A substantial body of scholarship has long explored the ways emerging media may foster and also hamper an informed and engaged citizenry. Individually, digital media have become an integral part of citizens’ political life as a growing number of people around the world use digital media technologies for information and communication. Collectively, digital media have also constituted an important platform that people use to coordinate among themselves and mobilize each other. Nevertheless, while distributing informative and mobilizing messages, digital media also facilitate socio-political factors that raise concern over the dissemination of misinformation, information divides and political polarization. This article showcases a broad variety of studies included in a special volume encapsulating some of these important issues.

中文翻译：

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数字媒体与政治：信息与通信大鸿沟的影响

长期以来，大量学术研究一直在探索新兴媒体可能培养和阻碍知情和参与的公民的方式。就个人而言，随着世界各地越来越多的人使用数字媒体技术进行信息和通信，数字媒体已成为公民政治生活不可或缺的一部分。总的来说，数字媒体也构成了人们用来相互协调、相互动员的重要平台。然而，在传播信息和动员信息的同时，数字媒体也助长了社会政治因素，这些因素引起了人们对传播错误信息、信息分歧和政治两极分化的担忧。本文展示了包含在其中一些重要问题的特殊卷中的各种研究。