Oxford Internet Surveys

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/oxis/

Here is a very interesting report that was widely covered on Radio 4, at it launch this week. It provides a very thorough survey of internet usage in the UK today. The report opens in its executive summary that two-thirds of the UK population have internet access at home other ‘snippets’ relevant to the information literacy world are:

• The number of non-users (people who have never used the Internet) has decreased to a quarter of the population in 2007.
• Ex-users and non-users have different reasons for not using the Internet. Ex-users are more likely to point to a lack of interest and access. Non-users are more likely to point to a lack of skill.
• The Internet is the first port of call for the great majority of Internet users when trying to learn about something new – more important than family members, colleagues or libraries.
• Users have changed their information search patterns. In 2007, almost two thirds of users depended primarily on search engines to find information: up from one fifth in 2005.