Reuters article

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@worldnet.att.net>]

The following is an article from Reuters on user-generated content.  Not
research publications, to be sure, but the stewpot out of which open
access research publications will arise.  Note the demographic figures in
particular. This article was forwarded to me; I don't know if it was
edited in the hand-off.

Joe Esposito

>---WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly half of U.S. Internet users have built Web
pages, posted photos, written comments or otherwise added to the enormous
variety of material available online, according to a report released on
Sunday.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project found that about 44 percent of
the country's Internet users have created content for others to enjoy
online.

Posting photos and allowing others to download music or video files were
the most popular activities, the nonprofit research group found. Other
users said they posted written material on Web sites or newsgroups,
created their own Web sites, or set up "Web cams" to allow others to see
live pictures.

While only 2 percent of U.S. Internet users said they had created "blogs,"
or online diaries, 11 percent said they read the blogs of others.

Younger Internet users were most likely to set up blogs, the report said,
while older users were more likely to have built their own Web sites. Most
who maintained Web sites said they did not update them more than once
every few weeks.

The group based its report on a survey of 2,515 adults conducted in March
and April 2003