Media Access: Social and Psychological Dimensions of New Technology Use(Routledge Communication Series)

This study assembles and presents, as an integrated whole, the cross-disciplinary research being conducted on access to new technology. It departs from popular understandings of new technology use by recognizing the distinction between having access to the Internet as a technology and being able to access the content that resides on it. While much research attention and policy discussion remains focused on physical access to information technology, profitable use of new media actually hinges on the motivations, characteristics, and abilities of individual users - dimensions of access that have thus far received only scant attention by researchers and policymakers. The book explains the "digital divide" based on education, income, gender, geography and other demographic characteristics that we now face. Multidisciplinary in scope, this book represents the work of scholars across an array of fields, including journalism and mass communication, telecommunications, information studies, human-computer interaction, policy analysis, media sociology, and political science. The varied conceptual and methodological approaches originate from large-scale survey data, cultural explanations derived from depth interviews, and ethnographic methods and psychological explanations inferred from experimental data. "Media Access" is organized into three parts. Part I investigates questions pertaining to online content and computer avoidance, focusing on the psychological criteria of technology use and the role of education in facilitating cognitive access to new and traditional media. Part II compares social access to new technology among traditionally disadvantaged communities in disparate regions of the United States. Part III offers another level of analysis examining media access to the public sphere. This book is intended for professors and graduate students, as well as members of the policy community interested in media and information technology research.

Table of Contents:
Contents: E.P. Bucy, J.E. Newhagen, Preface: The New Thinking About Media Access. Part I:Introduction.J.E. Newhagen, E.P. Bucy, Routes to Media Access. Part II:Psychological Dimensions of Media Access.M.E. Grabe, R. Kamhawi, Cognitive Access to New and Traditional Media: Evidence From Different Strata of the Social Order. E.P. Bucy, The Interactivity Paradox: Closer to the News but Confused. S. Finn, A.R. Korukonda, Avoiding Computers: Does Personality Play a Role? K. Bessière, I. Ceaparu, J. Lazar, J. Robinson, B. Shneiderman, Social and Psychological Influences on Computer User Frustration. Part III:Social and Cultural Dimensions of Media Access.V. Rojas, J. Straubhaar, D. Roychowdhury, O. Okur, Communities, Cultural Capital, and the Digital Divide. J. Youtie, P. Shapira, G. Laudeman, Reducing Barriers to Access via Public Information Infrastructure: The LaGrange Public Internet Initiative. L.A. Jackson, G. Barbatsis, F.A. Biocca, A. von Eye, Y. Zhao, H.E. Fitzgerald, Home Internet Use in Low-Income Families: Is Access Enough to Eliminate the Digital Divide? Part IV:Media Access to the Public Sphere.J.H. McCrery, J.E. Newhagen, Conceptual Elasticity of the Public Sphere: Tracking Media and Psychological Determinants of Access. C.R. Hofstetter, The Skills and Motivations of Interactive Media Participants: The Case of Political Talk Radio. J. van Dijk, Divides in Succession: Possession, Skills, and Use of New Media for Societal Participation. B. Shneiderman, Universal Usability: Pushing Human-Computer Interaction Research to Empower Every Citizen. Part V:Conclusions and Connections.L.A. Lievrouw, Integrating the Research on Media Access: A Critical Overview.