Quick: Picture an Internet aficionado, circa 1995.

The first image that comes to my mind is Dennis Nedry, the embryo thief in “Jurassic Park,” who met his untimely end facing down a dinosaur in a soggy mud pit. The second is Milton Waddams, the befuddled, staple-hoarding drone from “Office Space.”

But the common characteristics of those two characters — they are both middle-aged and white — may no longer be a fitting stereotype, at least when it comes to today’s mobile Internet aficionado, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.

The survey, conducted in April by interviewing 2,253 Americans, found that while accessing the Internet via a mobile phone was increasing, the swell was reflected most sharply among African-Americans.

The survey, conducted in April by interviewing 2,253 Americans, found that while accessing the Internet via a mobile phone was increasing, the swell was reflected most sharply among African-Americans.

To read this blog posting on the New York Times website, see:
bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/mobile-internet-use-shrinks-digital-divide/

Also see:

Americans are going wireless Internet big time, report says
A few days ago, the Pew Research Center released a report that Americans are looking online to fight the recession. On Tuesday it added that most of us are doing that via wireless Internet.

The results of the center’s Internet & American Life Project survey show that 56 percent of adult Americans have accessed the Internet via wireless means, such as a Wi-Fi laptop, a mobile device, a game console, or an MP3 player. The most popular way people get online wirelessly is with a laptop computer, numbering 39 percent of some 2,200 survey participants.
news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10293283-94.html

American’s Wireless Internet Use: Report

Overview

An April 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that 56% of adult Americans have accessed the internet by wireless means, such as using a laptop, mobile device, game console, or MP3 player. The most prevalent way people get online using a wireless network is with a laptop computer; 39% of adults have done this.

The report also finds rising levels of Americans using the internet on a mobile handset. One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smartphone to access the internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking. This level of mobile internet is up by one-third since December 2007, when 24% of Americans had ever used the internet on a mobile device. On the typical day, nearly one-fifth (19%) of Americans use the internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11% level recorded in December 2007. That’s a growth of 73% in the 16 month interval between surveys.

About the Survey

This report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans’ use of the Internet. The results in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between March 26 to April 19, 2009, among a sample of 2,253 adults, 18 and older. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. For results based Internet users (n=1,687), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting telephone surveys may introduce some error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

A combination of landline and cellular random digit dial (RDD) samples was used to represent all adults in the continental United States who have access to either a landline or cellular telephone.

To download the report and/or for more information, see:
www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/12-Wireless-Internet-Use.aspx