Socio-Economic Factors Affecting Home Internet Usage Patterns in Central Queensland

Abstract

Governments and other policy makers are concerned with the gap in home Internet usage between people from metropolitan and rural areas. A survey conducted in Central Queensland, Australia examined differences in home Internet usage patterns between young and old, male and female, people in urban and rural areas, married and unmarried, well-educated and less educated, rich and poor, and employed and unemployed and found significant differences.These results highlight areas for further research and provide a basis for government agencies and industries to consider these associations in future policy formulation for regional development using ICT. The research suggested that further research should be conducted to mo nitor consuming behaviors of the youngest age group in Internet use for entertainment and information search in order to detect possible Internet overuse or addiction. In addition, further research should be conducted to find out what people search for on the Internet, and if for employment opportunities, financial incentives are suggested for the unemployed people.

Internet usage and user preferences in Saudi Arabia

“…For more research on economical, educational, social, and cultural issues related to Internet usage the reader may refer to papers in (Guofeng and Yuming, 2009;Chai et al, 2009;Taylor et al, 2003;Hinnant and Welch, 2003;Dass, 2009;Joyce, 2008;Yao and Li, 2009;Conti, 2009;Chen, 2009;Neumann, 1998;Robinson and Kestnbaum, 1999;Na and Chia, 2008;and Willis and Tranter, 2006. Nevertheless, increasing popularity of the Internet and the demand for better Internet service calls for further improvements and innovations to make the technology even faster, cheaper, and easier for users. Stuckmann and Zimmermann (2009) outlines the limitations of current Internet technology and discusses research activities on future Internet architecture and network topology, spectrum-efficient access to future networks, and converged infrastructures in support of future networks.…”

Inclusion of Socio-economic Indicators in the Cost Modeling of a WAN Network

“…the socioeconomic indicator -SEI, in our case) could help obtaining more accurate information, needed in the development of methodology for planning and cost-modeling of a WAN network. The research conducted in [12] aims to identify associations between demographic and socioeconomic factors and home Internet use patterns in the Central Queensland region, Australia. This research hypothesizes that there are differences in Internet usage patterns between: young and old, male and female, people in urban and rural areas, married and unmarried, well-educated and less educated, rich and poor, and employed and unemployed.…”