You can go back and read the GVU annual studies and see the trends. 1994 through 1998 http://www.gvu.gatech.edu/user_surveys/ Wendy -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Lee Rainie Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 2:41 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] research on internet adoption I am looking for help locating research about why people were drawn to the internet in various periods, starting in the early 1990s. There seems to be a decent amount of work focused on why firms large and small embraced the internet, but not nearly as many studies about individual users and their motives for going online in the first place. I am particularly interested in the role that life circumstances played (e.g. Did users embrace the internet first at their workplaces or schools and then in their private lives? Were they coaxed online by friends who already had access?). And I'm interested in research about the online applications that were particularly appealing to newbies (e.g. email, news, health information, e-commerce, adult content, etc.). Finally, I'd appreciate knowing if new users' motives for adoption changed over time. Were those who first hopped online in 1997 drawn online by different factors from those that drew earlier adopters in, say, 1993-1994? Thanks very much, Lee Rainie ********** Director Pew Internet & American Life Project 1615 L Street NW - Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 202-419-4510 http://www.pewinternet.org _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.6/708 - Release Date: 3/2/2007 4:19 PM -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.6/708 - Release Date: 3/2/2007 4:19 PM

Lee, If you are interested in the early diffusion outside the US you might look at the Eurobarometer survey 47.1 from march-april 1997 Question asked Do you have access to, or do you use ... ? (SHOW CARD - READ OUT - TICK IF YES) A video recorder........................................................................ 30 1, A fax................................................................................... 2, A satellite dish to pick up satellite TV programmes..................................... 3, A decoder for pay-TV programmes, such as (PAY-TV CHANNEL)............................... 4, A television fitted with teletext....................................................... 5, A minitel or another videotext system working without a television set.................. 6, A computer.............................................................................. 7, A CD-ROM or CDI-reader.................................................................. 8, A modem................................................................................. 9, The Internet or the World Wide Web (M).................................................. 10, None of these (SPONTANEOUS)............................................................. 11, DK...................................................................................... 12, This is the earliest Eurobarometer survey that asked for Internet access & use. You can cross tabulate these questions with the standard socio-demography, the Inglehart values, and some other variables. For more information about the survey, cf. http://www.za.uni-koeln.de/data/en/eurobarometer/questionnaires/s2936bqe.pdf You get the survey raw data for the EU 15 from your national data archive. Hope this helps, Frank Thomas Lee Rainie wrote:

I am looking for help locating research about why people were drawn to the internet in various periods, starting in the early 1990s. There seems to be a decent amount of work focused on why firms large and small embraced the internet, but not nearly as many studies about individual users and their motives for going online in the first place. I am particularly interested in the role that life circumstances played (e.g. Did users embrace the internet first at their workplaces or schools and then in their private lives? Were they coaxed online by friends who already had access?). And I'm interested in research about the online applications that were particularly appealing to newbies (e.g. email, news, health information, e-commerce, adult content, etc.).

Finally, I'd appreciate knowing if new users' motives for adoption changed over time. Were those who first hopped online in 1997 drawn online by different factors from those that drew earlier adopters in, say, 1993-1994?

Thanks very much,

Lee Rainie

**********

Director

Pew Internet & American Life Project

1615 L Street NW - Suite 700

Washington, D.C. 20036

202-419-4510

http://www.pewinternet.org

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Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

-- .......................................... Dr. Frank Thomas FTR Internet Research 93110 Rosny-sous-Bois France