Digital media are reshaping citizens' connections to politics. Many claim that new media de-institutionalize political action. But where does that leave civic engagement, long structured through stable, bureaucratic organizations? This book examines what the relationship between young citizens and civic groups looks like on the Web and in social media.

This title investigates the changing relationship between citizens and civic organisations by exploring how social changes and innovations in communication technology are transforming the information expectations and preferences of citizens. It is the first work to bring together theories of civic identity change with research on civic organisations. Specifically, it argues that a shift in information styles may help to explain the disjuncture felt by many young people when it comes to institutional participation and politics.

The powerful potential of digital media to engage citizens in political actions has now crossed our news screens many times. But scholarly focus has tended to be on "networked," anti-institutional forms of collective action, to the neglect of advocacy and service organizations. This book investigates the changing fortunes of the citizen-civil society relationship by exploring how social changes and innovations in communication technology are transforming the information expectations and preferences of many citizens, especially young citizens. In doing so, it is the first work to bring together theories of civic identity change with research on civic organizations. Specifically, it argues that a shift in "information styles" may help to explain the disjuncture felt by many young people when it comes to institutional participation and politics. The book theorizes two paradigms of information style: a dutiful style, which was rooted in the society, communication system and citizen norms of the modern era, and an actualizing style, which constitutes the set of information practices and expectations of the young citizens of late modernity for whom interactive digital media are the norm. Hypothesizing that civil society institutions have difficulty adapting to the norms and practices of the actualizing information style, two empirical studies apply the dutiful/actualizing framework to innovative content analyses of organizations' online communications-on their websites, and through Facebook. Results demonstrate that with intriguing exceptions, most major civil society organizations use digital media more in line with dutiful information norms than actualizing ones: they tend to broadcast strategic messages to an audience of receivers, rather than encouraging participation or exchange among an active set of participants. The book concludes with a discussion of the tensions inherent in bureaucratic organizations trying to adapt to an actualizing information style, and recommendations for how they may more successfully do so.

This analysis of how the ability to participate in society online affects political and economic opportunity finds that technology use matters in wages and income and civic participation and voting. Just as education has promoted democracy and economic growth, the Internet has the potential to benefit society as a whole. Digital citizenship, or the ability to participate in society online, promotes social inclusion. But statistics show that significant segments of the population are still excluded from digital citizenship. The authors of this book define digital citizens as those who are online daily. By focusing on frequent use, they reconceptualize debates about the digital divide to include both the means and the skills to participate online. They offer new evidence (drawn from recent national opinion surveys and Current Population Surveys) that technology use matters for wages and income, and for civic engagement and voting. Digital Citizenship examines three aspects of participation in society online: economic opportunity, democratic participation, and inclusion in prevailing forms of communication. The authors find that Internet use at work increases wages, with less-educated and minority workers receiving the greatest benefit, and that Internet use is significantly related to political participation, especially among the young. The authors examine in detail the gaps in technological access among minorities and the poor and predict that this digital inequality is not likely to disappear in the near future. Public policy, they argue, must address educational and technological disparities if we are to achieve full participation and citizenship in the twenty-first century.

This cutting-edge book explores the diverse and contested meanings of ‘citizenship’ in the 21st century, as representative democracy faces a mounting crisis in the wake of the digital age. Luigi Ceccarini enriches and updates the common notion of citizenship, answering the question of how it is possible to fully live as a citizen in a post-modern political community.

More and more individuals today are “digital natives.” They are comfortable with all of the advances in technology, using it every day. However, while they may be able to access the digital world easily does not translate into being able to successfully navigate it. Regardless of age and experience, young adults must be mindful of their digital presence in the expanding digital world. This book provides a guide for librarians, educators, counselors, and administrators to guide secondary and higher education students in successfully practicing responsible citizenship and civics in the digital world. In our world where our social credit is held increasing value, digital civics and citizenship are powerful tools, especially for students just venturing into this expansive realm.

Digitization has transformed the way we interact with our social, political and economic environments. While it has enhanced the potential for citizen agency, it has also enabled the collection and analysis of unprecedented amounts of personal data. This requires us to fundamentally rethink our understanding of digital citizenship, based on an awareness of the ways in which citizens are increasingly monitored, categorized, sorted and profiled. Drawing on extensive empirical research, Digital Citizenship in a Datafied Society offers a new understanding of citizenship in an age defined by data collection and processing. The book traces the social forces that shape digital citizenship by investigating regulatory frameworks, mediated public debate, citizens' knowledge and understanding, and possibilities for dissent and resistance.