The Impact of Unequal Access to the Internet on Earnings: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangmoon Kim

AbstractThe computer has transformed the way that information is spread, as well as the way that it is processed and generated. The Internet provides a huge amount of information in a cost-efficient way, and has become a main channel for gaining information. This study addresses an economic consequence of the rapid spread of information via the Internet. Given that economic rationality and utility maximization rely on agents' information set, the access to the Internet may result in information asymmetry between users and non-users, which affects utility maximization. Analyzing the CPS data, this study finds that, controlling for occupational status, education, and other variables, Internet access influences one's utility maximization, measured as hourly earnings. More specifically, information-seeking activity, but not Internet access itself, produces differences in earnings. It is also found that the characteristics of Internet users correlate with the main factors of stratification, such as race/ethnicity, education, and occupation. This finding implies that information revolution, informatization, or the information society, whatever one calls it, follows a long prevailing split between haves and have-nots, and may have exacerbated old inequalities in new ways.

Author(s):  
Normawati Ahmad ◽  
Abu Bakar Rahman ◽  
Noorlaile Jasman ◽  
Kamarul zaman Salleh ◽  
Siti Nur Farhana Harun ◽  
...  

Introduction: The Internet is rapidly growing and becoming an easier to access to technology. It functions as important part of almost everyone’s daily life including elderly. Objective: The study was aimed to investigate the patterns of internet usage among elderly. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 23 Elderly Activity Centre throughout Malaysia from August 2017 to October 2017. This centre is a place for senior citizens to conduct routinely/daily activities in the community. It is an oriented service especially for senior citizens. Results: A total of 1400 individuals were sampled in this study, unfortunately the elderly turned up only 799 (57.1%) which aged 60 and above. A self-administered with minimal guidance and face to face interview by trained research assistants were used in this study. The study showed of the total 799 respondents, only 258 (33.0%) who use the internet. Those using the Internet are 89 (30.2%) male and 169 (69.8%) female, respectively. Most of them are government retirees (47.7%). The study found that the reasons of the elderly seeking health information through the internet because it was free (66.3%) as well as easy and fast (56.2%). The study also found that the type of health information sought is information on certain diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and others (20.9%). With regards to the places of internet access, about 86.8% of the respondents having the internet access at home, followed by internet service provider 42.6% and by Elderly Activity Centre, itself 14.7%. Only 3.5% and 5.8% of respondents access internet at Cyber Cafe and friend’s house respectively. The highest showed that respondents access internet several times in a month 25.5% followed by everyday 22.5% and twice or thrice in a week 17.4%. Overall, 53.5% of elderly claimed internet can be a very helpful resource for finding health information. Discussion: Elderly in Malaysia are becoming more tech-savvy. This change is advantage as it can be used to address and manage health issues and geriatrics care for elderly through strategic dissemination of health information as well as to motivate positive health behaviour through use of technology. KEYWORDS: Elderly, Internet Use, Health Information Seeking.


Crisis ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Arendt ◽  
Sebastian Scherr

Abstract. Background: Research has already acknowledged the importance of the Internet in suicide prevention as search engines such as Google are increasingly used in seeking both helpful and harmful suicide-related information. Aims: We aimed to assess the impact of a highly publicized suicide by a Hollywood actor on suicide-related online information seeking. Method: We tested the impact of the highly publicized suicide of Robin Williams on volumes of suicide-related search queries. Results: Both harmful and helpful search terms increased immediately after the actor's suicide, with a substantial jump of harmful queries. Limitations: The study has limitations (e.g., possible validity threats of the query share measure, use of ambiguous search terms). Conclusion: Online suicide prevention efforts should try to increase online users' awareness of and motivation to seek help, for which Google's own helpline box could play an even more crucial role in the future.


10.28945/2926 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Morgan ◽  
Craig A. VanLengen

The divide between those who have computer and Internet access and those who do not appears to be narrowing, however overall statistics may be misleading. Measures of computer availability in schools often include cases where computers are only available for administration or are available only on a very limited basis (Gootman, 2004). Access to a computer and the Internet outside of school helps to reinforce student learning and emphasize the importance of using technology. Recent U.S. statistics indicate that ethnic background and other demographic characteristics still have substantial impact on the availability and use of computers by students outside of the classroom. This paper examines recent census data to determine the impact of the household on student computer use outside of the classroom. Encouragingly, the findings of this study suggest that use of a computer at school substantially increases the chance that a student will use a computer outside of class. Additionally, this study suggests that computer use outside of the classroom is positively and significantly impacted by being in a household with adults who either use a computer at work or work in an industry where computers are extensively used.


Author(s):  
María Verónica Alderete

The purpose of this paper is to determine how much is the “bonus” or “prize” to the sales per worker of Internet-using firms compared to not Internet-using firms. The authors employ some matching techniques based on an Argentinean database. The authors first present a binary logit model, in which the dependent variable is a dichotomous variable equal to 1 if the firm adopted Internet and 0 otherwise, to evaluate the factors that influence a firm’s probability of adopting Internet. A propensity score matching (PSM) model is then used to assess the impact of using Internet on the sales per worker. The authors find statically significant differences in the sales average between firms that are similar in many dimensions such as location, size, and sales market except for the Internet adoption decision. By probing that Internet access improves SME’s sales, the chapter is validating the Public Sector ICT modernization programs for SME. The contribution of this paper consists of using a well known technique as PSM to analyze a recent field of research which is the contribution of Internet adoption to the firm’s sales per worker.


Cyber Crime ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 1220-1244
Author(s):  
A.D. Rensel ◽  
J.M Abbas ◽  
H.R. Rao

Businesses and governments continue to expand the use of the internet to access and provide a wide range services to consumers. This change in service delivery presents a potential access barrier for people who do not have access to the internet available in their homes. Publicly available computers attempt to bridge this gap; however, it is not clear if people are willing to use computers in these environments to engage in the full range of web-based activities, particularly online transactions. We expand Triandis’ modified TRA model to consider user characteristics and the impact of the physical and virtual environment on public transactional use of websites. Results indicate that people are sensitive to the physical environment surrounding the computer and that Internet self-efficacy supports public transactional use while individual need for privacy deters transactional use in a public environment. In addition, people without personal internet access do complete transactions at other non-public locations and that completing transactions from non-public locations is a strong determinant of public transactional use.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 1571-1584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Vega ◽  
James Stanfield ◽  
Sugata Mitra

Abstract In the United States, literacy rates vary between socio-economic groups, and this reading gap is also a common feature in the education systems of OECD member states. To help address this reading gap previous research has identified a number of teaching strategies that have a positive impact on student learning outcomes, including the use of peer collaboration and complex texts. However, the contribution of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning to help address the reading gap for students attending low performing urban elementary schools has, to date, received much less attention and little is known about the ability of young students with access to the Internet to read complex texts in groups and how this impacts on individual reading comprehension scores. This study therefore examines the impact of combining the use of complex texts, collaborative learning and access to the internet on the reading comprehension scores of 58 fourth-grade students (ages 10-11). The students met once a week for an hour over six consecutive weeks and read under the following three conditions: eighth grade level texts independently, eighth grade level texts in groups with internet access and fourth grade level texts in groups with internet access. Our findings demonstrate that groups of young students with access to the internet are capable of reading complex texts with minimal teacher intervention. We also believe that this approach has the potential to help students develop both their offline and online reading comprehension skills.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 107-11
Author(s):  
Helena Siregar ◽  
Azwin Lubis ◽  
M. Arif Nasution ◽  
Indra Kesuma Nasution ◽  
Thamrin Tanjung

A cross sectional study about the relationships between family size and marital age and the impact of educatimt, occupation and family planning programme was conducted in the region of South Tapanuli North Sumatera. The study was performed on 246 married couples by simple random sampling of households in the villages Pakantea, Tamiang, Muarasoro and Sumuran, during the period of September 25 up to October 3, 1982. The eariiest age of marriage for women was 14 years, ancl the latest 20 years. Most of the women (68%) married at 15-20 year. The main education of responders were primary school (67%). The occupational status was mostly (90%) farmer. The mean family size under 20 years old was 6.3 and over 20 years, 5.3. Fertility rate under 20 years was still high. Family Planning was not yet widely accepted in this area.


Author(s):  
Sam McCrabb ◽  
Laura Twyman ◽  
Kerrin Palazzi ◽  
Ashleigh Guillaumier ◽  
Christine Paul ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Tobacco smoking is highest among population groups which are the most socially disadvantaged. Internet-based smoking cessation programs have been found to be effective, though rates of internet access are not well known in these groups. This study describes the rates of internet use and types of technology used to access the internet by a population of socially disadvantaged smokers. The study also examined relationships between sociodemographic and smoking behaviours with amount of internet use and type of device used. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 369 clients (response rate 77%) from two non-government community service organisations in metropolitan New South Wales, Australia was conducted using touchscreen computers. Descriptive statistics and logistic regressions were used to examine results. Results Eligible participants ranged from 19 to 88 years old current tobacco users. Over half (58%) of the participants reported weekly or more frequent use of the internet with less than a third (28%) not having any access. The odds of using the internet at least weekly decreased with age and as heaviness of smoking increased (OR = 0.94, p < 0.001; OR = 0.81, p = 0.022, respectively). Odds of internet use were higher as income increased (OR = 2.74, p < 0.001 for individuals earning $201–$400 per week; OR = 2.83, p = 0.006 for individuals earning > $400 per week). Device use differed for age and income. Conclusions Internet-based interventions appear to reach the majority of socially disadvantaged populations. It is expected that this reach will continue to grow, making internet-based interventions a potential platform for providing care to low socioeconomic individuals who smoke, however inequalities may be exacerbated for those individual without internet access. Implications Internet use among socially disadvantaged tobacco users is moderate (58%). An internet-based smoking cessation intervention for socially disadvantaged tobacco users may be an effective intervention however, older, heavier tobacco users may not benefit as easily due to limited internet access and therefore acknowledging these limitations when developing an intervention can help to acknowledge limitation of intervention reach.


Author(s):  
Deapesh Misra

The Internet has established firm deep roots in our day to day life. It has brought many revolutionary changes in the way we do things. One important consequence has been the way it has replaced human to human contact. This has also presented us with a new issue which is the requirement for differentiating between real humans and automated programs on the Internet. Such automated programs are usually written with a malicious intent. CAPTCHAs play an important role in solving this problem by presenting users with tests which only humans can solve. This chapter looks into the need, the history, and the different kinds of CAPTCHAs that researchers have come up with to deal with the security implications of automated bots pretending to be humans. Various schemes are compared and contrasted with each other, the impact of CAPTCHAs on Internet users is discussed, and to conclude, the various possible attacks are discussed. The author hopes that the chapter will not only introduce this interesting field to the reader in its entirety, but also simulate thought on new schemes.


Author(s):  
Fang Zhao

Over the past decade, with the advent of the Internet, organizations have changed the way they communicate internally and externally, the way they are configured, and the way they build partnerships. Today’s complex and volatile business world calls for changes and alternatives to the old and conventional paradigm of organizational design and new ways of doing business with others. E-business becomes one of the most important forces shaping today’s business. Virtual corporations and e-partnerships become increasingly popular in the perception of managers and in business operations.


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