Academics Online: : A Nationwide Quantitative Study of Australian Academic Use of the Internet

Citation

Calvert, P. (1999), "Academics Online: : A Nationwide Quantitative Study of Australian Academic Use of the Internet", Asian Libraries, Vol. 8 No. 9, pp. 350-351. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1999.8.9.350.1

Some of the findings of this University of Canberra study are predictable, but there are some rather useful discoveries that make this a worthwhile investigation. As expected, most Australian academics (95 per cent) have Internet access in their offices, and make heavy use of e‐mail. On the other hand, only one‐third say they have satisfactory remote dial‐in access and fewer than half think they are given adequate technical support for their Net access. Of interest is that staff with inadequate remote access also believe services available from the Internet are not useful to them, perhaps as a result of the poor access they have. Another major conclusion of the research is that one‐third of respondents seem in need of more training in Net use.

Although e‐mail usage is very high among respondents, other Internet services are not so frequently used. Use of the World Wide Web figures quite highly, but electronic discussion groups have lower usage (about half of respondents) and almost none use Internet relay chat. Library catalogues are accessed frequently, but few academics use electronic document delivery services directly or access database services and data archives.

There are many other findings that are of interest that can be found in the research report. The association between Net use and academic discipline is fascinating and perhaps surprising (don’t assume arts faculty have been left behind by their scientific colleagues). Of major interest is the project’s investigation of academics working in geographic and disciplinary isolation in Australian universities. The phenomenon of the Internet offers isolated academics a magnificent opportunity to join in a global network of their peers for instant communication of news and scholarly output. Have they seized the chance? Undoubtedly, many academics are using e‐mail to breakdown the tyranny of distance, but those who self‐reported disciplinary isolation did not have the same belief in the value of the Internet and still argue for the necessity for face‐to‐face meetings and physical attendance at conferences.

This survey differed from many previous investigations in its use of posted questionnaires rather than using e‐mail and so has reduced the bias of many previous surveys of Net use. As the project’s title says, it was a quantitative survey backed up by detailed statistical analysis of the data. Naturally there are questions left unanswered by the survey, partly by the absence of qualitative questioning. Although some academics are using the Internet in their teaching, is it useful in teaching and if so, what for? (This is not a question from a skeptic, for I have created e‐mail discussion groups and Web sites for my courses for some years now.) The survey tells us academics do not make much use of document delivery services, but it does not suggest why they do not, or if their low usage is because admirable service from their university library makes personal access unnecessary.

Use of the Internet by Australian academics must surely continue to increase for some years yet to come. The uses they put it too will be interesting to observe, so some follow‐up studies, preferably using qualitative methods, should be organised. Comparisons with other countries will also tell us something about the differences between Australian teaching methods and those of other cultures. A straight comparison with New Zealand should reveal quite similar results, but Singapore, Thailand and Japan are countries that come to mind as useful comparisons.

This slim and neat volume is a useful purchase for all academic libraries, because although the survey concentrates on academics’ usage, the implications for academic support services are considerable.