ABSTRACT
Digital government plays a vital role in connecting citizens to government. Through open data portals, social media, and mobile applications, the ways governments connect with citizens are growing ever more diverse. Both scholars and practitioners acknowledge the democracy-enhancing potential of technology as a key benefit and goal of digital governance strategies. While technology can provide a pathway for access to government for people of color, historical discrimination and exclusion from political engagement as well as race and place-based differences in technology access and use can potentially preclude citizen engagement online. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on communities of color in addressing the role of race and ethnicity in Internet access and use (devices, platforms, and activities online), how technology use is patterned across cities and neighborhoods, and the implications of these trends for inclusive governance.
