Track: Keep the Spirit Growing
Session: Community Networking in Canada
Speaker: Daryle Niedermayer, Great Plains Free-Net,
Regina
Time: Sunday August 18, 3:30 PM
Mr. Niedermayer was founding director of Great Plains Free-Net, and
in May
1994 accepted the position of Needs Assessment. What did the City of
Regina
want in a freenet?
Why do a Study?
- Discover what people think a community network is
- Help Information Providers understand how a community network can
benefit them
- Gather demographics of prospective users
- Anticipate system usage and growth
- Assess volunteer support
- Longitudinal issues - followup on survey in three years
Randomized phone calls were conducted in the City of Regina, looking
for
someone over 13 who uses a computer most frequently in a household or
the
most likely computer user. A total of 1440 calls were made over four
weeks,
resulting in 774 contacts, and 457 agreeing to short screening
interviews.
Of that number, 235 received the full length survey.
Some of the findings:
- lower income households have higher interest in community
networks
- computer access peaks at ages 35-44
- community network interest drops after age 55
- men have more computer access and interest than women
- highest expressed interest was in computer information and
library
catalogues
- lowest expressed interest was for advertising and shopping
- 53% of respondents will to make cash donation
- 32% of respondents interested in becoming members
- 28% interested in volunteering
- greater interest by those who already have some internet
access
- most estimated access from 6pm-11pm
- most expect to access 30-60 minutes per session
- one third of respondents had modems under 2400 baud
Undertaking a study of this nature requires much planning. It is
important
that you determine the best course of action before beginning.
Resources for needs assessment can be found at:
ftp://ftp.gpfn.sk.ca/pub/gpf
n/needs-assess/
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