Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

8.6.07 | My study concentrates on the collaboratively produced and edited online encyclopedia known as Wikipedia, a site which has been the subject of continued controversy. Some believe that Wikipedia can be a powerful tool for information dissemination. Others contend that users’ information literacy suffers when they become reliant on Wikipedia.

However, it remains unclear how digital youth participants assimilate the information they find on this collaboratively written site. Even more importantly, little is known about the ways in which youth belonging to different socio-economic groups evaluate the reliability and usefulness of the information they find on both collaborative and traditional sites. To address these gaps, my research examines how Wikipedia entries fare as sources of information, as compared to other online and offline sources of information.

How do youth understand the information they receive online?

The project also seeks to identify the particular information-processing strategies members of economically and culturally disadvantaged populations use to appropriate information gleaned from online sources. Previous research on the ‘digital divide’ has only documented the hurdles such people face in gaining access to online information sources. My research shows that effective appropriation of the information is not simply a matter of access to the technology itself, but also depends on the cognitive and cultural equipment which the user brings to his or her encounter with the technology.

In focusing attention on the interplay of technology, culture, and social structure, my project avoids all types of determinism, analyzing traditional questions of technology usage and social stratification from a holistic perspective.