The Rise of the Silver Surfer: The Use of Computers And The Internet by Seniors-An Opportunity for Continuing Education?
Melissa Raptis and Geoffrey Dick
This Australian study of those aged 55 or over, examines their attitudes and perceptions towards computers and the Internet. This demographic group currently represents a large proportion of the Australian population, with growing spending power. Intention to use the Internet has been found to be largely driven by the importance one places on being able to use the technology to communicate and gather information. Attitudes to the technology had little bearing on the decision. However, the demographics of gender, age, education and income have some influence on Internet use. This research has significant implications for those wishing to provide education to this growing group. Further, there is a distinct opportunity to specifically target communication technologies in providing training and education.
Keywords: seniors, elderly, attitudes, perceptions, information technology, internet
Melissa Raptis completed her undergraduate thesis study at University of New South Wales in 2005. She was a Co-op Scholar, graduating with first class honors. Previous papers have been published based on the pilot study of the research and Melissa presented at the meeting of the Association of Information Systems held in Las Vegas in December 2005, where it received two awards from the Education Special Interest Group. She is now working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Business Assurance department in Sydney. Her research interests include examining the factors that drive usage of technology.
Geoffrey Dick is a senior lecturer in Information Systems and Director of the undergraduate programmes for the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales. He is a reviewer on the global textbooks project, a Director of the International Telework Academy and a member of the Board of Editors for the Journal of Information and Management. His research (around 50 publications) is mainly in the areas of telecommuting (his PhD) and on-line education. He is the recipient of an ICIS prize for best paper in education. He is also a visiting professor at Georgia Southern University and recently has been a visiting fellow at the University of Malaya, the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico and Agder University College, Norway.
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