Internet self-efficacy, the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute courses of action on the Internet,is a potentially important factor in efforts to close the digital divide that separates experienced Internet users from novices.

    Students using school media labs were found to be visiting .com sites at a much higher rate than those in other domains. Although students reported their purpose for using the WWW as "research and learning" 52% of the time, education experts found only 27% of the sites visited by the students were "suitable" for that purpose.

    The authors examine perceptions of written, telephone, and e-mail channels from six perspectives: social information processing, decision making, cost minimization, social presence, uncertainty reduction, and appraisal.