1.4 Sophistication of Use

To truly understand the Internet capability of a country, it is necessary to understand not only how many and where people use the services, but how the Internet is employed. Of particular interest is the elbow reached when the service is mature enough to attract interest and use outside the narrow community of technicians. A second major milestone is reached when the user community transitions from only using the Internet, to creating new applications, sometimes eventually having an impact on Internet use elsewhere. We describe below the development stages that reflect an increasing sophistication in the use of the Internet.

• Level 1: Minimal - The small user community struggles to employ the Internet in conventional, mainstream applications.

• Level 2: Conventional - The user community changes established practices somewhat in response to or in order to accommodate the technology, but few established processes are changed dramatically. The Internet is used as a substitute or straight-forward enhancement for an existing process (e.g., email vs. postal mail). This is the first level at which we can say that the Internet has taken hold in a country.

• Level 3: Transforming - The user community's use of the Internet results in new applications, or significant changes in existing processes and practices, although these innovations may not necessarily stretch the boundaries of the technology's capabilities.

• Level 4 Innovating - The user community is discriminating and highly demanding. The user community is regularly applying, or seeking to apply the Internet in innovative ways that push the capabilities of the technology. The user community plays a significant role in driving the state-of-the-art and has a mutually beneficial and synergistic relationship with developers.

In Iran, the level of sophistication of used is decidedly Conventional (Level 2). Despite the limited development of the Internet in Iran, significant expertise has been developed in routine Internet activities, including network operation and management, and web site development. The improving skills of Iranian technicians, system administrators, and web designers are very much evident.