THIS IS A PRE-PRINT COPY OF THE PAPER FORTHCOMING IN THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF INFO.pdfVIP

THIS IS A PRE-PRINT COPY OF THE PAPER FORTHCOMING IN THE JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS. PLEASE CONSULT THE FINAL VERSION BEFORE QUOTING. HURDLES TO INFORMATION SEEKING: SPELLING AND TYPOGRAPHICAL MISTAKES DURING USERS’ ONLINE BEHAVIOR Eszter Hargittai Department of Communication Studies Institute for Policy Research Northwestern University hurdles05@ ABSTRACT A refined approach to digital inequality requires that in addition to looking at differences in access statistics we also examine differences among Internet users. People encounter numerous hurdles during their online information- seeking behavior. In this paper, I focus on the likelihood of Internet users to make spelling or typographical mistakes during their online activities. Information seeking on the Web often requires users to type text into forms. Users sometimes make mistakes, which can have hindering effects on their browsing efficiency because they may get derailed to irrelevant sources or encounter errors. I draw on data collected from in-person observations with a diverse sample of one hundred Internet users to see what explains users’ tendency to make spelling and typographical mistakes and the frequency with which they encounter such errors. I find that education level is a significant predictor one’s likelihood to make mistakes suggesting that existing social inequalities translate into differences in online behavior. Hurdles to Information Seeking 1 Keywords: digital divide, digital inequality, errors, information seeking, online behavior, spelling, skill, Web use I. INTRODUCTION In the mid-1990s concerns about a “digital divide” gained increasing attention with the release of the Falling Through the Net series by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (1995; 1998; 1999; 2000). Data about the computer and Internet uses of a nationally representative sample of the population showed that the spread of