The information superhighway: An empirical study of computer and information technology diffusion and usage among minority college students

The rapid growth of information technology revolutionizes the ways in which societies communicate. While this information revolution holds great potential for developing our society, many communication scholars fear that this revolution may result in a wider gap between the "information rich" and the "information poor.";Utilizing the survey method, this empirical study sampled a total of 450 students from two different universities. The findings suggest that there are some racial differences in the ownership/accessibility and usage of computer and information technology among college students.;Overall, white students are more likely to own computers than Hispanic and African-American students. And, for the first time, Hispanic students are more likely to own computers than African-American students.;However, findings suggest that African-American students are more likely to subscribe to or have access to e-mail than their white or Hispanic counterparts. Contrarily, Hispanic students are least likely to subscribe to or have access to e-mail.;In assessing computer, telephone and other communication technology ownership, the study reveals that White students tend to own more computer related technologies such as CD ROMs and computer scanners while African-American students tend to own or subscribe more to telephone related technologies such as telephone voice mail and personal pagers. In addition, Hispanic students are more likely to own television related technologies such as satellite dishes and video cameras. Thus, the findings strongly suggest that there are racial differences in computer and new information technology ownership and usage among college students.;The second research question addressed racial differences in students' attitudes and behavior towards the information superhighway. The findings suggest that there are some differences in the degree to which students agreed and disagreed with the concepts and statements introduced. However, the level of overall differences in students' attitudes and behavior towards the information superhighway offers little statistical significance.;The third research question sought to investigate what racial differences, if any, are there in student's knowledge concerning information technology. The findings suggest that there are some racial differences in the frequency of students' inability to identify some information technology and Internet services.;African-American students' percentages consistently ranked highest among all students who were unable to identify some key new information technologies such as computer modems, CD ROMs and computer scanners. White students consistently ranked the lowest. However, Hispanic students' ranked the highest among students who could not identify some key Internet services such as Prodigy, Compuserve and Microsoft. Although in some instances, there is little significant statistical difference between the student racial groups concerning their knowledge of these technologies and Internet services, the percentage differences, suggest that racially, some students are more likely to be familiar with these communication entities than others and that a knowledge gap between the student groups does exist.