Eichhorn uses the potent term “content capital”—a riff on Pierre Bourdieu’s “cultural capital”—to describe the way in which a fluency in posting online can determine the success, or even the existence, of an artist’s work. Where “cultural capital” describes how particular tastes and reference points confer status, “content capital” connotes an aptitude for creating the kind of ancillary content that the Internet feeds upon.

In Chile, the Rosas et al. study (2003) evaluated the effects of introducingeducational video games into the classroom and found indications ofpositive effects on learning, motivation and classroom dynamics.

When young people help to create content for the Internet -- when they experience being active participants, contributing to what there is online -- they are more likely to see the Internet as a resource that they understand and use effectively. By contrast, when people, especially the young and underrepresented, do not have a chance to experience the Internet as something they have a part in shaping, they miss out on being more closely connected to a wealth of resources, information, interaction, and opportunities for growth that can help them to cross over the digital divide.