers to “a person
or thing that is excellent and desirable, reflecting the traditional African
value that human body weight is a good thing, and implicitly rejecting the
Euro-American mainstream, where skinny, not fat, is valued, and
everybody is always on a diet” (Smitherman, 1997, p. 31). Semantic
inversion, or flippin’ the script. is an act of empowerment for the AAL
speaker.
Flippin’ the Script on Technology Through Participatory
Development

Two conflicting camps have emerged regarding the impact of the
Internet on marginal groups in society. There are those who believe that
the Internet will only heighten the current problems of society. Then there
are those who argue that the Internet has the power to create a perfect
cyberworld—a world where race, gender, and class don’t matter. In

Internet or Outernet? Ebo (1998) labels the predicted outcome of these

27

Opposing views as a cybertopia or a cyberghetto. A cyberghetto would
foster the current socioeconomic structure by retaining the present
hierarchy. A cybertopia has the potential to create a new social structure.
Yet Internet researchers are discovering that technology and the Internet
are not the utopia it was originally professed to be, particularly in regard
to race. Race does matter online. “Neither the invisibility nor the
mutability of online identity make it possible for you to escape your ‘real
world’ identity completely...we can’t help but bring our own knowledge,
experiences, and values with us when we log on” (Kolko, Nakamura, &
Rodman, 2000, p. 4).

There are some who argue that technology has not been a friend but
a foe to the Black man. “Technology Versus African-Americans” presents
an historical overview of the negative impact technology has traditionally
had on African Americans from their arrival in the New World (Walton,
1999). It was technological innovation that brought African Americans to
the shores of America. The invention of the caravel, a ship with three
masts and large sails, solved the sailing problems ofthe Portuguese and
allowed them easy travel to West Africa and India. This travel resulted in
the enslavement of Africans—making them the technology of the day.
They were traded as human chattel for other forms of Western technology,
textiles, metals, and firearms. Later, the invention of the cotton gin
became a double-edged sword. It reduced the amount of labor and number

of laborers needed to harvest cotton, thus making the process faster and

28

more cost efficient. However, this forced the northward migration of
Blacks to work in factories that later closed, leaving cities in urban
blight.

Walton wonders if Blacks will be left behind in the Information
Age, particularly African American youth who believe that a Michael

66

Jordan is a lot cooler than a Bill Gates. ...Blacks have participated as
equals in the technological world only as consumers, otherwise existing
on the margins of the ethos that defines the nation, underrepresented as
designers, innovators, and implementers of our systems and machines. As
a group, they have suffered from something that can loosely be called
technological illiteracy” (Walton, 1999, p. 16). Walton acknowledges that
this technological illiteracy is the result, but not the intent, of technology.
He challenges African Americans to find ways to encourage young people
to move beyond consumerism to become full participants in technology.
In order to succeed one must have the ability to exploit
technology—to make the technology culturally relevant. African
Americans demonstrated this ability during the development of FM radio.
Although frequency modulation (FM) radio was invented by Edwin
Armstrong in the 19305, powerful owners—such as NBC—blocked the
development of FM radio. It wasn’t until the 19605, with the combination

of Edwin Armstrong’s perseverance and the economic, social, and

technical climate of the country that FM radio became more attractive.

29

An FM station could be purchased for a lot less money than an AM
station. This made FM appealing to the two most controversial movements
of the day—the Antiwar Movement and the Black Power Movement
(Barlow, 1999). The stations that identified with these movements “did so
by experimenting with ‘underground radio’ formats, [as they were]
initially called by their listeners” (Barlow, 1999, p. 227). These so-called
counterculture radio outlets were located in cities with large college
student populations, such as Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and
Washington DC. These stations were later dubbed “progressive FM.” They
were different from AM stations because they played 33 1/3 rpm LPs
rather than 45 rpm discs. Further, the DJS had control over the play lists,
and the stations supported the local counterculture audiences (Barlow,
1999). African American DJs enjoyed the new freedom that FM radio gave
them by expressing their political views during shows that they created.
The most successful FM station with this type of format was WBLS in
New York. “Its rise to prominence in the country’s largest radio market
during the early 19705 received national attention and set the trend for
black FM radio over the next decade” (Barlow, 1999, p. 233). It was this
so-called counterculture activity that stimulated the African American
community to become early adopters of FM radio.

Nelson, Tu, and Hines (2001) confirm the historical capability of
African Americans who have traditionally overcome the obstacle of

denied access to technology by “making do with what they have” (Nelson,

30

Tu, & Hines, 2001, p. 8). The pioneers of Hip Hop Culture “made do”
with what they had by applying a concept similar to semantic inversion to
music technology. Instead of listening to an album that had only a few
seconds of good beats, DJs took two copies of the same disc, placed them
on two separate turntables and “worked” the sound by orchestrating back
and forth between the turntables. Baker has referred to these practitioners
as rap “technologists” and the medium as “raptechnology” (Baker, 1991).
They adapted the music technology of the 19705 and created a technology
unique to Hip Hop.

Several researchers and scholars have recounted the technological
innovation of early Hip Hop DJs (Baker, 1993; George, 1992; Rose,
1994). DJ Kool Herc was the originator of turntablism. Herc would set up
his massive stereo system in the park and purchase electricity from a
nearby neighbor. Known as HerCulords, his stereo system consisted of two
turntables, a beat box with heavy amplification, and headphones. This
technology, combined with the fast handwork of Herc, would entertain the
crowd for hours. Herc is credited with two innovations that separate rap
music from other popular music: “flippin’ the technological script” by
creating his own sound system (with its own semantically inverted name—
the Herculords) and creating the “break-beat” or “b-beat” (Baker, 1993;
George, 1992; Rose, 1994). The b-beat was the “practice of extending
obscure instrumental breaks that created an endless collage of peak dance

beats or break-beats” (Rose, 1994, p. 51).

31

Grandmaster Flash is credited with creating and perfecting the
technique of “scratching.” Trained to repair electronics at a vocational
high school, Flash reappropriated the technology of the turntable by using
one turntable to move the record back and forth to play with or against the
rhythm of the record playing on the second turntable, creating a
deconstructed sound (Baker, 1993; Rose, 1994).

Just as African Americans were capable of flippin’ the script to
change and adapt both language and music technology to make it their
own, their innovation and creativity can also be applied to the Internet.
given the right circumstances. Historical evidence of the right
circumstances is illustrated with the development of FM Radio.

If diverse communities define and embrace the information

technology that affects them, it is inevitable that these

technologies will reflect the individuality and distinguishing

characteristics—the culture—of these communities. Only

relatively recently has the computing community begun to

recognize and openly discuss that cultural assumptions are

built into computer artifacts and interfaces. For example, the

ubiquitous 'desktop' metaphor is a form familiar to pre-digital

white-collar office workers but not so familiar to many

others. (Institute for African American E-Culture [iAAEC]
website, 2001)

Computing has typically had a “build it and they will come”
mentality. As stated in chapter 1, the philosophy ofparticipatory
development is that social capital is built by the contributions of all
citizens. Participatory development is understood to mean a process of
inquiry and dialogue through which concerned persons (stakeholders)

share ideas in ways that help them have multidimensional perceptions of

32

their own needs. Stakeholders analyze the causes and effects of these
needs so that decisions for effective future common action can be made
(ELDIS, 1998). Participatory Development has been traditionally used in
the so-called Third World countries in the areas of farming, food co-ops,
community gardens, advocacy groups, and other grassroots social and
political change organizations (ELDIS, 1998; The Foundation for
Development Cooperation, 2001; The Participatory Development Forum,
2001).

Creativity and creation have occurred over time among African
Americans, but many African Americans were not allowed to retain
ownership or to receive recognition for their creations. The Internet has
the potential to change this by shifting control of advertising, publication,
and marketing into the hands of the inventors. The mission of the
Participatory Development Forum best describes the power of grass roots
ownership: “We are a network dedicated to promoting a philosophy of
participation that advocates for people’s capacity and right to define and
control their own development in order to achieve social justice and
equality” (The Participatory Development Forum, 2001).

In The History ofthe Net, Hardy quotes Bruce Sterling’s view on
how the Internet was flipped from a postapocalypse communication tool to
a political, social, and economic revolutionary tool: “No one really
planned it this way. Its users made the Internet that way, because they had

the courage to use the network to support their own values, to bend the

33

technology to their own purposes. To serve their own liberty. Their own
convenience, their own amusement. even their own idle pleasure” (Hardy,
1993, website).

Just as its users changed the original purpose of the Internet from a
postapocalypse communication tool of war, young male African American
users can further evolve it. Bolter states, “electronic text is, like an oral
text, dynamic” (1991, p. 59). Hip Hop pioneers demonstrate the
innovative nature of young African American males. This energy can also
be applied to the Internet. Today’s African American males can invent
new uses for the Internet by making it fit their priorities and needs—just
as the forefathers of Hip Hop Culture invented new uses for FM radio.
Historically Black Colleges and Universities and
Predominately White Institutions

Because the subjects for this study were recruited from students
who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUS) and a
Predominately White Institution (PWI), it is important to briefly examine
the literature about Black males in these institutions. The total number of
African American students enrolled in college increased by 3% from 1996
to 1997 (Carlson, 1999). The US. Department of Education reports that
from 1977 to 1997 the number of degrees conferred on African American
male college students rose from 5.2% to 6.7% (National Center for
Education Statistics [NCES], 2000). HBCUs award approximately one-

third of all bachelor’s degrees earned by African Americans (ERIC

34

Clearinghouse on Urban Education [ERIC], 2001, website). HBCUs were
founded with the mission of educating African Americans. There are now
approximately 120 HBCUS. and “in comparison with other colleges,
HBCUS are often under funded” (ERIC, 2001, website).

The digital divide has impacted these African American institutions
as well as individual African Americans. Unfortunately, according to
HBCU technology assessment studies commissioned by the National
Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (Meyers, 2000)
and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund (Booz Allen & Hamilton,
The Gallup Organization, & EVAXX Inc., 2000), the majority of HBCUS
lag behind in Internet access, computer equipment, and technical training
and support. This has a negative impact on the students attending these
schools. Faculty and staff believe that the more technologically equipped
their campuses are, the better the education and opportunities available to
their students (Booz Allen & Hamilton, The Gallup Organization, &
EVAXX Inc., 2000; Meyers, 2000).

Comparison studies have been conducted on African American
males who attend PWIs versus those who attend HBCUs. The research
demonstrates that students at HBCUS are better nurtured due to
relationships with faculty, peer-support networks, and greater
psychological adjustments than their peers at PWIs (Allen, 1985, 1992;
Allen & Haniff, 1991; Gibbs, 1973; Jackson & Swan, 1991). “For males in

Black schools, more emphasis should be placed on the academic-support

35

system, while for males in white schools, more emphasis should be placed
on the social-support component” (Jackson & Swan, 1991, pp. 140-141).
The Internet may impact these attributes of students at both PWIS and
HBCUs. Many of these studies were conducted prior to the current
technological explosion. What role can technology play in leveling the
playing field? This study, which includes the digital haves at PWIS and
the digital have-nots at HBCUS. is perhaps the first step in answering this

question.
The Role of Play on the Internet and in Hip Hop Culture

Play is a vital component of the Internet as well as Hip Hop
Culture. There are several schools of thought regarding play theory. Play
has been described as a spontaneous and creative process of metaphor
construction that communicates identity (Schwartzman, 1982). The classic
theorists of play, Huizinga and Caillois from the late 19505 and early
19605, saw it as activity set apart in time and space from ordinary life.
Prior to Huizinga’s work, scholars considered play to be meaningless.
According to Stephenson (1988), Huizinga considered “playing as a
source of culture, giving rise to useful conventions that permit culture to
evolve and stabilize—it teaches loyalty, competitiveness, and patience”
(p. 46). The act of play is the pursuit of fun—it is an experienced activity
(Combs, 2000).

William Stephenson in The Play Theory ofMass Communication

(1988) first explored the application of play theory to mass media. In this

36

work, Stephenson focuses on the pleasurable rather than informational
aspects of communications. The core postulate of Stephenson’s theory is
that play is fun, or what he deems communication-pleasure. Simply put,
self-enhancement is the goal ofthe audience member. The opposite of
communication-pleasure is communication-pain, or work to achieve a
specific purpose. Stephenson notes that it is important that a clear
distinction be made between the two principles of social control and
convergent selectivity. “I propose that neither social control nor
convergent selectivity can be understood without attending to the play
they enjoin” (Stephenson, 1988, p. 3).

Social control “is made manifest in our inner beliefs and
values....the principle of convergent selectivity is very different. It
concerns new or non-customary modes of behavior, our fads and fancies.
which allow us opportunities to exist for ourselves, to please ourselves,
free to a degree from social control” (Stephenson, 1988, p. 2). Stephenson
feels that mass media play an important role in convergent selectivity.
The Internet facilitates play as creativity, thus engaging the audience in
communication-pleasure and convergent selectivity.

The play theory of mass communication was used in conjunction
with the uses and gratifications theory in a study of Taiwanese college
students’ Internet addiction (Chou & Hsiao, 2000). Although the play
theory of mass communication may be appropriate for more traditional

media, it proves to be problematic in Internet research. Stephenson has

37

characterized communication-pleasure (play) and communication-pain
(work) as oppositional. Yet these two phenomena can sometimes be
juxtaposed during the Internet surfing experience. “Even when ostensibly
at work, individuals seated at their computers can be engrossed in deep
play” (Danet, Ruedenberg, & Rosenbaum-Tamari, 1998, p. 43). An
example of this type of experience as it relates to Hip Hop Culture is
known as play-labor.

In Yo’ Mama '5 Disfunktional.’.' Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban
America, Robin Kelley postulates that the role of play in the lives of
urban African American youth is not simply limited to creativity. In this
population, play is sometimes linked with labor. Kelley labels this play-
labor; he acknowledges that play-labor is not unique to the African
American community.

What I am suggesting, however, is that the pursuit of leisure,

pleasure, and creative expression is labor, and that some

African American urban youth have tried to turn that labor

into cold hard cash. Thus. play has increasingly become, for

some, more than an expression of stylistic innovation, gender

identities, and/or racial and class anger—increasingly it is

viewed as a way to survive economic crisis or a means to
upward mobility. (Kelley, 1997, p. 45)

Kelley states that because of permanent unemployment and the decrease in
public space available for play, these youth have taken play (e.g., sports,
Hip Hop) beyond its pleasure aspects and made a commodity of it (Kelley,
1997). It is apparent that the creativity of Hip Hop involves play. It also
involves labor for some African American males who choose to turn their

Hip Hop skills into a commodity.

38

Perhaps play or Ludenic theory is a more appropriate theory to
couple with the uses and gratifications paradigm when researching the use
of the Internet by African American male Hip Hop headz. Two key
ingredients of play are activity and creativity. Play or Ludenic theory
acknowledges these components of play as crucial. Ludenic theory is
based on the Luddite labor revolt in England during the Nineteenth
Century (Combs, 2000). The people of the Luddite region rebelled against
a system that threatened to take away the recreational aspect of their
lives.

Internet theorists have investigated the Internet from the Ludenic
perspective because they regard the Internet as a medium of play—play
rooted in creativity and interactivity. Combs, author of Play World: The
Emergence of the New Ludenic Age, states that “the way to create, or re-
create, meaning is to revert to play (2000, p. 112). “The Internet, then, is
the latest medium that is the site of play...television play involved passive
watching and learning...Net play involves actively navigating in search of
likeable information or the discarnate company of the like-minded”
(Combs, 2000, pp. 115—116). Combs believes that the embryonic period of
new technology is the best time to study its playfulness before it becomes
familiar, predictable, and routine. For now, the Internet is far from
predictable—offering mediated creative play. Internet researchers Danet,
Ruedenberg, and Rosenbaum-Tamari (1998), Rafaeli (1986, 1988), and

Rafaeli and Sudweeks (1998) claim that interactivity is one of the primary

39

 

V 91“.!“

features of computer-mediated communication (CMC) that fosters
playfulness. This playfulness is inherent to the medium of computers—
causing play to sometimes occur only between the machine and the user
(Danet, Ruedenberg, & Rosenbaum-Tamari, 1998). Dante et al. have
compared digital play with real life play, noting the similarities they
share. “It too is voluntary, intensely absorbing, done of its own sake, and
as we shall see, more or less rule-governed....Cyberspace provides perfect
insulation to maintain a play frame” (p. 43). The nonlinearity of this
medium allows users to play while they order chaos, create, and assemble
knowledge—it is the newest medium of play.

Chapter 3 presents the theoretical framework used for this study.
Sheizaf Rafaeli (1986) was the first to study the Internet from the
theoretical perspective of the uses and gratifications approach coupled
with Ludenic Theory in “The Electronic Bulletin Board: A Computer-
Driven Mass Medium.” In his work, Rafaeli extended the uses and

gratifications approach to Ludenic theory.

40

CHAPTER 3—THEORY, RESEARCH, DESIGN, AND
METHODOLOGY

Theoretical Framework—Uses and Gratifications
Theory/Approach and Play/Ludenic Theory

The theoretical framework for the present study is derived from
Rafaeli’s groundbreaking study mentioned in chapter 2. Specifically,
Rafaeli’s coupling of the uses and gratifications approach with Ludenic
(play) theory was replicated as a theoretical framework for this study.
This framework allowed the researcher to differentiate the roles of
interactivity and play in both Hip Hop Culture and the use of the Internet.
This framework also allowed the researcher to empirically assess the
audience’s expectations. needsfuses. and gratifications in relation to Hip
Hop and the Internet.

It is from the uses and gratification perspective that the focus of
mass communication research shifted from media effects to the social and
psychological functions of the audience. Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch
developed the classic outline of the uses and gratifications paradigm that
is accepted by most media researchers:

(1) the social and psychological origins of (2) needs, which

generate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or other

sources, which lead to (5) differential patterns of media

exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in (6)

need gratifications and (7) other consequences, perhaps
mostly unintended ones. (1974, p. 20)

41

 

The uses and gratifications theory has been criticized by some
(Swanson, 1979a) and defended by others (Katz, 1979) for its theoretical
basis in functionalism. Functional analysis is derived from the
sociological tradition (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974).

Unlike previous theories that emphasized the power of the media,
uses and gratifications research has sought to recognize the important role
of the audience member. Most theorists accept the active audience
postulate of uses and gratifications (Blumler, 1979; Katz, 1979; Katz,
Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974; Swanson, 1979a, 1979b). Three attributes of
early uses and gratifications research continue to make it a robust
theoretical approach: 1) the persons have their own reasons or motives to
voluntarily attend to media; 2) perceived gratifications or met needs
constitute the conceptual basis for a person to attend to media content;
and 3) self-assessment of the subject would generate useful information
about their motives for media use (Swanson, 1992). These foci provide a
foundation for conducting research on the various ways audiences respond
to mass media.

Internet researchers have referenced uses and gratifications as a
suitable theory for conducting new media research (Morris & Ogan, 1996;
Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996). “The single most important characteristic of
interactive media is the active role afforded to members of its audience”
(Rafaeli, 1986, p. 127). As an active audience theory, uses and

gratifications focuses on what a person does with the media, as opposed to

42

theories that examine media effects on the person. The basic premise of
active audience theory is that media effects are mediated by the intent or
motivation of the user. It is the interactivity of the Internet that has
prompted researchers to revive this theory/approach (Chou & Hsiao, 2000;
Ebersole, 1999; Ferguson & Perse, 2000; Ha & James, 1998; Hany, 1996;
Papacharissi & Rubin, 2000; Perse & Dunn, 1998).

Interactivity has been labeled the feedback loop in communication
theories and models (Ebersole, 1999) and is fostered by synchronous (in
real time) and asynchronous (not in real time) communication on the
Internet. “The degree to which participants in a communication process
have control over, and can exchange roles in, their mutual discourse is
called interactivity” (Williams, Rice, & Rogers, 1988, p. 10). It is one of
the “defining qualities of communication on the Net” (Newhagen &
Rafaeli, 1996, p. 4). Some Internet researchers consider interactivity to be
one of the crucial aspects of Net-based communication (Danet,
Ruedenberg, & Rosenbaum-Tamari, 1998; Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996;
Rafaeli, 1988). In fact, Rafaeli (1998) labels feedback as crucial Internet
research.

As stated in chapter 2, interactivity is one of the primary features of
computer-mediated communication (CMC) that fosters playfulness (Danet,
Ruedenberg, & Rosenbaum-Tamari, 1998). It is this element combination
of interactivity and play that prompted Rafaeli to argue that play or

Ludenic theory is an extension of the uses and gratifications approach

43

(1986). Rafaeli claimed that research should go beyond previous
assumptions about the positive or negative effects of electronic bulletin
boards on the audiences that use them. Instead, Rafaeli argued that the
participative and interactive nature of the medium required an
investigation of actual use and motivation for use, with special attention
given to play motivation. It is within these parameters that Rafaeli
attempted to strengthen the theoretical foundation of uses and
gratifications by coupling the interactivity component of the uses and
gratifications approach with Ludenic theory. “In addition to the obvious
questions about the identity and nature of users and uses, there should be
a special interest in the role of fun and play in describing and explaining
such systems’ use” (Rafaeli,'l986, p. 127).

The authors of Research Methods and the New Media acknowledge
that new media require the testing of existing theories and models, but
researchers should also consider alternative models and new theoretical
approaches. “One of the unique characteristics of many new media is their
greater interactivity compared to the conventional mass media. This
greater interactivity in mediated human communication provides an
appropriate setting for developing and testing theories of involvement”
(Williams, Rice, & Rogers, 1988, p. 169). The authors define involvement
as the active participation of an audience in an information-exchange

process.

44

A theoretical framework that extends the uses and gratifications
approach to Ludenic theory is appropriate for the present study because of
the roles of interactivity and play in both Hip Hop Culture and the
Internet. This framework facilitated this researcher’s empirical
assessment of the expectations, needs, and uses and gratifications of the
African American male college students in this study. As illustrated by
the conceptual model (see Figure l), a) Hip Hop Culture influences both
the Internet and the user—and vice versa; b) Hip Hop Culture can
influence users to interact with the Internet in an effort to gratify their
needs for content related to Hip Hop; during this interaction with the
Internet, play is also occurring; c) The dotted arrow depicts the potential
of the interactivity and play of Hip Hop Culture to fuel the interactivity

and play of the Internet.

45

Figure 1. Hip Hop and the Internet Uses and Gratifications Conceptual
Model

 

Hip Hop and the Internet Uses and Gratifications Conceptual Model

Hip Hop Culture

   

Interactivity

     

 

Play

 

The Internet

 

 

 

A priori knowledge indicated that the subject population interacts
with Hip Hop Culture because of the pleasure and play it delivers to them.
Further, African American males value social interaction in regard to
computer use (Carver, 1999). As previously noted, the uses and
gratifications paradigm of Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch identifies several
key factors that impact media use. The aspects relevant to this study are:
the social (emphasis added) and psychological origins of needs (emphasis
added) as well as consequences of Internet use, “perhaps mostly

unintended ones” (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1974, p. 20). This

46

framework allowed the researcher to investigate how the participants
attended to a medium (Internet) when they believed that content (Hip
Hop) would be useful in fulfilling their needs or desired gratifications as
well as unsought needs and gratifications (Swanson, 1992). Research has
confirmed that seeking gratifications is “one ofthe influences that shape
people’s exposure to mass media” (Swanson, 1992, p. 311). Influence can
be viewed as “the fundamental intervening variable for the analysis of
decision-making” (March, 1955, p. 432). In the context of this study,
influence was viewed as the student’s decision-making process of using
the Internet to seek content related to Hip Hop Culture. In sum, a
framework coupling the uses and gratifications approach with Ludenic
theory provided the theoretical rationale for this investigation of the
influence of Hip Hop Culture on Internet use by African American male

college undergraduates.

Research and Analysis Design

Focus Groups

The essence of Hip Hop music is the combination of language and
posturing with the dynamic interaction of the group (Hager, 1984). The
focus group method was well suited for this study (Stewart, 1990), as it is
a socially oriented research procedure that enables participants to interact
with each other while the investigator captures this interaction (Morgan,

1988). The synergy and interactivity of the focus group method allowed

47

the researcher to uncover relationships between Hip Hop Culture and the
Internet that would not have been revealed in the survey or interview
method. The focus group method is also cost effective and can produce
useful data without the interference of the researcher (Morgan, 1988;
Stewart, 1990). This method allowed the participants to freely discuss
issues related to Hip Hop Culture and the Internet. The free exchange of
information allowed the participants to self-report their usage and
gratifications behavior in regard to the Internet. Unlike the survey or
interview method, focus groups can provide rich data in a stimulating
atmosphere (Garrison, Pierce, Monroe, & Sasseretal, 1999; Morgan,
1997). As noted earlier, the ability of an audience member to report on
their media experience is an important aspect of the uses and
gratificati‘Ons approach. Swanson states that “...the belief in the ability of
audience members to provide information about why they attend to mass
media has endured as a methodological principle of uses and gratifications
research” (Swanson, 1992, p. 307).

Limitations of the focus group method include less control over the
data generated and the issue of whether group interactions actually reflect
an individual’s feelings on issues being discussed. The researcher
controlled these limitations by defining the discussion topics (Morgan,
1988). The researcher was also cautious in attempting to generalize focus
group findings to larger populations (Stewart, 1990). Focus Groups: A

Practical Guide for Applied Research was used as the primary step-by-

48

step guide to conduct the focus group research for this study (Krueger &

Casey, 2000).

Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis

This study utilized the multidimensional scaling (MDS) method and
cluster analysis to analyze data generated from the focus groups. MDS has
been used primarily in psychology and marketing research (Borg &
Groenen, 1997; Punj & Stewart, 1989). MDS analyzes similarities or
dissimilarities in data by systematizing it to reveal patterns in the data as
points presented in a spatial map (Borg & Groenen, 1997; Coombs, 1958;
Schiffman, Reynolds, & Young, 1981). Researchers use multidimensional
scaling “to help uncover patterns or structures in a matrix of behavioral
data” (Williams, 1973, p. 499).

C. H. Coombs laid the foundation for MDS analysis of similarities
in An Application ofa Nonmetric Modelfor Multidimensional Analysis of
Similarities. He states “whether one defines similarity in terms of one of
these response measures or whether one wishes to study the functional
relation of one of these measures to similarity otherwise defined, the
typical procedure is to construct a transformation, called a distance
function, which converts the observations into measures of distance”
(Coombs, 1958, p. 515). The geometrical relations among the data points
reveal the salient features of the phenomenon (Schiffman, Reynolds, &

Young, 1981; Williams, 1973; Young & Hamer, 1987).

49

Cluster analysis, an empirical method for classification, has also
been used in marketing research (Green, Carmone, & Smith, 1989; Punj &
Stewart, 1989). Some theorists (Punj & Stewart, 1989) have criticized
cluster analysis as being ad hoc, that is, it is not rigorous enough to stand
alone as a unit of analysis. However, when combined with MDS, cluster
analysis permits homogeneous clusters to become a unit of analysis (Punj

& Stewart, 1989).

Statistical Package and Focus Group Summary

African American Language (AAL) is the dynamic core of Hip Hop
Culture. The focus group method allowed this researcher to capture
participants” perceptions of Hip Hop Culture and the Internet in their own
language, which sometimes included AAL. These perceptions were
analyzed with the use of CatPac, neural network software that is modeled
on the structure of biological nervous systems (Woelfel, Stoyanoff, &
Danielsen, 1993). CatPac software “makes it possible for computers to
read and understand any text in any language that can be represented in
ASCII characters” (Woelfel, 1998, website). This feature made this
statistical package an appropriate method to analyze text that contains
AAL.

Because CatPac uses MDS and cluster analysis methods, it
generated a perceptual data map comprised of the Language of Wider
Communication (LWC) and AAL that was used during the focus group

session. These perceptual maps aided the researcher in identifying

50

underlying concepts in the spoken discourse generated during the sessions
(Woelfel & Stoyanoff, 1994).

Although CatPac is a robust statistical package, it lacks the
capacity to capture semantic nuances. To overcome this limitation,
qualitative analysis of the focus group discourse supplemented the
quantitative analysis. According to Morgan (1988) there are two methods
of analysis researchers utilize on focus group data—content analysis and
focus group summary that is similar to ethnographic summary. Content
analysis generates a statistical summary of the focus group data (as will
CatPac), while focus group summary relies on quotes from the group
discussions. Morgan believes that “there is generally an additional
strength that comes from combining the two...a basically quantitative
summary of the data is improved immensely by including quotes that
demonstrate the points being made” (p. 64). Focus group summary was

employed to enhance the quantitative analysis of the study.

Research Questions

This study explored Hip Hop Culture’s influence on Internet usage
by African American male college students at a predominately white
university (PWI) and at selected Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUS). It investigated the following research questions:

I. Has Hip Hop Culture influenced African American male college

students’ usage of the Internet?

2. What are the Internet uses and gratifications of the subjects?

51

3. How do the uses and gratifications of students at the PWI

compare with those of students attending the selected HBCUS?

Method

Pretest and Instrumentation Development

Prior to the collection of data, a pretest focus group was conducted
to assist the researcher in developing and refining the focus group guide
(see Appendix B). An informal screening questionnaire was used to
determine the qualifications of the students participating in the focus
groups. To qualify, the subject had to be an African American male
undergraduate between the ages of 18 and 24 who listens to Hip Hop and
uses the Internet.

The pretest focus group had four participants with a mean age of
20. The subjeCts ate pizza, drank soda, and chatted while they completed
the consent form (see Appendix C). The subjects were allowed to ask
questions about the focus group session. The session lasted approximately
one hour. The pretest allowed the moderator/researcher to become
familiar with the focus group, gauge when and how to be flexible—in
other words to make adjustments and be ready for the unexpected as
recommended by Krueger and Casey (2000). An unexpected incident did
occur during the focus group pretest session. The subjects began
discussing what their lives were like prior to their exposure to the

Internet. The researcher realized that changes to the focus group guide

52

that addressed this important issue were appropriate. The findings from
the pretest focus group revealed that Hip Hop Culture did influence their
use of the Internet and that some of their uses and gratifications of the
Internet were comprised of school activities. listening to and downloading

music.

Subjects

The subjects recruited from the PWI and HBCUs had to meet the
same criteria as the pretest focus group. Due to the limited number of
African American male college students, random sampling was not
feasible. Instead, a purposive sample of students was chosen from the PWI
and selected HBCIUS. For the PWI focus groups, volunteers were selected
from a major midwestern university to participate in this study. Students
were recruited from various university classes, the local chapter of the
National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and the University’s Black
Chorus. In an effort to solicit volunteers, the researcher obtained the
permission of professors in charge of these various classes and
organizations to make an announcement about her research project. Once
permission was granted, the researcher attended gatherings of the classes,
NSBE, and the Black Chorus. She explained that her research was about
African American males, Hip Hop Culture, and the Internet. The students
were informed of the requirements for participation in the study. The
volunteers were advised that in exchange for a maximum of 2 hours of

their time they would be given free pizza and sodas. The volunteers were

53

provided an informational flyer about the focus groups. The students were
asked to provide the researcher with their names and contact information.
They were also asked to provide names and contact information for
friends who might be interested in participating in the study—this did
generate additional subjects for the study. Placement of the subjects from
the PWI in the PWI focus group sessions was based on the participants’
availability. Two separate focus group sessions were conducted. The mean
age of the PWI focus group was 20.6. The total number of participants
was 12.

For the HBCU subjects, a convenience sample was recruited from
HBCUs who are participants in the Committee on Institutional
Cooperation (CIC) Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP). The
CIC is the academic consortium of the Big Ten Universities and the
University of Chicago. The SROP is designed to expose undergraduate
minority students to intensive research with a faculty mentor at a CIC
institution (Committee on Institutional Cooperation [CIC], 2001, website).

To seek volunteers for the study, the researcher contacted the head
of the university’s SROP to obtain permission to recruit subjects. Once
permission was granted, the researcher was provided a contact sheet from
the SROP Director to solicit the students. Although there were African
American males in the SROP program, the number from HBCUs was
limited. The total number of African American males in the SROP who

attended an HBCU was eight. It was crucial for the researcher to have

54

100% participation from the SROP HBCU students. Originally, the SROP
students failed to respond to initial email and telephone messages left by
the researcher. It was apparent that personal contact had to be made. The
researcher attended a mandatory meeting for all SROP students. At this
meeting she made the same announcement she had made at the PWI
functions—that she was looking for volunteers who were African
American male undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 24 who listen
to Hip Hop and use the Internet. She emphasized that this study was for
the African American males who attended HBCUs only—not PWIS.
Because the researcher had a list of the HBCU students, she made an
effort to target them specifically. Some of the students were not at the
mandatory meeting, therefore the researcher attended a SROP social
function to recruit all of the subjects. These subjects were also promised
free pizza and soda in exchange for their time. The researcher was
successful in recruiting all eight of the SROP HBCU students for this
study. Two separate HBCU focus groups were conducted. The placement
of the subjects in these focus groups was based on the participants’
availability. The data from both groups were combined for analysis
purposes. The total number of HBCU focus group participants was 8, with

a mean age of 21.4.

Procedure

The PWI focus groups and HBCU focus groups were conducted in

the same manner. The subjects arrived at the selected location and were

55

allowed to eat their pizza and drink their sodas. This was purposeful in
order to provide a relaxed atmosphere while the researcher explained to
the subjects the purpose of the study. During this time the subjects
chatted with each other, read over the consent form, signed it, and were
allowed to ask questions. The session began with an icebreaker question
to begin to steer the conversations towards the research topic. All focus
groups were conducted with the same focus group guide (see Appendix
B). The same location was used to conduct the PWI and HBCU focus
groups. Each group met on separate days in an open forum that facilitated
a free exchange of information and opinions on Hip Hop Culture and the
Internet. Each session ran approximately 1 to 2 hours. The participants
were led by a mediator (the researcher) and were asked to candidly
express their personal views about the research topic. The focus groups
were audio- and videotaped in order to insure accurate transcription of the

data.

Location

The PWI and HBCU focus groups were conducted at a premier
institute for advanced science and technology, located on the selected
midwestern university campus. This institute is a multi- and
interdisciplinary research facility. Research is conducted in the physical
sciences, engineering, life, and behavioral sciences. It is rare to see an
African American male in the building. Many, if not most, of the subjects

who volunteered for this study had never been in the building—even those

56

who were science and technical majors attending school at the major
midwestern university where this research center is located. The impact of
this location on the subjects is discussed in chapter 5.

The conference room where the focus groups were conducted is set
up as an Access Grid node. The Access Grid node is an integrated audio
and visual environment that supports distributed meetings (these are
meetings of persons in various geographical locations who need to meet
without leaving their home locations), remote visualization and
collaboration, and distance education. Equipment needed to run an Access
Grid node includes top-of-the-line personal computers (PCs) to generate
audio and visual display, video capture, audio, and general control of the
setup, three projectors with video capture devices and cameras, and a
wide range of audio devices. Basically, the Access Grid node provides a
videoconference-like environment—but room-to-room instead of person-
to-person, and Access Grid node communication is transmitted via the
Internet. During the session, the researcher ran an IBM 570 ThinkPad
laptop with wireless connection to the Internet in case the focus group
members wanted to connect to a site they were discussing.

At the conclusion of each focus group, the researcher explained to
the participants the purpose of the Access Grid node and described the
program that developed the Access Grid node. The subjects were informed
that the Access Grid node is part of a partnership that is funded by the

National Science Foundation (NSF). The purpose of this partnership is to

57

prototype an advanced computational infrastructure for the Twenty-First
Century. There are approximately 69 campuses with one or more Access
Grid nodes onsite (Argonne National Labs, 2001). The impact and
significance of conducting these focus groups in this location is discussed

in chapter 5.

Data Analysis

The data gathered from the PWI and HBCU focus groups provided
the information needed to address the research questions. A professional
transcriber transcribed the audiotapes. The researcher edited the
transcripts for inaudible data or data not understood by the transcriber
(e.g., names of underground rap artists and groups). She then combined
the transcripts from the two PWI sessions for purposes of analysis. The
same was done with the transcripts from the two HBCU sessions.
Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were conducted using
CatPac software to analyze the transcripts generated from the focus
groups. The researcher also used focus group summary analysis.

As stated previously, the CatPac statistical package is designed to
identify patterns of frequently used words in subject-generated discourse.
The unique words produced from this analysis produced primary
clustering solutions. The primary clustering solutions yielded categories
of words or thematic units. These thematic units consisted of recurring
beliefs or explanations (Stewart, 1990) of the subjects’ use of the

Internet. The researcher used the thematic units generated by CatPac as

58

structure for the focus group summary analysis of the transcripts. For the
focus group summary analysis, the researcher coupled the “cut-and-paste”
or “scissor-and-sort” technique (Stewart, 1990) with the thematic units
generated by CatPac. The researcher initially conducted the cut-and-paste
method by conducting a search of the transcripts using the Find function
of Microsoft Word software to locate words contained in the thematic
units. This text was color coded as it related to the various thematic units.
The researcher also manually reviewed the transcripts to identify and code
those sections relevant to the research questions. The color-coded
material was then moved to its relevant topic category. Transcript sections
were incorporated into the quantitative analysis of the focus groups to

support the descriptive analysis of the data.

59

CHAPTER 4—RESULTS

As stated, this study examined the Internet usage of African
American male undergraduates at selected PWI and HBCUs. This chapter
is a report of the findings from the study. The data were collected and
analyzed by the focus group method. Multidimensional scaling and cluster
analysis, utilizing CatPac software, were used to analyze the discussions
generated by the focus groups.

The CatPac statistical package identified patterns of frequently used
words by the participants of the focus groups. While excluding
conjunctions and other nondescriptive words, CatPac has an automatic
setting to detect the top 25 most frequently used, or unique words
(Woelfel, Stoyanoff, and Danielsen, 1993). CatPac uses the Wards
Clustering Method, based on the total sum of squares, to analyze the high-
frequency words identified. CatPac was used to provide a quantitative
analysis of the data, while focus group summary was used for a
qualitative analysis of the data. This chapter describes the CatPac method
of statistical analysis and presents the thematic units generated by CatPac.
The chapter then expounds on the thematic units by providing focus group
quotes that support and substantiate the thematic units. The researcher
used the focus group summary method described in chapter 3 to select the

focus group quotes.

60

Presentation of PWI Focus Groups’ CatPac Data

Two separate PWI focus group sessions were conducted. Placement
of subjects in the PWI focus group sessions was based on availability.
There were 12 participants in the PWI focus group, with a mean age of
20.6. The participants were majors in architecture, speech
communications, journalism, history, electrical engineering, computer
engineering, math with computer science minors, economics, and
aerospace engineering.

The Wards Clustering Method, based on the total sum of squares,
was used to analyze the 2,752 words generated by the two focus groups.
Table 1 shows the frequency distribution of the verbal responses,
indicating which perceptions occurred most often. The first group of
statistics includes the words factored by Catpac for analysis or total
words in text by the focus groups (2,752), the total unique words used in
the analysis (25), the total episodes or number of windows used in the
analysis (2,243), and the total number oflines analyzed in the focus group
text (908). Catpac uses the clamping technique to ensure that a node
remains turned on, or doesn’t forget the words being scanned.

The second group of statistics reports each unique word by
frequency in the left column. The right column lists these same data in
alphabetical order. For example, the word know was the most frequently
occurring word, occurring 237 times, 8.6% of all occurrences. Therefore,

know appeared in 973 or 43.4% of the scanned windows.

61

Table l. PWI Focus Groups’ Word Frequency Table

Frequency of African American Male Undergraduates ’ Perceptions of Hip Hop Culture ’3
Influence on Their Internet Usage

TOTAL WORDS 2,752 THRESHOLD I 0.000
TOTAL UNIQUE WORDS 25 RESTORING FORCE 0.100
TOTAL EPISODES 2,243 CYCLES 1
TOTAL LINES 908 FUNCTION Sigmoid (-1 - +1)
CLAMPING Yes

Descending Frequency List Alphabetically Sorted List

Word Freq % Freq % Word Freq % Freq %
Know 237 8.6 973 43.4 Can 112 4.1 452 20.2
Have 193 7.0 858 38.3 Computer 139 5.1 584 26.0
Internet 191 6.9 81 1 36.2 Don't 157 5.7 654 29.2
People 179 6.5 788 35.1 G0 107 3.9 517 23.0
Don't 157 5.7 654 29.2 Good 59 2.1 317 14.]
Think 147 5.3 684 30.5 Have 193 7.0 858 38.3
Computer 139 5.1 584 26.0 Hip Hop 119 4.3 505 22.5
Hip Hop 119 4.3 505 22.5 How 74 2.7 387 17.3
Can 112 4.1 452 20.2 I'm 102 3.7 431 19.2
We - 1 12 4.1 493 22.0 Internet 191 6.9 811 36.2
My 11 1 4.0 454 20.2 Know 237 8.6 973 43.4
G0 107 3.9 517 23.0 Listen 62 2.3 210 9.4
I'm 102 3.7 431 19.2 Me 59 2.1 326 14.5
Would 93 3 .4 3 70 16.5 Music 89 3 .2 3 86 17.2
Music 89 3.2 386 17.2 My 1 1 1 4.0 454 20.2
Web 79 2.9 355 15.8 People 179 6.5 788 35.1
Want 75 2.7 394 17.6 School 57 2.1 246 11.0
How 74 2.7 387 17.3 Site 74 2.7 335 14.9
Site 74 2.7 335 14.9 Think 147 5.3 684 30.5
Use 67 2.4 307 13.7 Time 58 2.1 284 12.7
Listen 62 2.3 210 9.4 Use 67 2.4 307 13 .7
Good 59 2.1 317 14.1 Want 75 2.7 394 17.6
Me 59 2.1 326 14.5 We 112 4.1 493 22.0
Time 58 2.1 284 12.7 Web 79 2.9 355 15.8
School 57 2.1 246 1 I .0 Would 93 3 .4 370 16.5

Although the frequency statistics of unique words is interesting, the
list does not lend itself to examination that can detect meaningful

perceptions. CatPac lets us present the frequency statistics in a

62

hierarchical cluster analysis, or dendogram, to illustrate and identify the
unique words used in the data file from the focus group sessions.

Figure 2 presents the dendogram of two primary clustering solutions
yielded by CatPac’s analysis of the unique words generated from the two
combined PWI focus group transcripts. The dendogram results from the
PWI focus groups looks much like a city skyline seen from a distance.
The dendogram creates the skyline formed below the keywords of the text
that read vertically across the top of the page. The dendogram identifies
clusters of concepts by shading in the area directly below those words that
cluster together. More specifically, constructing each of the clusters to
represent a concept, in this instance influence, which is then indicated by
the sets of words across the top of what appears to be the images of
buildings. Each of the clusters grows taller, from the top to the bottom of
the dendogram as it includes more words, making it easy to visually
recognize subclusters (Woelfel, Stoyanoff, and Danielsen, I993).

The dendogram in Figure 2 reveals patterns of association with the
influence of Hip Hop Culture and Internet usage. The dendogram in
Figure 2 is an interesting one. Cluster 1 is comprised of two subclusters.
Subcluster la builds under the words can, computer, know, don’t, have,
people, think, Internet, my, I'm, and g0. Subcluster lb is made up of the
words we, would, hip hop, web, and me. Subcluster 1b suggests that the
participants would use the web when they want to find sites related to Hip

Hop. Subcluster 1a suggests that the participants think that Hip Hop can

63

impact Internet usage, particularly for people who don’t know about
computers. The focus group summary data substantiate the thematic units
produced by the subclusters.

The second cluster helps to interpret the pattern of the first cluster.
The second cluster consists of the words good, listen, site, use, want,
music, school, time, and how. This cluster is made up of three subclusters:
2a) good, listen, and site; subcluster 2b) use, want, and music; and 2c)
school, time, and how. Cluster 2 suggests “how” the participants use the
web—for school and when they want to listen to sites that have good

music, particularly Hip Hop music.

64

Figure 2. PWI Focus Groups’ Dendogram of Influences of Hip Hop
Culture on Internet Usage

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Presentation of HBCU Focus Groups’ CatPac Data

As with the PWI focus groups, two separate HBCU focus group
sessions were conducted with placement based on availability. The total

number of HBCU focus group participants was 8, with a mean age of 21.4.

65

The HBCU participants were majors in sociology. biology. architectural
engineering, mass communications, and English.

As with the PWI focus groups, the Wards Clustering Method was
used to analyze the 1,425 words of conversational text generated by the
HBCU focus groups (see Table 2). Once again the cluster represents the
concept of influence on Internet usage, indicated by the set of words
across the top of the “buildings.” Table 2 lists the 25 total unique words
used in this analysis. The total episodes or number of windows used in the
analysis was 892, while the total number of lines analyzed in the HBCU

focus group text was 407.

66

 

Table 2. HBCU Focus Groups’ Word Frequency Table

Frequency of A fi'ican American Male Undergraduates ' Perceptions of Hip Hop Culture 's
Influence on Their Internet Usage

TOTAL WORDS 1.425 THRESHOLD 0.000
TOTAL UNIQUE WORDS 25 RESTORING FORCE 0.100
TOTAL EPISODES 892 CYCLES 1
TOTAL LINES 470 FUNCTION Sigmoid(-1- +1)
C LAMPING Yes

Descending Frequency List Alphabetically Sorted List

Word Freq % Freq % Word Freq % Freq %
Like 1 10 7.7 401 45.0 About 47 3.3 200 22.4
Internet 105 7.4 335 37.6 Access 38 2.7 130 14.6
Have 86 6.0 322 36.1 At 68 4.8 224 25.1
What 81 5.7 286 32.1 Be 31 2.2 154 17.3
School 78 5.5 271 30.4 Class 33 2.3 102 11.4
In 76 5.3 235 26.3 Get 54 3.8 246 27.6
Use 72 5.1 266 29.8 G0 40 2.8 156 17.5
At 68 4.8 224 25.1 Have 86 6.0 322 36.1
Hip Hop 66 4.6 172 19.3 High 29 2.0 111 12.4
Just 66 4.6 225 25.2 Hip Hop 66 4.6 172 19.3
On 65 4.6 231 25.9 In 76 5.3 235 26.3
When 60 4.2 200 22.4 Internet 105 7.4 335 37.6
Get 54 3.8 246 27.6 Just 66 4.6 225 25.2
About 47 3.3 200 22.4 Know 44 3.1 153 17.2
Know 44 3.1 153 17.2 Like 110 7.7 401 45.0
G0 40 2.8 156 17.5 Mail 29 2.0 105 11.8
My 39 2.7 140 15.7 Me 37 2.6 121 13.6
There 39 2.7 165 18.5 My 39 2.7 140 15.7
Access 38 2.7 130 14.6 On 65 4.6 231 25.9
Me 37 2.6 121 13.6 School 78 5.5 271 30.4
Class 33 2.3 102 11.4 There 39 2.7 165 18.5
Think 32 2.2 147 16.5 Think 32 2.2 147 16.5
Be 31 2.2 154 17.3 Use 72 5.1 266 29.8
High 29 2.0 111 12.4 What 81 5.7 286 32.]
Mail 29 2.0 105 1 1.8 When 60 4.2 200 22.4

The unique words produced from the analysis of the HBCU focus
groups yielded two primary clustering solutions. Figure 3 shows the

dendogram produced from the HBCU focus groups. This dendogram

67

reveals patterns of association with Hip Hop Culture’s influence on use of
the Internet. Cluster 1 is comprised Oftwo subclusters. Subcluster 1a
consists of the words about, class, mail, and there. Subcluster lb consists
of the words access, high, hip hop, be, think, go, and know. Cluster 1
indicates that the HBCU focus groups access the Internet for Hip Hop, to
read their mail, and to obtain class assignments.

The second cluster is made up of two subclusters. Subcluster 2a
builds under the words at, get, on, and when. Subcluster 2b includes the
words have, in, like, school, what, Internet, me, my, use, and just. Cluster
2 suggests that the subjects like the Internet—as exemplified by the
personal pronouns, me and my. This cluster suggests that the subjects get
on the Internet at school when they can. They also use the Internet for
school purposes. The focus group summary of this subcluster’s thematic

unit supports this claim.

68

Figure 3. HBCU Focus Groups’ Dendogram of Influences of Hip Hop

Culture

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Research Questions

research questions that guided it.

This section presents the results of the

69

study in relation to the

1v . v

Research Question I

Has Hip Hop Culture influenced African American male college

students’ usage of the Internet?

PWI

The data generated by the PWI focus groups indicate that they are
influenced by Hip Hop Culture to use the Internet. The thematic units of

Subclusters 1b in Table 3.

Table 3. PWI Focus Group Subcluster lb—Use Web for Hip Hop

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
Hip hop 119 4.3. 505 22.5
We 112 4.1 493 22.0
Would 93 3.4 370 16.5
Web 79 2.9 355 15.8
Me 59 2.1 326 14.5

 

 

In each focus group session, participants were specifically asked

about their use of the Internet for Hip Hop Culture. The participants were

unanimous in their affirmative response to the influence of Hip Hop

Culture on their use of the Internet. The thematic unit “Use Web for Hip

Hop” of Table 3 illustrates this point. The 119 frequent references to hip

hop and we at 112 times, or 4.1% of all occurrences, illustrates the PWI

70

focus groups’ discussion of how they use the Internet to seek out content
related to Hip Hop Culture. Traditional mainstream media, such as
television and radio, were viewed as not being a true representation of
Hip Hop.

But what the bad thing is, most people just have a television

or a radio and that’s their only access to Hip Hop, and that
doesn’t represent everything on Hip Hop.

Not even close.

Hip Hop no longer has to be represented by the select few
people that MTV decides that we should listen to, so it
broadens the scope.

The focus groups continued to express their feelings about the
Internet and the impact it has had on Hip Hop Culture. The PWI focus
groups presented convincing testimony that the Internet is their major
media source for Hip Hop Culture:

I have to agree with that. I think that the Internet does play a
great role in basically just expanding the Hip Hop culture,
because, I don’t know, I think before we had the presence of
the Internet, I think the culture was more condensed, but now
you have more people.

The impact of the Internet on Hip Hop Culture evolved into a
discussion of how the Internet is the perfect medium for Hip Hop Culture
and the music industry in general.

I see the Internet as breaking a lot of barriers that were there
in the music industry before. I mean, I would say to me it’s
kind of a power shift as far as music goes and producers and
access and everything that goes into it. You know, these
record companies now have less power than they used to, and
so what that does is it just opens up so many doors and
possibilities for people to get access to music, for people who

71

 

are artists who want to be heard, for them to get their stuff
out. The freedom that goes along with the Internet is just
mind-blowing, and so I feel like it’s so good, such a good
thing for the Hip Hop Culture and for just music in general.

Deregulates the industry, basically.

The discussions about the Internet as the perfect medium for music
in general, and Hip Hop specifically, escalated into the topic of the
Internet’s impact on underground Hip Hop acts. There was a vibrant and
boisterous discussion on how the Internet has given underground Hip Hop
acts more exposure than traditional media.

TV and radio, it’s too mainstream to even have underground

artists really be presented. I like the Internet because it has

so many different uses, I think. Underground artists get a lot
more exposure.

In both PWI sessiOns, the discussion about the use of the Internet to
expose underground artists was spontaneous, lively, and animated. The
following are some typical reactions to the Internet’s impact on
underground Hip Hop acts:

Also, I think it’s a great way for like so-called underground
artists, artists that aren’t signed to labels to be able to get
exposure to—It’s like a real good way, since a lot of these
artists don’t get to shine, like on radio or whatever.

As far as the Internet is concerned, I think it’s probably the
number one way for an unsigned artist/underground artist to
get any type of recognition because the truth is that you’re
not going to get any if you go to MTV or BET or any
mainstream radio in that town.

I’d say...it’s good to me because just imagine an underground
act without the Internet, so they’re just—With the Internet it
allows them to tackle many more obstacles that they couldn’t
just because of physicality. You can’t be everywhere at one

72

 

 

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point in time. You can only do so many local shows, so many
picnics, talent shows, rap at so many schools, prisons,
churches, whatever you do. So with the Internet, you can be
accessed almost anywhere.

I probably think that the Internet would be maybe one of the
best ways because on TV I haven’t seen them really promote
underground artists, and with the Internet you can listen for
underground, it’s like any time of day, really. Like any time
you want, and not just like wait for some TV show or wait for
a certain radio broadcast that you want to hear. It’s like just
right there.

I mean, a record store is kind of limited as well, just like
MTV only displays certain artists like Jay-Z or Ja Rule or
something like that, whereas on the Internet, it’s all artists
out there.

So the Internet is nothing but a plus when it comes to getting
exposure for underground acts.

I heard an album by the name of Quasimoto. I never heard of
them before. and if it weren’t for the Internet I would never

hear of them. So it gets the word out to underground people.

Like everybody said, it broadens the scope of Hip Hop. I like
it.

So it makes it a lot more accessible.

Although the PWI focus groups were enthusiastic about the
lnternet’s impact on underground Hip Hop, some lamented the difficulty
in locating these acts if one didn’t know the right places to look.

...the Internet site—you have to be specifically looking for it
in order to find an underground artist, and I find that a lot of
the underground artists, I like them better than some of the
mainstream. So, but I think that the Internet requires some
searching. You’ve got to actually get on there and look and
know the correct key words to type in order to find them...

73

 

“1 turn

The PWI focus group members discussed how they realize that the
Internet is only a tool that they use to “supplement” their interest in Hip
Hop. In fact, the underground Hip Hop artists had more “cool points” than
mainstream Hip Hop artists, who were sometimes viewed as “sellouts.”
The Internet is regarded as a way to find these obscure groups that would
not ordinarily have exposure. The PWI focus groups acknowledged that
the computer is not a replacement for the social dynamics that Hip Hop
offers.

The PWI focus groups were explicit about their versatile use of the
Internet in relation to Hip Hop activities. One member of the focus group
was a computer engineering major and a Hip Hop artist. He had extensive
knowledge of Hip Hop Culture and technology. This participant described
how he turns his computer into a studio by adding software known as
Cakewalk, along with mikes and speakers, to create Hip Hop music. This
participant then described how he uses the Internet to distribute his
music:

Hip Hop no longer has to be represented by the select few

people that MTV decides that we should listen to, so it

broadens the scope. It also—It not only expands the Hip Hop

community, but I think it creates a community on the Internet

because I know around the time that I first started rapping

and recording, I was getting on a couple of websites, and I

found forums where people just, you know, they post rhymes.

And you can post them, and you can respond to other people’s

rhymes. You can email people and do collaborations and stuff

like that, and there’s lots of websites just like that. And so

there’s lots of little Hip Hop communities that have been

created by the Internet, and I actually—a guy that I met on

one of these forums, I actually went to Atlanta and recorded
with him. I mean that it opens the door to stuff like that. So it

74

 

can not only expand the community. it also creates other
communities.

The PWI focus group participants described how they were
subscribers to a local Hip Hop email listserver. The purpose of the Hip
Hop listserver is to keep subscribers abreast of the local Hip Hop
activities, post rhymes, and announce upcoming events such as poetry
readings and local concerts.

The PWI focus group members’ use of the Internet for Hip Hop was
extensive and varied. It ranged from downloading and listening to music,
global collaborations with other Hip Hop artists, locating underground
Hip Hop artists, and getting the word out about local Hip Hop activities

via the Hip Hop listserver.

HBCU

The HBCU focus groups yielded a positive response to the first
research question—Hip Hop Culture did influence their use of the
Internet. The thematic unit generated by Subcluster 1b, “Use Web for Hip

Hop,” supports this finding. (See Table 4.)

75

 

Table 4. HBCU Subcluster lb—Use Web for Hip Hop I.

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
Hip hop 66 4.6 172 19.3
Know 44 3.1 1 53 17.2
Go 40 2.8 156 17.5
Access 38 2.7 130 14.6
Think 32 2.2 147 16.5
Be 3 1 2.2 154 17.3
High 29 2.0 111 12.4

 

 

The HBCU focus groups were not as verbal as the PWI focus
groups. This is demonstrated by the total words used in text by the PWI
focus groups (2,752), compared to the total words used by the HBCU
focus groups (1,425). However, their responses to Research Question 1
were affirmative. In each focus group session, participants were
specifically asked about their use of the Internet for Hip Hop Culture. All
HBCU participants were unanimous in their response to the question of
using the Internet for Hip Hop Culture. The words used in Table 4’s
Subcluster 1b demonstrate the participants’ use of the Internet for Hip
Hop. The words know with a frequency of 44, go with a frequency of 40,
and hip hop with a frequency of 66 all demonstrate that the participants

know they can access Hip Hop by going online.

76

Yes, I do. All the time, especially ifI want to see when a
specific album’s going to come out. Sometimes I go to
source.com to get some of things on a particular artist, so I
know ifI want to purchase a CD or ifI want to get some
outside opinions on how a CD might be, I go to the website. I
may go to Hiphop[.com] or BET.com.

The HBCU focus groups also discussed ways these commercial sites
could improve—such as having Hip Hop artists chat about their albums
and/or existing and upcoming projects.

Other uses related to online Hip Hop involved listening to and
downloading music.

I think, at one time this last year, I had over 600 songs
downloaded. I have a lot of files.

Summary

Both the PWI and HBCU focus group members were positive in
their responses regarding the influence of Hip Hop Culture on their use of
the Internet. Thus the answer to the Research Question 1 is a definite

$6 99

yes.

Research Question 2

What are the Internet uses and gratifications of the subjects?

PWI

The members of the PWI focus groups had numerous uses of and
gratifications from the Internet. As discussed in relation to research
question 1, these subjects have a multitude of uses of the Internet for Hip

Hop Culture—to download and listen to music, locate underground Hip

77

Hop acts. collaborate, utilize the local listserver, and explore Hip Hop
related sites such as DavyD.com, hiphopsite.com, source.com, and
undergroundhiphop.com. Other uses of the Internet by these subjects
included communicating with friends via email and instant messaging,
chat rooms, shopping, passing the time, school research, school
assignments, online classes, and obtaining general information.
Music
The thematic units generated in Table 5 illustrates one of the

primary uses of the Internet for the PWI focus groups.

Table 5. PWI Subcluster 2b—Use Internet When Want Music

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
Music 89 3.2 386 17.2
Want 75 2.7 394 17.6
Use 67 2.4 307 13.7

 

 

The importance of using the Internet to satisfy their needs for
accessing music from the web by these subjects was illustrated by their
discussion of using Napster. Napster was a site where, prior to legal
action by the music industry, any music genre could be obtained at no
charge. Many universities had problems with their systems being
overloaded by students’ avid use of the site. Although the dormitories

located on the PWI campus are equipped with the high-speed connectivity

78

 

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needed to download music, university officials blocked access to the .,..
Napster site. Like most universities across the country, this midwestern
PWI had problems with their systems being slowed or shut down by
students attempting to download extremely large music files from
Napster. The PWI participants, who lived in university housing, discussed
how they subverted the university‘s block on Napster to download music
from the web. Due to the university’s block on the popular Napster
website, they resorted to logging online via AOL, instead of their
university account, and then accessing Napster. The group also discussed
audiogalaxy.com (a free music site) as another way to get around the
university’s block.

The group lamented the fact that, although the Internet is an asset
in obtaining music, it does not replace the social experience that
surrounds music—from the transaction experience to the listening
experience. While there was general agreement in the focus groups about
downloading free music from the Internet, some group members did
indicate that they missed the experience of purchasing a CD—taking off
the wrapper, reading the CD cover. One member likened downloading
music from the Internet to eating Rice Krispies out of a blank cereal box.

I know it’s Rice Krispies in there, but it just feels better to
look at the Rice Krispies, look at the box.

79

School

 

Another primary use of the Internet by the PWI focus groups is for

school. The statistics of Subcluster 2c that generated Table 6 support this

finding.

Table 6. PWI Subcluster 2C—Use Internet for School

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
How 74 2.7 387 17.3
Time 58 2.1 284 12.7
School 57 2.1 246 11.0

 

 

The participants with majors in business and technical areas were

required to use the Internet for school assignments more so than the

liberal arts majors.

Like my major’s economics, and what a lot of us wonder why
in the world we’re in this computer lab. It’s you learn how to
use Access, Excel, and Excel visual basic, and basically it
just shows us how to do a lot of programming, but with
almost like a business aspect, too. So I find it to be real
beneficial. When I first had to register for it, I didn’t know
why I had to take it really. You know, it really helped. The
way I see it, a lot of other fields that aren’t computer
related—they’re going that way. So having that type of
knowledge would really be helpful.

In addition to online assignments, the technical majors were

required to take web-based courses.

I use the Internet for—this is not by choice, but most of my
classes, I have to do my homework on the Internet. I’ve got

80

my math homework. A lot of my classes, my professors like
to send us the assignments on email, so being forced the way
I communicate is through the Internet.

Because the Internet plays an intrinsic role in the coursework of the
PWI university. many of the students’ attitudes about conducting research
have changed.

I mean, it’s like nowadays, instead of my first thought about
finding information on something—my first thought is not to
go to the library. It’s to go online and see what I can find.
That’s what the Internet has done to me. It’s made me
dependent on it a little bit, but that’s because it’s so efficient,
I believe.

Although the liberal arts majors were not required to take computer
literacy classes or do online assignments, they did assert that the use of
the Internet was vital to their studies.

I’m a history major, so I do a lot of reading and

writing....You know, I’ve written maybe 90 papers since I’ve

been here...for me to knock out a five-page paper....But

without a website, I’m scratching my head like, OK, what do
I do, what do I do....

The PWI focus group members also stated that they used the
Internet to pass the time. There was a student who had a unique
interaction with the Internet. He uses the Internet as a medium of
work/play.

Sometimes Ijust browse around to see sites out there. Ijust

listen because it’s my job. I design sites on the Internet. So it

keeps me, you know, keeps money in my pocket. Yeah, I like
to browse around and see what types of things are out there.

You never know what you might come across just typing in a
word on a search engine.

81

 

 

 

HBCU I;

The members of the HBCU focus group sessions discussed the
various uses and gratifications they had in regard to the Internet. As
indicated earlier, one of those uses was for Hip Hop. Specifically, this
group used the Internet to listen to and download music, make CDs, and
view Hip Hop-related websites such as source.com, BET.com, Vibe, 360,
and Hiphop.com. Other uses included participation in chat rooms, instant
messaging, email, shopping, obtaining general information, passing the
time, and school research and school assignments.

I want to find out about something, I look it up. Whatever I

need to know, I’ll look it up. Most of the time it’s

entertainment related...I’ll check emails...I might go get

maps—I like Travelocity...and oftentimes it’s still
entertainment.

When I’m not in class, I’m pretty much at my desk on my
computer doing something. I don’t just waste time, you know,
I do random searches.

School
Another primary use of the Internet for the HBCU focus groups was
for school. The 33 references to class in the thematic unit of Table 7

illustrates this point.

82

 

 

Table 7. HBCU Subcluster la—Use of Internet for Mai] and Class Ly

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned . Scanned
About 47 3 .3 200 22.4
There 39 2.7 165 18.5
Class 33 2.3 102 11.4
Mail 29 2.0 105 I 1 .8

 

 

Students also discussed how, although not required, some of them
had the option to email their assignments to their professors.

I don’t have any classes [online] but assignments that they
[want us to] do over the Internet.

The thematic unit of Table 8 demonstrates that the students like

having access to the Internet for school use.

83

 

 

 

 

 

Table 8. HBCU Subcluster 2b—Like to Have the Internet for School Use
Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
Like 110 7.7 401 45.0
Internet 105 7.4 335 37.6
Have 86 6.0 322 36.1
What 81 5.7 286 32.1
School 78 5.5 271 30.4
In 76 5.3 235 26.3
Use 72 5.1 266 29.8
Just 66 4.6 225 25.2
My 39 2.7 140 15.7
Me ' 37 2.6 121 13.6

 

 

The discussion of how the subject like to have access to the Internet
for school was centered on adequate access to the Internet at their various
campuses. There was considerable variability in the type of Internet
connectivity available to the HBCU participants. Some schools were in
the process of upgrading from dial-up access to faster connections.

In contrast to the unanimous response that the Internet was used for
school, there was great variability in how the participants use the Internet

for school.

84

I limit, but the only thing is like when I’m doing papers or
whatever, or the drawing—I use AutoCAD a lot.

Like the PWI participants, the use of the Internet for coursework at
the HBCU participants’ institutions was varied. Some of the architectural
students used computer programs. such as AutoCAD, for their courses.
Two technical majors in the HBCU focus groups participants had online
courses. Some students took computer literacy classes that were required
for their major. However, one HBCU required all incoming freshman to
take a computer literacy class.

We have one. but it’s not specifically geared toward the

Internet. It’s called, the class is called “Instruction for

Computer Usage,” and it’s basically a workshop that uses the
Internet, and everything else is just basic...Word and Excel.

Summary

The Internet uses and gratifications of PWI and HBCU focus group
members were for email, school, chat rooms, to pass the time, instant

messaging, to download and listen to music, and Hip Hop Culture.

Research Question 3

How do the uses and gratifications of students at the PWI compare
with those of students attending the selected HBCUS?

As stated earlier, the uses and gratifications for subjects attending
the PWI were for numerous aspects of Hip Hop Culture. Their experiences
range from exploring websites such as DavyD.com, hiphopsite.com,
source.com; downloading and listening to music; participating in global

collaborations with other Hip Hop artists; using the campus’s Hip Hop

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listserver; and locating underground Hip Hop artists on websites such as
undergroundhiphop.com. They also use the Internet for email, instant
messaging, chat rooms, shopping, passing the time, school research,
school assignments, online coursework, and general information.

The uses and gratifications of the subjects attending the HBCUs
were for Hip Hop Culture that focused on downloading and listening to
music, making CD5, and exploring more mainstream or commercial Hip
Hop-related websites such as source.com, BET.com, Vibe, 360, and
hiphop.com. Other uses of the Internet by the HBCU focus groups were
chat rooms, instant messaging, email, shopping, obtaining general
information, passing the time, doing school research and courses.

On the surface it appears that the uses and gratifications of the PWI
focus group subjects and the HBCU focus group subjects were basically
the same. In fact, uses of the Internet by the PWI focus group members
and the HBCU focus group members had extensive overlap. All of the
members of the PWI and HBCU focus groups stated they were influenced
by Hip Hop Culture to use the Internet. However, the type of Internet Hip
Hop content used (to gratify needs) by the PWI and HBCU students varied
between these two groups.

For example, PWI focus group participants initiated the discussion
on how they used the Internet to collaborate with other Hip Hop artists

and sought out underground Hip Hop sites. As stated in relation to the

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first research question, the PWI participants felt that underground Hip
Hop artists were “cooler” than mainstream Hip Hop artists.

Unlike the PWI focus groups, who sought out underground acts on
the Internet, the HBCU focus groups used the Internet mainly to access
mainstream Hip Hop artists. Because of the enthusiastic unsolicited
discussion of underground Hip Hop acts by members of the PWI focus
groups, the moderator specifically asked the HBCU focus groups about
underground acts.

I don’t think the Internet really promotes—Well, I’m not

going to say it promotes, but you’re not going to have a lot of

sites out there, major, I guess, sites, that actually promote

Hip Hop artists. Most of your underground artists, most of

your major Internet labels, Internet sites, are for the

mainstream artists, so it’s not really—I wouldn’t say there’s

not many websites out there. but you just don’t see them to

know. We don’t know who they are. There’s no way you can

get, be able to listen to their songs, find out more about it.
Most of the time, they’re noteven promoted.

Members of the PWI focus groups specifically criticized some of
the commercial sites, such as BET.com, whereas the students attending
the HBCUS cited it as one of the websites they used most often for Hip
Hop. The PWI responses outlined earlier in relation to the first research
question demonstrate how strongly they feel about the value of the
Internet in relation to underground Hip Hop. The PWI focus group
participants were emphatic about the impact the Internet has had on
underground Hip Hop acts. The group expressed their beliefs that the

Internet is the best thing that has happened to underground Hip Hop.

87

‘w‘

...A
a

 

 

Like I said, the pro is that worldwide exposure. It’s like a
worldwide demo tape. You can put your song out there and
whoever’s interested can get the song.

There was a contrast in the use of chat rooms by the HBCU and
PWI participants. Members in both the PWI and HBCU focus group
sessions stated they used chat rooms. However, the PWI focus group
participants were quick to point out their negative feelings about chat
rooms, whereas the HBCU focus group members had no negative
commentary regarding chat rooms. The PWI focus group members
discussed how their uses of chat rooms have changed over time since their
first online experiences.

I look at chat rooms are something that I’ve kind of grown

out of. I mean, when everybody—when I first got AOL X

number of years ago, I—Let’s chat room for this, let’s see

who’s in there, you understand, but it gets really old, talking

to like ten million people you don’t know, you’ll never

know—I mean. it’s just not‘that much fun talking to chat
rooms.

All members of the PWI group agreed that their use of Internet chat
rooms was still evolving.

One thing that I do sometimes, or that I used to do like six
months to a year ago, would be—the closest thing I get to a
chat room would be if—from that forum that I mentioned
before like the Davey D’s. A bunch of us would go into a chat
room and we’d all freestyle, energizing. So I would semi kind
of know them from the Internet, and it’s funny, because it is a
community. You know, I knew these guys for like a year over
the Internet, 50 I know about them, but I didn’t know them
personally. So that would be the closest to a chat room.

On the other hand, this group did indicate that chat rooms were a

useful way to set up meetings or to have conversations with friends.

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I basically use them instead of talking on the phone, because
the phone bill gets kind of expensive. These are people that
I——-It was—basically, I knew the person’s name, and we
agreed to meet at a certain time. So it like a scheduled like
conference meeting, and we basically talked over using the
chat room. The main reason for me doing it was basically to
save money instead of talking long distance on the phone,
just taking advantage of the resources I had at hand.

There was variability within and between the PWI and HBCU focus
groups regarding required use of the web for school. All members of both
the PWI and HBCU focus groups expressed how they use the Internet to
conduct research related to school projects. However, not all participants
were required to use the Internet to take online courses. The participants
with technical majors in both the PWI and HBCU groups were more likely
to have taken an online course at their institution than the liberal arts
majors. I

Members of both the PWI and HBCU focus groups discussed the
positive and negative impacts of the Internet. The following are some of
the responses of the HBCU focus groups:

It definitely makes life a lot easier. You’re exposed to much

more, outside—like television, you’re more limited. The
Internet is basically you have exposure more information.

Also, I think it’s a good tool, but it’s very time consuming.

You be on one minute and the next thing you know, it’s two
hours later.

I try not to get online too often. I think it’s too much.

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P." All." 1 a
i

 

The following are comments and responses from the PWI focus
groups that demonstrate their general discussion on the positive and
negative impact of the Internet.

One respondent stated:

That’s one of the biggest arguments out now about the
Internet is the isolation factor. Some people are cutting
themselves off away from the world and doing everything
right now. You can do almost anything online. You can order
your groceries, clothes, CDs—anything you want you can
order online. And now a lot of people work from home.
Computers accomplish a lot. You can go and do things. You
can get up at 4:00 in the morning if you have a thought at
home and start working. Or if you’re going to buy something,
or whatever. It isolates people off from the world, and a lot
of people are losing that social interaction, which is still
deemed as important. But there are people with the will
power, the self-discipline to know that they’re cutting
themselves off from the world and to still do these things
with the computer to supplement you. It’s not supposed to
take the place of everything else.

Another subject said:

I think it’s just a tool. You don’t use a hammer to clean the
table. It’s like, use a specific tool for a specific job, and that
should be it. As opposed to taking the Internet and turning it
into one of those organizers—I’m thinking an analogy, you
know one of those Army knives that has the knife, the bottle
opener, the fingernail file, and try to pack it all into one big
thing that they can use whenever they want. They fail to
realize that that’s not what the Internet is. It’s a specific tool
for a specific job, and that’s what you use it for. That
specific job. You don’t use it for anything else. More or less,
the job is not going to turn out right. I mean it’s a tool just
like fire, just like a sword, just like anything, you know—it
can be a friend or a foe. You’ve got to watch out.

Summary

In spite of the variance between the PWI and HBCU institutions’

access to the Internet, the members of the PWI and HBCU focus groups

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had the same basic uses of and gratifications from the Internet. Once
again, they used it for school, to pass the time, chat rooms, instant
messaging. email, music, and Hip Hop Culture. The PWI focus groups
appeared to have used the Internet more extensively in these areas than

their counterparts who attended the HBCUs.

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CHAPTER 5—DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY

Overview of Study

This study investigated how African American male college
students interact with the Internet to obtain Hip Hop Culture to gratify
their desire for culturally related or specific content. It was the premise of
this study that physical access to the Internet, although necessary, is not
sufficient to engage this population in the utilization of the Internet, that
content is the driver.

The theoretical framework of this study was the uses and
gratifications approach coupled with Ludenic or play theory. This
framework allowed the researcher to investigate how the participants
attended to a medium (the Internet) when they believed that its content
(Hip Hop) would be useful in fulfilling their needs or desired
gratifications (Swanson, 1992). In other words, the researcher
investigated how culturally specific content can influence users to interact
with, to play with, the Internet when they believed that the content
sought, in this case Hip Hop, would be useful in fulfilling their needs or
desired gratifications.

The data were collected and analyzed by the focus group method.
Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were conducted using
CatPac software to analyze the transcripts generated from the PWI and

HBCU focus groups. The CatPac statistical package identified patterns of

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frequently used words by the participants of the focus groups. CatPac’s
quantitative and focus group qualitative analysis techniques were
combined to analyze the data generated by the focus group sessions. Thus,
multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and focus group summary were
used to analyze the data from the focus groups.

It should be noted that the focus group method has strengths and
limitations. On the one hand, this method allowed less control over the
data generated. However, a moderator was present to steer the direction of
the focus groups’ discussions. The sampling method and size of focus
groups does not allow for statistical projections (Krueger & Casey, 2000).
On the other hand, the focus group method allowed the researcher to
investigate a topic that is untapped by capturing the participants’
interactions and dialogue on the subject of Hip Hop Culture and the
Internet. The focus group method also facilitated the production of data
with minimum input from the researcher. The focus group method was
ideal for this study as its purpose was to uncover factors that influence
motivation or behavior (Krueger & Casey, 2000).

This investigation addressed the following research questions:

1. Has Hip Hop Culture influenced African American male college
students’ usage of the Internet?

10

. What are the Internet uses and gratifications of the subjects?

3. How do the uses and gratifications of students at the PWI compare
with those of students attending the selected HBCUs?

93

Both the PWI and HBCU focus group members answered the first
research question affirmatively. All participants were positive in their
responses to questions regarding the influence of Hip Hop Culture on
their use of the Internet. In fact, this positive response was unanimous.

The second research question addressed the uses and gratifications
of the members of the focus groups in relation to their use of the Internet.
As stated in chapter 4, the Internet uses and gratifications of PWI and
HBCU focus group members were for email, school, chat rooms, to pass
the time, instant messaging, to download and listen to music, and Hip Hop
Culture.

The third research question compared the uses and gratifications of
the PWI focus group participants to that ofthe HBCU focus group
participants. AS noted earlier, it appears that the uses and gratifications of
the PWI focus group subjects and the HBCU focus group subjects were
basically the same. PWI and HBCU focus group members used the
Internet to download and listen to music, email, instant messaging, chat
rooms, shopping, pass the time, school research, school assignments,
online coursework, and general information. However, the level and
extent of Internet use and play (to gratify needs) expressed by the PWI
and HBCU groups varied. Most notable was the sharp contrast between
the PWI and HBCU focus groups’ levels of Internet use. The PWI focus
group members appeared to have a more sophisticated level of use for Hip

Hop Culture—specifically global collaborations, production of Hip Hop,

94

 

 

and locating underground artists. The uses and gratifications of the HBCU
participants focused on more mainstream or commercially related Hip
Hop.

There were also variations within and between the PWI and HBCU
focus groups regarding required use of the web for school. All members of
both the PWI and HBCU focus groups indicated that they use the Internet
to conduct research related to school projects. However, not all
participants were required to use the Internet to take online courses. The
participants with technical majors in both the PWI and HBCU groups were
more likely to have taken an online course at their institution than were
the liberal arts majors. In spite of the fact that the level of Internet access
at each of the represented institutions varied, the technical disciplines
required their students to use the Internet more than did the nontechnical
majors at both the HBCUs and the PWI.

The purpose of splitting out the HBCU focus groups from the PWI
focus groups in this area was to direct future research. Future research
could incorporate institutional environmental differences, such as Internet

access, as a variable.
Play and Interactivity of Hip Hop and the Internet

The interactivity component of the uses and gratifications approach
coupled with the Ludenic theory is suited for both African American male
Hip Hop and Internet use. Hip Hop Culture and the Internet both involve

elements of play. as discussed in chapter 3. As illustrated by the

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conceptual model (see Figure 1, chapter 3, p. 46) a) Hip Hop Culture
influences both the Internet and the user—and vice versa; b) Hip Hop
Culture can influence users to interact with the Internet in an effort to
gratify their needs for Hip Hop-related content. During interaction with
the Internet, play is also occurring: c) The dotted arrow depicts the
potential that the interactivity and play of Hip Hop Culture has to fuel the
interactivity and play of the Internet.

The data support the Hip Hop and the Internet Uses and
Gratifications Conceptual Map. For example, as discussed in chapter 4, all
of the PWI focus group members subscribe to the local Hip Hop listserver
to keep abreast of Hip Hop happenings. Hip Hop Culture influences them
to interact and play with the Internet. The Internet impacts Hip Hop
Culture and the user, in this instance by providing a forum for Hip Hop.
The Internet makes the announcement of Hip Hop-related events and
activities possible. The impact of Hip Hop Culture, the Internet, and the

User is a dynamic and cyclical interaction.
Discussion of Findings

Several issues arose during the focus group sessions that are worthy
of further discussion for two purposes: a) to give insight into the pattern
of Internet use by the PWI and HBCU focus group participants and b) to
offer directions for future research.

The findings of research question 2 on the uses and gratifications of

the focus group members were consistent with the data presented in the

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Pew Internet & American Life Project (see chapter 2, pp. 12—13). The use
of the Internet for downloading and listening to music, instant messaging,
chatting, and conducting school research for both the PWI and HBCU
focus groups parallels the findings of the Pew study for African
Americans under the age of 30. In fact, the Pew data demonstrate that
African Americans under 30, like the members of these focus groups, are
more likely to be “drawn to leisure activities on the Internet” as compared
to older African Americans. The data also reveal that, compared to whites
online, more African Americans use the Internet (54% compared to 32%)
to listen to music, and download music (29% compared to 21%).
According to this research, online blacks are 20% more likely to conduct
school research on the Internet than online whites (Pew Internet &
American Life Project, 2001).

Based on the dialogue of the HBCU and PWI focus groups, it
appears that the PWI focus group members are more advanced users of the
Internet. Several factors might account for this difference. Institutional
computer resources may explain the contrasting modes of Internet use by
the PWI and HBCU participants. The recent assessment of HBCUs’
technical infrastructure (Booz Allen & Hamilton, The Gallup
Organization, & EVAXX Inc., 2000; Myers, 2000) discussed in chapter 2,
substantiate this claim. These schools are still striving to raise their levels
of technological readiness. As stated, most subjects were required to use

the Internet to submit assignments and take web-based classes. Only two

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of the HBCU participants were actually required to use the Internet for
school. It appears that the institutional settings have impacted the
subjects’ overall level of use of the Internet. The PWI participants were
more advanced in their uses of the Internet than the HBCU participants.

Another factor is that HBCU students are better nurtured and have
made greater psychological adjustments than their peers at PWIS (Allen,
1985, 1992; Allen & Haniff, 1991; Gibbs, 1973; Jackson & Swan, 1991).
Perhaps the PWI students are forced to look for more culturally relevant
outlets than their peers at HBCUs because the HBCU students are actually
living the Black Experience. However, the PWI students, a distinct
minority in their white institutions are forced to look for more aspects of
Black culture. The Internet offers an opportunity to obtain the Black
Experience they are seeking. The HBCU students may take for granted, or
have become accustomed to, the culturally supportive system that their
HBCU institutions offer. Thus, there isn’t a need to be as Black as their
counterparts at the PWI. This could be an explanation for the contrast in
the amount of dialogue in the HBCU sessions (1,425) versus the amount
of dialogue in the PWI session (2,752).

Perhaps the PWI focus group participants found it necessary to
reach out for more of their culture as described by Andrew Ross:

“... that the black performance of uncommercialized and

therefore undiluted black music constitutes the only truly

genuine form of protest or resistance against the white culture

industry and its controlling interests, and that black music

which submits to that industry automatically loses its
autonomous power (Ross, 1989, p. 69).”

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The PWI focus groups’ dialogue stressed how underground Hip Hop
has stayed true to the original tenants of Hip Hop Culture, that it was
undiluted. Once again. they viewed the mainstream Hip Hop artists as
“sellouts.”

Both groups had participants with technological majors who had
technological skills. However, the PWI students had higher demand for
online activity than did the technology majors at the HBCUs. Each of the
participant’s disciplines and institutions determined how the Internet was
used for coursework. One could surmise that because the PWI participants
were required to spend more time online for school-related activities, this
level of interactivity could transfer over into other areas. The PWI
participants were web drivers who manipulated the web to gratify their
needs, while the HBCU students were web consumers.

The PWI groups were comprised of a large percentage of primarily
science, math, engineering, and technology (SMET) majors. There were
also a few liberal arts majors. Both types of students had a high
confidence level about their knowledge and use of the computer. The
following statement by one of these students exemplifies the groups’
levels of sophistication in their understanding of the power of the
computer:

I think there’s going to come a time pretty soon where

everybody’s going to need to be somewhat of a computer

scientist. Just like you might learn Spanish in high school,

you’re going to need to learn C++, too. I mean, you should at
least know, to me, something about one language, you know

99

what I’m saying? Because you should have some idea of how
computers work.

Issues of Access

All (HBCU and PWI) participants owned a computer, although none
of their institutions required computer ownership. Participants agreed that
they spent a minimum of one hour per day online. Access to sufficient
physical infrastructure was not an issue at the PWI campus. The PWI
campus has high-speed connectivity and is a member of Internet2.
Internet2 (12) is a partnership ofthe universities, government agencies,
and industry sites that are supported by the nationwide advanced network
called Abilene. The goal of this consortium is to hasten the creation of the
next-generation Internet by working to “develop and deploy advanced
network applications and technologies (UCAID, 2001, website).” Through
Internet2 working groups, members of 12 can collaborate on: a) advanced
applications, b) middleware, c) new networking capabilities, d) advanced
network infrastructure, and e) partnerships and alliances. One of the
HBCU participants was from an HBCU that is a new member of Internet2.

As reported in chapter 4, the HBCU focus group Subcluster 2b
generated the thematic unit “Like to Have the Internet for School Use”
(see Table 8). This subcluster demonstrates the students’ discussion of
how they like having access to the Internet for school use. This discussion

was centered on adequate access to the Internet at their various campuses.

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Access to the Internet on the campuses of the HBCU participants
varied from dial-up modem to high-speed connectivity. Approximately
one-third of the HBCU campuses that the participants attended had dial-
up modems. These students did not rely on their campuses for
connectivity. Those who lived off campus subscribed to a local Internet
Service Provider (ISP) or lived in housing that provided connectivity that
was better than dial-up. When discussing access to the Internet, the HBCU
participants in the focus groups indicated that they maintained at least one
or more email accounts in addition to their school-issued email account.
Some stated that other accounts were for fun and nonschool activities.
There was near consensus on the infrequent use of their school email
accounts. One factor that may explain the students’ attitude about their
school email accounts is access to proper technological infrastructure at
the majority of HBCUs. It was noted in chapter 2 that the majority of
HBCUS lag behind in Internet access, computer equipment, technical
training, and support. This lack of infrastructure has had a negative
impact on the students attending these schools. The following comments
by the HBCU focus group participants confirm this:

I think we have like four labs, two of them pretty good sized,

but you’ve got 6,000 students, so if you don’t get in there at
the right time, or—it’s just like forget it.

Sometimes it [Internet connection] may not be working right.

Yet, like their counterparts at the PWI who lived in campus housing

who worked around their university to access Napster, these students

101

 

 

 

found a way to overcome their institutions’ lack of sufficient L
connectivity. Because of this, all of the HBCU participants had a separate
email account in addition to their school account. In reference to his
school email account, one participant stated:

I check it, but I don’t use it.

The following statement sums up the feelings of the HBCU focus
groups:

You’re not cool unless you have a hotmail account...”

The demographic makeup of the HBCU focus group sessions also
provides insight into the some of the forces behind these students’ efforts
to overcome the issues of access at their respective institutions. As noted
in chapter 3, the HBCU focus group members were participants in the CIC
SROP. As a participant of the SROP, a faculty member must recommend
students from his or her home institution. These students are taught to
conduct research and are encouraged to pursue graduate school. Many
consider these students the best and brightest of their institutions. There
were comments made in the HBCU focus group session that led the
moderator to conclude that participants in the SROP, who desired to
attend graduate school, required access to the Internet.

The recruiters at the SROP recruitment fair was directing
everybody to their web page...all the booths were the same.

One HBCU student expressed the gratifications the Internet has
given him since his introduction to it:

I think it’s a lot easier.

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I agree with that. It definitely makes life a lot easier.
You[’re] exposed to much more, outside—like television,
you’re limited. The Internet is basically you have exposure
[to] more information.

 

The impact of the environment at the data collection site also
reveals the attitudes ofthe PWI and HBCU focus group participants. As
reported in chapter 3. all of the PWI and HBCU focus group sessions were
conducted in a conference room set up as an Access Grid node. The
Access Grid node provides a videoconference-like environment that is
room-to-room instead of person-to-person, and it is transmitted via the
Internet. The researcher was running an IBM 570 ThinkPad laptop with a
wireless connection to the Internet. It was not until the conclusion of each
focus group that the researcher explained the purpose of the Access Grid
node and described the program that developed the Access Grid node. The
reactions of the PWI and HBCU focus group members contrasted sharply.
The PWI focus group members were excited and wanted to know more.
The HBCU focus group members just smiled politely. Could this contrast
in reaction be due to the comfort and exposure level to technology on the
various campuses represented? As the literature reviewed in chapter 2
demonstrates, the majority of HBCUs lack the expansive state-of-the-art
equipment possessed by the majority of the schools that are members of
Internet2.

In spite of the differences in Internet access at the PWI and HBCU
institutions, the members of the PWI and HBCU focus groups had the

same basic uses for and gratifications from the Internet. They used it for

103

 

 

school, to pass the time, chat rooms, instant messaging, email, music, and
Hip Hop Culture. Although the PWI focus groups appeared to have used
the Internet more extensively in these areas than their counterparts who
attended the HBCUs. both groups saw the Internet as a beneficial tool.
Unintended Gratifications: Impact of Culturally Specific
Approach on Nonusers of the Internet

As reported in chapter 4, one of the PWI participants stated that the
Internet has changed his attitude about conducting research:

I mean, it’s like nowadays, instead of my first thought about

finding information on something—my first thought is not to

go to the library. It’s to go online and see what I can find.

That’s what the Internet has done to me. It’s made me

dependent on it a little bit, but that’s because it’s so efficient,
I believe.

The use of the Internet for school-related content appears to have
created an unexpected side effect on the participants, as stated in the
Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch definition of the uses and gratifications
approach: “...other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones” (1974,
p. 20). The students were influenced to use the Internet for required
schoolwork and discovered that it could be used as a primary resource for
schooL

Both the PWI and HBCU focus group members felt that Hip Hop
could be used to attract African American male nonusers to the Internet.
Both groups talked openly about their pre- and post-Internet access days.

They all discussed how powerful it is to now have access to the Internet.

104

 

One student in the PWI focus group likened Internet access to having the
ability to read and write in today’s society.

The HBCU focus groups’ positive response to whether Hip Hop
Culture could be used to attract nonusers to the Internet is illustrated in
Table 4, “Use Web for Hip Hop.” As illustrated by the words that build
Subcluster 1b, the group stated that they think access would be high if
nonusers knew they could go to the Internet to obtain Hip Hop.

The PWI focus groups expressed strong opinions about using Hip
Hop to attract African American male nonusers to the Internet. When
asked if they felt that Hip Hop Culture could be used to influence
nonusers to log on to the Internet, they all said yes. They discussed how it
is important to use the familiar (Hip Hop Culture) as a bridge to the
unfamiliar (the Internet).

Also, as far as Hip Hop is concerned, it’s also a good tool to

get like young kids to get into the Internet. It’s a good

starting tool since Hip Hop is like one of the number one

cultures that a lot of young people are into nowadays, and

basically, you can use Hip Hop as a tool to get young people
into other things, broaden their scope of interests.

I say yes. It’s a good way to introduce them to the Internet
and they can go to it, but, you know, like they’re curious or
whatever—you know, like try [the] Internet out for other
things, but introducing them to it with Hip Hop is just like
that step forward, so I say it’s good.

The thematic unit of Table 9, “Views on Internet’s Impact on
African American Male Nonusers” created by the PWI focus group
subcluster is evidence that these participants think that Hip Hop can

impact Internet usage, particularly for people who don’t know about

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computers. The focus groups felt that using a culturally specific approach

 

 

(Hip Hop) as a draw to the Internet is a good one.

Table 9. PWI Focus Groups Subcluster la—Views on Internet’s Impact on
African American Male Nonusers

 

 

 

Word Frequency Percent Windows % Windows
Scanned Scanned
Know 237 8.6 973 43.4
Have 193 7.0 858 38.3
Internet 191 6.9 811 36.2
People 179 6.5 788 35.1
Don’t 157 5.7 654 29.2
Think 147 ' 5.3 « 684 30.5
Computer 139 5.1 584 26.0
Can 112 4.1 452 20.2
My 111 4.0 454 20.2
G0 107 3.9 517 23.0
I’m 102 3.7 431 19.2

 

 

Members of the PWI focus group even went so far as to discuss the
responsibility rap artists should have in promoting technology and the
Internet.

So a lot of artists need to, you know, they make platinum
cool, so why don’t you make the Internet cool, too. Don’t do

106

it in a cheesy way. Do it in a realistic way. So I just blame
them for that.

If you keep talking about things that are on the street, and
true Hip Hop is a reflection of what’s going on in society,
mostly urban society, so with all this influence, you need to
start making it known that, ok, you don’t get onto the
Internet, get into the website, get into the computer. I can
only think of one artist who had a creative way of doing that,
and that’s The Rizzar. He did it through an alter ego called
Bobby Digital, and basically be just promoted getting into
technology because I’m sure he’s a multimillionaire and he’s
dealing with websites and downloading music and this, that,
and the other, so it’s cool to talk about guns and chains and
women, but, you know, you can influence other things that
you’re dealing with in real life, if it’s so-called real music.

Conclusion and Future Implications

This study examined the digital haves as a way to begin to look at
how to influence the digital have-nots in the use of computer technology.
It is hoped that, once a nonuser of the Internet is influenced by culturally
specific content to use the Internet, the side effect would be to use the
Internet for other purposes. Specifically, the premise is that, under the
proper conditions, a nonuser of the Internet who is a Hip Hop head would
use the Internet to seek out Hip Hop Culture. Once this new user has
interacted and played with the Internet to seek out Hip Hop-related
content, then a side effect would be to seek out other content and uses of
the Internet. This type of unintended consequence is noted in the uses and
gratifications definition developed by Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch:

(1) the social and psychological origins of (2) needs, which

generate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or other

sources, which lead to (5) differential patterns of media
exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in (6)

107

 

need gratifications and (7) other consequences. perhaps
mostly unintended ones. (1974, p. 20)

In other words, Hip Hop is the intended use for a nonuser, but an
unintended consequence could be that a new user once influenced to turn
to the Internet to find Hip Hop-related content—such as websites, chat
rooms, downloadable music—would then use this medium to seek out
other content of interest. According to Swanson (1992), the gratification-
seeking that motivates the user to attend to specific content of the medium
does shape the actual effect of the user’s experience. The users have
social and/or psychological motives that give them certain expectations of
interacting with the Internet to satisfy their needs. Starting from the
familiar (Hip Hop) can be the bridge to the unfamiliar.

The gratifications experienced by audiences are not

controlled entirely by the features of the message, message

genre, or medium. Instead, audiences contribute something to

the equation as they creatively use mass media to try to

accomplish their own purpose. Media content is at least partly

malleable, capable of being interpreted or taken in somewhat

different ways by persons who seek different gratifications
from it” (Swanson, 1992, p. 312).

As exemplified by the early African American FM radio DJs and the
originators of Hip Hop, African Americans have a historical record of
flipping the original purpose of technology. This same type of innovation
and creativity could be applied to the Internet. The creators of the Internet
envisioned it as a postapocalypse communication tool. Yet the use of this
technology was reappropriated by its users. The literature presented in

chapter 2 demonstrated how African Americans flipped the script on

108

technology during the evolution of FM radio and during the creation of
Hip Hop Culture. Perhaps the play and play-labor of this cultural genre
can be coupled with the creativity and interactivity of the Internet to
attract more African American male users. As Rose states, “technologies
foster a kind of creative expansion that breaks or gets around
boundaries”(Rose, 2001, p. 147). To sustain the use Of the Internet by
African American males. relevant content will be needed. Logan Hill
argues that although the specific solutions are not obvious, more sites that
contain racial or ethnic content are needed to “give minorities reasons to
go online (Hill, 2001, p. 26).” Hill claims that there needs to be
something rewarding for the casual online user to become a participant in
the information economy, whatever their ethnicity. He also argues that
minority computer users don’t necessarily want to isolate themselves from
the rest of the Internet and points out that the most successful websites
have niche markets that allow users to delve deeper into their own
interests. “Sustainable, diverse sites geared toward minorities may well
determine the future ethnic composition of the Internet, if not the fate of
the Internet itself (p. 28).”

Future research can build on the present study to conduct a
systematic survey. An instrument could be created based on the feedback
generated from the focus group data in this study. This survey could be
based on the research model designed by Greenberg (1974) for his study

of reasons why London schoolchildren said they liked to watch television.

109

In this research. Greenberg constructed a questionnaire based on eight
distinct motivations for viewing television that he had collected from the
schoolchildren in free-response data. The categories identified were: pass
the time, diversion, learning about things, learning about myself, arousal,
relaxation, companionship, and habit (Greenberg, 1974).

The role of technology in the socialization of African American
male college students at HBCUs and PWIS would prove to be an
interesting study. In regards to social and academic support, the studies
discussed in chapter 2 (on the environmental impact of HBCUS and PWIS
on African Americans) were conducted prior to the current technological
trends in higher education. Does the Internet make a significant
difference? Previous studies indicated that students at HBCUs have a
more supportive social structure than students who attend predominately
white institutions. 15 technology an equalizer for African American
students attending PWIS?

This researcher would like to conduct applied research under her
HOODTM Concept. The Helping Our Own Develop (HOOD) concept
combines elements of the Participatory Development Model discussed in
chapter 2 and the philosophy of Hip Hop Culture. Many young African
Americans use Hip Hop as a process of inquiry and dialogue to share
ideas. They feel that Hip Hop is a source of self-identification and pride

(Clark, 1990). The HOOD concept will be used to examine:

o Are African Americans revising the Internet to conform to long-
standing black cultural priorities?

110

o Is the Internet a primary tool for alternative cultural expression?

0 In what ways does the Internet facilitate ownership and control of Hip
Hop culture?

0 How has the Internet helped to preserve Hip Hop Culture? How has Hip
Hop Culture motivated African American youth to engage in use of the
Internet?

Research on the social and cultural impacts of computing is still in
the embryonic stage. The literature on computer usage by any group of
African American males is scarce. The results of this study have
demonstrated that content can be the driver, even when connectivity is an
issue. As stated in chapter 1, if African American males are to fully
participate in the global economy, as well as in our national political and
social structure, then there is a prerequisite for increasing levels of
Internet access and use. By combining the appeal of Hip Hop Culture with

the power of the Internet, it is possible that young African American

males can be empowered to “flip the script” on their lives.

11]

 

APPENDIX A—GLOSSARY OF HIP HOP TERMS

All definitions used were obtained from Fresh Fly Flavor: Words & Phrases of the Hip-
Hop Generation (1992) (Brathwaite, 1992).

B-Boy—Originally B-Boy was an abbreviation for “break boy”—a totally
devoted male fan and participant in Hip Hop music and culture.
Originally a B-Boy, like Hip Hop music, was looked down upon,
even by those who attended jams—the name given to parties that
would spring up in parks, block parties, and community centers
where hip hop was spawned. A B-Boy was usually a feisty
participant at these early jams. Here’s how he got his name. When
the DJ played a record with a break beat on it, the break would
start, and so would these boys. They would drop to the ground
wherever they stood and perform complex foot maneuvers, twists,
turns, and flips, and sometimes ended these controlled physical
outbursts by spinning on their heads. They called it break dancing,
and original B-Boys like Grandmaster Flash, Dynamite, and Phase
II pioneered it. However, in those early days, not everyone was
enthused by the B-Boy’s sudden outbursts at these jams, and often
looked at them with disdain, saying “Oh, no, these damn B-Boys are
breaking again. Don’t they have any finesse?”

Many times the breaking would be competitive and sometimes lead
to fighting between rival break dancing groups.

Needless to say, breaking went on to become an integral part of Hip
Hop culture. It had its media debut, in the early 19805 via vehicles
like the motion picture “Flashdance,” “Beat Street,” and hip hop’s
first and best film, “Wild Style.”

The term B-Boy also gained popularity because, like the expression
hip hop, it was a type of reference point when describing the
previous parties’ highlights, as in “They started playing that Hip
Hop shit and them B-Boys started going off.”

Break Beat—Song containing an instrumental drum dominated section,
ideal for the purpose of making Hip Hop music. In the beginning
days of Hip Hop, long before the idea of making records and
fortunes was even a dream, the key ingredients for being involved
were: some sort of sound system, hopefully, two working
turntables, various indispensable records like Chic’s “Goodtimes,”
M.F.S.B.’s “Love is the Message,” and Apache’s “Bongo Rock”—in
pairs of course—a mixer to segue back and forth between the two
records, and an MC/rapper to talk up a blue streak on the

112

 

microphone. Now, with all these ingredients in place and
functioning, to go to the highest heights, each area needs to be
constantly improved on—equipmentwise, recordwise, and
rapperwise.

The break beats are a chief importance to the DJ, so he must hunt
relentlessly for new and improved pieces of music to cut up,
scratch, and mix for his rapper. The introduction of compilation
records (called break beat records) containing all the common break
beats used by Hip Hop’s pioneering DJs like Kool Herc, made the
process easier for all involved in the early 19805. Herc pioneered
the use of the break beat and introduced one of the most popular
break beats—Apache’s “Bongo Rock.”

DJ—Disc jockey, radio, or party. 2. In dance-hall reggae, the rapper is
referred to as the “DJ” and the “selector” is the one who plays the
recording.

Hip Hop—1. The term originated in the mid-19705 during the beginning
states of what is also known as rap. It was first said by DJ
Hollywood, who, while playing records, would get on the mike and
shout: “To the hip hop the hippy hippy hippy hippy hop and you
don’t stop.”

This caught on and other pioneering DJs and MCs in Harlem and the
Bronx picked up everyone involved. Fans, when explaining the
previous night’s party experiences, would use the word Hip hHop to
describe and identify what type of party it was. The term is now
used to specify the type of rap music that is close and true to the
original attitude. 2. Style and state of mind as established by the
originators of Hip Hop music and culture.

MC—l. Master of ceremonies. 2. One who raps Hip Hop music to the
funky beat, i.e., KRS-One, Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G. Rap.

Rap Music—Poetry or rhymes set to throbbing, funk rhythm patterns. Rap
music is the generic term that describes the most dominant youth
music in America since the early days of rock and roll. News,
views, and attitudes make up a small part of what rap music is all
about. It’s really about a voice that, for the most part, shouts as one
what’s on the mind of America’s ultra urban, contemporary,
vanguard black youth.

Rap music, to paraphrase Chuck D. is the Cable News Network
(CNN) of the ghettoes of America. Millions of words have sailed

113

along major beats to provide the loudest voice a black man has ever
had in this country and it continues to grow.

 

Sampling—To digitally record a portion of an existing record or sound
and later incorporate it into a Hip Hop record. This technological
advance allows up to five or more samples of music or any sound to
be recorded without any loss in sound quality.

For the Hip Hop producer who had already begun recording funk
and soul classics for their rappers to rap over, digital sampling
made their work a lot easier and provided new possibilities and
ways of making records. Also, most digital sampling drum machines
have the capacity of playing a series of samples in a programmed
sequence of very complex rhythmic patterns.

Most rap records today incorporate some form of sampling, whether
it’s the drum sound or an entire section from another record. Among
the best examples of sampling in contemporary music today would
be any song by Public Enemy, especially “Night of the Living
Baseheads,” from the album “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold
Us Back.”

Scratch—Manually manipulating records on a turntable to create an
abrasive. percussive sound in tune with the beat.

Wheels of Steel—Two turntables in the hands of a Hip Hop DJ.

114

APPENDIX B—FOCUS GROUP QUESTION GUIDE

Opening Question:
1. Tell us who you are, your classification and major. and what HH group/artist you are
currently listening to.

Introductory Question:
2. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Hip Hop and the
Internet”?

Transition Questions:

3. Do you use the Internet for HH? What?

4. Do you use the Internet for other activities? What?

5. How do you use the Internet for your HH interests? Listening, exchanging, sharing
music files? Marketing/creating music? Chat rooms?

Key Questions:

6. How much time do you spend on the Internet? What would get you to use the Internet
more often than you do now? Where do you access the Internet? Home? Lab? Work?
How much of this time is for HH? NOTE: may need to break this question up some.

7. So, how would you change the Internet to make your HH experience a better one?

More accessible? More content? Better content? A help desk?

Tell me about the HH websites you frequent. What do you think about their content?

9. If you could design a HH website what would it look like? What would it have that
would get people to use it over time and not once in awhile? What services would it
have? What would be the focal point of it? (Role play: let’s design one)

10. Did you have a computer at home? School?

1 1. When did you get access to the lntemet? Tell us about your life before the Internet
and your life after.

12. Does your university require you to take computer related courses?

9°

Ending Questions:

13. Do you think HH is a way to get African American males—those who would not
otherwise use the Intemet--to use it?

14. Here is your chance to freestyle. Is there anything else that you want to say about Hip
Hop and the lntemet?

115

 

 

APPENDIX C—CONSENT FORM

Purpose and Procedures

You have been invited to participate in a focus group research study conducted by
Allison Clark, a graduate student from Michigan State University. The researcher is
trying to learn about what African American male college students feel about how Hip
Hop Culture has influenced their Internet usage. Ms. Clark will use the information
gathered through this study for her dissertation studies.

The focus group will run for approximately ninety minutes.

The researcher has set up equipment to record video and audio during the focus group,
for later review. This means that your speech and appearance will be videotaped during
the session. Video recordings will be reviewed later only by the researcher to create a
written transcript of the session. The written transcript will be feed into a text analysis
system known as CatPac.

Freedom to Withdraw

Participation in this study is strictly voluntary. Once you have volunteered, you may
withdraw your participation at any time with no personal repercussions or penalty.
Additionally, you may request that researchers turn off the video recording equipment at
any time.

Risks and Benefits
I see no risks beyond those associated with normal day-to-day living in this study.

Confidentiality of Data

The identities of participants are confidential and known only to the researcher
conducting the study. You may divulge this information if you wish, but it will not be
divulged by the researcher. The data you generate will be combined with the data from
other participants. This aggregate information will be used in prototype design and
evaluation, and may be used in papers or presentations, but your individual data will
never be identified.

I will take the following steps to keep your data confidential: you will be assigned a
“participant number”; any information gathered (such as a videotape) will have this
number code instead of your name. Only the researcher named above will have access to
information linking your name to your participant number. The information linking your
name to participant number will be kept in locked files separately from the other data.
The consent form, containing your full name, will also be stored in locked files separately
from the data. Your privacy will be protected to the maximum extent allowable by
law.

116

Freedom to Ask Questions
If you have any questions about this study. you should feel free to contact: e...

Allison Clark
Phone: 21 7—359-4204

Email: aclark@ncsa.uiuc.edu

 

If you have any questions about being a research subject, you should feel free to contact:

David E. Wright, Chair of Michigan State University Committee on Research Involving
Human Subjects (UCRIHS)

Phone: 517-355-2180
Email: urchrihs@msu.edu

 

Informed Consent:
In signing this consent form, I give Allison Clark, permission to present this work, both
in written and oral form, without further permission from me.

I have read the above information on the purpose of the study, the procedures that will be
followed, the use and confidentiality of the data, the risks and benefits, and freedom to
withdraw from the study or ask questions, and I agree to participate.

Name
(print):
Signature: Date:

 

 

 

Email
address:

 

 

117

 

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