Markle's work in this field has sought to model and encourage the use of communications technology to help people actively pursue knowledge and to participate in a democratic society. The major initiatives undertaken include:

• The Children's Partnership's Contentbank.org, a website premised on the belief that to engage low income people through IT in socially beneficial activities, content that meets their needs must be available. Following rigorous research with regard to Online Content for Low-Income & Underserved Users, The Children's Partnership built a web portal (Contentbank.org), which included critical online resources targeted at staff of community technology programs, after-school programs, libraries, and other places where low-income families can be assisted in the use of digital technologies. Contentbank.org now also provides site-building tools and robust content on jobs, housing, health care, legal and educational services to the growing number of community-based organizations.
  
  
• The experiment Web White & Blue 2000, built to coincide with the 2000 national elections, sought to apply the Internet's unique attributes to enable an unprecedented level of individual participation in critical political events and issues. At a time when candidates were not yet focusing on the Internet as a major campaign tool, Web White and Blue 2000 leveraged the power of public-private collaboration to provide daily political information, easy access to other useful web sites and special features (such as the Rolling Cyber Debate between the presidential candidates) in order to enhance the public's experience of the elections. The project was available to more than 85% of the American Internet audience, and brought together 17 of the largest Internet news organizations (such as CNN, the New York Times and the Washington Post), and portals (such as AOL and Yahoo!), as well as thousands of non-profit sites. After the 2000 elections, Markle commissioned a study to examine site usage and its effects on the electorate. The results supported the belief that, while it is too early to tell exactly what impact the Internet will have on democracy, it can clearly change individuals' relationships to the political process.