Critically important cultural issues often are submerged topics in policy discussions surrounding the National Information Infrastructure (NII) and its political and economic implications for the 21st-century United States. Academics, policymakers, and communications industry leaders must recognize the importance of profession as well as of gender, class, age, and geography when suggesting models for NII design and implementation. Of particular importance is respect for the multiple identities of potential NII users and the roles played by self-identified affinity groups and institutional culture in decisions regarding technology acceptance or rejection.