<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color:#ffffcc;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/fbda58a3-2821-47cc-8f67-abcb2a76cb91/FBD582CC-487E-4547-9A77-0889B9AE86B1/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/kann/index.html" href="http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/kann/index.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.firstmonday.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue12_8/kann/index.html"><P>Long–term declines in voter turnout in American elections seemed to end after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks <A name="1a"></A>[<A href="#1">1</A>]. In particular, youth voting rates increased. Approximately 36 percent of 18–24 year olds cast ballots in 2000, but more than 42 percent voted in 2004 <A name="2a"></A>[<A href="#2">2</A>]. While it is uncertain if youths’ online involvements contributed to this increase, it is evident that young Americans’ presence on the Web has the potential to enhance their engagement in public life. In this article, we examine how American youths’ contributions to three online worlds — participatory culture, political consumerism, and civic engagement — function as possible gateways to increased political participation. We suggest that Americans youths have never before had so many low–threshold opportunities for political participation, although we are uncertain whether, over time, substantial numbers will take advantage of those opportunities.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FBD582CC-487E-4547-9A77-0889B9AE86B1/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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