After a long love affair with Europe’s campiest song contest, I’m very excited to see it be hosted in the Caucasus this year. However, there are of course many challenges here.
Sarah Kendzior and I have a piece in Slate about Azerbaijan’s demonization of the Internet in light of Eurovision.
From Interfax
January 17, 2012 Tuesday 2:04 PM MSK
President Aliyev backs unrestricted Internet access in Azerbaijan
LENGTH: 170 words
DATELINE: BAKU. Jan 17
Unhindered access to the Internet should help bolster freedom of speech in Azerbaijan, the country’s President Ilham Aliyev said.
“Azerbaijan supports freedom of speech and freedom of information. It has a democratic society. And we need to further reinforce democratic foundations. Unrestricted access to the Internet and freedom of speech naturally go hand in hand,” Aliyev said at a government session, which addressed the results of Azerbaijan’s socioeconomic development in 2011.
The president welcomed the growing number of Internet subscribers in the country, saying that international telecommunication companies’ reports place Azerbaijan among the leading Internet user countries in the CIS.
“The telecommunication sphere is key to scientific and technological progress. Telecommunication technologies are a leading sector in the world. It will determine a ratio of forces in the future. That is why we are paying great attention to it,” Aliyev said.
I stumbled across this article from Trend News out of Azerbaijan (I can’t link because it is from an academic news search service). I’m going to take this apart line by line. Blue is the original, my text is red.
Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
April 7, 2012 Saturday
Internet penetration level among home users in Azerbaijan hits 69 percent
BYLINE: H. Valiyev, Trend News Agency, Baku, Azerbaijan
April 07–Internet penetration level among home users in Azerbaijan is 69 percent, the analysis on the current state of information technologies in the country conducted by the Azerbaijan Marketing Association said.
What is a home user? Do they mean how many households in Azerbaijan have an Internet connection?
According to my analysis of CRRC data, only 11% of households have a PC with Internet and another 5% have mobile Internet – so sort of home Internet.
According to the association, about 73 percent of households in Baku have at least one user of the global network. This index by regions hits 59 percent.
Again, according to my analysis, this is just not true. 27% of Baku households have some sort of Internet. 15% of regional cities and 7% of village households have some sort of Internet.
Even if they meant a user – someone that has ever used the Internet, only 26% of all Azerbaijanis have ever used according to the CRRC.
Dial-up share in the republic is 23 percent. About 16 percent of Internet users of the capital and 28 percent of the population in the regions have the access to the Internet via this technology.
This I do believe. It is possible that 23% of Internet users are on dial-up. I don’t have this data from Azerbaijan, but in neighboring Armenia dial-up users are about 14% of all Internet users, so it is possible.
ADSL broadband market share is 42 percent. This type of connection in the capital market is 44 percent, the regional market — 39 percent.
This is possible. 11% of all Azerbaijanis use a PC to get online, so it is feasible that 42% of those users are on ADSL.
The share of users having access to the Internet via mobile phones (3G technology) is 20 percent in the republic (in Baku — 20 percent, the regions — 21 percent).
This is possibly close to the truth. 5% of Azerbaijanis have mobile Internet only and another 5% have both mobile and PC Internet. 16% of people in Baku have mobile Internet of some sort.
About 16 percent of the population get access to the Internet via other types of wireless access. The share of the capital market on this index is 19 percent, regional market — 9 percent.
Not sure on this one.
The satisfaction of end-user with Internet service provider’s services is insufficient. Such factors as reliability of service, technical support, access speed and quality of services were evaluated on a five point scale. The evaluation of the respondents was 3.8 points for all these criteria. Only the cost of providers’ services was estimated at 3.9 points.
This isn’t written (or translated?) very well, but I imagine it could be true.
Despite the relatively high customer satisfaction with Internet providers’ services, about 23 percent of consumers are willing to change the provider of Internet services, and only 15 percent are loyal to their provider.
Four percent of respondents are willing to change Internet service provider. About 19 percent of users also consider this opportunity. There is no difference for 30 percent of users where they get access to the Internet, 26 percent of respondents faced the difficulty with a choice, 15 percent are loyal, and only 7 percent are not prepared to choose Internet provider.
Okay, whatever.
The vast majority of respondents (65 percent) have access to the Internet at home, 25 percent — at work, 28 percent — in the Internet clubs, 36 percent — in any place (via mobile phones), 8 percent — at schools.
Here’s my analysis of CRRC data – this is just of Internet users, mind you. Their numbers sort of match up with these but sort of don’t.
| At home from my computer / laptop | 38% |
| At work | 18% |
| From my friends’ computer / laptop | 8% |
| From my cell phone | 10% |
| In Internet cafes | 23% |
About 51 percent use the Internet daily, 38 percent — several times a week, five percent — once a week, four percent — more than once per month, one percent falls to users having access to the Internet once a month, one percent — once in three months.
Here’s my analysis of the CRRC data on this, which doesn’t really match up does it?:
| Never | 62.20% |
| Less than monthly | 6.3 |
| Monthly | 2.5 |
| Weekly | 5.9 |
| Daily | 6.7 |
About 63 percent use the Internet to download multimedia content (music, video, internet radio), 52 percent — send and receive e-mail, 40 percent — receive information about products and services, 39 percent — online-games, 21 percent — telephone calls, 19 percent — receive information from the electronic media (to download e-books), and 18 percent — to download the software.
I don’t have these exact activities, but here’s what I do have – and again, this is JUST Internet users. Doesn’t match up with their stuff:
| Search info | 58% |
| 38% | |
| 35% | |
| Music/video | 27% |
| News | 24% |
| Other SNS | 19% |
| Games | 15% |
| Skype | 10% |
| Dating sites | 9% |
| Forums | 7% |
| Shop | 3% |
| Read/write blog | 2% |
| Bank | 2% |
The vast majority of users of desktop and laptop computers pays special attention to the protection of personal data. Antivirus solutions are installed in 94 percent of desktop computers (in Baku — 94 percent, in the regions — 96 percent) and in 93 percent of laptops (in Baku — 92 percent, in the regions — 96 percent).
I don’t have anything on this.
So, my assessment? This marketing firm probably did not engage in the proper sampling techniques to make inferences about the Azerbaijani population (like CRRC does) and also probably lied about the Internet rate — maybe to generate more business? Maybe because they were paid to?
What do I say?
ETA: here’s another similar crazy news story
Internet penetration rate in Azerbaijan double world average (PHOTO)
SECTION: TELECOMMUNICATIONS
LENGTH: 201 words
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 6 / Trend H.Veliyev /
The Azerbaijan Marketing Association has presented on Friday the results of research into IT in Azerbaijan. The results were presented on Friday by Rahim Huseynov, the chairman of the association.
The association conducted a study of reforms implemented in recent years.
Studies have shown that in 2011, 56 percent of Azerbaijan’s population has at least one personal computer. On average, there are 22 computers for every 100 people.
The rate of Internet penetration, according to the association, was 68 percent, or double the world average.
As noted at the presentation, according to the World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan’s rating has improved by nine points and the country ranked 61 among 142 countries.
The event also provided an overview of the ICT market of the CIS countries over the past five years.
Some 5,868 respondents participated in the social survey on the rate of use of ICT in Azerbaijan, conducted by the Association of Marketing.
“During the survey, we were primarily interested in the use and attitudes to ICT,” Huseynov said.
The association believes the results will help the business sector take appropriate steps and build their investment policy.
More infographics! This time on attitudes toward parliamentary elections (and parliament itself) in Armenia.
As usual, please let me know if you have any questions. I know that there were no gender differences in any of these reported
There were a few reports this morning that Azerbaijan will stop broadcasting foreign TV content. This was from news.az and this hunky one from Turkish Hurriyet.
I did a LexisNexis search though and it seems to be an older story. And apparently there were rumors that foreign shows would be allowed to remain. I’m not sure if this cancellation is just for soap operas / serial or for all foreign TV show.
It also should be noted that Azerbaijan is in the midst of its transition to digital TV right now.
From Trend:
National Council denied rumors about continuation of foreign serials showing in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 10 /Trend E.Mekhtiyev/
The National Broadcasting Council of Azerbaijan has clarified the question of termination of foreign serials broadcast since May 1.
Foreign serials will not be shown on television since May 1, chairman of the Council Nushiravan Maharramli told Trend.
Maharramli noted that there is a lot of talk about the fact that this question can be postponed.
“It is not so in fact TV channels themselves is responsible for the recently beginning television serials. You will see everything yourself since May 1” Maharramli said.
Maharramli noted that National Broadcasting Council of Azerbaijan seeks to stimulate the national television serials broadcast in Azerbaijan.“It is a serious work. It is sometimes said that we intervene in the policy programs of TV channels. The National Broadcasting Council of Azerbaijan – is determined by the state structure, which determines the policies in the field of television. We have adopted such measures in an attempt to stimulate the translation of Azeri TV serials, and I think that it is the right thing” Maharramli said.
Sufficient resources are allocated to produce new TV serials, Maharramli said.
Referring to the quality of TV series, he noted that there are many talks about it. According to Maharramli, of course, we must pay attention to quality, think about quality, but we must start from something in order to achieve quality.How will we achieve quality if we don’t shoot TV serials? Ten years ago, neither Turkey nor Russia had such series. We also have to start from something.
“How will we achieve quality if we don’t shoot TV serials? Ten years ago, neither Turkey nor Russia had such series. We also have to start from something. It’s not a finished product to buy it in the store and show on TV,” Maharramli said.
And Interfax:
Azerbaijan to ban foreign TV series to stimulate national film industry
DATELINE: BAKU. Jan 17Azerbaijan’s ban on foreign television series on national television channels will protect the national film maker and develop the local film industry, according to the country’s National Council for Television and Radio (NSTR).
“The decision made by the Azerbaijan National Council for Television and Radio to ban, starting from May 1, 2012, the broadcasting of foreign television programs on national television channels aims to stimulate the production of local films and develop our own film industry,” the NSTR told Interfax on Tuesday.
“Besides, foreign television series often contradict our mentality,” the source said.
Azerbaijan has shot enough of films by now, which is why local television channels will not experience any difficulty in this sphere, the NSTR said. “Besides, the deadline – May 1 – given to television channels is enough for them to produce their own television series,” the Council said.
The activity of the NSTR, a public organization, is regulated by the television and radio broadcasting law of June 25, 2002.
And a related story from Trend:
Azerbaijani TV channels given funds for filming movies and TV series
Azerbaijan, Baku, April 6 / Trend /
A regular meeting of the National Broadcasting Council of Azerbaijan was held on Friday.
At the meeting, it was decided to allocate 500,000 manat in funds to each channel – Public Television, ANS, Azad Azerbaijan, Lider, Space and Khazar — to film national movies and TV series, the council told Trend on Friday.
Surveying Armenians and Azerbaijanis about their opinions on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict is very difficult. In both countries, demonstrating a pro-national stance is important. In Azerbaijan especially, despite great efforts, there is a perception that poll takers are connected to the government.
Furthermore, the “rhetorical war” – as described by Tom de Waal – influences public opinion on these matters.
With these caveats in mind, please read this infographic with the perspective of the publicness of public opinion on this topic.
And as always, please let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to do further analysis on age, gender, etc.
Recently Armenian political figure Vartan Oskanian joined Twitter. He tweeted a speech that he gave where he claimed that lack of trust in government is a cause of migration in Armenia.
Thanks to him for giving me a hypothesis to test!
Using the preliminary 2011 Caucasus Barometer, I looked at the relationship between desire to temporarily or permanently migrate and trust in government. And guess what? Oskanian is right!
For those that want to short-term migrate, they are statistically significantly less likely to trust these institutions than those that do not want to short-term migrate:
education system, army, courts, parliament, president, media, and the church.
Desire to short-term migrate had no effect on trust in these institutions:
healthcare, banks, NGOs, Prime Minster, police, local government, ombudsman, EU, and UN.
And for those that are interested in permanently migrating, it gets even more interesting.
Those with a desire to permanently migrate were statistically significantly less trusting in these institutions:
healthcare system, banks, education system, army, court system, NGOs, parliament, Prime Minister, president, police, media, local government, church, and ombudsman.
There was no impact on trust in the EU or UN.
So, yeah… this is interesting!
For more on who wants to migrate, check this out from 2010. Also I have a paper on trust in the government in Armenia here.
Networked Authoritarianism and Social Media in Azerbaijan is an article by myself and Sarah Kendzior about Azerbaijan and Internet control.
Here is the abstract. (Translation via Google translate.) And here is the link to the study. (Contact me if you need a copy because of lack of library access.)
English:
The diffusion of digital media does not always have democratic consequences. This mixed-methods study examines how the government of Azerbaijan dissuaded Internet users from political activism. We examine how digital media were used for networked authoritarianism, a form of Internet control common in former Soviet states where manipulation over digitally mediated social networks is used more than outright censorship. Through a content analysis of 3 years of Azerbaijani media, a 2-year structural equation model of the relationship between Internet use and attitudes toward protest, and interviews with Azerbaijani online activists, we find that the government has successfully dissuaded frequent Internet users from supporting protest and average Internet users from using social media for political purposes.
Azerbaijani:
Digital media diffuziya hər zaman demokratik nəticələr yoxdur. Bu qarışıq-metodların öyrənilməsi Azərbaycan hökuməti siyasi aktivliyi İnternet istifadəçiləri dissuaded inceliyor. Biz digital media ağ avtoritarizmi, digital aracılıklı sosial şəbəkələr üzərində manipulyasiya açıq senzura daha çox istifadə olunur, orada keçmiş Sovet dövlətləri ümumi Internet nəzarət formasında istifadə necə yoxlamaq. Azərbaycan media, internet istifadəsi və etiraz münasibət arasında bir 2-il struktur tənlik model və Azərbaycan online fəalları ilə müsahibə 3 il tərkibi analiz etməklə, biz hökumətin uğurla etiraz dəstək olan tez-tez İnternet istifadəçiləri dissuaded ki tapmaq və siyasi məqsədlər üçün sosial media istifadə orta İnternet istifadəçiləri.
Russian:
Распространение цифровых носителей не всегда демократическими последствиями. Это смешанные методы исследования рассматриваются как правительство Азербайджана отговорили пользователей Интернета от политической активности. Мы рассмотрим, как цифровые медиа были использованы для сетевой авторитаризм, формы контроля интернет распространен в бывших советских республиках, где манипуляции над цифровым опосредованной социальной сети используется более чем откровенная цензура. С помощью контент-анализа 3-х лет азербайджанские СМИ, 2-летняя модель структурного уравнения связи между использованием интернета и отношения к протеста, а также интервью с азербайджанскими активистами в Интернете, мы обнаружили, что правительство успешно отговорил частых интернет-пользователей от поддержки протеста и обычных пользователей Интернета от использования социальных медиа в политических целях.