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IP: No racial differences in Internet use after all
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 20:20:40 -0400
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1947,00.html time.com / The Netly News April 30, 1998 by Declan McCullagh and Lev Grossman Two weeks ago Science magazine published a study documenting racial disparities in who spends time online. The authors, Donna Hoffman and Thomas Novak of Vanderbilt University, claimed that "race matters in Internet access" and called for new community Net centers to bridge the racial divide. It received tremendous publicity, landing on the front page of the New York Times. Last week even our sister publication Time magazine reprinted some of the findings under the headline "World White Web." Not so fast, says David Birdsell, an associate professor in the school of public affairs at New York City's Baruch College. He points out that data collection for the Vanderbilt study began in late 1996, when Internet access was more a novelty and less a commodity. (Only half as many people were online back then.) His own figures, collected over a year later, portray a very different picture. [...snip...] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to majordomo () vorlon mit edu with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
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