[Sigia-l] Web Usage Study

[Listera]

"Scott, Josephine" wrote:

> Researchers have uncovered a significant group of nonusers (42 percent of
> American adults) who have access to the Web and choose not to use it.

Frankly, these kinds of 'studies' amuse me. They quickly become urban
legends.

Take telephones, somewhat insidiously posed as an 'alternative' to the
Internet throughout that article. Urban legend about telephones: "Half of
humanity has not yet made a phone call." An absurd assertion on many levels.
I'll let Clay Shirky deal with that one:

<http://www.shirky.com/writings/half_the_world.html>

Take another telephone gadget: the answering machine. Those old enough may
remember all the hoopla about people adamantly rejecting them for being
cold, inhuman, robotic, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those who
initially rejected the answering machine are now rejecting the Internet and
favor the intimacy of a telephone, connected to an answering machine. The
funny thing is, in a few years, a very significant portion of phone traffic
will in fact go over Internet/IP!

The Internet has many problems, including of course, usability, but these
kinds of over-arching 'studies' (typically promoted by competing
technologies/media) often have the finesse and the insight of a bulldozer.

It would surprise me, for instance, if 40% of those who subscribe to a
broadband service dropped it (not because of affordability or local
technical snafus but) because all of what the Internet could offer (email,
search, transactions, porno, education, job-related stuff, entertainment,
etc) wasn't appealing enough. That would shock me.

Ziya
Nullius in Verba