Blog 8

Refined topic:
For my research paper I am exploring how people have changed the way they process, access and find information on the internet as technology has evolved. Do people read online differently then in print? Do people use the internet different as technology evolves? Do people change their expectations of how they use the internet? Do people use different key words, web pages, and different kinds of search tools? Are they successful in finding the information they are looking for?

Refined thesis:
Internet users have changed the way they process, access and find information to be more efficient as a direct response to progressive changes in the medium.

Two articles:
Gong, W., Li, Z., & Stump, R. (2006, April). Global internet use and access: Cultural considerations. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 19(1), 57-74. Retrieved March, 2009, from Joster database. doi:13555850710720902

Stafford, T. (2008). Social and Usage Process Motivations for Consumer Internet Access. Organizational and End User Computing, 20(3), 1-21. Retrieved March, 2009, from Joster database.

Summary:
The article “Social and Usage Process Motivations for Consumer Internet Access,” analyzed how people used the Internet and what motivated their actions. The study used information from America Online and put customers into two categories; heavy internet users motivated by social interaction and light internet users motivated by learning how to find information and applying a new technology. The study concluded that light internet users are not motivated to use the Internet based on learning more about the medium. The study also found that heavy users are less process oriented then light Internet users.

The article “Global internet use and access: Cultural considerations. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics,” how socioeconomic, race, culture and more influence access and choices while online. The first major point that this article talked about was that if you don’t have Internet access. For countries that are less developed there continued to be less usage. Usage was also shown to increase with educations. For example, the more educated an individual is the more likely they are to be able to have an Internet connection and are familiar with how to use the Internet. This availability ranged from country to country. The study also measured their findings against critical communications theory, such as masculine v. feminine, power distance, Individualism v. Collectivism, to help pinpoint behavioral actions and quantify them by category.

Discussion:
The article, “Social and Usage Process Motivations for Consumer Internet Access” was really spoke to what I want to learn about. I am most interested in the behavior aspect of Internet usage and I have only recently been finding some articles about the study of consumer behavior. This article spoke directly to my thesis statement in regards to learning more about consumer behavior in how they make choices online, how they process this information and how adaptation and evolution of the Internet changes the behavior of consumers. What this article did not speak to is the change and adaptation of both people’s process for accessing the Internet and the motivations for their choices on line.

The article,” Global internet use and access: Cultural considerations. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics” brought in a new dimension that I don’t currently have any information on and that is how culture can have a significant influence on Internet use. Not only does culture influence how the Internet is used, but access is an issue as well, which is a point that has not come up previously in any of my other articles. Socio-economic implications can have a large impact on how people access and process information from the Internet. People will not be able to access the internet more efficiently, which is part of what I am exploring in my thesis, if they don’t have access to the Internet. If only the wealthy people in a certain culture have access to the Internet –the results about efficiency, process and user ability will be thrown off. This article has helped me look at my thesis with a more broad perspective.