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This research study assesses the impact of an information technology initiative on students at Grove City College. A random sample of alumni from the classes of 1997, 1998, and 2000 were surveyed to gauge their attitudes about a technology program instituted in 1994, which provided laptop computers to all incoming freshman. The authors adopt a strategy of framing their research questions in terms of the laptop program being an attempt to create digital unity on campus as an antidote to the threat of a digital divide. In addition to demonstrating a positive change in attitudes after the program was initiated, the study considers how this experience affected the alumni?s computing in the workplace after graduation and reveals relationships between the frequency of use of various computer applications and the alumni?s field of study at the college. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine racial and ethnic differences in computer ownership and Internet usage using data from a survey conducted by the Nomura Research Institute in 2000, supplemented with data from the August 2000 Current Population Survey. We focus on online shopping because few studies have examined racial and ethnic differences in e-commerce. The results indicate that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to own or use a computer than non-Hispanics whites but are not less likely to shop online. Indeed, blacks appear to shop online more frequently and to spend more than non-Hispanic whites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]