X-Attachments: :VOTEC 342:9576:Levin Report Abstract.txt:
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.devel-l
Date:         Wed, 6 Jan 1993 12:39:15 -0600
Reply-To:     githeko@UXA.CSO.UIUC.EDU
              <DEVEL-L@AUVM.BITNET>
From:         githeko@UXA.CSO.UIUC.EDU
Subject:      Internet Resource Access Barriers

I recently completed a small study of the barriers to accessing Internet
resources by taking the University of Illinois Library's remote access
facility as a case study. Attached is an abstract from my report (I am a
PhD student) which may be of interest to some.

Jason M. Githeko

e-mail: j-githeko@uiuc.edu
ABSTRACT

Githeko, J. (1992). On-line library catalogs and other Internet resources:
Barriers to access. Urbana-Champaign: Author

This brief study consists of an examination of the problems experienced by
users in the process of accessing resources on the Internet with particular
reference to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Library
databases.

The study consisted of a questionnaire survey of a section of the student
and staff on campus, interview with persons connected with the databases
and their provision, and reading of relevant literature on the Library
computer system. Most of those interviewees are librarians on campus but
include a librarian from the University of Southern California and a
programmer from CARL(Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries) in Colorado.

The limited response from the survey is insufficient to offer a basis for
firm conclusions.  However it indicated that users experience problems in
accessing the Library databases from remote sites due to complexity of the
access procedure as compared to the competing Library terminal system and
lack of a clear understanding of system and its resources.

The response suggests that remotely accessing Library databases is not a
widely used facility on this campus with an estimated user population of 7%
 or less of the faculty and students.

At present the Library has not set clear objectives on how to deal with the
new generation of multimedia resources due to an apparent lack of
standardization in hardware and other components of the multimedia
environment.

Network access problems due to barriers of complexity of user-machine
interface operation will have to be seriously addressed in order for the
full benefits of this relatively new facility to be realized especially for
the wider population.

It is suggested that the present rapid expansion of the Internet will lead
to development of specialized electronic navigators to search, sort, and
select information accompanied by the disappearance of the present
microcomputer as we know it as the computing functions become secondary.

The Internet is expanding at phenomenal rates accompanied with an increase
in electronic publishing.  The attendant problems of intellectual property
protection methods have not yet been resolved although there are some
proposals including one hardware solution adopted by the Japanese which
makes use of a hardware switch that blocks execution of illegal software
and gathers client's usage information for billing purposes.

There is no doubt that networking applications are here to stay, however
the directions and implications of this relatively new branch of
information technology are the subjects of contemporary discussion and
debate.

This study is my little contribution to an understanding of current trends
in network development and usage.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU