Digital divide?: civic engagement, information poverty & the internet in democratic societies

Will the Internet transform conventional forms of democratic activism, or only serve to reinforce the existing gap between the technologically rich and poor? Will it level the playing field for developing societies, or instead strengthen the advantages of post-industrial economies? Will parties, interest groups, and governments use the Net to encourage interactive participation, or will the technology be used as another form of ‘top-down’ communications?

It argues that the political role of the Internet reflects and thereby reinforces, rather than transforms, the structural features of each country’s political system. In some, voluntary organizations and community groups mobilize people into politics. In others, citizens often become active via strong mass-branch party organizations. In yet others, grassroots social movements involve people in protest politics, such as direct action to protect the environment. The Net becomes a common resource which different agencies can use in the attempt to generate public support and to influence the policy process. The Internet thereby alters the mobilizing structure, providing new points of access into the political system, creating new possibilities for collective action, organizational linkage across distances, and informal networks.

This book:

• looks at the theoretical framework in the Internet Engagement Model which suggests that use of the new technology can be understood as the product of resources (like time and money), motivation (like interest and confidence) and the structure of opportunities (such as how social networks and political actors use the Internet). It locates the discussion within broader theories of social communications and civic engagement.
• it distinguishes the global divide meaning inequalities of Internet access between countries, the social divide between groups within societies, and the democratic divide between those online who do, and do not, use political resources on the Internet.
• discusses the trends in global access to the internet and the social divisions in the online community, including gaps of gender, class and generation.
• compares the structure of opportunities for political use of the Internet, in terms of the news environment, political parties and campaigns, civic society and the government
• examines the impact of attention to the Internet for news and political engagement, considers the major explanations of net civic engagement, and evaluates the main policy options for reducing the digital divide.

Much of the focus is on OECD countries, especially the United States and the 15 member states of the European Union.