The Diffusion of GIS in Journalism

This book examines in an exploratory manner, the likelihood of reporters to adopt Geographical Information Systems and to predict the future of the diffusion of GIS in the journalism industry using the diffusion of innovations theory. GIS is not a very new technology outside of journalism. It is a wonder therefore, that it has taken this software so long to penetrate this front, making journalism seem like the last frontier. As a topic, GIS is also a rarely researched topic and I hope this book will provide insight and precedence in this area of new media. The study used two data collection methods: in-depth interviews and a Web survey. The in-depth interviews revealed factors that will influence the diffusion of GIS, including the availability of map data, competition between media agencies, the ease of getting management to buy GIS once its functionality has been demonstrated to them, and the general use of secondary GIS products. The Web survey showed that 63 percent of the reporters were aware of GIS but only 11 percent of the reporters surveyed currently use GIS. OLS regression showed that men were more likely to adopt GIS than women, while younger people were more likely to adopt GIS than their older counterparts. The results also showed that reporters who used other technologies in their work were more likely to adopt GIS on a trial basis. With ever changing technologies emerging all around us, it is important that media parishioners, educators, and researchers take a closer look at how non traditional cutting edge technologies affect media practice. This book takes an initial step towards this direction by examining the diffusion of a little known and used media technology - GIS.