BBC reports Digital Divide

Posted over 2 years ago by Caspar
13/08/2007

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Some interesting research today on the BBC today reporting results of the Oxford Internet Survey (OxIS), based on interviewing 2,305 people aged 14 years and older in England,

Headline stats from the survey were:

- 67% of the population were current internet users in 2007, up from 59% in 2003;

- There has been a big increase in the use of broadband, with 85% using high-speed connections, compared with just 19% four years ago

- Mobile internet use has also seen a sharp increase, with 29% having wi-fi wireless access, compared with just 1% four years ago, and 21% accessing the internet on a mobile phone or PDA, up from 5% four years ago.

- OxIS finds that 42% of students have created a profile on a social networking site such as Facebook or MySpace, but just 15% of the employed and 2% of retired people.

- There has been an enormous increase in the use of search engines such as Google to find information - with 57% mainly using search engines, compared with just 19% in 2005.

For internet users, the web is now a more trusted source of information than television - and the amount of television they watch has declined. According to Bill Dutton, the internet continues to be a "transformative" technology, changing what we know, how we know it, and who we know in profound ways.

Whats our take: we are seeing higher and higher levels of internet use as it becomes more pervasive in peoples lives.

One question we would like to ask: is there any question that people would'nt turn to the internet for an answer to?

More details can be found at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6913918.stm

Comments

There are currently 3 comments about this blog.

Chris Anderton, over 2 years ago

i tend to google everything - that's the beauty - you no longer come across something that raises questions in your head and have to leave them unanswered - you can just turn on the pc and ask the web