THE LIBRARY QUARTERLY
differences between the two groups in their attitudes and subjective norms
(a ! .05). Compared to their counterparts, people without an alternative
Internet service showed a more positive attitude toward their use of the
community network service and were more affected by other people’s
opinion about their use of the service.
Finally, the study revealed the statistically significant difference between
the two groups in their past and current use of the service (a ! .05). Those
without an alternative had been using the service significantly fewer years
than their counterparts. However, they tended to use the service statistically
significantly more than their counterparts.
From the series of tests above, it was concluded that people with and
without alternative service accessibility were different in almost every aspect
by which they were compared, from their demographic and psychological
characteristics to their experience and the level of use. Compared to their
counterparts, the people who used the service as their only Internet access
can be characterized as follows: demographically, they were more likely to
be female, older, less educated, and less affluent. They reported fewer
years of using the service, suggesting that they were relatively new users
of the service. However, they were spending more hours and used it more
frequently, presumably because the service was their only access to the
Internet. They had a more positive attitude toward their use of the service
and were more affected by other peoples’ opinions about their use of the
service, but they felt a little less control over their use of the technology.
In contrast, the people who had alternative Internet access are characterized
as follows: demographically, they tend to be more educated younger
men with higher incomes. They had been using the service for more
years than their counterparts, but they were spending fewer hours and
accessed less often, presumably because of their accessibility to an alternative
ISP. They reported a less positive attitude toward using the community
network service, felt a little more control over their use of the
community network’s technology, and were less influenced in community
network use by the opinions of their friends and relatives.
Discussion
The current study was initiated in an attempt to adequately explain the
use of a community network, an area in which little is known about the
general user characteristics and the factors affecting their use. With the
rapid diffusion of the Internet into the society, the current study questioned
the continuing emphasis of demographic factors as a critical factor explaining
the use of community networks. Initially, the researchers speculated
that demographic factors might no longer be a predictor of the