>The 46% number for PC's seems high. The last number I saw for
>internet access was more like 30% and a "PC" incapable of
connecting
>to the 'net is not much of "PC". Do they include the Apple II's
>people have in their basements in that figure? What about those
old
>Pong machines in the closet?
CASIE or Coalition for Advertising Supported Information and Entertainment reported in the US Commerce Dept Tellecommunications Info Administration hearings that nearly a third of US homes had computers, while 7% of US homes subscribed to on-line services (1995). But I wouldn't be at all surprised if those figures are climbing rapidly. I certainly don't surround myself with the academic and well off set and yet I can safely say that nearly half of the folks I know have access to the internet or email with a home computer.
If you're looking for an interesting read about the forces behind the commercialization of the net and what groups like CASIE think our mediated future ought to look like, give Joseph Turow's Breaking Up America a read. There are plenty of concerns I have w/ the motivations behind his investigation, nonetheless, the things he turns up about what happened w/ cable and what is likely to happen to webtv and to the web is truly a study in perversity. That is, Turow points out that advertising coalitions like CASIE mobilized the argument that, in order to make the info superhighway truly accessible, it *must* be underwritten by advertising. They were utterly scared to death that this highly privatized medium might be available to people who purchased entertainment/information advertisement free (like we generally do w/ VCR rentals). So they've been marshaling their forces in order to ensure that all of it is organized in ways that make it amenable to tracking, control, ad-sponsorship, demographic research, etc. SnitgrrRl