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Use of the Internet by Older Rural South Australians
Author(s) -
Irizarry Carol,
West Deborah,
Downing Andrew
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2001.tb01778.x
Subject(s) - the internet , entertainment , government (linguistics) , older people , rural area , internet privacy , medicine , psychology , business , advertising , gerontology , political science , world wide web , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , law
Book reviews in this article: Objective : The South Australian Government funded the Rural Online Research Project to investigate Internet use by older people in rural South Australia. Method : Information was gathered from this population via questionnaires in relation to their use of computers and the Internet and focus groups were held to supplement this data. Results : Findings indicated that of the 16% of older rural residents who used the Internet the most common uses were email, browsing, games and accessing travel or entertainment information. Over half of those not using the Internet indicated that they would like to learn and the majority indicated that major barriers to use were lack of opportunity and cost involved. Conclusion : Opportunity, cost and a supportive learning environment are key factors in encouraging Internet use by older people in rural areas.