Community Benefits (from National Capitla FreeNet)

[Douglas Schuler]

Here is some possibly useful information from the National Capital FreeNet,
FYI.

-- Doug



> In our work with the National Capital FreeNet in Ottawa we took a first
crack at these questions.  In a paper called

    Losing Sleep and Watching Less TV but Socializing More: Personal and
    Social Impacts of Using the National Capital FreeNet

we describe the results of a survey of NCF users that included a
question about areas of benefit for users of the system.  The largest
area of benefit was "improving computer literacy" with 72% reporting
help in this area, but many users also reported benefits for
"government access and/or participation" (41%) and "work or business"
(44%).  Here is a table summarizing the results for this question:


            Percent of Users Reporting Benefits From the NCF
                      for a Variety of Activities
                                                               Percent
                                                              Reporting
           Activity                                            Benefit
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               
improving computer literacy                                     71.9

informal learning                                               66.8

social interactions (discussions with and/or meeting people)    62.7

entertainment                                                   57.0

work or business                                                44.3

government access and/or participation                          41.2

contacting relatives                                            40.4

improving general literacy                                      31.3

access to social services                                       28.4

access to commercial services (shopping, etc.)                  14.8

teaching                                                        14.2

access to professional services (doctors, lawyers, etc.)         9.4

formal learning (actual courses)                                 8.5

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The full paper and other reports from this study can be found at

    http://debra.dgbt.doc.ca/services-research


-- 
               Andrew Patrick (aa118 at FreeNet.Carleton.CA)
                Vice-President, National Capital FreeNet

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