Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
New Media & Society
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (9)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mehra, B.
Right arrow Articles by Bishop, A. P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
 Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The internet for empowerment of minority and marginalized users

Bharat Mehra

University of Tennessee, USA

Cecelia Merkel

Ann Peterson Bishop

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

The internet has tremendous potential to achieve greater social equity and empowerment and improve everyday life for those on the margins of society. This article presents the findings from three digital divide studies, each of which represents a different group of marginalized society members. Low-income families, sexual minorities and African-American women are represented in the three studies that employ different research approaches towards a common aim of contextualizing internet use in the everyday social practice of society’s ‘have-nots’. The aim is to step outside simple digital divide categories to understand how marginalized members of society incorporate computers and the internet into their daily lives in ways that are meaningful to them. An important goal is also to learn about how internet researchers can contribute to closing the digital divide in ways that converge with the goals, meanings and practices of people living on society’s margins.

Key Words: African-American • digital divide • low-income • sexual minorities • social equity • social justice

New Media & Society, Vol. 6, No. 6, 781-802 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/146144804047513


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
Human RelationsHome page
S. Ganesh and K. F. Barber
The silent community: Organizing zones in the digital divide
Human Relations, June 1, 2009; 62(6): 851 - 874.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
New Media SocietyHome page
N. Elias and D. Lemish
Spinning the web of identity: the roles of the internet in the lives of immigrant adolescents
New Media Society, June 1, 2009; 11(4): 533 - 551.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
New Media SocietyHome page
T. Newholm, K. Keeling, P. McGoldrick, L. Macaulay, and J. Doherty
The digital divide and the theory of optimal slack
New Media Society, April 1, 2008; 10(2): 295 - 319.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
New Media SocietyHome page
L. D'Haenens, J. Koeman, and F. Saeys
Digital citizenship among ethnic minority youths in the Netherlands and Flanders
New Media Society, April 1, 2007; 9(2): 278 - 299.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Home page
Health Promot PractHome page
B. A. Carlson, D. Neal, G. Magwood, C. Jenkins, M. G. King, and C. L. Hossler
A Community-Based Participatory Health Information Needs Assessment to Help Eliminate Diabetes Information Disparities
Health Promot Pract, July 1, 2006; 7(3_suppl): 213S - 222S.
[Abstract] [PDF]