Internet Access and Innovation-Diffusion in a National Cancer Institute Preventive Health Education Project: Telecenters,Cybercafes,and Sociodemographic Impacts on Knowledge Gaps

Abstract

Policymakers and analysts cite the availability of free Internet telecenters at libraries and community centers as a viable way to close the so-called knowledge gap and the digital divide among minority and poor communities. This study looks at policymakers’ dissemination of a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Web-based, preventive health education intervention to low-income people in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado through free Internet access. Although free public access Internet telecenters would appear to offer the potential of bridging these gaps, knowledge and information gaps persist because of the differentials between free and pay Internet access, as well as access through direct personal ownership of computers with Internet connections. The rate of increase of knowledge diffusion is much higher for individuals and communities of higher socioeconomic status who pay for access than for those with lesser means and who access free electronic resources. Pay-for-Internet cybercafes and free Internet telecenters have different accessibility thresholds, offer different user environments, and attract at least two different types of customers or clients.

The socioeconomic differences in the two types of patrons are presented in this study by way of the results of an electronic user survey and a telecenter survey in the aforementioned project locales. While a learning and knowledge gap is evident between patrons of pay and free access sites, both types of public Internet access are, in relative terms, severely limited. Residually, a large knowledge gap persists among users of public access sites compared to computer owners with their own Internet connections. These disparities have implications for the dissemination of Web-based health information, particularly among the poor in minority communities.

The Internet access evaluation is placed in the larger context of the NCI project, the Health Communication Intervention Research Initiative, looking (1) at broader concerns of cultural communications and policy and program implementation (2) across social and programmatic networks, with consideration to (3) pedagogical applications of the case in the MPA classroom.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Bass

F. M.

1969. “A New Product Growth Model for Consumer Durables.” Management Science, 15: 215–227.

Berland

G. K.

et al. 2001. “Health Information on the Internet.” Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(20).

Brass

D. J.

Labianca

. 1999. “Social Capital, Social Liabilities, and Social Resources Management.” In Leenders

R. Th. A. J.

Gabbay

S. M.

, Corporate Social Capital and Liability. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 323–340.

Buller

D. B.

et al. 2001. “Formative Research Activities to Provide Web-based Nutrition Education to Adults in the Upper Rio Grande Valley.” Family and Community Health, 24(3).

Colle

R. D.

Roman

. 2002. The Telecenter Movement: Using ICTs for Social Change. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Cooper

Zmud

R. W.

. 1990. “Information Technology Implementation Research: A Technological Diffusion Approach.” Management Science, 36(2):123–139.

Delgadillo

Gomez

Stoll

. 2002. Community Telecenter Development: Lessons from Community Telecenters in Latin America and the Caribbean. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: IDRC.

Dennett

D. C.

2003. Freedom Evolves. New York: Viking Press.

Dikshit

H. P.

et al. 2002. Access and Equity: Challenges for Open and Distance Learning. New Delhi: Kogan Page.

10.

Gagne

2003. “World Summit on the Information Society.” Available at www.itu.int/wsis/basic/about.html. Retrieved July 16, 2003.

11.

Gargiulo

Benassi

. 1999. “The Dark Side of Social Capital.” In Th

Leenders

A. J.

Gabbay

S. M.

, Corporate Social Capital and Liability. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 298–322.

12.

Gladwell

2002. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. New York: Black Bay Books.

13.

Gomez

Hunt

Lamoureux

. 1999. “Focus on Telecentres: How Can They Contribute to Social Development?” CHASQUI-Latin American Review of Communication, June.

14.

Gulati

1998. “Alliances and Networks.” Strategic Management Journal, 19:293–317.

15.

Kreps

G. L.

Viswanath

. 2001. “Communication Interventions and Cancer Control: A Review of the National Cancer Institute’s Health Communication Intervention Research Initiative.” Family and Community Health, 24(4).

16.

Kwon

T. H.

Zmud

R. W.

. 1987. “Unifying the Fragmented Models of Information Systems Implementation.” In Boland

R. J.

Hirschheim

R. A.

, Critical Issues in Information Systems Research. London: John Wiley and Sons, 227–248.

17.

Lai

V. S.

Mahapatra

R. K.

. 1997. “Exploring the Research in Information Technology Implementation.” Information and Management, 32:187–201.

18.

Medina

U. E.

2003. “Telecenter Functionality Index: A Measurement for Bridging the Digital Divide.” Unpublished manuscript, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.

19.

Rivera

M. A.

Rogers

E. M.

. 2004. “Evaluating Public Sector Innovation in Networks: Extending the Reach of the National Cancer Institute’s Web-based Health Communication Intervention Research Initiative.” The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 9(3).

20.

Rogers

E. M.

1995. Diffusion of Innovations, fourth edition. New York: The Free Press.

21.

Rogers

E. M.

2001. “The Digital Divide.” Convergence, 7(4).

22.

Rogers

E. M.

Agarwala-Rogers

. 1976. Communications in Organizations. New York: Free Press.

23.

Rogers

E. M.

Shoemaker

. 1971. Communication of Innovations: A Cross-cultural Approach, second edition. New York: Free Press.

24.

Rogers

E. M.

Shukla

. 2001. “The Role of Telecenters in Development Communication and the Digital Divide.” Unpublished manuscript, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of New Mexico.

25.

Sia

et al. 2004. “Effects of Environmental Uncertainty on Organizational Intention to Adopt Distributed Work Arrangements.” IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 51(3):253–268.

26.

Tichenor

P. J.

Donohue

G. A.

Olien

C. N.

. 1970. Mass Media Flow and Differential Growth in Knowledge. Public Opinion Quarterly, 34:159–160.

27.

Urribarri

2003. “Centros de acceso publico a Internet: Experiencias Venezolanas.” Available at www.idrc.ca/pan/puburri1-4_s.htm. Retrieved June 5, 2003.

28.

Valente

T. W.

1996. “Social Network Thresholds in the Diffusion of Innovations.” Social-Networks, 18(1):69–89.

29.

Wright

K. B.

Bell

S. B.

. 2005. “Health-Related Support Groups on the Internet: Linking Empirical Findings to Social Support and Computer-Mediated Communication Theory.” Available at www.gmu.edu/depts/comm/courses/620/620B/B30,%20Wright.doc. Retrieved August 14, 2005.

30.

Zimmerman

D. E.

et al. 2003. “Integrating Usability Testing into the Development of a 5 a Day Nutrition Web Site for At-risk Populations in the American Southwest.” Health Psychology, 8(1):119–134.