Not Your Father's Internet: The Generation Gap in Online Politics

Contributing Organization(s): MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Initiative, The


Author(s)/Creator(s): Michael Xenos; Kirsten Foot

Publishing Date: 2008-01-01

Issue Areas: Children and Youth; Media; Education and Literacy

Ownership/Rights Info: Copyright 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Published under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works Unported 3.0 license.

Available at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262524827.051


Part of the Volume on Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth

Many have hoped that recent increases in online political campaigning might potentially stimulate greater political engagement among American youth. In this chapter we explore this possibility, drawing insights from a variety of studies ranging from feature and content analyses of campaign websites to detailed focus group discussions with young citizens. On the whole, this research suggests a yawning generation gap between the ways that political candidates typically use the Internet, and the preferences and expectations young people bring to cyberspace. Focusing on competing notions of interactivity as a key fault line, we conclude with a discussion of the principal issues that must be negotiated in order for this gap to be narrowed.

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Available at: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262524827.051


Intended Audience: Advocates; College/University Professors; General Public; Researchers; Teachers-middle school; Teachers-high school

Type/Format: Whitepaper

Language code: English

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