How techie are you?
We love the Pew Internet & American Life Project. They conduct great surveys and provide a bevy of technology and communication metrics with their studies. Every nonprofit should bookmark the site and receive their e-mails. These numbers can help justify that long-overdue redesign or Facebook project. So, imagine how excited we were when they announced their findings from their recent "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users" survey and that you could take the survey to gauge your techie level. Great information and a survey? Fun stuff.
I'm disheartened that most Americans "bristle" at connectivity. Technology does not have to be so obtrusive. I think Internet and mobile technology can enhance communications and can serve nonprofits well (fundraising, event management, e-mail marketing). I don't think we need to be slaves to technology mobile devices and a lot of Americans need to learn some discretion on when using them (especially in restaurants and on trains). I think more Americans are slaves to television than to mobile and Internet technologies.
My colleagues and I all fall within the 8% bracket of what the Pew survey describe as "Omnivores": we blog, love technology, and think that technology makes a difference in our lives. Occasionally, I feel more like a "connector" or a "lackluster veteran", but everyone has those days. I think this number will expand as more "older" people learn to adapt to technology. For the 15-23 year old bracket, they're light-years ahead already.
So, how techie are you? Take the quiz and leave us a comment when you're done.
The Pew survey is facinating! It's great how they cut across the different uses of technology - not just 'techie' not 'techie' but what types of technology and more importantly why.
Posted by: Olga Woltman | May 11, 2007 at 08:28 AM
It was quite useful reading, found some interesting details about this topic. Thanks.
Posted by: Kim | July 02, 2007 at 12:32 PM