My new book has appeared. Thanks to the many of you in AoIR who contributed ideas and information to it. Mark Mark Warschauer Vice Chair, Department of Education University of California, Irvine tel: 949: 824-2526, fax: (949) 824-2965 markw@uci.edu; http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw ------------------------ Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide by Mark Warschauer, University of California, Irvine Now Available from MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid= 01CD9ACB-049C-4B90-841C-0E086475AB19&ttype =2&tid=9239 Much of the discussion of new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a bipolar "digital divide." This book moves beyond one-dimensional discussion of "haves" and "have-nots" to analyze in-depth the nuanced forms of access to information and communication technologies and the ways that differential access contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. Technology and Social Inclusion is remarkable both for its conceptual breadth-drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, communications, psychology, linguistics, and education-and for its global scope, presenting case studies from the author's field research in a range of developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States. The book is a must read for scholars, university students, policy-makers, educators, and community leaders who want to go beyond simple head counts of who is on- or off-line to better understand the complex intertwining of technology and social transformation. "An impassioned, thoughtful, and unique analysis of the digital divide that incorporates evidence from affluent and poor nations. Warschauer shows that social context, far more than hardware, shapes access to new technologies." Larry Cuban, School of Education, Stanford University "The modern belief that new technologies hold the key to human progress seems to be sacrosanct. Mark Warschauer's compelling critique of technophilia offers a welcome corrective to this view. He emphasizes that new technologies are neither causes nor cures, shifting the emphasis to the social context in which such technologies appear. In so doing, he provides renewed energy for a reevaluation of the relation between technology and social inequality." Michael Cole, University Professor of Communication, Psychology, and Human Development, University of California, San Diego For an overview of some of the main themes discussed in the book, see the author's article, "Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide," in First Monday, vol. 7, no. 7 (http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_7/warschauer)