More interactive uses of e-government and experiments in online voting promise to expand the
Internet’s significance as a medium for political knowledge and participation (Coglianese 2004;
Larsen and Rainie 2002; West 2003). Some research has revealed the Internet’s potential for
mobilizing voters and citizen participation (Bimber 1999, 2003; Tolbert and McNeal 2003; Shah,
Kwak and Holbert 2001; Thomas and Streib 2003; Graf and Darr 2004). Continuing gaps in
technology access and use have consequences for equality and political and economic inclusion.
The Paradox of Race and Digital Disparities
One of the puzzles emerging from recent research on digital inequalities is the effects of
race and ethnicity. African-Americans and Latinos are less likely to have information
technology access and skills, even when controlling for other factors such as income and
education (Mossberger, Tolbert and Stansbury 2003, 30, 47). Yet, African-Americans, and to a
lesser extent, Latinos, have more positive attitudes about information technology than similarly-
situated whites. For African-Americans, these particularly positive attitudes encompass a range
of issues, from the significance of the Internet for economic opportunity (employment, job-
training and education), to a willingness to use public access and to learn new computer skills in
a variety of ways (Mossberger, Tolbert, and Stansbury 2003, 51, 53, 69). African Americans and
Latinos also have more positive views of public libraries that offer technology access than
similarly situated whites. African Americans especially, as well as Latinos, have a consistent
pattern of positive attitudes about technology despite lower access rates (Mossberger, Tolbert
and Stansbury 2003).
If racial differences in Internet access and skill cannot be explained by apathy toward
technology, or by individual differences in income and education, then we must look to other
explanations. Stated more directly, if motivation and interest is not the cause of lower minority
access rates, what is?
3
Convention