In spite of the Net's growth, most people remain on the sidelines, reading media reports but staying a cautious distance away from time-consuming forays into the medium. In higher education, many faculty and students have begun using electronic mail (e-mail), but are intimidated by the full menu of resources and tools available on the Internet. While there are pockets of technophiles who utilize Internet resources regularly, the larger community of students and faculty remains largely unaware of the full array of resources available to them.
One way to look at the growth of the Internet is as a new technology being adopted. Rogers (1995) has developed an influential model for the adoption and diffusion of innovations within organizations; theorists continue to emphasize that today's organizations must be willing and ready to undergo continual change (Senge, 1990). Seen in this way, a department head or office manager might develop a plan for implementing the technology, similar to the installation of a new computer or LAN.
The Internet differs, however, from many technological innovations in that it seems to be largely driven from the bottom--from the academic community and from individuals and small groups of grass-roots enthusiasts. Organizations find themselves responding to an unplanned cultural shift, rather than implementing a new technology from the top down. Moreover, academic units in higher education often lack the cohesion of a traditional business office. Professors are highly autonomous workers who spend more time interacting with students than with colleagues. Developing a consensus for technological change can be a serious challenge in such settings.
Consistent with this adoption/diffusion approach, the Internet can be seen as a tool to be utilized by existing organizations and individuals. Through the Internet, an individual may solve a problem, find an answer to a question, or communicate with another professional on a project. Another way of viewing the Internet, however, is as a second culture or community. The Internet exhibits all the key elements of a culture, including language, symbols, rituals, status, and other meaning-conveying forms (December, 1993; North, 1995). Individuals may "enter" this environment, become initiated into various sub-groups, and interact with other community members. At the group level, an entire company or department may introduce its members to the Internet culture.
This broader conception underscores the depth of change that the Internet poses to existing organizations. One cannot expect to simply "tack on" the Internet as a cosmetic addition to an existing structure; as a new and competing culture, the Internet is bound to threaten existing conventions and cultural practices.
The gap between the preexisting local community (typically an academic or business unit) and the virtual Internet community is worthy of study. How and why do individuals move toward the Internet culture? How does an entire group of people make the move? What factors are at play, and what can be done to facilitate the change?
This paper draws on our own efforts to bring our local academic culture in line with the Internet culture. Over the last 16 months, we have been using the Internet within our academic unit, the instructional technology (IT) program at the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). We have been intrigued to observe the response of faculty and students as they gravitate toward the Net. An expected normal distribution occurs, ranging from anxiety, frustration, and resistance to utilitarian accommodation to excitement and immersion. In some, these differing responses reflect personal stages of growth over time. We hope the IT community can overcome initial fears and frustrations and move toward mature utilization of Internet resources much as they might acquire a second language through a semester abroad program. Our hopes, however, have not yet become reality.