1996 Survey of User Information Needs and Search Methods Results

3.5 Profile of Internet Usage

522 respondents reported some access to the Internet. This section gives a breakdown of Internet Facilities used.

3.5.1 Type and Frequency of Internet Access

3.5.1a) Type Of Internet Access

Respondents were asked to select all types of Internet Access available to them.

Table showing the availability of Internet access, with percentages calculated in terms of total number of respondents.

Facility	Number of respondents	Percentage of total respondents
At work : own machine	272	38%
At work : shared machine	241	34%
At home: own machine	107	15%
At home: shared machine	13	2%

3.5.1b) Frequency of Use of Internet Services

Respondents reported on the approximate frequency of their use of the Internet.

Table showing the Frequency of Access of Internet Services, with
percentages calculated in terms of total number of respondents.

Frequency of Use	Number of respondents	Percentage of total
Daily	254	36%
Weekly	115	16%
Monthly	11	2%
Spasmodically	65	9%
Rarely	31	4%
Never/no response	234	33%
Total	710	100%

3.5.2 Awareness and Use of Internet Facilities

3.5.2a) Types of Services Used

The 522 respondents who were Internet Users, identified the services they used.

Table Showing Respondents Use of Facilities, with Percentages Calculated in Terms of Respondents who have Internet Access.

Facility	Number of respondents	Percentage of those with access to Internet
Browsing WWW	441	84%
E mail	409	78%
Subscriptions to Lists for Reading Only	170	40%
Participation in Online Discussion Groups	155	33%
Other	54	10%

3.5.2b) Browsers Used Regularly by Respondents with Internet Access

All Internet Users were asked to select all browsers which they used regularly.

Table Showing Browsers Used Regularly, with Percentages Calculated in Terms of Respondents who have Internet Access.

Facility	Number of respondents	Percentage of those with access to Internet
Netscape	383	73%
Mosaic	58	11%
Lynx	38	7%
Internet Explorer	21	4%
Other graphical browser	19	4%
Other non-graph browser	0	0%

3.5.2c) Awareness of Internet Search Tools

All respondents who use the Internet were asked to select all Internet Search Tools of which they were aware. A subsequent question asked respondents for their assessment of these tools (see Section 3.6 of this report)

Table Showing Awareness of Internet Search Tools, with Percentages Calculated in Terms of Respondents who have Internet Access.

Facility	Number of respondents	Percentage of those with access to Internet
Lycos	273	52%
Yahoo	351	67%
Alta Vista	213	41%
Harvest	48	9%
Web Crawler	256	49%
Infoseek	200	38%
BUBL	165	32%

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