[atlarge-discuss] FYI: New Pew Report on the digital divide in the U.S.

[espresso@e-scape.net]

This report looks in more detail at Internet use in the U.S.
and goes deeper than the "most Americans have access" type of
survey we usually see. Aside from the issues of income,
education, geography and disability, it looks at social factors.

Meanwhile, a recent Canadian study (which I heard about but
don't have the URL for) indicates there is still a big
difference in the ways the Internet is used by men and women:
while men and boys spend more time surfing or playing online
games, women make much more use of e-mail and do more
directed research for specific types of information, especially
on matters related to health.

I've just had a message from a researcher at the Université du
Québec à Montréal who will be looking specifically at the role
social networks play in a person's Internet use. She has
promised to share her results with participants so I've
signed up and may have something further to report eventually.

Regards,

Judyth


<< start of forwarded material >>

From: "John McNutt" <mcnutt@gis.net>
X-Yahoo-Profile: john_g_mcnutt
Mailing-List: list NIRG@yahoogroups.com; contact
NIRG-owner@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 15:52:11 -0400
Subject: [NIRG] FW: New Pew Report on the digital divide

-----Original Message-----
From: Amanda Lenhart [mailto:alenhart@pewinternet.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:28 AM
To: mcnutt@bc.edu
Subject: New Pew Report on the digital divide

The shifting Internet population recasts the digital divide debate
20% of non-Internet users live in a house with an Internet connection

For the Full report:
http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/toc.asp?Report=88


WASHINGTON  There is far more fluidity in the Internet population than
most
analysts imagine.

About a quarter of Americans live lives that are quite distant from the
Internet  they have never been online, and don't know many others who
use
the Internet. At the same time, many Americans who do not use the
Internet
now were either users in the past or they live in homes with Internet
connections.

Three new insights regarding patterns of Internet use and non-use emerge
from a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
.       20% of non-Internet users live in wired homes and yet remain
offline.
.       17% of the current group of non-users are online drop outs. They
formerly used the Internet but no longer do.
.       Over a quarter of current Internet users report that at one
time or
another in their online lives, they dropped offline for an extended
period.

Recent surveys by the Pew Internet Project show that about 80 million
American adults  42% of the adult population  say they do not use the
Internet. But it turns out that the notion that people are either
"online"
or "offline" is not as simple as it seems.

"The Internet population shows much greater churn than most realize  a
lot
of people are moving in and out of the online world pretty regularly,"
said
Amanda Lenhart, the Research Specialist at the Project who authored the
new
report "The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A new look at Internet
use
and the digital divide."

She continued: "It is too simple to talk about a digital divide based
exclusively on problems with access when it is now clear that access
issues
change from month to month for lots of Americans. A surprisingly large
number don't want to be connected even though they have tasted what
online
life is like or live with the Internet literally in the next room."

Lenhart's report finds that 24% of Americans remain truly unconnected to
the online world. They have never tried going online and are often quite
removed from the connected population.

Moreover, there are still pronounced gaps in Internet use along several
demographic lines: Older Americans are much less wired than younger
Americans; minorities are less connected than whites, those with modest
amounts of income and education are less wired than those with college
educations and household incomes over $75,000, and rural Americans lag
behind suburban and urban Americans in the online population.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project survey also found that there
are
social and psychological explanations why some Americans do not use the
Internet. For instance, a person's sense of personal empowerment can
make a
difference in her decision to go online or not. Those who feel less in
control of their lives are less likely to go online.

Disabilities also keep some Americans from using the Internet. Almost
three
quarters of disabled Americans do not go online, and 28% of them said
their
disability or impairment made it difficult or impossible to go online.

A portion of non-Internet users are socially disconnected from the
Internet, with more than a quarter (27%) saying that they know almost no
one who goes online. A similar group of non-users (22%) say they do not
know of public Internet access points in their community. At the same
time,
it is also the case that more than half of non-users know people in
their
social networks who go online and most of them say it is not hard for
them
to get to public access points in their neighborhoods.

"The truly unconnected are the Americans that those who worry about the
digital divide should understand," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew
Internet & American Life Project. "The reasons non-users stay away from
the
Internet are varied and complex. Many lack the resources to go online.
Others don't live in a social world where Internet use matters and still
others have no notion that the communication and information functions
of
the Internet can help them improve their lives."

About 40% of non-users think they will go online some day, and 56%
believe
they will never go online.

This study was conducted via random digit dial telephone polling in the
months of March, April and May 2002, and also draws on the comments
gathered from 6 focus groups with new and non-users at Washington, D.C.
area community technology centers.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit, non-partisan
research organization fully funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to
examine
how Internet use affects families, communities, health care, education,
civic/political life, and the work place.

-end-

Please feel free to forward this email alert to colleagues, friends, or
family members who might be interested in it. If you have received this
message from a subscriber, you can sign up to receive your own alerts
at:
http://www.pewinternet.org/signup.asp

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<< end of forwarded material >>



##########################################################
Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
##########################################################
"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
"Un mot suffit aux sages; pour les autres, il en faut plus."
##########################################################



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