Elon in USA Today

The article was written by communications faculty member Janna Quitney Anderson and Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Anderson directed the research in partnership with the Pew project.

The story, carried on page 6D in the Life section, is titled “24,000 minutes on the Internet: 24 NC Families go under the microscope.”

The study, titled “One Neighborhood, One Week on the Internet,” is the first ever to document Internet users’ personally recorded observations over a span of eight days combined with in-depth interviews.

To read the USA Today article, go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-31-net-families-main.htm

Companion sidebar stories on the families that took part in the project are at:

Blume Family: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-31-net-families-blume.htm

Hunter Family: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-31-net-families-hunter.htm

Morris Family: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-31-net-families-morris.htm

Blair Family: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2001-07-31-net-families-blair.htm

You can also read the stories on the Pew web site.

The Pew Internet & American Life project, a Washington D.C.-based initiative that is exploring the Internet’s impact on American society. The two dozen families taking part in the study all live in a small, upscale neighborhood in the Town of Elon.

Most of the Internet users who participated in the project say going online has transformed their lives, providing crucial health information, facilitating job searches, transforming shopping habits, and most importantly, increasing communication among family and friends through e-mail and instant messaging.

“During the past year, we have collected extensive survey data that indicate nationwide trends in Internet use,” says Rainie. “This study by Elon students adds a new dimension, giving us personal stories that illustrate the tremendous effects the information age is having on the way we live our lives.”

This study is the first ever to combine Internet users’ personal observations in addition to in-depth interviews over a span of eight days. Each member of the 24 families in the study kept a daily diary of Internet use and participated in taped, focused discussions with the researchers. Their stories included the following anecdotes:

• families facing cancer, fibromyalgia, febrile seizures and gluten intolerance who used the Internet to research medical facts and communicate with others who face the same conditions
  
• several families who conduct daily communication with friends and relatives who live around the world
• several families members who were able to locate long-lost friends using Web people searches
• several families who have located and purchased specialized products and services, such as new and used cars, antique tools, topiary design, digital sound editing equipment and particular styles of carpeting and drapery fabric
• a family that located a product liability lawyer to consult about an accident
• several families that have done genealogy research, learning about their family’s history
• people who planned and booked complete vacation packages to Disney World, Nashville and Hawaii using Web travel sites
• youngsters who gather all the information, graphics and photos they need to complete school projects
• several families that have weekly instant messenger meeting times during which far-flung family members meet online to have chat sessions

“In the course of one week in one neighborhood, we encountered an amazing range of Internet uses,” says Anderson. “While most of the people we interviewed are downright excited about the wide-open possibilities they have found through communicating and doing research online, others are concerned about some changes being wrought by the digital information age.”

The 25 student researchers gathered data from assigned families, wrote feature stories about those families and also wrote personal stories about the impact the Internet has had on their own families’ lives, providing the perspective of the emerging generation of Net-savvy users.

The Elon-Pew Internet Study findings, along with stories and photos of all the students and families involved, can be found on the Web: www.elon.edu/pew/oneweek.