Digital media have the potential to give everyone a voice, but who is actually participating in online content production? This session will consider how differences in people's Web use skills influence what they do online. What inequalities have been shown in research and how can we increase equity in this area? How can we broaden access to meaningful web skills that equip individuals and communities for full participation in the digital age?
Eszter Hargittai (PhD Princeton Sociology) is Delaney Family Professor in the Communication Studies Department and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University where she heads the Web Use Project. She is also affiliated with the Programs in Science in Human Culture, and Human Development and Social Policy, and the Sociology Department. Her research looks at how people may benefit from their digital media uses with a particular focus on how differences in people's Web-use skills influence what they do online. She has looked at these questions in the domains of information seeking, health content, political participation, job search, the sharing of creative content, and privacy management. Hargittai's work has received awards from several professional associations as well as Northwestern, for her research, her teaching and mentoring, and her engagement with the public. She has published over 70 academic papers and several opeds. In addition to having presented her work across the US, she has also given invited talks in 15 countries on four continents. She is co-editor, with Christian Sandvig, of Digital Research Confidential (The MIT Press, 2015), which presents a behind-the-scenes look at doing empirical social science research in the digital age. Her work has been supported by National Science Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Nokia, Google, Facebook, and Merck, among others.
An-Me Chung is Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Mozilla Foundation and leads the foundation’s web literacy efforts. One of the world's largest social enterprises, Mozilla promotes openness, innovation, and opportunity online; and creates open standards that enable innovation, access, and opportunity for all. Before joining Mozilla, Chung was the associate director of education for U.S. Programs at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation where she supported initiatives to improve student learning through the use of digital media. Prior to this, she led the education grantmaking at the C.S. Mott Foundation and partnered with the U.S. Department of Education to build the afterschool field by supporting training and technical assistance, research and evaluation, policy development, and public awareness and outreach. This partnership won the Public Excellence Award and was a semi-finalist for the Kennedy School of Government “Innovations in American Government” award. As associate director at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, she directed the Save the Children Out-of-School Time Rural Initiative.