Getting wired: A Pacific Islands study

The paper explores the responses of one group of people living in the Pacific Islands following their connection to Pactok, an early computer mediated communication (CMC) system. In early 1997, 56 Pactok users in five countries-Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu--answered a predominantly quantitative survey on why they used Pactok, including possible dependent and intervening variables that influenced this use. Survey results indicated that Pacific Islanders used CMC differently from non-Pacific Islanders, as did groups of organisations. The groups also accessed different sources and types of information and used different Pactok features. The small population limited any extrapolation of survey results to other situations in the Pacific and other developing regions. However, the case study demonstrated that PlC citizens were more likely to search local and regional information sources and use Pactok's more interactive features than non-PlC citizens. This group mostly used e-mail and file transfer and searched for information from intemational sources, contrary to the aims of the project established to disseminate CMC in the region.