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Sketches the key characteristics of the newly information enfranchised general public (the digital information consumers). Portrays the digital consumer as all‐conquering/powerful, short on attention, promiscuous, untrusting and – above all – interested in speed of delivery. Argues for a fundamental re‐think of the concept of the information “user”. The Web, search engines etc. are creating a level‐playing field and a homogeneity which results in academics behaving more like the general consumer and the general consumer behaving more like an academic. Considers the overall outcomes and benefits of information acquisition.

The British Life and Internet Project was launched in 2002 to explore the way people use the Internet in Britain. It will survey people online throughout each year on a range of topics linked to the use of the Internet. In the first survey that was conducted, just before Christmas 2002, respondents were asked a series of questions about their history of involvement with the Internet and the nature of their online behaviour. The findings indicated that online technology was used overwhelmingly for sending and receiving e‐mails and for obtaining news and information linked to work and hobbies. Such is the demand of the Internet on the time of users that many acknowledged reducing the amount of time they spend on other activities, such as watching television, reading newspapers, and even going out to do the shopping. The Internet is, for most of its users, an important interpersonal communications medium, used to stay in touch and gossip with family and friends.

In the UK, both anecdotal and research evidence points to ever greater and more sophisticated use of the Web to provide health information and advice. The study reported here adds to this research with an online survey of Internet users’ reported use of the Web to access information about health and their opinions about the advice that can be obtained there. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to an online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project; 81 per cent or 997 of the respondents were British. The prime purpose of the questionnaire was to obtain information on the characteristics of the users of health information Web sites, to obtain feedback regarding for what they used online health sites and what were the perceived outcomes associated with using online health information.

Describes recent confusion about the nature of the digital revolution and the impact of this on commercial and academic behaviour. Illustrates that the nature of the digital revolution in consumer use of information has shown phenomenal uptake in usage, if not revenues and that this has already begun to change the nature of consumer behaviour. Argues that the power of the Web to disintermediate and provide scale economies could well apply to STM publishing models and that consequential changes could be significant.

This paper describes the methods used at the British Institute of Management (BIM) to computerise the records of the Management Information Centre using ASSASSIN, and the problems of implementing version 005 on an ICL ME29 machine are discussed. Choice and limitations of hardware and software configurations are described, together with examples of stored data illustrating some of the control options on ASSASSIN, particularly the use of thesaurus features that have been implemented. The problems that can arise when using converted software are outlined, and lessons learnt during implementation are identified.

Examines the nature of the Web and its development pace. Against a background of some consumer uncertainty, the Web is growing according to predictions, but is still not a consumer media format, and will not be until greater reliability, speed of access and ease of use arrive. Until then an elite of professional wired users is monopolising the Web, and they are likely to continue to do so, leaving others behind, until interactive digital television takes it into the living room and makes it a true consumer medium. It's difficult to predict what the rate of growth and final impact will be, as this is the first time a new mass medium has been introduced against the background of an old one: all previous ones were introduced into a vacuum of ignorance, whereas this one is heavily signposted long before most will use it. When it does arrive, however, advertisers will learn to exploit the global/local aspect of it to create a new layer of cultural diversity and individual, one‐to‐one consumerism.

Examines, the relative merits of digital information platforms. Included are online systems, CD‐ROM, the Web and mobile distribution platforms. Proposed a methodology to assist in the determination of the relative merits of the platforms. Reach and Complexity are the two key characteristics used to ‘type’ the various platforms. Power Ratios are calculated for each platform. Considers the digital information platform of the future.

With the web being such a universally popular medium, accounting forever more a people‘s information seeking behaviour, and with every move a person makes on the web being routinely monitored, web logs offer a treasure trove of data. This data is breathtaking in its sheer volume, detail and potential. Unlike previous computerised logs ‐ like those of OPACs for instance, web logs are capable of tracking literally millions of users worldwide and they are not confined to the actions of niche groups with specialised and largely academic needs. The data are of enormous strategic and widespread concern. Unfortunately the logs turn out to be good on volume and (certain) detail but bad at precision and attribution. They raise many questions ‐ what actually constitutes use being the biggest of them ‐ but provide far fewer answers. There are also many ways of reading logs. All the problems really arise from the fact that, in the case of the web, the virtual user is the computer. Resolving use to an individual is extremely difficult. Nevertheless, there is much that can be gleaned from web logs. Before this can be done, however, it is necessary to take precautions. First, do not rely on proprietary log analysis software. Second, do employ statistical methods to fill in the knowledge gap. Third, try to improve/enhance the data capture through other methods, like linking subscriber details to the web log. Fourth, bring an understanding of what users do when online to the interpretation of the data. The benefits (and problems) of web log analysis are demonstrated in the light of the experience of evaluating The Times and Sunday Times web sites. These sites are subscribed to by nearly a million people from around the globe and it is the online actions of these people ‐ the new international and information consumers ‐ that will be the subject of the paper.

There is a general dearth of trustworthy information on who is using the web and how they use it. Such information is of vital concern to web managers and their advertisers yet the systems for delivering such data, where in place, generally cannot supply accurate enough data. Nor have web managers the expertise or time to evaluate the enormous amounts of information that are generated by web sites. The article, based on the experience of evaluating The Times web server access logs, describes the methodological problems that lie at the heart of web log analysis, evaluates a range of use measures (visits, page impressions, hits) and provides some advice on what analyses are worth conducting.

In the case of health information the quality and authenticity of the digital information have always been a matter of major concern for health and information professionals. This paper seeks to explore these concerns from the consumers' perspective. It addresses issues around the consumers' trust of health information. An online questionnaire was used to gather the data. Over a period of three weeks more than 1,300 people responded to the online questionnaire produced by The British Life and Internet Project: 81 per cent or 997 of the respondents were from the UK. A major finding was that half the respondents believed only some or even none of the health information found on the web and 45 per cent said that they had found misleading health information. This was found to be truer for respondents who surfed around. Thus respondents who used five or more sites to inform them were more likely to have found misleading information. Finally, data are presented to show that data collected from another independent study, conducted on behalf of the Department of Health, come to many of the same conclusions.