| Abstract: | ABSTRACT The Internet is a relatively new community practice tool with immense potential for more effective and efficient delivery of services. The lack of research about Internet community practice is an obstacle to the effective and efficient use of Internet tools. This research used the Delphi technique to elicit the opinions of experts on how the Internet tools of email, newsgroups, text, listservs, search engines, and chat are used by the four primary models of community practice found on the Internet (information dissemination, organization building, mobilization, and community planning). Findings show that a substantial number of people use community practice sites. The most useful Internet tools for the four Internet community practice models studied were text presentation and email. The least useful tools were newsgroups and chat. Barriers to Internet community practice include quality and currency of information, bandwidth, staff time, agency support, rapid technological change, marketing, browser consistency, user skills, and the lack of Internet access by potential users. The study concluded that Internet community practice is effective and will continue to grow as society enters the information age. The findings are particularly relevant for community practice agencies interested in setting up or enhancing an agency Web site to help provide services. |
