Poverty and New Media

So, I'm going to digress a bit here. In my very first college journalism course, I co-authored a short essay about Muted Group Theory. It's not a great essay, but I was 17 years old. It was one of those things I never thought I'd use again.

Now I need it.

Muted group theory is a sociological/anthropological/communication-studies theory that came out of analyzing ethnographic projects. People conducting ethnographic studies were usually talking to leaders of groups, which were usually men. Women's voices were not being taken into account in these ethnographic studies. Thus, women were a "muted group." Since then, it has come under the guise of a communication theory. Non-dominant voices and viewpoints are marginalized.

Another group in that course wrote about Spiral of Silence theory. SofS says that basically, people are less-likely to voice a minority opinion, and by not voicing it, they are self-muting. When the opinion is not brought up, it is silenced, and then may enter into a spiral of further silencing from being ignored and marginalized.

So, yesterday, after leaving work, I headed over to the college library to look for books on New Media and poverty. Plenty of new media texts, but very few poverty books. I ended up checking out a book by Barbara Eherenreich about white-collar unemployment. I found another book by her I wanted, but it was lost. Next, I went to the local public library, and was able to put another book on poverty (by David K. Shipler) on hold for pickup later this week.

Is it obvious that the poor in America are a muted group? At least in new media studies? Poor people may not have Internet access, and when they do, what are they using it for? And, most importantly of all, will Internet access really level the playing field for poverty worldwide?

I'm concerned about the lack of information on this topic. A disappointing search of the New Media Institute Web site found no matches for even the word "poverty." Maybe this is a topic for the communication theorists, the sociologists or the social workers. Does it prove this is a "muted group" locked in a "spiral of silence" (at least on the Internet) because I can't find anything about it (on the Internet)??

I've found a few articles to share on this subject. I may also try to write one this quarter. Let's discuss.

Poverty in America, a project at Penn State has several articles, including one on broadband Internet in rural and urban Pennsylvania

A paper on "Information Poverty" from Harvard University (in PDF form)

A pretty interesting UN statement on the media's role and responsibility in sustainability