Digital Dead End

Eubanks (women's studies, SUNY at Albany), an antipoverty and welfare rights organizer, vehemently argues against many of the central ideas held by today's information economy pundits, scholars, and policymakers. Drawing on rich fieldwork experience and research with marginalized populations, Eubanks refutes the idea that technology development and use will provide us with better social and economic equity. Policies and institutions formed to address a perceived digital divide are in fact deepening inequality. Lessons learned from her programs are presented and possible solutions are given a framework for development, but there are few signs of light in the dark world vividly portrayed here. She offers a new approach to the challenge—shift the focus from teaching technical skills to nurturing technological citizenship. The book at times reads like a protest-march documentary. Readers learn the who, what, where, when, and why, but the how is elusive.