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The aim of the study was to compare first and second generation Digital Natives' attitudes toward and use of the Internet. The sample of first generation Digital Natives consisted of 558 students who we surveyed in 2002 and who were born after 1980. The sample of second generation Digital Natives consisted of a sample of 458 students who we surveyed in 2012 and were born after 1993. They completed a questionnaire in the first semester of their first academic year, which consisted of a measure of Internet experience, an Internet anxiety scale, and an Internet identification scale. Second generation Digital Natives had more positive attitudes toward the Internet than first generation Digital Natives. They had higher scores on the Internet identification scale and lower scores on the Internet anxiety scale compared with first generation Digital Natives. Furthermore, we found that second generation Digital Natives used the Internet more than first generation Digital Natives. E-mail was the most popular activity for both generations, although second generation Digital Natives used it significantly more than first generation Digital Natives. Social networking sites emerged as very popular for second generation Digital Natives. Both generations reported low use of Web 2.0 technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theory and research suggest that Internet identification may account for some of the gender divide in Internet use. Internet identification is a type of domain identification, and is inherently bound with images of those who use the Internet, a domain traditionally conceived as masculine. Combining the “draw an Internet user” test with an Internet identification scale, this study tests two hypotheses: participants drawing gender-concordant images will (i) identify with and (ii) use the Internet more than those drawing gender-discordant images. Participants were 371 students (121 males, 250 females) from three universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. The need to challenge masculinized images of the Internet is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a study investigating the relationship between Internet identification and future Internet use. We predict that Internet identification is stable over time and that it is predictive of future use. The participants were 216 undergraduate students (184 females and 32 males) from five universities in the United Kingdom. They completed a questionnaire concerning their use of the Internet and a measure of Internet identification at the start of the academic year and at the end of the academic year. We found that Internet identification measured at the beginning of the academic year was positively related to Internet identification measured at the end of the academic year. Furthermore, there was a positive relationship between Internet identification and future general Internet use and a positive relationship between Internet identification and future educational Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a study that investigated the effects of gender, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification on use of the Internet. The study involved 608 undergraduate students (490 females and 118 males). We surveyed the students' experience with the Internet, as well as their levels of Internet anxiety and Internet identification. We found a number of gender differences in participants' use of the Internet. Males were proportionally more likely to have their own web page than were females. They used the Internet more than females; in particular, they were more likely to use game websites, to use other specialist websites, and to download material from the Internet. However, females did not use the Internet for communication more than males. There was a significant positive relationship between Internet identification and total use of the Internet, and a significant negative relationship between Internet anxiety and total use of the Internet. Controlling for Internet identification and Internet anxiety, we found a significant and negative correlation between gender and use of the Internet. In total, all three of our predictors accounted for 40% of the variance in general Internet use: with Internet identification accounting for 26%, Internet anxiety accounting for 11%, and gender accounting for 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early research argued that computer-mediated communication (CMC) had a number of advantages over existing communication media for supporting collaboration. However, a number of papers emerged that began to raise doubts about this positive view. These papers reported difficulties using CMC to support collaboration. Several systems are reported in this special issue that try to overcome these difficulties, either by changing the communication tools or by developing sound social spaces. These systems are important because the right tools and environment are essential; however, recent research suggests that we need to do more than this, because students do not know how to collaborate effectively and they need to develop these skills to use the tools productively. Other papers in this Special Issue suggest ways this might be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2002, we found gender differences in the use of the Internet. Since then, however, the Internet has changed considerably. We therefore conducted a follow-up study in 2012. The study involved 501 students (389 females and 100 males, 12 participants unspecified gender) and we measured Internet use, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification. We found that males had a greater breadth of Internet use; they used the Internet more for games and entertainment than females. The differentiation between males and females in terms of Internet use is evident, and in some ways is even more distinct than 10 years ago. In our previous research we had found no gender differences in the use of the Internet for communication, whereas in the current study we have found that females use the Internet for communication than males and were using social network sites more than males. We also found, consistent with our previous study, that Internet identification and Internet anxiety were related to Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]