ABSTRACT
Like much digital usage research that has focused on the activities of consumers, a
periodic study conducted by the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (2004) explores activities such as consumer searches for and pur-
chases of Internet products and services. Among scholars of composition, literacy,
professional writing, and communication, however, digital literacy, including
literate Internet usage, is understood to include not only consuming but also pro-
ducing a broad range of digital discourse (e.g., Grabill, 2003; Selfe, 1999). As
Jan Van Dijk (2005) observes, “The difference between a relatively active or
creative and a relatively passive and consuming type of usage of the Internet is a
much-neglected aspect of the digital divide” (p. 115). In a meta-analysis of research
about gender and the Internet, for example, Cindy Royal (2005) finds few studies
examining women as producers of Internet content, a role she characterizes as
potentially empowering.
