|
|
In Chapter 1, background information is provided about the technology under study, the World Wide Web. This includes the Web’s brief history, its technological components and characteristics, its use in American libraries, and findings from previous studies on perceptions of the technology.
Chapter 2 gives a detailed discussion of the SCOT framework, that is, its theoretical components and applications in ICT studies. Important criticisms of the model are also discussed, and relevant literature from information system research and organizational studies is introduced to help address the criticisms and expand the model to areas of ICT appropriation and use.
Since an interpretive and historical approach is taken here, content analysis of appropriate communication forums of American librarians was used to examine their understanding of the Web technologies and how Web appropriation and use have been socially constructed. Chapter 3 describes, in detail, the use of this methodology, such as the processes for identifying content in the study, the sampling techniques used, and the methods for data analysis.
Chapters 4 to 6 report and discuss the results of the study. Chapter 4 offers a detailed description of the sampled data that were examined in the study. A total of 481 journal articles and 1,073 listserv messages were analyzed. Chapter 5 reports the perceptions of the Web by American librarians, that is, themes identified from the data derived from how librarians talked about the Web. Chapter 6 describes the relevant social groups identified in the study. Each of these three chapters concludes with a discussion section.