Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society and Participation

Citation

Parry, F. (2008), "Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society and Participation", Online Information Review, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 538-539. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520810897421

This is a book about what constitutes digital citizenship in the USA and how to ensure that the much‐talked‐about digital divide does not further disenfranchise an already significant minority of disadvantaged groups. The authors all have backgrounds in political science and public administration, and the book is clearly written with politicians, employers, educators, political science students and researchers in mind.

In defining digital citizenship, the authors go to the first principles of citizenship which have characterised American public life since Independence: Lockean liberalism and economic opportunity; republicanism and democratic citizenship (civic participation and engagement); ascriptive hierarchy and inclusion – in other words, inequality. These three aspects of citizenship form the basis for the study of digital citizenship in the following chapters. In each case the authors draw from an impressive array of internet studies, including various Pew Internet Surveys, CPS (Current Populations Surveys by the US Census Bureau) and a raft of other studies – the references at the end extends to 17 pages.

One interesting observation which crops up time and again is the fact that access to computers and the internet is perhaps less significant than the frequency with which these are accessed. This is shown most clearly in the first section on the economic aspect of citizenship, where access at work – presumably a reliable measure of frequent use – is shown to significantly enhance economic gains for the workplace and workforce, particularly of the disadvantaged groups. The almost inevitable conclusion from this is that those who do not have frequent users at home or work find themselves increasingly marginalised economically, socially and politically.

The middle section on civic engagement and political participation is perhaps the most impressive part of the book. The central thesis is that access to knowledge, public forums, political platforms and online news invariably increases participation in the democratic process and encourages responsible, aware citizens. The authors do, however, have several caveats and mention studies which suggest that the opposite effect is true in some cases, notably an increase in passive consumption of information as opposed to participation and a retreat from social interaction into cyber‐only interaction. Nonetheless, in their survey analyses the authors suggest that activity increases with frequent internet use and in one section maintain that political communication on the internet parallels the effects of television on political participation. Again, the corollary of all this is the effect this has on the internet have‐nots. The authors deal with the reasons for the digital divide, the patterns of internet use and non‐use by disadvantaged groups and the ways to combat the divide in the final chapters. The chapter on public education and universal access is, in effect, a call for action explaining that extending digital citizenship is not only “A Good Thing” but also entirely within the American tradition of good citizenship and communal well‐being.

This is an impressive, well‐researched work based on detailed analysis of survey data and a thorough knowledge of the power and scope of the internet in the modern age. It will be of interest to anyone with a curiosity about how the internet affects public life in the USA and how people can be empowered by information technology – or be left behind.