On the go: Mobile technology increasing, survey finds

Faculty and staff are going mobile with technology.

The fourth annual survey of computing use at UW–Madison, conducted by the Division of Information Technology, shows that ownership and use of mobile computing and technology devices are at an all-time high. Use of technology options such as laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones is growing as faculty and staff increasingly compute and communicate on the move.

Survey results show that about 40 percent of faculty and staff own a laptop, up from 25 percent last year. PDA ownership continued steady growth from 10 percent just two years ago to 22 percent this year. Cell phone use rose from 44 percent in 2001 to 57 percent in 2002.

Other findings from the 2002 survey include:

• Use of Windows NT/2000/XP on computers owned by faculty and staff increased substantially, rising from 9 percent to nearly 59 percent in two years.
• Windows NT/2000/XP is the preferred operating system on UW computers, running 70 percent of the campus computers used by faculty and staff, up from 38 percent two years ago.
• Internet use held steady during 2002 at an average of 19 hours per week. Staff (19.6 hours) tended to use the Internet more than faculty (17.8 hours), but this difference was not significant.
• Use of the university’s WiscWorld modem pool declined for the third year in a row, while cable modem use remained steady at 14 percent and DSL use continued to increase.
• Cable modem users reported the highest level of satisfaction with their chosen mode of Internet access.

The survey was sent to 1,000 randomly selected faculty and staff, and achieved a 42 percent response rate, up from 30 percent last year. The survey’s approximate margin of error is +/-4.8 Results will be used for campus information technology planning. For the full report, visit http://www.doit.wisc.edu/research/.