RESEARCH GOALS

• To explore the relationship between individual cognitive and socio-cultural differences and interaction with online interfaces.

• To propose changes in interface design to help close the digital divide.

HomeNetToo - http://www.homenettoo.org

HomeNetToo began as a multi-method, interdisciplinary research project that examines the antecedents and consequences of Internet use in low-income families.

A central research effort is a longitudinal field study, begun
Fall 2000. Participants were provided computers for a year. Their Internet use was continuously computer-logged, and surveys are administered 5 times during home visits at pre-trial, one-month, three-months, nine-months and post-trial. Full tech support is provided in the home by undergraduate "technology facilitators."

Analysis of the early logging data suggests relationships between
cognitive style and Internet use. Another research study uses ethnographic research to examine Internet usage, its meaning, and role in the family unit.

CURRENT STUDY

The next phase of HomeNetToo was to test participants as well as additional participants of similar demographic on the effects of different types of Interfaces on their ability to gain more knowledge.

117 participants from low income communities in the Lansing and Detroit areas in Michigan were recruited for this study. Many of them had little or no prior computer experience.

Participants were randomly assigned to either a traditional, spatial or interpersonal interface with information about blood pressure and asked a series of questions to test their cognitive styles and level of knowledge gained.

The graphics below provide screen shots of each of the interfaces:

The traditional interface is a magazine-style page modeled after traditional online webpages.

The spatial interface is a 3D interface in which participants use a joystick to navigate around an area with 5 buildings and reading information on posters within those buildings.
 

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In the interpersonal interface, participates use only their voices to interact with an avatar that guides them through the information.

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

IN PRESS

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., Barbatsis, G., & Fitsgerald, H. (in press).  Personality and use of the Internet's information and communication tools: Findings from the HomeNetToo project.  Invited chapter to appear in K-H. Renner, A. Schütz & F. Machilek (Eds.), Internet and Personality .  Germany:  Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F. A., Barbatsis, G., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E.  (in press).  Children's home Internet use: Predictors and psychological, social and academic consequence.  Invited chapter to appear in R. Kraut (Ed.), Information Technologies at Home: Social Context and Impact .  Volume based on presentations at the NSF-sponsored workshop titled "Domestic impact of information and communication technology."  Estes Park, CO.  June 5-8, 20.

Jackson, L. A., Barbatsis, G., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., von Eye, A., & Fitzgerald, H. E. (in press). HomeNetToo: Home Internet use in low-income families: Is access to the Internet enough? Invited chapter to appear in E. P Bucy & J. E. Newhagen (Eds.), Media access: Social and psychological dimensions of new technology use. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

2003

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Barbatsis, G., Biocca, F., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Zhao, Y.  (in press).  The social impact of Internet use on the other side of the digital divide.  Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery .

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F., Barbatsis, G., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Zhao, Y.  (2003).  Internet attitudes and Internet use: Some surprising findings from the HomeNetToo project.  International Journal of Human Computer Studies., 59(3) , 355-382.

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F. A., Barbatsis, G., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Zhao, Y.  (2003).  Personality, cognitive style, demographic characteristics and Internet use - Findings from the HomeNetToo project.   Swiss Journal of Psychology ,  Special Issue, Studying the Internet: A challenge for modern psychology, 62(2), 79-90.

Jackson, L. A., Barbatsis, G., von Eye, A., Biocca, F. A., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E.  (2003).  Implications for the digital divide of Internet use in low-income families.  IT & Society ., 1(5), 219-244. 

2002

Biocca, F., (2002).  Invited panelist.  National Communication Association and the American Anthropological Association Interdisciplinary Task Force on the Digital Divide: Community and Technology: Views from Communication and Anthropology.  New Orleans, November 21-24.

Biocca, F. (2002).  Invited speaker.  Augmented reality to the shape of minds, bodies, and cultures: Current new media designs and cognitive experiments at the M.I.N.D. Labs.  University of Texas, Austin, Texas, November.

Biocca, F.  (2002).  Invited speaker.  Psychological issues in advanced media.  University of Cologne,  Cologne, Germany, October.

Jackson, L.A., & von Eye, A.  (2002).  Invited colloquium.  Antecedents and consequences of home Internet use in low-income families: Finding from the HomeNetToo project.  Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work, School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, November 26.

Fitzgerald, H. E , Jackson, L., Barbatsis, G., von Eye, A., Biocca, F. A., & Zhao, Y.  (2002).  Trust and the Internet: Findings from the HomeNetToo Project.  Invited presentation.  Michigan State University Extension Conference, Kellogg Center, East Lansing., MI., Oct. 15.

Jackson, L. A., Barbatsis, G., von Eye, A., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E.  (2002).  Trust and the Internet: Findings from the HomeNetToo project.  Paper presentation and Proceedings of the E-Learn 2002 Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Montreal, Canada, October 15-19.

Jackson, L. A., von Eye, A., Biocca, F., Barbatsis, G., Zhao, Y., & Fitzgerald, H. E.  (2002).  The HomeNetToo project: Predicting Internet use from trust-related attitudes about the Internet.  Paper presentation in the symposium titled "Motivation in Cyberspace."  8th International Conference on Motivation, Moscow, Russia, June 12-15.

von Eye, A.  (2002).  Keynote Address. Conference titled "The electronic human: What are the changes caused by digitizing the world?" Dr. Erich Weichselgartner, Deputy Director, ZPID - Psychologie Information, University of Ulm, Germany, March 10-13.

Jackson, L. A., Barbatsis, G., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., von Eye, A., & Fitzgerald, H. E.  (2002).  Home Internet use in low-income families: Frequency, nature and correlates of early use in the HomeNetToo project.  Paper presentation and Proceedings of the 11th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW11), Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A., May 7-11.

Jackson, L.A., Barbatsis, G., Biocca, F., Zhao, Y., von Eye, A., & Fitzgerald, H. E., & Samona, R.  (2002).  Home Internet use in low-income families: Perceptions of injustice in cyberspace.  Paper presentation in the symposium titled "Fairness in Cyberspace: The Challenge of Maintaining Justice in a Networked Economy."  2002 Meeting of the Academy of Management, Denver, CO, Aug 9-14.

2001

Biocca, F. A., Jackson, L. A., Dobbins, H., Barbatsis, G., von Eye, A., Fitzgerald, H. E., & Zhao, Y.  (2001).  Adapting computer interfaces to differences in cognitive and cultural style.  Paper presentation in the symposium on the Digital Divide, International Communication Association (ICA) and the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), University of Texas, Austin, Texas, November 16-18. 

Jackson, L. A., Biocca, F. A., Barbatsis, G., von Eye, A., Fitzgerald, H. E., Zhao, Y., & Ware, D. (2001). HomeNetToo: Motivational, affective and cognitive factors and Internet use: A model to explain the racial digital divide and the Internet paradox.  Paper presentation and Proceedings of the 10th International World Wide Web Conference.  Hong Kong, May 1-5

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