By 2000, the Internet became an information and communication medium that was integrated in our everyday lives. Following an interdisciplinary approach, the research reported in this article analyzes the wide variety of information that people seek on the Internet and investigates trends in Internet information activities between 2000 and 2004, using repeated cross-sectional data from the Pew Internet & American Life surveys to examine Internet activities that contribute to everyday life and their predictors. The objective is to deepen our understanding of Internet activities and everyday life and contribute to a growing body of research that utilizes large-scale empirical data on Internet use and everyday life. We ask: who is embedding the Internet into their everyday lives and what are the activities they pursue to facilitate everyday life? Findings demonstrate the differential returns for Internet use, particularly in key demographic categories. The study also contributes to emerging research on the digital divide, namely emphasis on the study of use rather than access to technology. Identifying trends in key Internet use dimensions enables policymakers to target populations who underutilize the potential of networked technologies. IntroductionThe research reported in this article analyzes the wide variety of information that people seek on the Internet and investigates trends in Internet information activities with attention to the context for these activities. We subscribe to Kari and Savolainen's (2003) admonition that "exploring the context and role of Internet searching is imperative if we aspire to genuinely understand real-life Web utilization" (p. 156). Moreover, as Fisher et al. 's (2005) work shows, people obtain many different types of information from multiple sources, use multiple channels, and in different locations, of which the Internet has become an important one (Harwood & Rainie, 2004;Rainie, Fox, & Fallows, 2003; Horrigan, Garrett, & Resnick, 2004). The objective is to deepen our understanding of Internet activities and everyday life and contribute to a growing body of research that utilizes empirical data on Internet use and everyday life. (See, for example, Howard & Jones, 2004;Katz & Rice, 2002; Kraut, Brynin, & Kiesler, 2006;Wellman & Haythornthwaite, 2002).The empirical research reported here originates in an analysis to evaluate theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and empirical findings in library and information science (LIS) and social science disciplines that have examined information behavior in a variety of contexts. We have concluded that an interdisciplinary approach that integrates theories of everyday information practices with theories from communication and media behavior, political science, social psychology, and sociology will substantially improve our understandings of information behavior, more generally, and guide the development of contextually-based models of everyday life information seeking on the Web, more specifically.The research reported here focu...

Her current research examines failures of interorganizational networks, information and communication technology innovation in complex organizations, and digital divide and social inclusion.

This article assesses how information and communication technologies (ICTs) hindered the effectiveness of public sector organizational networks in the City of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. The analysis examines three disaster response networks responsible for disaster planning and preparedness whose primary tasks focused on evacuation, shelter, first response, and public protection. The temporal period under discussion is the immediate days prior to and after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans, Friday, August 26, 2005 to Sunday, September 4, 2005. We discuss the status of policies instituted by the federal government, the status of local disaster planning in New Orleans, the theoretical underpinnings and empirical research on communication, ICTs, and the role of organizational networks in public administration, and summarize findings from the small corpus of research on organizational network effectiveness during and after Hurricane Katrina. Our study relies on grounded theory to document how failures of technology, communication, information sharing, and management contributed to reducing organizational network effectiveness and discusses some of the reasons for network failure during the response to Hurricane Katrina. We focus on the need for critical resources and structural conditions that prevented local organizational networks from operating effectively and efficiently. We conclude with an analysis of the continuing relevance of Hurricane Katrina by comparing events that took place following Hurricane Sandy and with series of recommendations for assessing the probability of future disasters including use of a different theoretical framework, social-ecological system thinking; a commitment to and investment in metrics, indicators, and data to measure progress towards resilience; significant investments to harden and redesign key infrastructure; and the adoption of an international perspective to inform national policies and practices.

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IntroductionDemocracy is the generative, liberating, and animating force for participation, citizenship, and political activity in the public sphere. Politics is essential to the fabric of social life, a means for individuals and groups to pursue and mobilize the interests of self and collectivity. Active citizen involvement in governance leads to better policy decisions, encourages people to believe that decisions are more legitimate, improves the value of people's lives, contributes to tolerating diverse and conflicting views, makes government institutions accountable, and creates greater support for the political system. These ideals and aspirations of normative political theory are central to a discourse on democratic governance that promotes information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a means of creating an authentic public sphere for deliberation; transforming political cultures, political institutions, and political identities; improving government's relations with citizens; invigorating voluntary associations in the civil society; and engaging citizens in collective action that results in institutional change.To what extent does the reality of the political world mirror or deviate from normative political theory? This chapter reviews theoretical conceptions and empirical evidence on e-government, e-governance, and 41 1 412 Annual Review of Information Science and Technology e-democracy and assesses the status of knowledge about the contribution that ICTs make to political life. Our goal is to identify robust empirical evidence that will allow readers to distinguish between hype and reality and between simplistic and more realistic assessments of how ICTs are linked to political culture, institutions, and behavior.We extend earlier examinations by M I S T that explored various facets of the contributions of technology and information to society, economy, government, and public policy. For example, authors have discussed the processes and problems of formulating international and national information and technology policies (). Other chapters have been devoted to the problematics of information and communication as they relate to self, organizational life, society, and the polis. These chapters include reviews of the relationship between individual and group identity and communication and information (Davenport & Hall, 2002;Herring, 2002;Palmquist, 1992). Sawyer and Eschenfelder (2002) and Kling and Callahan (2003) examined the indeterminacy of outcomes of technological innovation in social and organizational contexts. Kochen's (1983) impressive M I S T chapter on the use of information and knowledge to solve social problems was followed ten and twenty years later, respectively, with reviews by Doctor (1992) and Lievrouw and Farb (2003) of the relationships between democracy, social equity (justice), and information access and use.This prior work contributes to our focus on political arrangements and technology. Specifically, we want to understand how political theorists have approached claims that...