Impacts of Public Information Infrastructure Access

这个项目调查了公共提供信息基础设施对网上人口多样化的影响，没有互联网经验的人群采用信息技术的情况，以及在日益以信息为导向的经济中帮助小城市社区的技能和网络的发展。该项目将通过对佐治亚州拉格兰奇市的在线使用、不使用和后果的评估和评价来处理这些主题。通过公共提供易于使用的互联网接入，该市旨在增加其在线人口，并克服上网的经济、社会和心理障碍。这座城市还寻求刺激更大比例的居民发展信息获取和互联网技能，以帮助其新的以信息为基础的经济战略。该项目将使用不同的方法分析和评估拉格兰奇雄心勃勃的信息基础设施倡议的影响。WorIdGate公共信息公用事业的家庭用户和非用户小组将被跟踪，并将与城市中以其他方式访问互联网的在线用户进行比较。重点将放在了解没有互联网经验的用户与有经验的用户和没有使用这项服务的非用户之间的影响。将对一小部分家庭进行详细的案例研究，以支持深入了解如何使用该系统，并指导随后的问卷设计。还将与城市官员、社区和商业领袖以及信息公用事业经理进行访谈，以探讨城市在提供公共信息公用事业方面的决策过程、期望、经验和学习。在美国，人们越来越担心个人和社区站在“数字鸿沟”的错误一边，作为回应，越来越多的实验试图找到弥合这一鸿沟的方法。在这方面，该项目将为有关开发、部署和使用信息技术的决策提供指导。该项目将使人们能够详细探讨当前关于信息技术的影响和好处的不同理论和观点。结果将包括向学术、政策制定和从业者社区发布演示文稿和出版物。

This project investigates the impacts of public provision of information infrastructure on the diversification of online population, the adoption of information technology by population segments without previous Internet experience, and the development of skills and networks which can assist small city communities in an increasingly information-driven economy. The project will address these topics through an assessment and evaluation of online usage, non-usage and consequences in the City of LaGrange, Georgia. Through public provision of easy-to-use Internet access, the city aims to increase its online population and overcome economic, social and psychological barriers to online take-up. The city also seeks to spur a greater proportion of its residents to develop information access and Internet skills that can contribute to its new information-based economic strategies. The project will analyze and assess the effects of LaGrange's ambitious information infrastructure initiative using varied methodological approaches. A panel of household users and nonusers of the WorIdGate public information utility will be tracked and comparisons will be made with online users in the city who access the Internet in other ways. Particular focus will be placed on understanding effects among users with no prior Internet experience, versus those with prior experience and nonusers who did not take up the service. Detailed case studies will be conducted with a smaller subset of households to support in-depth learning of how the system is used and to guide subsequent questionnaire design. Interviews will also be conducted with city officials, community and business leaders, and the information utility managers to probe the city's decision-making processes, expectations, experience, and learning in offering a public information utility. There is an increasing concern in the United States about people and communities who are on the wrong side of the "digital divide" and, in response, a growing number of experiments to find ways to bridge this. In this context, the project will provide guidance for decision-making regarding the development, deployment and use of information technology. The project will allow a detailed exploration of current, divergent theories and perspectives on the effect and benefits of information technologies. Results will include presentations and publications to academic, policymaking, and practitioner communities.