THE INTERNET AND THE EVOLVING U.A.E.The Emirates Internet Project - Year I

Dr. Ilhem AllaguiDr. Harris Breslow

Table of Contents

Introduction 1Executive Summary 2I. Brief Facts About the U.A.E. 5 A. Population 5 Total Population 5 Age Structure 5 Ethnic Composition 5 B. Urbanization 5 C. Telecommunications Infrastructure 5 Fixed Lines Telephony 5 Broadband Internet 5 Mobile Services Telephony 5 D. Economy Rankings 5II. Research Methodology 6 Quantitative Survey Research 6 Online Survey Conducted by YouGov 6III. Internet Usage Profile 8 A. Who Uses the Internet 8 Gender 8 Age 9 Education 9 Income 10 Location of Residence 10 B. Internet Access 11 History of Internet Use 11 Frequency of Internet Access 11 Type of Internet Connectivity 11 Non-Users 12 C. What Internet Users in the UAE Do When They Are Online 13 Frequency of Internet Usage 13 Online Media Usage 15 Ecommerce 16 Ecommerce Security 17 The Reliability of Information Found on the World Wide Web 17 D. The Impact of the Internet in the UAE 18 Impact of the Internet Upon Work Performance/Productivity 18 Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Friends and Family 18 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality and by Age 19 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Friends: By Nationality and Age 22

i

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: People Who Share the Same Interests, Hobbies, Profession, or Religion 24 Language Used Most Often On the Web 25 Frequency of Navigation between English and Arabic Websites 26 Language of Websites Most Often Visited 27 Importance of Media as a Source of Information 29 Involvement in the Production of Web Content 29IV. Online Survey results 31 A. Profile of Online Respondents 31 Gender of Online Respondents 31 Age of Online Respondents 31 Nationality of Online Respondents 31 Geographic Distribution of Online Respondents 31 Marital Status of Online Respondents 31 Employment Status of Online Respondents 32 B. Internet Access of Online Respondents 32 Type of Internet Access 32 Time spent on the Internet by age 33 Time Spent Online by Nationality 33 Types of Internet Connectivity 34 History of Internet Use 34 C. What Online Respondents Do When They’re Online 35 Ecommerce Purchases 35 Online Respondents’ Other Ecommerce Activities 36 Ecommerce Security 37 Importance of Media as a Source of Information to Members of the Online Panel 37 Online Media Usage of Online Panel 38 Frequency of Internet Usage for Information by Online Panel 40 Routine Use of the Web for Entertainment by Online Panel 41 D. Impact of the Internet 41 Impact of the Internet Upon Work Performance/Productivity 42 Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: People Who Share the Same Political Interests, Hobbies, Profession or Religion 42 Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Friends and Family 42 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality 42 Impact of the Internet Upon Politics 43 Language Use on the World Wide Web 44 Involvement of Online Panel Members in the Production of Web Content 45V. Conclusions 46

ii

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Internet Usage by Gender 8Figure 2 Internet Users by Age 9Figure 3 Internet Users’ Education 9Figure 4 Internet Users’ Monthly Household Income (US $) 10Figure 5 History of Internet Usage 11Figure 6 Type of Internet Connectivity 11Figure 7 Reasons for Not Accessing the Internet 12Figure 8 Frequency of Internet Usage for Information 13Figure 9 Frequency of Online Media Usage 15Figure 10 Frequency of Ecommerce Activities 16Figure 11 Levels of Ecommerce Security Concerns 17Figure 12 How Much of the World Wide Web is Reliable? 18Figure 13 Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Family and Friends 19Figure 14 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family 19Figure 15 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Friends 22Figure 16 Impact of the Internet on People Who Share the Same Interests, Hobbies, Profession, or Religion 24Figure 17 Language Most Often Used on the Web 25Figure 18 Frequency of Navigation between English and Arabic Websites 26Figure 19 Language of Websites Most Often Visited by Nationality and Age 27Figure 20 Language of the World Wide Web by Nationality and Age 28Figure 21 Importance of Media as Source of Information 29Figure 22 Involvement of Respondents in the Production of Web Content 29Figure 23 UAE Gender of Online Respondents 31Figure 24 Age of Online Respondents 31Figure 25 Internet Users Occupation 32Figure 26 Type of Internet Access 32Figure 27 Time Spent on the Internet 32Figure 28 Time Spent on the Internet by Age 33Figure 29 Time Spent on the Internet by Nationality 33Figure 30 Types of Internet Connectivity 34Figure 31 Do UAE Users Have a Wireless Internet Connection? 34Figure 32 History of Internet Use 34Figure 33 Online Respondents’ Ecommerce Purchases 35Figure 34 Frequency of Online Purchasing by Nationality 35Figure 35 Frequencies of Online Respondents’ Ecommerce Activities 36Figure 36 Online Respondents Ecommerce Security Concerns 37Figure 37 Frequencies of Online Communication Activities 38Figure 38 Frequency of Internet Usage for Information 40Figure 39 Routine Use of the Web for Entertainment 41Figure 40 Frequencies of Content Downloading Activities 41Figure 41 Internet Impact on Work Performance 41Figure 42 Impact of the Internet On… (Mean Measure 42Figure 43 Impact of the Internet on Relationships with Friends and Family 42Figure 44 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality 42Figure 45 Impact of the Internet Upon Politics 43

iii

Figure 46 Languages Usedh on the Web 44Figure 47 Languages of Websites Visited 44Figure 48 Language Used on the Net by Nationality 44Figure 49 Language of websites Visited by Nationality 44Figure 50 Online Panel Respondents as Content Generators 45

iv

1

Introduction

Research for the World Internet Project in the United Arab Emirates is being conducted under the auspic-es of the Emirates Internet Project (EIP). The EIP is housed in the Department of Mass Communication, at the American University of Sharjah. The EIP’s lead investigator is Dr. Ilhem Allagui. Dr. Harris Breslow serves as a principal investigator.

This report is based on a quantitative survey of 1000 respondents, aged 16 and older. Research for this re-port was carried out through face-to-face interviews and telephone surveys. YouGov, a global market research firm with a branch in Dubai, conducted an additional survey of an online panel of 700 respondents on behalf of the EIP. A discussion of the results derived from YouGov’s online panel is found in the final chapter of this book.

Of the 1000 respondents, 90% of the responses came from individuals residing in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah. These emirates have been oversampled due to the fact that, of the seven emirates that comprise the UAE, these three are the largest, contain the high-est degree of Internet penetration, have the greatest amount of infrastructural development, and are re-sponsible for the lion’s share of the country’s eco-nomic activity.

The authors would like to thank the Office of Re-search, American University of Sharjah, for pro-viding an initial Faculty Research grant with which to carry out analysis of the data from the initial re-search for the EIP. We would also like to thank the Department of Mass Communication and the College of Arts and Sciences of the American University of Sharjah for the support to this project, Miss Reem Al Shaka for her invaluable assistance in acquiring and coding the data, and Dr. Abeer Al Najjar, Department of Mass Communication, American University of Sharjah, for her assistance in data collection.

2

Executive Summary

The Emirates Internet project (EIP) surveys Inter-net usage by residents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It describes patterns of Internet access, usage, and attitudes amongst a sample of Internet users that comprise 93% of the survey’s respondents.

The EIP survey consists of a sample of 1000 respon-dents during the months of February, March and April 2009. In addition to this sample, 700 online surveys were conducted amongst a panel of Internet users in the UAE.

GenderThere is no gender divide in the United Arab Emirates regarding Internet usage.

● 48% of Internet users in the UAE are male ● 52% of Internet users in the UAE are female

AgeRespondents who use the Internet tend to be of Uni-versity age or older.

● 35% of respondents who report using the Inter-net are under the age of 25

● 27% of respondents who report using the Inter-net are between the ages of 26 and 32

● 38% of respondents who report using the Inter-net are above the age of 32

EducationUsers of the Internet in the UAE are very highly edu-cated.

● 21% of Internet users report that they have at-tended or are currently attending a university

● 68% of Internet users report that they have a Baccalaureate degree, or higher

History of AccessThe majority of Internet users in the UAE have a great deal of online experience.

● Less than one in ten respondents (8%) reports using the Internet for less than three years.

● 40% of respondents report using the Internet between 5 and 10 years

● 35% of respondents report using the Internet between 10 and 15 years

Non-UsersRespondents who do not access the Internet do not do so for reasons related primarily to knowledge and culture.

● One in three respondents (33%) states that they have no time to connect to the Internet

● One in four respondents (25%) reports that they don’t know how to connect to the Internet

● Almost one in five respondents (19%) claim that they have no interest in connecting to the Internet

Frequency of Type of Internet UsageInternet usage in the UAE is primarily to facilitate person-to-person communication.

● More than four in five respondents (84%) check their email at least once per day

● More than three in five respondents (62%) use an Internet messaging service at least once per day

● More than nine in ten respondents (95%) make use of email at least once per week

● More than four in five respondents use an In-ternet messaging service at least once per week

3

Respondents are adverse to both writing and reading blogs.

● More than three in five respondents (61%) re-port never having written any form of blog

● More than half of all respondents (55%) report reading a blog less than once per month or nev-er at all

EcommerceEcommerce is in its infancy in the UAE.

● At least seven in ten respondents report making purchases online (72%), booking travel reser-vations online (71%), or investing in stocks and bonds (80%), less than once per month or never at all

● More than three in five respondents (61%) re-port paying bills online once per month or never at all

● Slightly more than half of respondents (53%) report having researched product information on at least a weekly basis.

Ecommerce SecurityConcerns over the security of the Internet with respect to ecommerce are prevalent amongst respondents in the UAE.

● More than half of all respondents (55%) report that they are, at the least, very concerned about ecommerce security

● Three in four respondents (75%) report that they are at least somewhat concerned about ecommerce security

● Only one in 20 respondents (5%) report that they have no concerns regarding ecommerce security

Reliability of Information Found on the World Wide WebRespondents believe that most of the information found on the World Wide Web is accurate.

● Two in five respondents (41%) believe that most or all of the information found on the World Wide Web is reliable

● More than seven in ten of respondents (71%) believe that at least half of the information found on the World Wide Web is reliable

● Only one in five users (21%) believes that little to none of the information found on the web is reliable

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Friends and FamilyInternet use in the UAE may be said to have had a moderately negative impact upon family relation-ships.

● Less than half of all respondents (43%) report that they are spending the same amount of time with their family

● Two in five respondents (40%) report that they are spending less time with their family

● One in ten respondents (10%) report spending more time with their family

Internet use in the UAE may be said to have had a moderately positive impact on social relationships outside of the home.

● Almost one in four respondents (23%) reports spending more time with friends since the ad-vent of their Internet use

● Approximately three in five respondents (58%) reports spending at least the same amount of time with friends since they began to use the Internet

● 13% of respondents report spending less time with friends since they started using the Internet

4

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: People Who Share the Same Interests, Hobbies, Profession, or Religion

Internet use in the UAE has had a positive effect upon the quality of users’ relationships with their families.

● Two in three respondents (66%) report that the quality of their relationship with their family has either somewhat or greatly increased since the advent of their use of the Internet

● Only one in ten respondents (11%) report a de-crease in the quality of their relationship with their family

Internet use has had an even more positive influence upon the quality of relationships between respondents and their friends.

● Three in four respondents (75%) claim that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly in-creased the quality of their relationships with their friends

● Less than one in ten respondents (7%) claim that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly decreased the quality of the relationships with their friends

Frequency of Navigation between English and Ar-abic WebsitesRespondents overwhelmingly report that the lan-guage they most often use on the World Wide Web is English.

● Approximately three quarters of respondents (74%) report that the language they most often use on the World Wide Web is English

● Less than one in ten respondents (8%) reports that the language they most often use on the World Wide Web is Arabic

● Less than one in five respondents (17%) report that they use both English and Arabic equally

Importance of Media as a Source of InformationThe Internet has clearly supplanted all other mass me-dia as the most important source of Information in the UAE.

● More than four in five respondents (83%) state that the Internet is either an important or very important source of information

● Approximately two in three respondents (64%), claim that television is either an important or very important source of information

● A similar percentage of respondents (61%) claim that newspapers are either an important or very important source of information

Involvement in the Production of Web ContentAlthough respondents in the UAE are active consum-ers of Internet content, they are not necessarily active producers of Internet content.

● Less than one in four respondents (23%) have a social networking page

● Less than one in ten respondents (7%) write a weblog, and only one in ten (10%) have the in-tention of writing a blog in the near future

● Approximately one in twenty respondents (6%) have a website

5

I. Brief Facts About the U.A.E.

A. Population

Total Population ● 4,798,491

Age Structure ● 0-14 years: 20.4%

M: 500,928 F: 478,388

● 16-64 years: 78.7% M: 2,768,030 F: 1,008,404

● 65+ years: 0.9% M: 27,601 F: 15,140

Median Age: 30.1 years Male: 32 years Female: 24.7 years

Ethnic Composition ● Emirati: 19% ● Other Arab / Iranian: 23% ● South Asian: 50% ● Other Expatriates: 8%

● Expatriates comprise 85% of the labor force ● Expatriates comprise 74% of the population

aged 15-64

B. Urbanization ● 79% of total population

C. Telecommunications InfrastructureFixed Lines Telephony:

● Fixed Lines services Total Subscribers: (mil-lions) 2008: 0.53

● Fixed Lines Services Total Subscribers: (mil-lions) 2009: 0.69

● Fixed Line Penetration (population): 32%Broadband Internet:

● Total Subscribers 2008 (millions): 0.53 ● Total Subscribers 2009 (millions): 0.69 ● Broadband penetration 2008 (population): 11% ● Broadband penetration 2009 (population): 14% ● Broadband penetration 2008 (Households):

60% ● Broadband penetration 2009 (Households):

75%

Mobile Services Telephony: ● Mobile lines Total Subscribers 2008 (millions):

9.78 ● Mobile lines Total Subscribers 2009(millions):

9.5 ● Mobile penetration 2008 (population): 206% ● Mobile penetration 2009 (population): 200% ● 3G Subscribers as a percentage of Total 2009:

28%

D. Economy Rankings ● GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) 56 ● GDP (Real Growth Rate) 21 ● GDP / Capita 21 ● GDP / Capita (Purchasing Power Parity) 19

6

II. Research Methodology

Quantitative Survey Research ● N= 1,000 ● Respondents are 16 years and older ● 90% of respondents reside in Abu Dhabi, Dubai,

or Sharjah ● These emirates have been oversampled because

they are the three largest, contain the highest degree of Internet penetration, have the greatest amount of infrastructural development, and are responsible for the lion’s share of the country’s economic activity.

The EIP survey has been conducted by telephone survey, by face-to-face interviews with respondents primarily in shopping malls and occasionally via door-to-door household interviews. In the UAE ran-dom contact on the street, while not legally prohib-ited, is generally seen to be inappropriate. As a result, face-to-face interviews are conducted in malls, which comprise the most popular public space in the UAE. Residents of the UAE spend an average of 127 hours per year visiting the country’s shopping malls. This may skew the data: Fully half of the population is of South Asian heritage, and the overwhelming majority of this group is comprised of laborers. These individ-uals are typically very undereducated, have little to no access to digital telephony beyond a basic mobile phone, do not live in households that may have access to a broadband connection (they live in labor camp facilities) and are very rarely to be found in shopping malls.

Online Survey Conducted by YouGov ● N=700 ● Respondents are members of a preexisting pan-

el of respondents who are regularly surveyed on a variety of topics

The results from both surveys have not been merged. A comparison of results reveals a strong congruence between the results derived from the EIP’s random sample and YouGov’s online panel with respect to Internet usage and patterns of Internet use, although these results are not identical.

8

III. Internet Usage Profile

A. Who Uses the Internet

Gender

Figure 1 Internet Usage by Gender

The results indicate that there is no gender divide in the UAE with respect to Internet access and usage. Indeed, females report slightly higher levels of us-age than do males. This may be due to the fact that the median age for females is 25% below that of the median age for males, and that the median age for females (24.7 years) falls within the age range of re-spondents most likely to use the Internet in the UAE.

In 2008, females comprised 32% of the total popula-tion of the UAE, including both Emirati nationals and expatriates. Females comprise 49% of the population of Emirati nationals in the UAE, while males com-prise 51%. The large number of expatriate males in construction, maintenance, and other jobs that require laborers, which are almost exclusively male posi-tions, can explain the low percentage of females with respect to the total population of the UAE.

The UAE ensures equal access to education and em-ployment for Emirati females, and as of 2003 fe-male Emiratis spent an average of one additional year in school compared to males. Female students com-prise approximately 35% of the total student popula-tion at all levels of study. Females represent 27% of

population attending primary school; they represent 35% of the population attending secondary school and 33% of the population attending university in the UAE. These are very high rates considering that the male population in UAE is more than double female population (68% vs. 32%). When considering the lit-eracy rate, one can note that females represent 25% of the total illiterate population in UAE, which is of 293,293 (as of 2008).

Emirati females are legally guaranteed equality in terms of education, legal status, health, social wel-fare and opportunities for employment. Despite these guarantees, Emirati females have still long way ahead of them in order to achieve true gender equality within the UAE. For example, in 2007 Emirati females com-prised only about 17% of the business community. A recent Gender Index study by the World Economic Forum that examines economic, political, and social participation, ranks the UAE in the bottom 25 places (rank of 112 out of 134 countries examined) as a traditional male-dominated population.*

* The Report. AbuDhabi 2007 By the Oxford Business Group

Arabian Business.com : GCC fares poorly in 2009 Gender Gap index by Andy Sambidge on Wednesday, 28 October 2009Arabian Business.com retrieved from http://www.arabianbusiness.com/571851?tmpl=print&page= on Oct. 24, 2009

UAE profile; Nassej- cyd retrieved from http://www.naseej-cyd.org/files/UAE_Profile_en.pdf on Oct. 27th, 2009

9

Age

Figure 2 Internet Users by Age

Two things are clearly evident from the data concern-ing age. The first is the clear display of the somewhat typical distribution of Internet usage with respect to age: the older one is, the less likely one is to access the Internet.

Young people who can, and who can afford to, access the Internet in public venues such as Internet cafes and coffee shops that offer Internet access via a WiFi (80.11b/g/n wireless standard). It should be noted that Internet cafes in the UAE charge exorbitant rates. As well, and unlike many places in the West, most of the coffee shops in the UAE do not offer free WiFi ac-cess. The two mobile providers, Eitsalat and Du, di-rectly provide WiFi access in coffee shops, and both charge relatively expensive fees for access. The ma-jority of respondents between the ages of 18-25 are enrolled in some type of educational institution. As such they are able to take advantage of free Internet access when they are campus.

Education

● Less than 1% of Internet users report having completed primary school education

● 3% of Internet users report having completed secondary / middle school education

● 7% of Internet users report having completed high school education

● 21% of Internet users report that they have at-tended or are currently attending university

● 68% of Internet users report that they have a Baccalaureate degree, or higher

Figure 3 Internet Users’ Education

These results reflect two facts. First; note that 88% of respondents reporting Internet usage have, at mini-mum, some university education. All universities in the UAE have access to the Internet, and one can pos-tulate that with access to a higher education facility comes the ability to access the Internet.

Second; this data tends to reflect the fact that the ap-proximately half the population in the country does not have the means to have regular access to the Inter-net. Thus Internet use will skew towards respondents who have the financial means—and these respondents are, typically, also well educated.

10

Income

These results corroborate our assertion (immediately above) regarding the fact that Internet use in the UAE is skewed towards individuals who are educated. In-deed, there is a correlation between income and edu-cation with respect to Internet usage.

Figure 4 Internet Users’ Monthly Household Income (US $)

Location of Residence

● 40% of Internet users live in Dubai ● 40% of Internet users live in Sharjah ● 9% of Internet users live in Abu Dhabi ● 6% of Internet users live in Ajman ● 4% of Internet users live in Ras Al Khaima ● 1% of Internet users live in Fujaira ● Less than 1% of Internet users live in Umm Al

Quwain

As discussed, above, we have purposely oversam-pled Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah owing to their status as the three Emirates with the largest popula-tions, highest rates of urbanization, most extensive telecommunications infrastructure, and the greatest share of economic activity. We plan to fully roll out our survey to the remainder of the Emirates in future iterations of EIP.

11

B. Internet Access

History of Internet Use

Figure 5 History of Internet Usage

● 41% of respondents report using the Internet between 5 and 10 years

● 75% of respondents report using the Internet between 6 and 14 years

Given that widespread Internet access dates to 1995, and that approximately two-thirds (65%) of respon-dents date the start of their access from 1995-1999, we believe that this result reflects the experience of the large number of North American and Western Eu-ropean expatriates living in the UAE.

Frequency of Internet AccessRespondents report using the Internet for an average of 10 hours per week, or approximately 85 minutes per day, on average.

Type of Internet Connectivity

● Respondents report accessing the Internet via a mobile phone for an average of 5 hours per week.

● Respondents report accessing the Internet via a WiFi connection for an average of 14 hours per week.

● Respondents report using more than one type of Internet connectivity. For example; using both 3G (mobile) and Broadband networks to con-nect to the Internet.

Figure 6 Type of Internet Connectivity

The percentage of respondents using their mobile phones for Internet access is indicative of the fact that the UAE has enjoyed 3G mobile phone services since their roll out. It may also be indicative of the fact that broadband penetration is low, and mobile phone In-ternet access serves as a (partial) substitute for broad-band access.

12

Non-Users

Figure 7 Reasons for Not Accessing the Internet

7.5% of respondents stated that they do not access the Internet. Of the reasons stated to explain lack of Internet access the three most interesting are “don’t know how” (25%), “no interest” (19%), and “no access” (18%).The response “no interest” (19%), which ranks third amongst answers given by respondents, is clearly the most interesting. It must be understood that many resi-dents of the UAE, and the greater GCC for that matter, lead what people in the West might understand as paro-chial and/or cloistered lives that centre on God, family, clan and/or tribe and work. For these people the Internet is a technology that is se en to add nothing to the quality of their lives; devotion to God occurs in the mosque, devotion to family occurs in the home, devotion to clan/tribe and one’s work life occur within the immediate community.Furthermore, “traditional” Arab lives in the GCC are organized around, and lived within, layers of privacy: This principle has, in the past, guided the design of houses, the organization of cities and villages, and one’s conduct in the public sphere. This is unlike the West, where for almost half a millennium life has been orga-nized around the principles of publicity and the public sphere. In this respect the Internet may be viewed and understood as something “extraneous” and inappropri-ately public; and the knowledge found on the net un-necessary or inappropriate to the respondents’ conduct of their lives. We postulate that this is the reason behind the high percentage of respondents who report that they do not access the Internet because they have no interest in doing so.Because the median age of the UAE is comparatively low, and the monthly incomes reported by respondents

comparatively high, one might infer from these facts that the technological knowledge required for basic In-ternet access (logging onto the Internet and launching a browser, for instance) would be more widespread than our responses indicate. The frequency of the response, “don’t know how” (25%), is thus very interesting.This response may be understood in three ways. One way of understanding this is in light of the number of respondents who report that they have no interest in accessing the Internet. In this respect, the large num-ber of respondents reporting that they do not have the requisite knowledge with which to access the Internet may be serving as a substitution for stating a cultural predisposition leading to a lack of interest in accessing the Internet.A second explanation for the frequency of this response lies in the discrepancies found in primary and secondary education in the UAE. Emirati nationals and expatri-ates alike enroll their children in primary and secondary schools of varying infrastructural quality. The existence of training in basic computer skills, and access to the Internet may thus be playing a role in respondents hav-ing the requisite knowledge with which to access the Internet.Lastly, given the predominance of expatriate residents from less-developed countries, it may also be postulat-ed that the high frequency of this response is due to the fact that a significant proportion of residents in the UAE have not had, and do not have, either the opportunity or means to have, the requisite training in basic computer and Internet skills.The third most popular response, “no access” (18%), can be seen as evidence that the UAE’s Internet infra-structure build-out has yet to be completed, along with the costs associated with 3G cellular access and the lim-ited throughput speeds that even 3G cellular networks offer users. This statistic is in line with, and serves to demonstrate the effects of the very low—although re-gion-leading—broadband penetration rate of 14%. This statistic may also corroborate our assertions, above, re-garding the predominance of Western expatriates’ use of the Internet in the UAE.

13

C. What Internet Users in the UAE Do When They Are Online

Frequency of Internet Usage

Figure 8 Frequency of Internet Usage for Information

14

What our results clearly show is that Internet use in the UAE is primarily for peer-to-peer (P2P) communica-tion; either for institutional, commercial, or interper-sonal reasons. Approximately half of all Internet users (49%) check their email more than once per day, and more than four in five users (84%) check their email at least once per day. Half of Internet users (50%) send an attachment with their email at least once per day and more than three in four (77%) doing so at least once per week. Greater than three in five users (62%) use some form of Internet messaging service to chat online at least once per day, while more than four in five respondents (81%) report doing so at least once per week.VoIP telephony in the UAE may be said to be in its infancy in comparison to other forms of P2P com-munication: More than half of all respondents (53%) report having never used the Internet to make a VoIP call, or having done so less than once per month. Ap-proximately one-third of all respondents make use of the Internet for VoIP telephony at least once per week. Although Internet messaging is extremely popular, the use of chatrooms is not: more than three in five Internet users (62%) report visiting chatrooms less than once per month or never at all, while more than one in four (29%) report visiting chatrooms at least once per week.These results tend to corroborate our earlier discussion concerning the nature and importance of privacy in the Arab world. The most popular forms of Internet us-age are those that tend to reinforce and maintain per-sonal relationships, while those that encourage more “public” forms of behavior (for example, chatrooms) are far less popular. This may also explain the aversion towards blogging: More than three in five respondents (61%) report never having written any form of blog, while more than half of all respondents (55%) report reading a blog less than once per month or never at all.The concept of the Internet as a source of information is still in its infancy in the UAE. Twice as many re-spondents (55%) report having used the Internet for a job search less than once per month or never at all than do those who report having done so at least once per

week (27%). Similarly, almost twice as many respon-dents (55%) report having read a blog less than once per month or never at all than do those who report do-ing so at least once per week (29%). More respondents (43%) report using the Internet in order to search for humorous content less than once per month or never at all, than do those reporting having done so at least once per week (38%). Despite the presence of both the region’s largest and most important air travel hub (Dubai International Airport), and the extremely high income levels reported by the survey’s respondents, almost half of all respondents (47%) report using the Internet to search for travel information less than once per month or never at all.In contrast to these results, more than seven out of ten respondents (72%) report using the Internet at least once per week to search for news, while approximate-ly half of respondents (48%) report doing so at least once per day. Approximately three in five respondents (59%) report having used the Internet to search for songs and movies at least once per week; this is more than twice the percentage of respondents who report having done so less than once per month or never at all (28%). More than two in five respondents (42%) report using the Internet to search for information related to their health at least once per week, some 33% greater than those who report having done so less than once per month or never at all (30%).Although it is not seen as a source of information, the Internet has established itself as a source of knowledge acquisition and pedagogic supplement in the UAE. Two in three respondents (67%) report using the In-ternet for finding or checking facts at least once per week, and more than three in five respondents (62%) report using the Internet to look up vocabulary defini-tions at least once per week. Half of all respondents (51%) report using the Internet to find information for schoolwork at least once per week.Where the Internet has not gained purchase in the UAE is as a pedagogic environment. Seven in ten respon-dents (70%) report having used the Internet for dis-tance learning or job training less than once per month

15

or never at all.The use of the Internet for the World Wide Web is al-most as popular as P2P communication. More than three quarters of all respondents (76%) report accessing the Internet for the purpose of surfing the web, while more than half of respondents (55%) report doing so at least once per day. Not surprisingly for a culture where gambling is prohibited by faith, three in four respon-dents (75%) report that they have never used the web for the purposes of online gambling. An equal percent-age (just over half) of all respondents reports accessing the Internet for either the purposes of downloading and playing videos or music (55% and 55%, respectively).Of keen interest to these authors is the fact that use of the World Wide Web in order to visit religious or spiri-tual web sites has yet to catch on in the UAE. More than half of respondents (51%) report visiting religious or spiritual sites less than once per month or never at all, while approximately three in ten (30%) visit reli-gious or spiritual web sites on at least a weekly basis.

Online Media Usage

Figure 9 Frequency of Online Media Usage

The results displayed in this chart corroborate our as-sertion, above, that the use of the Internet in the UAE as a source of information is still in its infancy. Less than three in ten respondents (29%) report reading an online newspaper on a daily basis. Only one in five respon-dents (20%) reports either downloading and listening to music on a weekly basis or reports downloading and watching video content on a weekly basis (21%). More than one in three respondents (37%) report never hav-ing read a blog, while more than half of all respondents (52%) report never having accessed online streaming audio content.

16

Ecommerce

Figure 10 Frequency of Ecommerce Activities

Ecommerce is still in its infancy in the UAE. At least seven in ten respondents report making purchases on-line (72%), booking travel reservations online (71%), or investing in stocks and bonds (80%) less than once per month or never at all. Additionally, more than three in five respondents (61%) report paying bills less than once per month or never at all.

There are at least two infrastructural factors that are contributing to the low levels of ecommerce activ-ity in the UAE. The first reason has to do with the fact that there are very few commercial outlets within the UAE that have a sophisticated web presence and background that enables ecommerce activities. As a result, online purchases must be made from outlets overseas, resulting in long delivery times, customs inspections, and frequent additional customs charges upon arrival. This may, in part, be due to the fact that there is a lack of a robust ecommerce security infra-structure in the UAE surely contributes to the lack of ecommerce activities within the country. The lack of ecommerce security in the country contributes to a lack of trust in online purchases from vendors within

the country on the part of consumers, and discourages vendors from making the necessary infrastructural in-vestments to their online presence. This will be dis-cussed in detail, below.

The second reason is far more basic in nature: The UAE does not currently employ a system of street ad-dresses; instead residents make use of a PO Box. As a result, all home deliveries made via courier are quite laborious and time consuming in nature. The deliv-ery agent must call the house, arrange a delivery time period—which is typically half a day to a full day in length—and then call the house prior to the delivery for directions to the house. This not only discourages ecommerce purchases on the part of consumers, it also discourages implementing ecommerce-ordering systems on the part of vendors.Although actual ecommerce activities have yet to become popular in the UAE, product research has gained a foothold in the country. More than half of respondents (53%) report having researched informa-tion concerning a product at least once per week.

17

Ecommerce Security

Figure 11 Levels of Ecommerce Security Concerns

Concerns over the security of the Internet with re-spect to ecommerce are prevalent amongst respon-dents in the UAE. More than half of all respondents (55%) report that they are, at the least, very concerned about the security of the Internet with respect to the ecommerce activities discussed, above. Three quar-ters of all respondents (75%) report that they are at least somewhat concerned about ecommerce security. Only one in 20 respondents (5%) reports that they have no concerns regarding ecommerce security.

Obviously these concerns will have some level of ef-fect on the level of ecommerce activity in the UAE. Given the levels of wealth reported by respondents and their propensity to consume, and given the lim-ited levels of availability of products that are ideally suited to ecommerce (books, CDs, DVDs), one would assume that ecommerce would have taken off in the UAE, concerns over the web presence of local ven-dors aside. It should also be noted that the UAE has been the subject of several widespread banking net-work hacks in the past two years, and that this may be affecting the level of response regarding concern over ecommerce security.

The Reliability of Information Found on the World Wide Web

Two in five respondents (41%) believe that most or all of the information found on the World Wide Web is reliable. Moreover, more than seven in ten of re-spondents (71%) believe that at least half of the infor-mation found on the World Wide Web is reliable. This corroborates our findings and discussion, above, con-cerning product information searches and the use of the Internet as a source of news. We also note, how-ever, that one in five users (21%) believes that little to none of the information found on the web is reliable.

Figure 12 How Much of the World Wide Web is Reliable?

18

D. The Impact of the Internet in the UAE

Impact of the Internet Upon Work Performance/Productivity

Respondents report that the Internet has had a positive effect upon their performance and/or productivity at work. More than four in five respondents (82%) re-port that the Internet has improved their performance at work at least somewhat. Less than one in five re-spondents (18%) report that the Internet has had ei-ther not improved or worsened their performance at work.

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Friends and Family

Figure 13 Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Fam-

ily and Friends

In general terms, Internet usage in the UAE may be said to have had a moderately negative impact upon family relationships. Less than half of all respondents (43%) report that they are spending the same amount of time with their family, while two in five respon-dents (40%) report that they are spending less time with their family. One in ten respondents (10%) re-ports spending more time with his or her family since they began using the Internet.

At the same time, Internet use in the UAE may be said to have had a moderately positive impact on so-cial relationships outside of the home; almost one in four respondents (23%) reports spending more time with his or her friends since the advent of his or her Internet use. Approximately three in five respondents (58%) reports spending at least the same amount of time with friends since they began to use the Internet, while slightly more than one in ten (13%) respon-dents report spending less time with friends since they started using the Internet.

19

The picture changes, however, when we break out our results according to age and nationality. This reveals a clear trend in the data in terms of a correlation between Internet usage, age, and its effect on the time that re-spondents spend with their family, regardless of nation-ality. The data clearly shows that the younger one is, the more likely that Internet use is to have a deleterious af-fect upon the time that one spends with one’s family.Whether they are UAE nationals, Arabs of other nation-al origins, Asians, or Westerners, large majorities of re-spondents under the age of 18 report that they spend less time with their family since they began to use the Inter-net. Every Western and Asian respondent under the age

of 18, and very large majorities of both Emirati respon-dents (almost two in three) and of respondents of other Arab nationalities (approximately nine in ten) report that they spend less time with their family since they began to use the Internet.Respondents aged 18-25 of all nationalities also report that they spend less time with their family since the ad-vent of their Internet use. Almost two in three Emirati respondents (63%) in this age group, report that they spend less time with their family, while one in three Emirati respondents (32%) reports that they spend the same amount of time and one in twenty (5%) report that they spend more time with their family.

Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality and by Age

Figure 14 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family

20

Almost half of respondents amongst other Arabs (47%) from this age group report that they spend less time with their family, while two in five respondents amongst oth-er Arabs (40%) report that they spend about the same amount of time. Less than one in six of other Arab re-spondents (13%) report that they spend more time with their family since they began to use the Internet.

Slightly more than three in five (61%) respondents who are Western expatriates from this age group report that they spend less time with their family, while one in three respondents (32%) report that they spend the same amount of time. Less than one in ten respondents (7%) reports that they spends more time with his or her family.

Regardless of national origin, the older the respondent, the more likely they are to report that their time spent with their family is about the same since they began to use the Internet. More than two in five (44%) Emirati respondents aged 26-32 reports that they spend less time with their families, while two in five Emiratis respon-dents (39%) said they spend about the same amount of time. Half of other Arab respondents (50%) aged 26-32, report that they spend less time with their families, while slightly more than one in three (37%) of these respon-dents report that they spend the same amount of time with their families since they began to use the Internet.

In contrast, an equal percentage of Emirati respondents aged 33-40 reports that their time spent with their fam-ily has either increased or decreased since they began to use the Internet: More than two in five (44%) Emirati respondents aged 33-40 report either that they spend less time with their family since they began to use the Inter-net or that they spend same amount of time with their family since they began to use the Internet.

Similar results are found amongst Arab respondents of other national origins who are aged 33-40. Half of these respondents (50%) declared spending the same amount of time with their family, while slightly more than two

in five (42%) respondents of other Arab nationalities and aged 33-40 report that they spend less time with their family.

The effect of the Internet upon the time spent with one’s family is much less pronounced amongst Asians and Western respondents aged 33-40: More than half of Asian respondents (52%) report that they spend the same amount of time with their family, while only one in five (20%) report that they spend less time with their family. Every respondent (100%) in this age group and of Western origin reports that they spend the same amount of time with their family since they began using the Internet.

The sole exception in our results is found amongst re-spondents of other nationalities aged 33-40: Almost two in three of these respondents (63%) report that they spend less time with their family since they began to use the Internet, while slightly more than on in three of these respondents (37%) report that they spend the same amount of time with their family.

Every Emirati respondent (100%) aged 41-50 reports that they spend more time with their family since they began to use the Internet. Almost four in five respon-dents (77%) of other Arab nationalities report that they spend either the same amount of time or more time with their families.

Amongst respondents over the age of fifty an over-whelming majority of respondents of all nationalities report that the Internet did not affect the amount of time they spend with their family. Two in three respondents (65%) of other Arab nationalities report that the time they spend with their family is the same regardless of their use of the Internet.

The amount of time spent with one’s family as reported by Western respondents over the age of fifty is symmet-rically opposite to that of Asian respondents in this age category. Approximately nine in ten Asian respondents

21

(89%) above the age of fifty report that they spend the same amount of time with their family since they began to use the Internet, while one in ten respondents (11%) reports that they spend more time with his or her family since beginning to use the Internet. Similarly, more than four in five Western respondents (84%) over the age of 50 report that they spend the same amount of time with their family since they began to use the Internet. In con-trast to Asian respondents in this age group, however, approximately one in six Western respondents (16%) in this age group report that they spend less time with their family since beginning to use the Internet.

Every Emirati respondent, and all respondents from oth-er nationalities (100%) in this age group, report that they spend the same amount of time with their families since they began to use the Internet.

There are several patterns amongst the data that bear dis-cussion. The first is the fact that, regardless of cultural origin and/or nationality, the age of 33 seems to denote a point of demarcation concerning the effect of the In-ternet upon one’s propensity to spend time with one’s family. Respondents aged 32 and younger report that they spend less time with their families since they began using the Internet, while those aged 33 and older tend to spend the same amount or more time with their families since the start of their Internet use. We posit several rea-sons for this trend.

The first is the fact that, in 1995, respondents now aged 33 or older were at least 19 years of age, and had already gone through their primary socialization, and thus had already formed their core habits, tastes and patterns of social interaction. We focus on this year because 1995 is typically seen as the moment when Internet usage approaches a tipping point, becoming both technologi-cally viable and economically feasible. This is the point in time when affordable broadband Internet access first becomes widely available in the west. Similarly, 1995 also marks the advent of the first commercially avail-able web browser—Netscape. While it is true that email

proved to be the first “killer app” of the online era—particularly for those in the corporate world—it was the introduction of the World Wide Web that drew people’s attention to the Internet as a leisure activity i.e., an ac-tivity that would have consequences for how one spent one’s time, as well as for the formation of patterns of social behavior. This line of demarcation becomes even more evident when one considers that many of the Inter-net services that young people spend their time engaged in—P2P messaging, social networking sites, blogging, streaming audio and video, online gaming of all forms, etc.—literally do not come online until much later in the lives of people aged 33 and older, and thus increasingly further from the moment when the patterns social be-havior had been formed.

We are not trying to imply that people aged 33 and older do not make use of the aforementioned features and ser-vices of the Internet. We do want to claim, and the data is clear on this point, that respondents aged 33 and older do not make use of the Internet as extensively as younger respondents. The Internet does not serve as a substitute for family interaction amongst respondents who are 33 and older as it does for younger respondents, although it is substituting for other activities heretofore more com-monly found amongst respondents aged 33 and older.It is also possible that the Internet may be serving to en-able respondents in the UAE who are over the age of 32 to spend more time with their families as a result of the efficiencies that it enables when working. Internet usage may be serving to offset the increased work responsibili-ties—and thus the extra amount of time either working or at work—that respondents over the age of 33 often find themselves assuming as they occupy increasingly important positions in their chosen careers. Given our earlier observations concerning the relationship between levels of education and Internet access in the UAE it is not inaccurate to draw a correlation between age and work-related responsibilities; admittedly an inherently corporate model, but one that suits the data that our re-search has produced.

22

A closer examination of the effect of Internet usage on time spent with friends based on breaking out the survey’s general results by both nationality and age reveals that, on the whole, large majorities of respon-dents of all nationalities and of all ages report spending either the same amount or more time with their friends since first becoming connected to the Internet. There are, however, some exceptions to this general obser-vation. For instance, two in three Emirati respondents under the age of 18 (67%) report that they spend less time with their friends whereas every Asian respondent in the same age group reports that they spend more time with his or her friends. Every Western respondent

aged 26-32 reports that they spend less time with their friends.The survey’s results clearly show that time spent with friends is far less likely to diminish as a result of In-ternet usage than time spent with one’s family. For example; although the majority of respondents under the age of 18 report that they spend less time with their families since they began to access the Internet, an overwhelming majority of respondents in this age group report that they spend either the same amount or more time with their friends. This is true across all categories of nationality.

Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Friends: By Nationality and Age

Figure 15 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Friends

23

Given this, we believe that what the data depicts is an emerging pattern of change with respect to family rela-tionships that is articulated to Internet use. Family life is particularly important in the Arab world, both cultur-ally and religiously. Amongst Arab cultures this is no truer than it is in the GCC countries that, despite their obviously successful efforts at the modernization of their infrastructures and economies, live within what may be described as the most “traditional” cultures in the Arab world; cultures that emphasize the sanc-tity and centrality of the family in everyday life. This may be best seen, for instance, in the prevalence of the construction of family compounds amongst those who can afford this; the gathering of family members on Fridays, which are often entirely reserved for family activities; and the decidedly strong influence of the family upon life decisions such as marriage and the pursuit of careers.The fact that both Emirati and Arab respondents of other nationalities under the age of 33 report that the time they spend less time with their families as a result of their use of the Internet, while also reporting that they spend as much or more time with their friends, is indicative to us of a generational shift in patterns of cultural behavior in the UAE. To be sure, the Internet is not the sole cause of this shift, and one can point to a variety of cultural facts that may be driving this pro-cess, not the least of which would be the overwhelming predominance of Western mass media across the coun-try and the omnipresent consumerism found amongst the majority of residents in the UAE, regardless of age or national origin. We do want to argue, however, that what we are seeing is an effect of the rearticulation of relationships amongst the relatively determinant forces within the structure of a complex cultural conjuncture. With this caveat, however, we note that the Internet’s relationship to a shift in what has been a deeply in-grained cultural behavior should be seen as a bellweth-er indicator of a shift towards Western culture forms, practices and, inevitably, values on the part of Emiratis and Arabs of other nationalities under the age of 33. This will be made more evident, below.

24

Our earlier insights that the most popular forms of In-ternet usage in the UAE are those that tend to reinforce and maintain personal relationships, while those that encourage more “public” forms of behavior (for exam-ple, chatrooms) are far less popular, are corroborated here, in our survey of the effect of the Internet upon the quality of various forms of social relationships in the UAE. While the quality of interpersonal relationships with friends and family has decisively increased, the impact of the Internet upon other spheres of relation-ships has been somewhat more muted.Respondents report that the Internet has had an overall positive impact upon the quality of their existing social

relationships. Respondents’ reporting on the quality of relationships with their families are perhaps the most interesting: although two in five respondents (40%) re-port spending less time with their family, two in three respondents (66%) report that the quality of their rela-tionship with their family has either somewhat or great-ly increased since the advent of their use of the Internet. This may be result of the overwhelming percentage of expatriates in the country who would be inclined to use the Internet as a means of maintaining their relation-ships with their families via instant messaging, social network websites, VoIP telephony, etc. Only one in ten respondents (11%) reports a decrease in the quality of

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: People Who Share the Same Interests, Hobbies, Profession, or Religion

Figure 16 Impact of the Internet on People Who Share the Same Interests, Hobbies, Profession, or Religion

25

their relationship with their family.The Internet also appears to have had an even more positive influence on the quality of relationships be-tween respondents and their friends. This may be said to be almost predictable, given that respondents report spending either the same amount or more time with their friends since the advent of their use of the Internet, as discussed above. Three in four respondents (75%) claim that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly increased the quality of their relationships with their friends. Significantly less than one in ten respondents (7%) claim that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly decreased the quality of the relationships with their friends. Again, one of the explanations for these results may be the ability of expatriates to use the In-ternet to maintain their relationships with their friends back home.Aside from interpersonal relationships, the only sphere of activity where a majority of respondents report an increase in quality is in their professional lives. Slightly more than half of respondents (53%) report that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly increased the quality of their professional relationships, while ap-proximately one in three respondents (32%) state that the quality of their professional relationships remains unchanged. We postulate the advent of email and at-tachments (along with company intranets), which have become crucial to the operation of any modern com-mercial enterprise, are the reasons behind the percent-age of respondents reporting an increase in the quality of their professional relationships. We also note that the frequency of email, and the overwhelming amount of time spent managing one’s emails may also be be-hind the proportion of respondents—almost one in six (15%)—who report that the advent of the Internet has either somewhat or greatly decreased their professional relationships.Outside of family and friends, consistently less than half of all respondents report that the Internet has ei-ther somewhat or greatly increased the quality of their social relationships with others. Less than half of all respondents (43%) report that their social relationships

with individuals involved in the same hobbies has ei-ther somewhat or greatly improved, while a similar per-centage (42%) report that Internet has had no effect on these relationships. Less than one in three respondents (30%) reports that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly increased their relationships with others of simi-lar political interests, while half of respondents (49%) report that the quality of these relationships remain un-changed, and one in five respondents (21%) states that the quality of these relationships have either somewhat or greatly decreased as a result of the advent of their use of the Internet.These results also appear to corroborate our insights, above, regarding respondents’ use of the Internet with respect to religion. Approximately one in three respon-dents (32%) reports that their use of the Internet has either somewhat or greatly increased the quality of their relationships with others of the same faith. Almost half of all respondents (47%) report that their religious rela-tionships have been unchanged by their use of the In-ternet, while one in five respondents (21%) report that the Internet has either somewhat or greatly decreased the quality of their religious relationships with others.

Language Used Most Often On the Web

Figure 17 Language Most Often Used on the Web

Respondents overwhelmingly report that the language they most often use on the World Wide Web is Eng-lish. Approximately three in four respondents (74%) report that their first language while using the World Wide Web is English. Less than one in ten respondents (8%) reports that the language they most often use on the World Wide Web is Arabic, while slightly less than

26

one in five respondents (17%) reports that they use both English and Arabic equally.Given the lack of Internet penetration in the Arab world this result may not be too surprising. The greater the Internet penetration within a given linguistic milieu, the more likely the presence of World Wide Web content in that milieu’s dominant language, and thus the likeli-hood that one will use that particular language while surfing the web.However, this does not mean that we do not take heed of the potential sociocultural effects, nor that we see these results as some “natural” state of affairs. Rather, we see the predominance of the English language amongst us-ers of the World Wide Web in the UAE to be a function of the following factors:

●● The●predominance●of●English●language●cultural●content●in●the●UAE—satellite television, movies, music, video games, etc.—and its articulation to content found on the web. In this respect these cultural products function as drivers that send consumers of the content to ancillary sites on the web

●● The● importance● of●Western● expatriates● as● con-sumers● to● the● UAE’s● consumer● economy—the majority of who come from the English speaking world—and thus the prevalence of English con-tent on local websites.

●● The● sheer● amount● of● web● content● in● English: Again, we point to the relationship between Inter-net penetration rates and the language of content found on the web.

●● The● popularity● of● ESL● language● instruction● in●primary● and● secondary● educational● institutions●in●the●UAE.

●● English●as●the●Lingua●Franca●of●the●UAE: The UAE may very well contain a polyglot of spoken languages, but the one common thread amongst the majority of residents of this country who have both the means and the capability to access the Internet is the ability to speak English, which ex-ists as a de facto lingua franca in the UAE.

Frequency of Navigation between English and Ar-abic Websites

Figure 18 Frequency of Navigation between English and Arabic

Websites

The results here corroborate our assertions, above. Approximately half of all respondents (49%) navigate from English language websites to Arabic websites less than once per month, or not at all. Almost one in five respondents, however, navigate from Arabic lan-guage websites to English websites at least once per day, while more than one in four respondents (27%) do so at least once per week.

We clearly see a process wherein a respondent navi-gates to an English language website, and then re-mains within the English language web universe. The opposite, where one navigates to an Arabic language website and then remains within the Arabic language web universe, occurs so very rarely—less than three percent of respondents state that they do so—that it may be said to not be occurring at all.

Regardless of the reasons behind this phenomenon, the implications are clear: In the UAE the use of the Arab language on the World Wide Web has been mar-ginalized.

27

Language of Websites Most Often Visited

When breaking out the data by nationality and age we can begin to more clearly see the role that the In-ternet in general, and the World Wide Web in particu-lar, are playing in the shift in cultural practices and values that we have discussed, above. Clearly, the younger one is, the more likely one is to report most frequently visiting English language websites. A ma-jority of Emirati respondents under the age of 41, and extremely large majorities of Emirati respondents aged 18-25, and every Emirati respondent under the age of 18, report that they most often visit English language websites. Indeed, we find that a majority of respondents from all categories most often visit Eng-lish language websites with the exception of respon-dents of Other nationalities aged 33-40, and Emirati respondents aged 41-50.

Figure 19 Language of Websites Most Often Visited by National-

ity and Age

28

The chart, above, clearly displays two important facts: The first fact is that English is the overwhelmingly dominant lingua franca of World Wide Web use of any form in the UAE. We note that this occurs despite the fact that Asians comprise 50% of the country’s population, Arab speakers 42% and Western expatri-ates—of whom native English speakers comprise a subset—8%. The second fact is that the younger one is, the more likely one will view the World Wide Web as an English language information universe. This is particularly true of Emirati and Arab respondents of other nationalities under the age of 26. Indeed every Emirati and Arab respondent of another nationality

under the age of 18 reports that the World Wide Web is, to them, an English language phenomenon. This data thus further corroborates our assertion regarding the role that the Internet plays with respect to the cul-tural shifts that we see amongst young Emirati and other Arab respondents. Although not the sole de-terminant factor in this shift, there can be no doubt that the Internet, particularly through the World Wide Web, is playing a role in the shift away from what may be described as heretofore behaviors and cultural values amongst young Emiratis and Arabs of other nationalities.

Figure 20 Language of the World Wide Web by Nationality and Age

29

Importance of Media as a Source of Information

Our results indicate that the Internet has clearly sup-planted all other mass media as the most important source of Information in the UAE. More than four in five respondents (83%) state that the Internet is either an important or very important source of information. This is significantly greater (29%) than the percent-age of respondents who rank television as either im-portant or very important (64%), the second highest rated medium in terms of importance.

Figure 21 Importance of Media as Source of Information

We postulate the following reasons for this result: ● The predominance of expatriates in the UAE:

The fact that more than four in five residents of the UAE (81%) are from other countries means that a large percentage of the population turns to the Internet in order to receive news of their home directly from their home.

● A lack of local media sources in the native lan-guages spoken by expatriates: This further in-tensifies the importance of the Internet, as the Internet becomes the key source of information in one’s native tongue. This may also account for the degree of importance (60%) that respon-dents place upon interpersonal communication.

● The dearth of investigative print and/or elec-

tronic media in the UAE: Individuals seeking investigate reports on a variety of political and economic issues may be using the web because they see this as the most accurate and in-depth source of such information. This may also ac-count for the degree of importance (60%) that respondents place upon interpersonal commu-nication.

Involvement in the Production of Web Content

Figure 22 Involvement of Respondents in the Production of Web

Content

We find that, although respondents in the UAE are active consumers of Internet content, they are not necessarily active producers of Internet content. Less than one in four respondents (23%) have a social networking page (MySpace, Facebook, etc.). This is surprising, given the high priority that degree of use that respondents make of the Internet’s P2P commu-nication facilities, and may be indicative of the high degree of cultural importance that respondents in the UAE place on privacy. Only one in five respondents (20%) makes use of a web gallery.

We do note, however, that one in three respondents (34%) does make use of video uploading. This may seem to be a counterintuitive result, given the smaller proportion of respondents who make use of either a web gallery or a social networking page. This may be indicative, however, of the presence of two extensive

30

3G cellular networks in the country and the prevalent usage of cellular phones in the creation of video con-tent and its subsequent uploading to the web.Social networking sites, web galleries and video up-loading sites make use of predesigned web pages. They do not require the user to design or develop ei-ther content or code for one’s page. The low level of respondents who create content for, or upload content to the web is further exemplified by the very low per-centages of respondents who actively create content for specifically for the web. Less than one in ten re-spondents (7%) writes a weblog, and only one in ten (10%) respondents has the intention of writing a blog in the near future. Approximately one in twenty re-spondents (6%) has a website.

31

IV. Online Survey results

A. Profile of Online Respondents

The same questions were asked to an online panel of 700 UAE residents, who are users of the Internet and who are part of YouGov’s panel of online survey respondents. The objective in surveying the online respondents was to validate the data collected from the random sample and to identify differences and/or similarities between the two groups.

Gender of Online Respondents

Figure 23 UAE Gender of Online Respondents

The online sample is skewed towards male respon-dents. In contrast to the findings of the randomized sample regarding gender and Internet access, two in three respondents (68%) are male, while one in three respondents (32%) is female. Age of Online Respondents

Figure 24 Age of Online Respondents

The distribution of the online sample according to age is very similar to the random sample from which we draw our primary results. Three in four online respon-

dents (74%) are between the ages of 21 and 39, while slightly less than one in four online respondents is 40 years of age or older. In our random sample slightly more than three in four respondents (79%) is between the ages of 18 and 40, while slightly less than one in five respondents (18%) is above the age of 40. Less than 3% of online respondents is under the age of 21, while approximately one in fifty respondents (1.8%) from our random sample is under the age of 18.

Nationality of Online RespondentsAs reflected in the total UAE population, the majority of respondents in the online sample are Asians (49%). Arabs of other nationalities comprise the second larg-est group of online respondents, counting for 36% of the 703 users. Emiratis and Westerners comprise approximately the same percentage (7%) of online respondents. Respondents of Other nationalities com-prise 2% of the online sample.

Geographic Distribution of Online RespondentsThe geographic distribution of the online respondents is representative of UAE residents’ distribution. The majority of Emiratis lives in Abu Dhabi while the ma-jority of Arab online respondents of other nationali-ties lives in Dubai or Sharjah. In this online sample, 39% of the total number of respondents live in Dubai, 27% in Sharjah, 24% in Abu Dhabi and 10% in anoth-er Emirate of the UAE; be it Ajman, Umm Quwain, Fujairah or Ras Al Khaima.

Marital Status of Online RespondentsSeven in ten online respondents (70%) are married. Slight more than one in four online respondents (27%) is single, while less than one in ten online re-spondents (7%) is divorced, separated, or widowed.

32

Employment Status of Online Respondents

Almost four in five online respondents (78%) are employed full-time, while less than one in ten online respondents (7%) is employed part-time, and one in twenty online respondents (5%) is unemployed. The remainder of the online sample, less than one in six online respondents (13%), is unemployed, retired, or a housewife.

Figure 25 Internet Users> Occupation

B. Internet Access of Online Respondents

Type of Internet AccessThe majority of online respondents report using a wired PC to access the Internet from home. More than four in five online respondents (82%) report that they access the Internet from home, while two in three on-line respondents (66%) report that they also access it from work. A very small percentage of online re-spondents reports that they access the Internet from outside of the home or the workplace; either from school (3%), or another location such as an Internet cafe (5%). This online data corroborates the results from our random sample, and our discussion of the difficulty in finding public locations in the UAE —such as cybercafés, telnets, etc.— that provide free access to the Internet.

Figure 26 Type of Internet Access

Figure 27 Time Spent on the Internet

Almost two in five online respondents (39%) who re-port accessing the Net from home, report doing so for less than 5 hours a week; slightly more than one in four online respondents (26%) report that they ac-cess the Internet for a duration of between 5 and 10 hours per week; almost one in ten online respondents (9%) accesses the Internet between 11-15 hours per week; 6% of online respondents report accessing the Internet from home for between 16 and 20 hours per week; and an additional 6% report accessing the In-ternet from home for between 20-25 hours per week, while almost one in six online respondents (15%) re-port accessing the Internet from home for more than 25 hours per week.

Online respondents who report accessing the Inter-net from work report doing so for greater amounts of time than do those online respondents who report do-ing so from home. Almost two in five online respon-dents (39%) who report accessing the Internet from work, report doing so for between 5 and 10 hours per week; slightly less than one in four online respon-dents (24%) and slightly more than one in five online respondents (22%) report that they access the Internet from work for less than 5 hours and more than 25 hours per week, respectively.

33

Time spent on the Internet by age:

Unlike our random sample, the results from the online panel do not demonstrate a correlation between the age of online respondents and levels of Internet usage. The data from our online panel demonstrates the contrary. For example, almost one in three online respondents (30%) below the age of 21 reports that they access the Internet for less than 5 hours per week; more than one in three online respondents (35%) from this age group report that they access the Internet from home for between 5-10 hours per week; only one in ten on-line respondents from this age group (10%) said that they access the Internet from home for between 16-20 hours per week; one in twenty online respondents (5%) from this age group access the Internet from home for between 21-25 hours per week; and one in five respon-dents (20%) from this age group report accessing the Internet from home for more than 25 hours per week. When we combine these numbers for comparative purposes we find that two in three online respondents (65%) below the age of 21 report accessing the Internet for less than 10 hours per week; compared to almost two in three online respondents (63%) aged 21-29 years of age, seven in ten online respondents (70%) aged 30-39 years of age, and almost two in three (62%) online respondents aged 40 and older.

Figure 28 Time Spent on the Internet by Age

A smaller portion of online respondents reports ac-cessing the Internet for 21 hours or more per week,

which is an average of 3 hours per day. One in four online respondents (25%) below the age of 21 reports doing so; approximately the same percentage of online respondents (24%) aged between 21-29 report access-ing the Internet more at least 21 hours per week; while less than one in five online respondents (18%) aged between 30-39 and over the age of 40 (17%) report accessing the Internet for 21 hours or more per week.

Time Spent Online by Nationality

Figure 29 Time Spent on the Internet by Nationality

A pattern of bimodal distributions occurs when break-ing out the results from the online panel concerning time spent accessing the Internet by nationality. Slight-ly more than seven in ten online respondents (71%) of other nationalities report accessing the Internet for ten hours or less per week from home, while slightly less than three in ten of these respondents (29%) re-port accessing the Internet from home for more than 25 hours per week. Almost two in three online respon-dents (65%) of other Arab nationalities report access-ing the Internet from home for ten hours or less per week, while almost one in five of respondents (19%) from this category reports accessing the Internet from home for more than 25 hours per week. Three in five online respondents (62%) who are Asian report ac-cessing the Internet from home for ten hours or less per week, while one in four online respondents who

34

is Asian reports doing so for more than 25 hours per week. More than two in five online respondents (42%) who are Westerners report that they access the Internet from home for ten hours or less per week, while one in four online respondents (25%) who is a Western expa-triate reports doing so for at least 21 hours per weekOnline respondents who are Emirati are the sole ex-ception to this pattern. More than four in five online respondents (83%) who are Emirati report accessing the Internet from home for ten hours or less per week.

A similar pattern presents itself when examining re-sponses from the online panel regarding accessing the Internet while at work, and according to age. In this case the majority of respondents from all age catego-ries said they spend less than 10 hours accessing the Internet per week. Three in four online respondents (75%) below the age of 21, more than two in three online respondents (68%) aged 21-29, almost three in five online respondents (59%) between the ages of 30-39, and more than half of the online respondents (55%) aged 40 or older report that they access the Internet for less than 10 hours per week. However, significant minorities, 25%, 22%, 30% and 25%, respectively, ac-cording to the age categories above, report that they access the Internet for 21 hours or more per week.

Types of Internet Connectivity

Figure 30 Types of Internet Connectivity

Broadband connectivity is the most frequent type of Internet connectivity amongst online respondents. Al-most nine in ten online respondents (89%) report that they use a broadband connection, almost one in six on-

line respondents (13%) are connected to the Internet through a phone modem, while approximately one in eight online respondents (12%) connect to the Internet through a cell phone. Only one in twenty-five online respondents (4%) reports that they have another, un-specified form of connection to the Internet.

Figure 31 Do UAE Users Have a Wireless Internet Connection?

Members of the online panel do not only access the Internet from a wired PC. Two in three respondents (66%) of all nationalities and of all ages, and regard-less of gender or income, report that they access the Internet from a wireless device such as a mobile phone or a wireless computer connection.

History of Internet Use

Figure 32 History of Internet Use

The online respondents report a great deal of experi-ence in Internet access. Slightly more than two in three online respondents (67%) report accessing the Inter-net for at least seven years. Approximately one in four respondents (24%) reports having Internet access for between three and six years. Slightly less than one in ten online respondents (9%) reports having had access to the Internet for two years or less.

35

Ecommerce Purchases

Ecommerce activity is not very popular amongst members of the online sample. Almost half of online respondents (49%) said they have never bought any-thing online. This so regardless of gender, age, or in-come, and for the same §reasons given by the respon-dents in the random sample, discussed earlier.

Figure 33 Online Respondents’ Ecommerce Purchases

Figure 34 Frequency of Online Purchasing by Nationality

A different story emerges, however, when we break out the data from the online respondents according to nationality, although levels of ecommerce activity are still low compared to those reported in other regions. Online respondents who are Westerners, perhaps be-cause of their previous experience in the West, are more likely to engage in ecommerce activities: More than four in five online respondents (83%) who are

Emiratis, nine in ten online respondents (90%) of oth-er Arab nationalities, four in five online respondents (82%) who are Asian and more than three in four on-line respondents (78%) who are of Other nationali-ties report that they have made online purchases less than twice a month or never at all. In contrast, only two in three (65%) online respondents who are from the West, report that they have made online purchases less than twice a month or never at all. Furthermore, online respondents who are from the West (35%) are at least 50% more likely to make purchases online, than online respondents from Other nationalities (22%), more than twice as likely to make online pur-chases than online respondents who are either Emirati (17%) or Asian (17%), and more than three times as likely to make a purchase online than are online re-spondents who are of other Arab nationalities (10%).

C. What Online Respondents Do When They’re Online

36

Respondents from the online panel report limited levels of ecommerce activities other than making purchases. In this regard the online respondents are either careful of the fact that they are online, or they are either not aware of, or still uncomfortable with, the variety of ecommerce activities available to them via the World Wide Web. For example, although a majority of online respondents report that they look for product information online, two in five of these respondents (40%) report that they have never made

any purchases online; three in four online respon-dents (75%) report that they have made a travel book-ing either less than once per month or never at all, and almost half of all respondents (44%) report that they have paid their monthly bills online either less than once per month or never at all.

Online Respondents’ Other Ecommerce Activities

Figure 35 Frequencies of Online Respondents’ Ecommerce Activities

37

Ecommerce Security

One clear reason for the lack of ecommerce activities on the part of online respondents would appear to be the lack of confidence that these respondents have in ecommerce security. Online respondents report high levels of concern regarding ecommerce security. Al-most three in five online respondents (58%) report that they are either very or extremely concerned with respect to ecommerce security. Approximately one in four online respondents (24%) report that they are somewhat concerned with respect to ecommerce se-curity. In comparison, only one in sixteen online re-spondents (6%) reports having no ecommerce secu-rity concerns at all. This is a perceptual matter that companies can work on with financial institutions in order to improve and promote online ecommerce. Additionally, almost one in eight online (12%) re-spondents reports that they have neither a credit card nor a bankcard.

Figure 36 Online Respondents Ecommerce Security Concerns

Importance of Media as a Source of Information to Members of the Online Panel

Respondents in the online panel were asked to rank, on a scale of 1-5, the importance of the Internet, tele-vision, radio and interpersonal relationships as gen-eral sources of information. Regardless of gender, age, nationality or income, online respondents ranked the Internet as the most important source of informa-tion when compared to all other sources (mean rank of 4.04 where 4 means Important and 5 very impor-tant). Online respondents ranked the newspaper as the second most important medium for obtaining general information (mean rank of 3.72), closely followed by television (mean rank of 3.69), interpersonal sources (mean rank of 3.64) and, finally, the radio (mean rank of 3.23).

Respondents to the online panel were also asked to rank, on a scale of 1-5, the importance of the same sources for information concerning entertainment. Not surprisingly, members of the online panel ranked these sources differently with respect to entertainment then they did with respect to news. In this case online respondents ranked interpersonal sources as the most important (mean rank of 4.09) followed by television (mean rank of 4), the Internet (mean rank of 3.93), radio (mean rank of 3.18) and finally the newspaper (mean rank of 3.1).

38

While some activities seem to be obvious and engaged in on a daily basis, such as checking email, sending attachments with emails or engaging in instant mes-saging, others need more involvement and creative input from users, such as developing or working on one’s blog. More than half of the online respondents (51%) report that they had never worked on a blog, which (logically) implies that they had never cre-ated a blog. Despite the popular belief that Internet messaging (online chatting) is very popular amongst

users in chat rooms, it appears that this might have been the case in the early days of the Internet, before the emergence and development of social networking websites. More than two in five online respondents (45%) report that they had never participated in chat rooms.

Online Media Usage of Online Panel

Figure 37 Frequencies of Online Communication Activities

39

Approximately two in five online respondents (39%), a significant percentage, report that they had never made or received a phone call over the Internet de-spite the fact that UAE has the largest per capita pro-portion of expatriates in the world, and despite the extremely high telephony rates in the UAE. This is corroborated by the results from online re-spondents when asked how often users use the Inter-net to keep in touch with their families and friends in their home countries or other locales. Almost half of the online respondents (45%) said never and almost one in five online respondents (19%) said less than once a week. When asked how they do communicate with others when online, the overwhelming major-ity of online respondents reports using email and/or instant messaging more frequently than any other form of IP telephony: More than four in five online respondents (85%) report using email once per week or more, while seven in ten respondents (70%) report using instant messaging once a week or more.

40

Online panel respondents report that their most fre-quent activity when on the web is looking for news at the local, national or international levels. Looking for health information is another important activity for which online respondents visit the web several times a month. While almost one in four online respondents (23%) report that they never read blogs, more than half of these respondents (51%), regardless of gen-der, report that they look for songs or movies more than once per week. It should be noted that this result skews towards the younger members of the panel of online respondents.

Approximately four in five online respondents (79%) agree or strongly agree that the Internet helps them in learning more about their home country. Almost three in five online respondents (58%) report that they read about their home country news on the Internet at least once per day, stay in touch with their friends or fami-lies in their home country via the Internet, stay up to date with UAE news, and explore job opportunities in the UAE or other countries. A smaller portion of online respondents (70%) either agrees or strongly agrees that the Internet helps them to preserve their national heritage and culture.

Frequency of Internet Usage for Information by Online Panel

Figure 38 Frequency of Internet Usage for Information

41

Routine Use of the Web for Entertainment by On-line Panel

Figure 39 Routine Use of the Web for Entertainment

More than four in five online respondents (83%) re-port that their most popular use—i.e. one they engage in on at least a daily basis—of the web for entertain-ment, is simple surfing or browsing the web. Slightly more than two in five online respondents (41%) re-port that they use the web to download or watch/listen to videos or music. Approximately one in five online respondents (19%) plays games on the web, while slightly more than one in six online respondents (17%) visits religious or spiritual websites, and one in ten online respondents (10%) listens to streaming radio content. One in twenty online respondents (5%) reports that they regularly enter sweepstakes contests over the web.

Figure 40 Frequencies of Content Downloading Activities

Although the downloading of digitized content may be said to have reached epidemic proportions in other regions, members of the online panel paint a different picture concerning the downloading of digitized con-tent in the UAE. Three in four (75%) online respon-dents report either never having downloaded a movie over the Internet or doing so only on a monthly basis. Two in three online respondents (66%) report never having downloaded musical content over the Internet or doing so only on a monthly basis.

D. Impact of the Internet

Impact of the Internet Upon Work Performance/Productivity

Figure 41 Internet Impact on Work Performance

Respondents in the online panel were asked to rank, on a scale of 1-5, the impact of the Internet, upon their performance at work, where 1 means improved a lot, and 5 means worsened a lot. The mean ranking of the impact of the Internet upon work performance by re-spondents is 1.76, signifying that the Internet has had a positive impact upon the productivity of the mem-bers of the online panel.

42

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: People Who Share the Same Political Interests, Hobbies, Profession or Religion

Figure 42 Impact of the Internet On… (Mean Measure)

Respondents in the online panel were asked to rank, on a scale of 1-5, the impact of the Internet, upon their social relationships with people who share the same political interests, hobbies, profession or religion a scale of 1-5, where 1 means that Internet usage has greatly decreased and 5 means that Internet usage has greatly increased, contact with others. Respondents report that the Internet does not have a significant impact on their social relationships with others who share their hobbies, recreational activities, political interests, religion, profession, or their families and friends. Regardless of gender, age, nationality, in-come, or place of residence, the mean response for all categories is approximately 3, which corresponds to the statement “your contacts with these groups has remained the same”.

Impact of the Internet Upon Social Relationships: Friends and Family

Figure 43 Impact of the Internet on Relationships with Friends

and Family

The majority of online respondents who access the Internet from their home report that their Internet use has not affected their relationships with either their family or their friends. Regardless of gender, age, or income, three in five online respondents (60%) who access the Internet from their home report that they spend about the same amount of time with their fami-ly, while almost one-half (47%) of online respondents report that they spend the same amount of time with their friends. Slightly less than one in three online re-spondents (31%) reports spending less time with their friends, while slightly less than one in five online re-spondents (18%) reports spending less time with their family.

Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality

Figure 44 Impact of the Internet on Time Spent with Family by Nationality

Breaking out this data by nationality reveals only a slight difference in the data. For example, three in ten online respondents (30%) who are Emirati report that they spend less time with their families, while slightly less than one in twelve online respondents (8%) who are Westerners report that they spend they spend less time with their families. We note, however, that there is no trend to, or significant and meaningful differ-ence amongst, the population groups.

43

Respondents in the online panel were asked to rank, on a scale of 1-5, their agreement with a series of statements on the relationship between the Internet and politics in the UAE, where 1 means that the re-spondent strongly disagrees with the statement, and 5 means that the respondent strongly agrees with the statement. The majority of online respondents report that their political sphere remains unchanged by ac-cess to the Internet. Amongst the aggregate responses the mean varies between 2.5 and 3 (where 2 means disagree and 3 means Neutral) for each of the follow-

ing statements; “people like me have more political power”, “people like me can better understand poli-tics”, “public officials will care more about what peo-ple like me think”, and “people like me have more say about what the government does”.

Impact of the Internet Upon Politics

Figure 45 Impact of the Internet Upon Politics

44

Language Use on the World Wide Web

Online respondents report very similar levels of lan-guage use while online in comparison to the random sample: English is the language of the Internet re-gardless of age, gender, or nationality. These results apply to Internet applications, such as chatting email-ing, voice messaging, as well as the World Wide Web

Figure 46 Languages Used on the Web

Figure 47 Languages of Websites Visited

Figure 48 Language Used on the Net by Nationality

Figure 49 Language of websites Visited by Nationality

However, online respondents who are Emirati report a higher degree of use of Arabic when surfing the World Wide Web. Almost four in five Emirati online respondents (79%) report using Arabic online or both Arabic and English equally. Amongst online respon-dents of other Arab nationalities this rate declines to three in five respondents (60%). Four in five Emirati online respondents (80%) report visiting Arabic web-sites, while only one in five Emirati online respon-dents (20%) visit English websites. Almost three in five online respondents of other Arab nationalities (57%) Arabic websites, while slightly more than two in five (43%) visit English websites.

About approximately four in five online respondents (80%) agree or strongly that the Internet helps them in learning more about their home country. Almost three in five online respondents (58%) report that they read about their home country news on the Internet at least once per day, stay in touch with their friends or fami-lies in their home country via the Internet, and stay up to date with UAE news, and explore job opportuni-ties in the UAE or other countries. A smaller portion of online respondents (70%) either agrees or strongly agrees that the Internet helps them to preserve their national heritage and culture.

45

Involvement of Online Panel Members in the Pro-duction of Web Content

Figure 50 Online Panel Respondents as Content Generators

As with our random sample, members of the online panel report much more passive consumption of the Internet as opposed to active production of Internet content. When asked if they’ve generated content by contributing to a blog, publishing a blog or creating a website 63%, 75% and 74% of online respondents, respectively, report “no”. More than three in five on-line respondents (62%) reported that they had visited a blog.The most popular activity amongst online respondents is social networking. Two in three online respondents (66%) report that they own a social networking page. Two in three online respondents (66%) report that they make use of video uploading sites such as You-Tube. The majority of members of the online panel are not active creators of web galleries; only one in four online respondents (24%) reports having created a web gallery.

46

V. Conclusions

The Emirates Internet project brings light to the social integration of the Internet amongst households in the UAE. The media landscape in the UAE is changing, and these changes are stimulating transformations to both social patterns and media use. Our research shows that, although there has been a noticeable change in so-cial patterns amongst residents of the UAE, the change in these patterns has to date been moderate. One expla-nation to this might be the fact that Internet use in the UAE is still in its infancy, despite the relatively high connectivity rates. The UAE leads the Arab world in terms of Internet penetration rate, but is a late adopter when compared to other developed countries. The race to implement the build out of a modern telecommuni-cations infrastructure including broadband Internet ca-pabilities has gone hand in hand alongside the incred-ibly rapid development of the country on the whole, and Dubai in particular. Thus, although many of the residents of the UAE are now accessing the Internet and discovering the wide variety of uses that can be made of it, Internet use is still growing and not yet ma-ture. As a result, social habits have changed but only moderately so.

Our results suggest a shift from time respondents spend with the family to time they spend on the Internet and with friends. More than two in five respondents (40%) report spending less time with their families since they have begun to access the Internet. The impact of Inter-net use upon social patterns is less pronounced with respect to time spent with friends. Slightly more than one in ten respondents (13%) report that the time spent with friends has decreased since they began accessing the Internet.

Our results also depict the effects of the early adoption of Internet technology in Western countries, as evi-denced by the maturity of various adoption rates and rates of effects of Internet usage on the part of West-ern respondents. Another factor that may be affecting

the mature adoption rates and use patterns reported by Westerner respondents is the fact that a great many Western expat residents in the UAE are both highly educated and from countries with very high Internet penetration rates. The combination of these two factors suggests that, when keeping in touch with family and friends back home, Western respondents are more than likely going to use some form of Internet telephony.

The results of this study suggest very hesitant steps to-wards ecommerce amongst residents in the UAE. For instance, about 50% of the sample has never purchased anything online, 50% of respondents report that they have never paid bills online, and 25% of respondents report never having engaged in an online transaction or doing so less than once per month. While these results are shocking for a country with an Internet penetration rate greater than 50%, there are a variety of external factors contributing to the slow adoption of ecommerce activities. These include a lack of ecommerce security, obstacles to efficient delivery services, and vulnerabili-ties to and inefficiencies within, the banking system.

We found the same hesitant results in our research concerning the role that the Internet plays in the politi-cal lives of residents of the UAE. At first glance these results may seem to be quite surprising: Respondents report that the Internet does not have any impact on their political activities and does not empower them politically. However, these results must be understood within their context. A great many of the respondents to our questionnaire were not Emirati nationals, and thus enable to participate in the local political process. Moreover, these respondents may also feel detached from the politics that go on in their home countries, and thus feel politically disempowered and as a result disinclined to act politically, no matter how much they use the Internet to keep in touch with news from their home. The low levels of political involvement reported in the survey may also be related to the culture of em-

47

bedded layers of privacy that was discussed, above. In this respect it is not considered good form to discuss politics or political beliefs with strangers. This cultural predisposition may be affecting itself in the high rates of unanswered questions regarding politics and politi-cal participation, the highest rates when compared to those for other questions in this survey. Whatever the cause, respondents clearly highlighted the fact that the advent of the Internet in their daily lives has no impact on their empowerment and citizenship.

The cultural predisposition to privacy and the lack of political participation may both also be playing a role in the related activity of blogging. Blogs are tools of self-expression in general and in the west have taken on the role of political commentary quite noticeably. Moreover, the presence and importance of blogs is most greatly articulated during times of strife—here we are thinking of the use of blogs during the Iraqi war. Respondents to our survey neither read nor write blogs: More than 60% of respondents report never hav-ing written a blog, while more than 50% report that they never reading blogs or that they do so on less than a monthly basis. The same cultural predispositions can also be found in respondents’ answers regarding their use of various media for acquiring news. Three in five respondents (60%) report that they consider interper-sonal relationships important for learning of the news, a greater percentage than that which answered by list-ing a mass medium, whether it television, radio or even the newspaper. Residents of the UAE use the Internet in a wide vari-ety of ways, but their most frequent use of the Internet is as a platform for P2P communication; primarily for checking email, and for using instant messaging plat-forms. Because the population of the UAE has such a high proportion of expatriates, one can understand the importance of these services as they enable expatriates to keep in touch with family and friends in their home countries at a very low cost if not completely for free.

Residents of the UAE also make use of the Internet for entertainment purposes. Slightly more than one in three respondents (35%) report using the Internet for entertainment purposes such as downloading or listen-ing to music or downloading or watching videos at least daily. One can wonder here about the respect of laws related to copyrighted material. Despite a clear posi-tion that the UAE and other GCC countries have taken concerning the protection of copyrighted material and neighboring rights (Federal Law N (7) of 2002) regard-ing the banning of P2P file sharing digitized music, the response from the public is not promising. In terms of traffic, the most popular Arabic websites are those that facilitate listening to and downloading digitized mu-sic (example 6arab.com), which is further enabled by the high penetration rate of broadband services. One in five respondents report downloading music weekly and about the same proportion report downloading videos weekly. This is clearly a threat to the cultural industries across the Arab world. This becomes even more alarm-ing when one realizes that it is almost solely within the context of downloading music and video content that Arabic websites are visited by Emirati and other Arab respondents.

When using the Internet for purposes other than down-loading content, respondents in the UAE—regard-less of mother tongue—use the Internet in its mother tongue, English. To date, it is impossible to use other than Latin letters in domain addresses, and this is what made the Internet primarily an English language en-vironment par excellence. However, with the new ICANN clause adopted in October 2009, which allows non-Latin scripts such as Arabic and Chinese within domain names, one can expect to see more Arab-speak-ing residents in the UAE making increasing usage of Arabic websites and the Arab Internet in general.

49

50

For further information please contact the EIP’s lead investigator:Dr. Ilhem AllaguiDepartment of Mass Communication,American University of Sharjah,P.O. Box 26666Sharjah,United Arab EmiratesO: +971 6 515 2763E: iallagui@aus.edu