Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Councilmember Bruce Harrell yesterday released the results of a new city study on computer and Internet use by Seattle residents. The 2009 Information Technology Access and Adoption Report finds that almost 84 percent of households have Internet and 74 percent have higher speed services, mostly through cable and dsl. The survey also found a greater interest in mobile and personalized services, as well as even faster broadband, though residents are concerned with the cost of service.
"This report confirms that Seattle residents are online and ready for next generation broadband and services, but that we also have to make it affordable and accessible. It will help us better target customer services," Mayor Nickels said in a statement. "I'm pleased to see so many residents using seattle.gov and the Seattle Channel. I know we'll see even more as the city continues to roll out its Citylink blogs, online city data, and multilingual content."
The city commissioned a random telephone survey of 1,064 households and then followed-up with 10 focus groups to get input from immigrant and refugee groups, African Americans and cell-phone-only households. For the first time, the survey was also conducted in Spanish.
Chief Technology Officer Bill Schrier said in a release that city community technology staff are available for consultation or presentations in an effort to help others apply the findings to education and economic development efforts, community services, technology and business development, workforce development, e-government and neighborhoods.
