This study assembles and presents, as an integrated whole, the cross-disciplinary research being conducted on access to new technology. It departs from popular understandings of new technology use by recognizing the distinction between having access to the Internet as a technology and being able to access the content that resides on it. While much research attention and policy discussion remains focused on physical access to information technology, profitable use of new media actually hinges on the motivations, characteristics, and abilities of individual users - dimensions of access that...