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Political expression has flourished online, especially on social media platforms, but there are also participation gaps associated with long-standing social and digital inequalities including socio-demographics, political capital, and internet practices. In this study, we examine how network characteristics such as size and diversity contribute to gaps in online political expression and content creation, as well as whether they mediate the stratificational effects of antecedent factors. We test these possibilities using data from a two-wave panel survey of adult internet users in the United States collected just before and after the 2018 U.S. midterm elections. Our findings show relatively wide participation gaps associated with network diversity, which also mediates the influence of political interest and digital news use. We argue that more attention should be paid to network inequalities in online participation, particularly whether they arise from fundamentally unfair social conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider inequalities within households to be an important step for increasing our understanding of digital inequalities perpetuated by smart homes. We argue that the key to understanding the use of the Internet of Things is household choreographies rather than individual practices. We specifically address different power relations between household members in regard to their use of IoT devices. Using interview data collected through five visits to 30 households in 15 months, we use abductive analysis to develop our framework that has three dimensions: materiality, accessibility, and harmony. We find that acceptance of the IoT's materiality by all household members is key, but household rules are also crucial to how well the IoT can operate. Parents can more precisely moderate their children, and data and privacy also require more moderation. In addition, the IoT can help complex household choreographies, but household choreographies that are too complex can hinder IoT use. Finally, we note that traditional gender roles remain prevalent in smart homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many universal access policies are based on the assumption that the removal of the digital divide will enhance social mobility. But this assumption is not supported by the available evidence. Using four waves of longitudinal data from Britain we show that Internet use has a positive effect on social class mobility, while controlling for age, gender, education, health, and previous social class membership between 1997 and 2013. In doing so, we contribute to a wider discussion of the relationships between social and digital inequalities and highlight the challenges and potential of this methodological approach for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a more differentiated understanding of mobile health consumers, and considers whether health app use may contribute to new digital inequalities. It focuses on factors associated with mobile health app use, and identifies which factors explain the use of different types of health apps. Data from a large representative sample of the Dutch population (N = 1,079) show that mobile health app users were generally younger, higher educated, and had higher levels of e-health literacy skills than non-users. Interestingly, different usage patterns were found for specific types of health apps. Theory and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though the issue of empowerment has been widely discussed in debates across various research fields, public policy forums, and media, it is an ambiguous concept. This special issue focuses on empowerment and new media. The articles in this special issue, which advance innovative theoretical and methodological frameworks, focus on the theoretical grounding of the notion of empowerment; empirical research on structures and processes that shape the emergence of individual and collective empowerment within online communities; the value of Amartya Sen's capability approach for community informatics research; and development of a methodological framework for measuring and monitoring the dynamics of digital inequalities correctly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the sociology of childhood and youth, children have been conceptualized as passive subjects on hold, still in the process of becoming—rather than in an effective state of being. In effect, children have been conceptualized as the subjects rather than the objects of the research process. This influence got carried over to digital divide research. The latest thinking in the field has started to define and understand children and young people as heterogeneous, nonpassive, autonomous, diverse, and versatile agents actively appropriating the Internet in meaningful contexts of their everyday lives. This article seeks to move the discourse forward via four parallel binary logistic regressions that assess diverse and socially mediated opportunities needed to learn basic digital skills from a representative sample of 6,602 primary and secondary students from 350 schools and high schools in Catalonia, Spain. Our research shows that the school appears to be playing a secondary role, as compared with children and young people's social practice in heterogenic contexts of everyday life, not only for Internet training but also for providing opportunities to develop and master basic digital skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]