Center Releases Study of Technology Use in Kentucky

FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY (December 17, 1997) — It is widely believed that information technology will help bridge distance and isolation and spur rural development. But where people live has a significant effect on whether they use information technology, a newly released Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center study concludes. Rural Kentuckians, the study finds, have lower than expected rates of technology use. Without greater access, interest, and opportunity, the promise of information technology could be muted. Moreover, government plans to deliver more services electronically could be frustrated.

“Ironically, the very people who stand to benefit the most from using information technology,” observed study author Peter Schirmer, “are the least likely to use it.”

The Center reports on its findings in “The Circuits Come to Town,” a report that examines information technology use in Kentucky and possible barriers to electronic delivery of government services. Authors Schirmer, an analyst with the Center, and Stephan Goetz, an agricultural economist at the University of Kentucky, find that rural Kentuckians are using information technology at lower rates than anticipated, even after accounting for demographic differences between rural and urban Kentuckians. The authors also find that age and education have a stronger effect on information technology use than income, race or gender.

Other findings, based on a survey conducted by the University of Kentucky Survey Research Center, include a fairly high level of interest in using the Internet at a public library (40 percent of Kentucky adults said they would be somewhat or very likely to do so) and even more interest in using things like a touch-tone phone, an ATM, and the Internet to receive government services. However, interest in both is considerably lower among older and less educated adults.

Low levels of use by some groups of people and in some parts of the state could pose significant obstacles to governments that are using information technology to deliver more and more services.

The report concludes that three things must happen in order to increase information technology use in Kentucky. First, attitudes must change. People who see computers as helpful and efficient tools rather than intimidating and complicated contraptions are more likely to use them. In order to increase the number of “technology optimists” in Kentucky, the report suggests providing universal e-mail access via the Kentucky Information Highway, building local electronic networks on the Internet, and using traditional communications such as the telephone and the postal system to confirm that electronic transactions are recorded.

Second, people must be able to use the technology, and the technology must be easy to use. The authors write that government agencies will have to coordinate across branches and even levels of government to apply the “one-stop-shopping” principle to electronic services. Automated telephone menus should have a limited number of options and levels. Local governments in Kentucky should begin using a standard address for their Web sites, such as www.ci.cityname.ky.us. As much as possible, training should be provided by local people, with whom the trainees are already familiar, using local facilities and resources. And Kentucky’s restructured postsecondary education system should incorporate improving local technology literacy as a goal for the newly merged community college and tech school system.

Third, people must have access to the technology. This can be accomplished by increasing Internet access at public libraries, opening school computer labs after hours to the public, and putting technology in more public spaces, such as hospitals, post offices, and health departments.

Because information technology has so many potential applications beyond government services, the report emphasizes the importance of cooperation at the local level between individuals, businesses, and community organizations. State government should offer some technical and perhaps financial assistance, act as coordinator for local resources, and consider recreating a legislative committee for information technology issues.

Copies of the report may be obtained by contacting the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center.