Internet Access and Use in Context

Introduction Over the past five years, thousands of articles have appeared in academic journals about new media, the internet and the web. The topics range from identity expression in online communities to how new media may affect political participation and voter turnout. The range of questions is both overwhelming and exciting. At the core of all these explorations lies a more basic question, however: Who uses new media and – equally important – who does not? It is an important baseline measure for putting into the appropriate context all other studies of new media use. The split between the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ of new media use has most often been referred to using the term the ‘digital divide’. The expression aims to signify the gap between those who have access to and use digital technologies, and those who do not. The topic has captured much attention in the popular media, in academic circles and the policy world alike. According to the Social Science Citation Index and the Humanities Citation Index, over 150 articles have appeared in academic journals on the topic of the ‘digital divide’. Moreover, the proportion of all internet and web related articles that deal with the ‘digital divide’ has gone up one percentage point each year in the past five years,suggesting an increasing interest in and importance of this issue. Here, I have chosen to discuss three books in this area of inquiry. They cover the topic at different levels and focus on different dimensions of access and use but they all contribute to a basic understanding of who uses digital technologies, who does not, and what may be the social implications of these initial patterns. In Social Consequences of Internet Use (Katz and Rice, 2002), James E. Katz and Ronald E. Rice – both professors of communication – describe the state of internet use and non-use in the U.S. context primarily concentrating on access, social involvement and social new media & society