Table of Contents
Nonprofit spotlight: Tommy Nobis Center
Women and men both use the Internet, but for different purposes
Written and produced by authors and editors at CustomGuide,
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Copyright 2006
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Issue 49, January 2006
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Nonprofit spotlight: Tommy Nobis Center
|
The Tommy Nobis Center provides vocational training and employment services for people with disabilities or other barriers to employment in the Atlanta area. Programs |
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Challenges and needs
The Center's biggest challenge is trying to educate the community and
increase awareness about disabilities.
How you can help
You can help the Tommy Nobis Center by donating a used car or by donating
funds for assistive technology. For more information, contact vocational
instructor Donna Bryan
or visit www.tommynobiscenter.org.
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Women and men both use the Internet, but for different purposes
A recent study by The Pew Internet and American Life Project has found that approximately the same percentage of women and men use the Internet. This is a departure from the early days of the Internet, which was a playground for avid computer geeks, most of them men. While men are still more likely to embrace the newest technologies and tend to be more tech savvy, the Internet has grown to accommodate the interests of women as well.
By the numbers
Sixty-six percent of women use the Internet, compared to 68 percent of
men. While the percentage of women is slightly lower, the total number
of women online is greater because there are more females in the population.
Though approximately the same number of women and men use the Internet, they tend to use it very differently.
Checking the Inbox
One of the biggest differences found was in how women and men use e-mail.
According to the study, women are more likely to use the Internet for
its communication advantages and to nurture relationships. In fact, 94
percent of women who go online do so for e-mail. They are more likely
to e-mail friends and family to plan events, share stories and jokes,
and ask for advice. Women also tend to communicate a broader range of
topics in their e-mail messages. Men, on the other hand, use e-mail to
communicate with organizations.
Searching for information
Another main difference found was that men tend to use the Internet primarily
as a source of information. Men use search engines more aggressively while
looking for information on a wider range of topics and issues than women,
such as checking the weather, researching politics and finances, and finding
sports information. The Internet is a larger source of entertainment and
recreation for men as well, who are more likely to use it for sports fantasy
leagues, downloading music, pursuing hobbies, and even taking classes.
Women are more likely to search for information on topics such as health and religion, and then share that information through online groups and e-mail.
Where we find common ground
Though the reasons for logging onto the Internet seem to be quite different,
we appreciate the Internet for the same reasons. The efficiency of online
services such as bill paying or online purchasing is widely used and appreciated
by both men and women. We also agree on the value of the Internet for
its vast and readily available information.
The future
While the study found that men more readily embrace and try new technology,
that seems to be changing. Teenage girls and boys are equally adept at
using and trying new online technologies. Not only are children assimilating
the Internet into their daily lives, they may also be influencing their
parents' use of the Internet as well. If both of these trends continue,
look for future studies of the Internet to be very different.
This month's free download is an eLearning lesson on how to use the Solver feature in Microsoft Excel 2002.
Click here to access a free eLearning lesson.
Peer-to-peer Internet file sharing has been around for years, but recently the free application BitTorrent has taken the medium to a new level, creating a promising new distribution channel for music, television, movies and software. BitTorrent users can download an hour-long television program in about ten minutes, while it can take hours to download one using other types of file-sharing services like Kazaa or eDonkey. BitTorrent boasts over 20 million users, and according to Clive Thompson, a technology writer for the New York Times and Wired magazine, a recent study shows that BitTorrent download activity comprises around a third to a half of all Internet traffic.
How it works
BitTorrent distributes large amounts of data with little consumption of
bandwidth or server resources by breaking downloadable files down into
small pieces. Users can then download fragments of files quickly from
multiple peers who have the fragments they need to complete a file. In
turn, those users upload fragments to other users. To download a file,
a user needs to download the free client application from www.bittorrent.com
and then use BitTorrent's search feature or another Web search engine
to locate downloadable files or "tracker" Web sites that organize
files and facilitate downloading.
Publishing a BitTorrent file
Using BitTorrent to publish a file has traditionally involved creating
a summary of the file you want to make available for download and publishing
that summary file (a .torrent file) by e-mail or to a Web site. The .torrent
file points users to a "tracker" server which directs traffic.
Initially, traffic is sent to the downloadable "seed" copy of
the file that serves as the source for the first downloader. As the file
spreads to more computers and users begin downloading file fragments from
each other, the tracker server regulates activity on the new peer network,
directing uploaders and downloaders to maximize efficiency. A new "trackerless"
version of BitTorrent is also being introduced, which will simplify the
publishing process so that you only need a Web site and an Internet connection
to publish a download.
Piracy concerns
The advent of technology like BitTorrent has brought with it many concerns
about piracy. While BitTorrent itself is only a file distribution software—meaning
that it doesn't host any content—it is often used for the illegal
distribution of copyrighted material. The Motion Picture Association of
America (MPAA), in particular, has been cracking down on movie piracy
that uses BitTorrent. Recently, the creator of BitTorrent and the MPAA
reached an agreement that BitTorrent would block illegal copyrighted files
from its search feature. This may not have much effect on current levels
of illegal downloads, since BitTorrent doesn't control any file content,
but it may pave the way for future business partnerships between the media
industry and Internet file distributors.
The future of peer-to-peer file sharing
Many open-source software programs and operating systems are already distributed
using BitTorrent, and the medium presents a powerful distribution possibility
for many types of companies, especially broadcasters. For example, a television
network can send out millions of copies of a program in a flash, with
almost no cost or stress on their computer systems. The technology is
already spawning an increase in self-publishing, and the extremely low
cost and high distribution potential almost guarantee continued growth.
Visit www.bittorrent.com, www.wired.com, www.btsites.dontexist.com, and www.wikipedia.com for more information.
Hitwise found that 11 percent of all December 2005 shopping-related traffic originated from Google, a 28 percent jump over December 2004. eBay was by far the biggest driver of traffic to shopping sites, generating more than 13 percent of retail traffic, while Yahoo! Search and MSN Search only drove 4 percent and 1 percent of retail visits.
Teens are more optimistic about technological advances in the next decade than adults. Thirty-three precent of teens surveyed by MIT predicted that gasoline-powered cars will disappear by 2015, compared to just 16 percent of adults. Twenty-two percent of teenagers predicted desktop computers will become obsolete a decade from now, while only 10 percent of adults agreed. Teens also saw the following world problems being solved by 2015: unclean water (91 percent), hunger (89 percent), disease (88 percent) and pollution (84 percent).
According to Fortiva and Harris Interactive, 59 percent of employed US adults admit to wasting a lot of time searching for lost email, while over 28 percent acknowledge that the volume of email they receive causes them to fall behind in their work. Email-using employees earning a higher income are more likely to admit to wasting time searching for email than their lower-paid counterparts.
Twenty-seven percent have also reached or exceeded the amount of storage space allowed for email at work. Those with higher incomes rely more heavily on work email for personal use (66 percent of those with incomes of $50K and above, compared to 55 percent of those with incomes of $35K to $50K and 49 percent of those with incomes under $35K), and waste more time searching for emails.
