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Digital inequalities have been exacerbated for many marginalized populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is no different for one of the most marginalized populations in the United States, incarcerated people. Due to the pandemic, in-person visitations as well as educational and vocational programming were, and in many cases remain, suspended across numerous correctional facilities, leaving incarcerated people even more socially isolated than before the pandemic. Although an increasing number of facilities provide prison tablets for entertainment and communication purposes, high prices for electronic messages, video visitations, books, and entertainment content leave incarcerated people and their families unable to pay for these services. As best practice examples from California, Maine, New York City, and Pennsylvania demonstrate, connecting prisons to the internet and allowing incarcerated people secure access to the internet is possible, and long overdue. The pandemic has highlighted these issues and provides an opportunity to overhaul outdated ideas about prison communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As many as three million households with school-aged children in the United States do not have any Internet service at home, and 18% do not have a broadband connection, creating a "homework gap" between those who can access the Internet to support their schoolwork at home, and those who cannot. Based on a series of empirical case studies of efforts to develop wireless projects across the United States, coupled with a review of relevant spectrum and wireless regulations, this study informs academics and practitioners how different wireless broadband technologies can help bridge the gap. However, as our case studies show, wireless should not be viewed as a magic bullet to solving the homework gap. Closing this gap requires social initiatives to promote uptake and productivity enhancing usage and skills levels, and financial and regulatory support from policymakers and other stakeholders.

This issue examines technology-driven economic developments during the global COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Specifically, the articles cover the ways that gig work, the platform economy, and remote work have evolved during the course of the pandemic. The issue leads with articles that chart the interplay of the platform economy with various facets of the pandemic from the inequalities and risks faced by gig workers to market forces shaping the commercialization of hosting platforms. The following articles concentrate on the ways in which specific structural conditions—digital infrastructure as well as the structure of the economy—influence the unequal distribution of telework in Uruguay and the relationship between informality and remote work opportunities across Latin America. The last two articles explore remote work in Asia and North America. In the first of these two articles remote work in Japan is examined in order to investigate the cultural sources of resistance to the adoption of remote work. In the concluding article, the remote work preferences of U.S. adults are analyzed as a function of technology usage (videoconferencing versus instant messaging) as well as sociodemographic and occupational attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research suggests that older internet users are not a homogeneous group of users, as their level of digital inclusion varies widely, depending not only on their age, but also on their socio-demographic background, internet access characteristics, and the availability of social resources associated with "age-graded" life events (e.g., retirement and widowhood). This study presents a typology of internet users in late middle and late adulthood according to their levels of skills and uses and examines how socio-demographic characteristics, social networks and resources, and internet access shape differences between groups. Based on representative survey data, cluster analysis was used to identify four groups of users aged 50+: Apprehensive, Level-headed, Savvy, and Reluctant users. Three main conclusions emerge from their comparison. First, both internet skills and uses need to be considered, as more skills do not always lead to more varied use and the relationship is affected by access characteristics and proxy internet use. Second, socio-demographics remain critical in explaining gradations in digital inclusion, but their effects must be contextualized. Not all younger older adults were highly digitally engaged, so their broader life contexts need to be considered. Third, social networks and resources had little impact on aging internet users' digital engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic acted as an accelerant in many aspects of social life, speeding up existing social trends rather than fostering entirely new behaviors. This was particularly evident in relation to technology use. We examine intergenerational technology guidance--how parents help children, and how children help parents--within lower-income families one year into the pandemic. We draw on nationally representative, cross-sectional surveys of lower-income U.S. parents with school-age children in 2015 and 2021 to compare families' pandemic experiences to an earlier point in time. We ask whether sociodemographic patterns of intergenerational technology guidance changed between 2015 and 2021 and identify factors that might explain these changes. Logistic regressions show that intergenerational technology guidance increased within these families--but also, that sociodemographic differences in parental technology guidance evident in 2015 had largely fell away by 2021. This suggests a "silver lining" of the pandemic period: a key form of digital inequality among lower-income U.S. parents was much less pronounced by 2021. Our findings have important implications for policy and practice in the aftermath of pandemic remote learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High incarceration rates and a focus on incapacitation during incarceration lead to a 'revolving door effect' in the United States, with more than two thirds of parolees rearrested within three years of release. One aspect that is missing from efforts to resolve the revolving door effect is how access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) might improve the reentry process. Focus groups with 73 male and female returning citizens in a large Midwestern city examined which types of ICTs parolees use and for what purposes; what the key barriers to access and use are; and which kinds of ICTs parolees need for reentry services. Our findings show that both access and lack of skills are barriers to using ICTs, with many perceived negative effects reported by our participants. As part of our policy recommendations, we stress the importance of including ICT training during and after incarceration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the relationship between mode of Internet access, variety of online activities, and the potential for the Internet to contribute to local social capital in distressed, urban communities. Based on a sample of 525 telephone surveys in Detroit, findings show that breadth of access predicts participation in a larger variety of online activities, which is associated with higher levels of local social capital. Neither public Internet access, home broadband, nor Internet access through a mobile phone data plan alone affords participation in a full range of social capital-enhancing activities. The findings highlight the potential problems of initiatives that assume equivalent social outcomes through nonequivalent modes of access, such as providing Internet access through mobile phones in place of home broadband. Efforts to enhance a city's social infrastructure by providing Internet access are best served when individuals have multiple points of access available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important contribution of digital inequalities research has been the discussion of nuances in ways that people (dis)engage with information and communication technologies (ICTs). One such practice is proxy Internet use (PIU): indirect Internet access by asking others to do things online for them or on their behalf. Whereas there is a good amount of research on those who are on the receiving end of PIU, users-by-proxy, little is known about "proxy users" who provide PIU. Analyses of nationally representative survey data from Slovenia (N = 1047) collected in 2018 show that 51% of Internet users reported to have acted as proxy users in the past 12 months. Multivariate analyses unveil that those Internet users who report a wider array of personal, economic, social Internet uses as well as those with higher levels of operational Internet skills are more likely to act as proxy users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study challenges conventional expectations around Internet access and use in distressed urban neighbourhoods in the United States. Based on the findings of a survey of 525 Detroit, Michigan, residents, this study suggests that Detroit communities are more interested and more instrumental in their use of the Internet than suggested by characterizations of residents in low-income urban neighbourhoods being less engaged in the digital world. In countering these myths, our data provide a more realistic assessment of digital divides in Detroit, namely a divide between those with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) contract and those who are overly dependent on mobile, which has limited valuable uses of the Internet. Attitudes about the value of the Internet and concerns about costs have shaped ISP subscriptions and an overreliance on mobile phones. Those without home access and those more reliance on mobile phones engage in fewer online activities, such as health information seeking, fact finding, and shopping. This case study identifies key attitudes and barriers to access and use of ISPs in Detroit, which could be relevant to other distressed urban communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithms serve as gatekeepers and arbiters of truth online. Understanding how algorithms influence which information individuals encounter better enables them to properly calibrate their reception of the information. Yet, knowledge of platform algorithms appears to be limited and not universally distributed. In line with the long history of knowledge inequities, we suggest that algorithmic knowledge varies according to socioeconomic advantage. We further argue that algorithms are experience technologies in that they are more easily understood through use. Nevertheless, socioeconomic background continues to shape information and communication technology use, thereby further influencing disparities in algorithmic knowledge. Using data from a survey of a random sample of Internet users in the United States, we found support for the relationship between algorithmic knowledge and socioeconomic background in the context of online search. The findings provide preliminary evidence that extant structural inequalities underlie algorithmic knowledge gaps in this domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers on digital divides have identified demographic and attitudinal factors associated with inequalities in access, skills, and patterns of Internet use, primarily around age, income, and education. While the attitudes and values of Internet users and non-users have been studied over the years, they have rarely been used to identify broader ‘cultures of the Internet’ and their role in shaping digital divides. This paper builds on research in Britain, which focused on patterns of attitudes underpinning Internet cultures, to explore the degree that similar or distinctive cultures have developed in the USA, and whether and how they are useful in explaining digital divides. This study utilizes original data drawn from a telephone survey of residents across the State of Michigan that adapted survey items and methods from the Oxford Internet Survey of Britain. Based on these survey responses, the paper identifies and describes the cultures of the Internet among Michigan residents, as an exploratory case of the US as a whole, and shows how these cultures shape digital divides in Internet access and social media use. The robustness and explanatory power of these explorations of Internet cultures argue for further research on the United States and for comparative research with other nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers on digital divides have identified demographic and attitudinal factors associated with inequalities in access, skills, and patterns of Internet use, primarily around age, income, and education. While the attitudes and values of Internet users and non-users have been studied over the years, they have rarely been used to identify broader ‘cultures of the Internet’ and their role in shaping digital divides. This paper builds on research in Britain, which focused on patterns of attitudes underpinning Internet cultures, to explore the degree that similar or distinctive cultures have developed in the USA, and whether and how they are useful in explaining digital divides. This study utilizes original data drawn from a telephone survey of residents across the State of Michigan that adapted survey items and methods from the Oxford Internet Survey of Britain. Based on these survey responses, the paper identifies and describes the cultures of the Internet among Michigan residents, as an exploratory case of the US as a whole, and shows how these cultures shape digital divides in Internet access and social media use. The robustness and explanatory power of these explorations of Internet cultures argue for further research on the United States and for comparative research with other nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into reasons for Internet non-use has been mostly based on one-off cohort studies and focused on single-country contexts. This article shows that motivations for being offline changed between 2005 and 2013 among non- and ex-users in two high-diffusion European countries. Analyses of Swedish and British data demonstrate that non-user populations have become more concentrated in vulnerable groups. While traditional digital divide reasons related to a lack of access and skills remain important, motivational reasons increased in importance over time. The ways in which these reasons gain importance for non- and ex-user groups vary, as do explanations for digital exclusion in the different countries. Effective interventions aimed at tackling digital exclusion need to take into consideration national contexts, changing non-user characteristics, and individual experience with the Internet. What worked a decade ago in a particular country might not work currently in a different or even the same country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into digital inequalities has shifted from a binary view of Internet use versus non-use to studying gradations in Internet use. However, this research has mostly compared categories of users only. In addition, the role of attitudes in digital inequalities has been largely overlooked. This article addresses these limitations by performing a systematic analysis of factors that distinguish low Internet users from non-users, regular users, and broad users. In addition to socio-demographic characteristics, we examine attitudinal variables. Results drawn from multinomial regressions indicate that attitudes play at least as large a role as socio-economic factors in determining the likelihood of belonging to specific (non-)user categories. This identifies positive attitudes toward technologies and the Internet as a crucial step toward Internet adoption. Hence, digital inequality research needs to consider factors other than traditional socio-economic ones to draw a complete picture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]