Special Issue "Inequality in the Digital Environment"

Guest Editor
Dr. Roderick Graham
Department of Sociology, Rhode Island College, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence, RI 02903, USA
Website: http://www.roderickgraham.com
E-Mail: rgraham@ric.edu
Phone: +1 401-456-8727
Interests: social stratification; race and ethnicity; new media technologies; Internet studies

Guest Editor
Dr. Kyungsub S. Choi
Department of Computer Information Systems, School of Management, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI 02908-1991, USA
Website: http://faculty.ric.edu/kchoi/
E-Mail: kchoi@ric.edu
Phone: +1 401-456-8412
Fax: +1 401-456-8759
Interests: social media; mobile technologies; social computing; group differences

Guest Editor
Dr. P. Khalil Saucier
Department of Sociology, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI, USA
E-Mail: psaucier@ric.edu
Interests: critical race theory; cultural studies and black political theory

Guest Editor
Dr. Danielle Taana Smith
Department of Sociology, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, USA
E-Mail: Danielle.Smith@rit.edu
Interests: global violence; race and ethnicity; healthcare

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue of Future Internet is dedicated to exploring inequalities between groups in the digital environment.  The “digital environment” here refers to the interconnected online environment, which includes all devices that allow users to go online (mobile phones, desktop computers, tablet computers, some household appliances).  Inequality here refers to disparities in material access and quality of usage between groups.  Papers should explore inequalities in the digital environment between economic classes, racial groups, communities, and other types of social groups and categories.

Some potential topics include inequalities in:

• Material access to the Internet
• Civic and political participation in the online environment
• Digital literacy
• Social capital
• Telecommunications infrastructure between and within nations
• Social support
• Diversity of usage (With respect to both hardware and software)

Much research has been done on the technological and economic aspects of the inequality online, but relatively less has been done on inequalities in content production.  Thus, special interest will be given to papers that explore inequalities in:

• Representative content (web content that reflects the culture or interests of the audience)
• Framing of news stories or events
• The production of racial and ethnic stereotypes

Dr. Roderick Graham
Dr. Kyungsub Choi
Dr. P. Khalil Saucier
Dr. Danielle Taana Smith
Guest Editors

For further questions/inquiries, please contact Dr. Roderick Graham : rgraham@ric.edu

Submission

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Future Internet is an international peer-reviewed Open Access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 500 CHF (Swiss Francs). English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• digital divide
• digital inequality
• social stratification

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Intellectual Disability, Inequality and the Internet: A Review
Authors: Darren Chadwick, Caroline Wesson, Chris Fullwood
Affiliation: Psychology department, University of Wolverhampton, UK
Abstract: This review gives an overview of the societal inequalities faced by people with intellectual disabilities, before focusing specifically on the challenges people face accessing Internet. Current access will be outlined along with the support related factors that can hinder access. A discussion of carer views of Internet use by people with intellectual disabilities will be covered incorporating consideration of the self-determination and lifestyle issues that can affect access. We will address how impairment related factors may impede access and subsequently discuss how supports may be used to obfuscate impairments and facilitate access. We will move on from this to describe the potential social (and educational) benefits the Internet could potentially provide to people with intellectual disabilities. This will include a critical discussion of the potential of social networking sites for developing friendships. Finally, recommendations to better include people with intellectual disabilities will be given along with future research suggestions.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Performative Acts of Gender in Online Dating: An Auto-Ethnography Comparing Sites
Author: Megan Lindsay
Affiliation: School of Social Work, College of Public Programs, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA
Abstract: When participating in online social environments some may assume the machine offers an opportunity for equalizing or creating more authentic human connection without the emphasis of societal roles. This paper challenges the assumption that our virtual environments are entirely new and different or neutral. Instead our virtual environments are constructed and shaped by a society that already has in place a gendered and hetero-normative hierarchy. Using Judith Butlers (1998) theory of performative gender I reflect on how my own gender performance was constructed within certain dating websites. When participating in online environments we are shaping these socio-technological (Fuchs, 2004) spaces through our participation or behaviors, based according in what we already know about dating. However, throughout the online space there is now an added social figure guiding and prompting self presentation, the website. Therefore both men and women are constricted to gender performances during dating rituals according to both the constructed websites and societal agendas placed on them. These online dating social environments are shaping and influencing how gender and self expression exist, and the role the figurative third party takes is perpetuating simplified archetypes of what can be a complex gender identity.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Tethered to Technology: African American College Students’ Digital Dependency
Author: Theresa Renee White
Affiliation: Pan African Studies/Cultural Studies, DuBois Hamer Institute, California State University, Northridge, USA
Abstract: Verbal communication is a crucial factor for success in school and in interpersonal relationships. Simultaneously, Internet addiction is a growing problem, and is under consideration for inclusion in the May 2013 edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. When the personal computer revolution began decades ago, African Americans were much less likely to use the new technology. When the Internet emerged, this group had less access to the Web — placing them on the wrong side of the "digital divide." Today, as mobile technology puts computers in our pockets, African Americans are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and are now challenged by more, not less, access to technology. The primary concerns of this qualitative study are to explore the propensity of a “new” digital divide, and if social-media use inhibits intellectual development and social capital for African American college students.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: The Acceptability of Virtual Relationship Violence & Perspectives on Punishment: Does Gender or Nationality Matter?
Author: Alison Marganski
Affiliation: Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, Virginia Wesleyan College, Virginia, USA
Abstract: Given the increasingly popular use of socially interactive technology, it is believed that the way in which individuals communicate and experience relationships has drastically been changing. For those who partake in the online world, damaging dating behaviors akin to those found in the real world have emerged, yet we know little about the extent of these behaviors or the acceptability of them in the context of romantic relationships, especially from a gender or cultural standpoint. Further, we know little as to whether individuals feel protection is warranted. Research on dating violence generally indicates that women experience victimization at higher rates than men, and that some national groups experience higher rates than others. This study investigates gender and nationality in 1) the acceptability of virtual relationship violence, and 2) attitudes towards the criminalization of negativistic socially interactive behaviors. The study offers a unique opportunity to analyze high-risk victimization groups and draw comparisons to their counterparts regarding the acceptability of online communicative violence and perceptions of appropriate responses to harmful behaviors. The results of this research may signal the ways in which inequalities exist in the virtual world, and it may offer insight into how we can shape resistance to problematic encounters.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Discrimination and Prejudice in two Virtual Communities: Reproducing and Resisting Social Inequalities
Authors: David G. Embrick, J. Talmadge Wright and Natalie Seefeldt
Affiliation: Loyola University-Chicago, USA
Abstract: Multimedia entertainment and more specifically video game play have increasingly become central components of peoples’ lives in the 21st Century. The sheer growth and scale of this sociological phenomenon has encouraged scholars to examine how social relationships and conflicts are fostered, regulated, and policed in virtual communities. Using data collected from one of the authors from a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game sites, World of Warcraft, and a Massive Online First-Person Shooter, Counterstrike, we ask the question: how are racial and sexist comments on open chat forums both reproduced and resolved in virtual communities? We contend that while such virtual sites exhibit characteristics that are both colorblind racist and genderblind sexist, the unique elements of such virtual environments (e.g., user anonymity, detailed policing by both users and game developers, etc.) create complexities where simple reproduction of stereotypical comments may be treated in more sophisticated ways than are usually acknowledged.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Racial Alienation in the Online World
Authors: Rebecca West and Bhoomi K. Thakore
Affiliation: Loyola University Chicago, USA
Abstract: As the internet has become an integral part of everyday life, it is understood that patterns of racial stereotyping and discrimination found in the offline world are often reproduced online. In our paper, we examine two exclusionary practices in an online environment for adult toy collectors: first, the essentializing of individual’s racial identity where non-white members are expected to form immediate friendships with other non-white members; and second, the dismissal of racial issues when concerns over the lack of racial diversity in the toys is discussed. This dismissal is often directly connected to non-white members’ decisions to no longer participate, resulting in a new form of segregation within virtual space.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Digital Differentiation in Young People`s Use of Internet - Eliminating or Reproducing Stereotypes?
Author: Sylvia Søderstrøm
Affiliation: Department of Social Work and Health Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Abstract: Norwegian authorities’ policy aims at securing an information society for all, emphasizing the importance of accessible and usable Information and Communication Technology for everyone. While the body of research on young people’s use of ICT is quite comprehensive, research addressing digital differentiation in young disabled people’s use of ICT is still in its early days. This paper investigates how young disabled people`s use, or non-use, of assistive ICT creates digital differentiations in their use of internet. The investigation elaborates on how anticipations and stereotypes establish an authoritative definition of assistive ICT, and the consequence this creates for young disabled people’s use of the Web. The object of the paper is to provide enhanced insight into the field of technology and disability by illuminating how assistive ICT sometimes eliminates and sometimes reproduces stereotypes and digital differentiations. The investigation draws on a qualitative interview study with 11 blind or partially sighted Norwegians aged 15-20 years. To analyse the study`s findings two different, but closely related, perspectives are used. The first perspective employs the concept of identity multiplicity, and the second uses Actor-Network Theory. The paper’s closing discussion expands on technology`s significance in young people`s negotiations of impairment and of perceptions of disability.