Digital citizenship among ethnic minority youths in the Netherlands and Flanders

This article deals with ICT availability among ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands and Flanders.The rapid spread of ICT applications has affected various aspects of digital citizenship.The study results suggest that the world of ethnic minority youths in the Netherlands and Flanders, as with other western countries, is being digitized gradually.This is an irreversible evolution with tangible effects in new trends in communication and consumption. Ethnic minority youths orient themselves to the country where they live (bridging between cultures) as well as to their parents’ country of origin (bonding of social capital).This article examines whether differences in information and communication technology access and use can be explained by culture-specific characteristics such as ethnocultural position, religion and language proficiency, apart from the usual sociodemographic characteristics (age, sex and socio-economic status). Examining the online activities of ethnic minority new media & society Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore Vol9(2):278–299 [DOI: 10.1177/1461444807075013] ARTICLE 278-299 NMS-075013.qxd 9/3/07 11:53 AM Page 278 © 2007 SAGE Publications. All rights reserved. Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution. at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on April 11, 2008 http://nms.sagepub.com Downloaded from youths, it distinguishes between e-surfing, e-communicating, e-democratic citizens and e-cultural citizens.