Internet-related Activities Research Articles

Business as Unusual: Conglomerate-Sized Challenges for Film and Television in the Digital Arena

This article examines the diverse strategies that the film and television divisions of media conglomerates have employed in circulating their properties online. The author shows how historical relationships as well as long-standing business practices tied to both theatrical motion pictures and prime-time television series have affected decisions about what, where, when, and how content is offered on the Internet. Comparing the Internet-related activities of these different divisions sheds light on the distinct challenges each medium faces in the online realm and also points to the complex nature of the responses of contemporary media conglomerates to new technologies.

Priced and Unpriced Online Markets

Some online resources are free and others are not—but it can be hard to predict which resources are in which category. In some cases, users are charged for things such as web-based e-mail, wireless Internet access, and software, while in other cases, they aren't. Zero prices offer important benefits, even relative to small positive prices. For one, fee-free access reduces transaction costs—eliminating the need for billing systems as well as, in many cases, account setup, usernames, and the like. Furthermore, zero prices seem to create an environment of experimentation and progress for products and consumers. Finally, consumers overwhelmingly favor zero-price products, even beyond what might be predicted by their ordinary efforts to maximize consumer surplus. Yet experience in other contexts offers cause for concern. Although marginal costs may be near zero for many levels of use of online resources, costs generally eventually increase as usage nears a capacity constraint given by technological capability or system design. More generally, experience in other contexts repeatedly reveals overconsumption, scarcity, and even hoarding when resources are provided without charge. With competing forces both supporting and opposing zero prices, typical Internet-related activities—like surfing the web, web searches, and e-mail, along with behind-the-scenes practices like domain names and the allocation of IP (Internet protocol) addresses—present a natural context to reevaluate our sense of the tradeoffs that arise between free and a positive price.

Students’ Attitudes Toward Computer Use in Slovakia

ICT has a very short history in Slovakia. A majority of Slovak schools accessed computers and internet only after 2000. Different financial support and schools’ participation in various projects resulted in non-random distribution of computers across Slovakian elementary schools. We examined whether 1) attitudes toward computers could be affected by the accessibility of computers at schools and 2) how the use of computers between school and home environment differ. Attitudes toward ICT were positive and gender differences were weak. Although we found school had an effect on the behavioural dimension of attitudes, it was not caused by the accessibility of computers per se. However, large numbers of students per computer (up to N = 68) greatly reduced student’s use of computers at schools. Lack of internet connection at home caused greater supplementation of internet-related activities in schools relative to home. Gender and agerelated differences in ICT participation were greatly influenced when comparing the home and school environment.

Patient Access to U.S. Physicians Who Conduct Internet or E-mail Consults

BackgroundE-mail communication has the potential to improve communication between patients and doctors.ObjectiveThe objective of the study is to describe the access of patients to physicians who conduct e-mail consults.MethodsWe analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of office-based physician visits, in 2001, 2002, and 2003. The main outcome measure was the percentage of visits to a provider who reported doing internet or e-mail consults.ResultsThere was fewer than 1 in 10 outpatient visits in 2001 (9.2%) to physicians who reported doing internet or e-mail consults, and this did not increase in 2002 (5.8%) or 2003 (5.5%). Access to these physicians was greater among patients who were male, nonminority, lived in the Western United States, seen for pre-/postoperative care, seen by a primary care provider, and not seen by a nurse during their visit. Access to physicians who conducted internet or e-mail consults was independent of other patient (e.g., chronic conditions), provider (e.g., office setting), and visit (e.g., medications prescribed) characteristics.ConclusionsAccess to physicians who do internet or e-mail consults is generally low and did not increase between 2001 and 2003, despite growth in internet access and in other internet-related activities.

Unrealistic optimism in internet events

This study assessed the tendency for individuals to be unrealistically optimistic about internet related activities. Ninety-seven participants estimated their chances of experiencing 31 positive and negative internet events compared to the average student at their school. The data indicated that students believed positive internet events were more likely to happen to them and negative events were less likely to happen to them compared to the average student. Heavy internet users reported more optimistic responses than did light users. Perceptions of event characteristics (controllability, desirability, and personal experience) were also significantly correlated with optimistic bias.

The Role and Determinants of Electronic Commerce and On-line Advertising within Corporate Activity

The research focuses on the application of the Internet in three major areas: sales, purchasing and advertising, which, from a marketing point of view, are the most relevant activities in a company. It is argued that by the end of the 1990s in Hungary Internet-related business activities had become new and increasingly important areas of competition - and this observation holds even though the penetration of the Internet amongst the Hungarian population remains low, so that consumer fears are major obstacles to the more widespread use of this type of media. In this research, the “supply side” of business activities is investigated - that is, companies. In this article (which relies on a large-scale representative national survey carried out in 2000), there will first of all be provided an overview of the intensity of Internet usage among Hungarian companies in relation to marketing activity. Second, based on cutting-edge international literature, the possible factors in the model which determine Internet usage in companies' purchasing, sales and advertising activities will be outlined. Finally, there is an empirical testing of the given model on a representative sample of Hungarian companies.

Technology-Based Entrepreneurs: Does Internet Make a Difference?

This paper is an empirical analysis of the personal characteristics of Italian high-tech entrepreneurs. We analyze differences in the characteristics of founders according to the sector of operation of the start-up. In particular, we investigate whether entrepreneurs in Internet related activities differ from those operating in other ICT industries (especially in manufacturing). For this purpose, we analyze a sample composed of 246 entrepreneurs that between 1984 and 1999 established 116 new firms that operate in ICT manufacturing and service industries and are located in Northern Italy. The findings highlight that Internet entrepreneurs generally are younger and less educated (especially in technical fields) than the other sample founders. They quite often are at their first professional experience; if they have prior working experience, it generally is in unrelated industries. Such findings are related to evolutionary theories that emphasize the role of the nature of technical change and of the stage of the industry life cycle in influencing the characteristics and behavior of new firms and their founders.

Internet-related work activities and academic government documents librarians' professional relationships

This article examines specific Internet-related work activities of academic government documents librarians in the United States, and how these activities are affecting academic government documents librarians' professional relationships. Findings are reported from a nationally distributed mail survey of 226 academic government documents librarians, with an 83% return rate. Descriptive statistics indicate that, as a result of the Internet, closer professional relationships are being formed, especially with library systems/automation units, documents librarians at other institutions, and government representatives. Multivariate analysis results show that participation in Internet-related work activities is a key factor in explaining some of the variation among these changing professional relationships. Background characteristics and institutional characteristics are generally not significant. Implications of expanding professional relationships are discussed.

Internet Addiction on Campus: The Vulnerability of College Students

Use of the Internet on college campuses has increased dramatically in recent years, leading to pathological use, or Internet addiction, for some students. Internet addiction is defined as a psychological dependence on the Internet and is characterized by (a) an increasing investment of resources on Internet-related activities, (b) unpleasant feelings (e.g., anxiety, depression, emptiness) when offline, (c) an increasing tolerance to the effects of being online, and (d) denial of the problematic behaviors. Individuals exhibiting such symptoms often are dealing with underlying psychological issues. College students are particularly vulnerable to pathological Internet use due to several factors. These factors include (a) the psychological and developmental characteristics of late adolescence/young adulthood, (b) ready access to the Internet, and (c) an expectation of computer/Internet use. The nature of the computer medium and the sense of control experienced when engaged in computer activities can also cont...