CHAPTER 11 Information and Equity

Inequities in information creation, production, distribution, and use are nothing new. Throughout human history some people have been more educated, better connected, more widely traveled, or more well-informed than others. Until recently, relatively few have enjoyed the benefits of literacy, and even fewer could afford to own books. In the age of mass media, societies and social groups have vaned dramatically in terms of their access to and uses of print, radio, television, film, tele-phone, and telegraph. What is new, however, is the growing attention being given to infor-mational inequities in an increasingly information-driven global econ-omy. Across disciplinary, national, and cultural boundaries, the widespread agreement is that the use of newer information and commu-nication technologies (ICTs), particularly the Internet, has accelerated the production, circulation, and consumption of information in every form. But also a growing sense has arisen that ICTs have helped to exac-erbate existing differences in information access and use, and may even have fostered new types of barriers. As Hess and Ostrom (2001, p. 45) point out, “Distributed digital technologies have the dual capacity to increase as well as restrict access to information. ” Similarly, Stevenso