Amy L. Gonzales

The contemporary US digital divide: from initial access to technology maintenance

As US Internet penetration rates have climbed, digital divide researchers have largely shifted attention to differences in Internet skills. Interviews with 72 low-income US residents from both a large metropolitan city and a medium-sized Midwestern town, however, reveal that many people still struggle to maintain physical access, supporting technology maintenance theory. Technology maintenance theory argues that although most of the US poor now use digital technology, access is unstable and characterized by frequent periods of disconnection. As a result, low-income users must work to maintain access, often experiencing cycles of dependable instability. In these interviews, nearly all used the Internet, but technology maintenance practices were widespread, including negotiation of temporarily disconnected service, broken hardware, and logistic limitations on public access. As a result, participants had limited access to health information and employment, and biased attitudes toward technology. That is, in some cases, negative attitudes toward Internet adoption reflected a rational response to disconnection rather than cultural norms or fears of the Internet, as suggested by previous research. Findings support and extend the theory of technology maintenance by emphasizing a shift in the US digital divide from issues of ownership to issues of sustainability; they also provide insight into the interrelated nature of access and attitudes toward technology. This new theoretical approach complements other theoretical approaches to the digital divide that foreground a contextualized understanding of digital disparities as embedded within a history of broad social disparities.

A Mixed-Methods Randomized Controlled Trial of Financial Incentives and Peer Networks to Promote Walking Among Older Adults

Background. Financial incentives and peer networks could be delivered through eHealth technologies to encourage older adults to walk more. Methods. We conducted a 24-week randomized trial in which 92 older adults with a computer and Internet access received a pedometer, daily walking goals, and weekly feedback on goal achievement. Participants were randomized to weekly feedback only (Comparison), entry into a lottery with potential to earn up to

Disadvantaged Minorities’ Use of the Internet to Expand Their Social Networks

200 each week walking goals were met (Financial Incentive), linkage to four other participants through an online message board (Peer Network), or both interventions (Combined). Main outcomes were the proportion of days walking goals were met during the 16-week intervention and 8-week follow-up. We conducted a content analysis of messages posted by Peer Network and Combined arm participants. Results. During the 16-week intervention, there were no differences in the proportion of days walking goals were met in the Financial Incentive (39.7%; p = .78), Peer Network (24.9%; p = .08), and Combined (36.0%; p = .77) arms compared with the Comparison arm (36.0%). During 8 weeks of follow-up, the proportion of days walking goals were met was lower in the Peer Network arm (18.7%; p = .025) but not in the Financial Incentive (29.3%; p = .50) or Combined (24.8%; p = .37) arms, relative to the Comparison arm (34.5%). Messages posted by participants focused on barriers to walking and provision of social support. Conclusions. Financial incentives and peer networks delivered through eHealth technologies did not result in older adults walking more.

Public Cellphone Use Does Not Activate Negative Responses in Others'Unless They Hate Cellphones

An essential argument of the social diversification hypothesis is that disadvantaged groups use the Internet rather than face-to-face communication to broaden social networks, whereas advantaged groups use the Internet to reinforce existing network ties. Previous research in this area has not accounted for both online and off-line communication, has only been examined with cross-sectional data, and has primarily been studied in Israel. To address these gaps with a U.S. data set, 2,669 conversations were analyzed over 6-day periods using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Indeed, unlike participants from racially or educationally advantaged groups, participants who were from a racially marginalized group or lacked college training were more likely to broaden social networks online rather than face-to-face with interracial and weak tie exchanges. This proof of concept of social diversification theory across cultures is the first to use real-time, within-person measures of both race and tie strength.

Prioritizing Flexibility and Intangibles: Medical Crowdfunding for Stigmatized Individuals

Ostracism dramatically reduces psychosocial well-being. Many studies have examined ostracism within digital environments, but to our knowledge no one has examined ostracism as manifested through public cellphone use. Experimental data revealed that public texting or reading on a cellphone was less ostracizing to copresent others than face-to-face ostracism but more ostracizing than face-to-face inclusion. Though cellphone use was somewhat ostracizing it did not prompt negative psychological effects, supporting the notion of cellphone taken-for-grantedness. Exceptions were found for those reporting phone technostress; these individuals were negatively affected by exposure to someone reading on a cellphone. Findings extend the ostracism paradigm to a new context and support research on the importance of attitudes and norms in shaping the effects of public cellphone use.

Technology Maintenance: A New Frame for Studying Poverty and Marginalization

HCI research on crowdfunding has primarily focused on creative or organizational endeavors. Yet a majority of crowdfunding campaigns are conducted by individuals in need, often for healthcare. To better understand and improve this common crowdfunding experience, especially for those that inhabit a vulnerable social status, we conducted 20 interviews with transmen crowdfunding for top-surgery. Design choices that optimize site flexibility (e.g. control of personal information; enable cross-site communication) and foreground intangibles, such as political values and emotional support, are priorities for individuals from a stigmatized community. Findings differed from previous crowdfunding research and contribute to limited research on transgender identities in HCI. Overall they provide unique insights into how design choices can facilitate marginalized identity management in highly public online spaces.

You don't know me: Negative self-views interact with publicness and feedback to shape interpersonal impressions online

This paper offers a new theoretical frame for those interested in poverty and design. As digital access rates peak, technology maintenance argues that the digital divide will increasingly manifest in the (in)ability to stay connected. As a novel and conservative test, open-ended data from a 748-person university student survey of technology maintenance were analyzed. Use and ownership were ubiquitous, but students demonstrated variability in coping with the inevitable; disconnection was more burdensome for low-resourced students. Findings extend technology maintenance and are leveraged as a starting point for three calls for action in HCI: 1) the CHI community should research the burdens of poverty in poor and wealthy contexts; 2) new HCI projects should accommodate inconsistent access; and, 3) new design choices should minimize disruption and optimize stability. This requires action at the individual and organizational level as designers create products that consider marginalization but also use expertise to influence policy.

Technology Problems and Student Achievement Gaps: A Validation and Extension of the Technology Maintenance Construct:

Abstract The present study extends identity shift and hyperpersonal literatures by examining how task feedback may affect interpersonal impressions depending on the publicness and valence of messages. In a 2 × 2 experimental design, participants engaged in an email discussion task with and without 38 CC-ed observers and received either positive or negative feedback. Contrary to expectations, the effects of feedback valence on perceived argument quality and incivility were intensified in the private rather than public condition. This effect was moderated by individuals’ self-views. Participants with high self-views responded critically to negative feedback, regardless of audience size. Those with low self-views responded more critically to private negative feedback than public negative feedback. Findings support a self-verification effect on identity shift, in that publicness activates the need for self-confirming feedback even when self-evaluations are negative. Findings stress the importance of studying individual differences in computer-mediated communication (CMC), particularly to understand the effects of audience in online impression formation.

Communication About Health Disparities in the Mass Media

How do physical digital inequalities persist as technology becomes commonplace? We consider this question using surveys and focus groups with U.S. college students, a group that has better than average connectivity. Findings from a 748-person nonrepresentative survey revealed that ownership and use of cellphones and laptops were nearly universal. However, roughly 20% of respondents had difficulty maintaining access to technology (e.g., broken hardware, data limits, connectivity problems, etc.). Students of lower socioeconomic status and students of color disproportionately experienced hardships, and reliance on poorly functioning laptops was associated with lower grade point averages. Focus group and open-ended data elaborate these findings. Findings quantitatively validate the technology maintenance construct, which proposes that as access to information and communication technology peaks, the digital divide is increasingly characterized by the (in)ability to maintain access. Data highlight overlooked nuances in digital access that may inform social disparities and the policies that may mitigate them.