Digital visitor or digital resident, how do you browse?

"The way we browse can be explained by our motivations and the social context": these are some of the conclusions presented in this study carried out by the UOC research group KIMO, with the collaboration of researchers from other universities: Oxford University, UNC Charlotte, OCLC Research and the Carlos III University of Madrid. Qualitative interviews carried out with professors and students have drawn a picture of the use they make of technologies in their daily, professional and academic life, how they interact with digital tools and information sources, and what perceptions they have of them.


Who is who? Resident or visitor?

Digital visitors view the Web as "an untidy garden", they browse because "they have a defined task and select the most appropriate tool to do it (computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc.)", explains Canals. They are not interested in creating a digital identity, "they see themselves as users and not as members of the Web, and they are concerned about privacy and identity theft".

At the other extreme, the digital residents, much more expansive on the Web, "perceive the Web as a place where clusters of friends and colleagues meet", the researcher says. The distinction between online and offline is becoming increasingly blurred, as they "live part of their life online" and have a sense of "belonging to a community", Ortoll explains. Their social media profiles "express their identity and they see it as the place to express opinions, where there are clusters that generate content and opinion". They see the social media as a place for sharing and interacting, "where they can form and extend personal relationships, and develop a digital identity."


We are all residents and visitors

One could think that if you are younger, you are a "digital resident" and if you are older, you browse more as a "visitor", but this study contradicts the digital native theory. Ortoll denies that "digital natives – people who have grown up with the ICTs ? always behave one particular way on the Web and digital immigrants behave another way". For the researchers, "age does not define how we browse, we move from one category to another depending on whether we are in a personal, professional or social context and whether it is public or private". The same person may behave as "a visitor in the use of email in the professional environment, but as a resident on Facebook in the personal sphere". One 54-year-old respondent explained: "At home, at dinnertime on weekends, when all the family are together, my children often say to me and my wife: 'Stop looking at your phones, will you?'".


Choosing not to debate on the social media

Telephones were mentioned by 79% of the respondents as a tool for interacting with the family, friends and work colleagues. The qualitative interviews reveal interesting behaviour patterns and trends in the use of digital tools and applications. For example, one of the most commonly used apps is WhatsApp: 80% of the sample said that it was a communication tool that was used daily. On the subject of social media, Facebook was mentioned most often, by more than 80% of the sample; followed by Twitter with 70% (with the exception of the US respondents, where only 40% mentioned it).

A large number of respondents use the social media as a means for promoting their professional activity. Ortoll explains that "approximately 30% say that, whenever possible, they avoid publishing private information on the social media, and if they do, they avoid giving personal opinions": they consider that anything they could say probably wouldn't interest the other users. Forty-four per cent of the respondents think that it is a waste of time.

Regarding Internet privacy, more than 60% of the respondents say "that there is too much information about their private life and professional activity", and this makes them more careful about saying what they think or leaving a trail.


Google and Wikipedia as first contacts

"More than 55% of the respondents stop looking for information on the Internet when they realize that they are getting the same results over and over again and no new information is appearing", say the researchers. Google and Wikipedia are two of the most frequently used sources of information: "they are used as a starting point for a subject, to get a feel for it, find a definition and get some context".

The study shows that it is fairly common for respondents to accept the first website offered by the Google search as the best. One of the respondents, from an American university, explained: "I always stay with the first reference that comes out of the Google search because I think that if it is the most popular website, it means that it provides the most correct information". Even so, when the goal is to find important information on a subject, the search is supplemented with other resources such as books, libraries or professional advice: "A large number of the students interviewed consider that asking for expert opinion on a subject is a good way to get information".


Worried about not finding the "right answer"

Many respondents feel "infoxicated" and think that the information overload is a problem and a concern. Many spoke of the need for Google searches to "be more accurate and give the 'perfect answer'". One of the respondents commented: "I would like it to work like a 'magic machine' that has all the answers in the world and gives the best as soon as I ask the question; that would be incredible". The researchers conclude that this shows "the difficulty experienced by internauts in filtering the information on the Web and determining whether it is relevant, reliable and of good quality."


Distractions and addictions

Many respondents say that "the constant flow of information and communication to which they are exposed may lead to addiction and some are starting to use strategies to self-regulate the time they spend logged on in certain situations and contexts". They say that the multiscreen contamination has forced them to position themselves as residents or visitors, depending on the activities they have to perform, in other words, depending on whether the activity has professional/academic (write an essay, for example) or social (go to Facebook or YouTube) implications. Many indicate that "they have limited the use of Internet for certain activities such as academic activities", in order to have enough time to complete their task: "I think I should limit the amount of time I'm doing other things that aren't studying, for example, going to Hotmail, Facebook, Flickr. These are places I've got to stop visiting so that I can concentrate more easily and not feel tempted to look at my mail to see if my friend has answered me".

Others, on the other hand, use certain tools for specific contexts. One of the respondents said: "I have a laptop and a desktop computer at home, so I normally use the desktop computer for work. I can't explain why, but it seems more professional to me". Tablets, for example, are used by 89% of the respondents for entertainment (games, news, films) in a family or group context and less so in individual contexts and for professional or academic purposes.