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in their study of Internet use in the workplace;
however, it is unclear whether the relatively high
level of self training is because end-user develop-
ers prefer self training or because other forms of
training are not available. Over half (55%) had
received no formal training and almost half (47%)
indicated that they had either not undertaken any
self study or had done very little. No respondents
rated their formal Internet training as extremely
intensive and only two (3.3%) rated their self
study as extremely intensive.
Those respondents who had developed Web
pages were asked to indicate their prior Web
page development training. As can be seen from
Table 3, levels of Web development training were
relatively low but consistent with levels of spread-
sheet training, with an average of 1.96 out of 5 for
formal training and 2.58 out of 5 for self study.
Self study was again the predominant method of
training. 40% of those who had developed Web
pages had received no formal training. Again,
the emphasis on self training is consistent with
other forms of end-user development such as
spreadsheet development (Chan & Storey, 1996;
Hall, 1996), but may also indicate the 'fun' aspect
of engaging in what is currently seen as 'hot'
(Atkinson & Kydd, 1997). The role of self train-
ing in end-user Web page development should be
investigated in further research.
It appears that a substantial proportion of
Internet and Web development learning may be
achieved via activities and interactions that are
not perceived as training. This reinforces the
popular image that 'people enjoy surfing the Web'
(Atkinson & Kydd, 1997) and raises the issue of
the role of communities of practice, where learning
occurs by end-user developers doing and sharing
with their peers (Stamps, 2000). The role of com-
munities of practice in end-user Web development
should be explored in future research.
Table 3. Levels of previous training
Standard
Deviation
Number
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
Spreadsheet
Formal
60
1.98
1
5
1.05
Self study
59
2.69
1
5
1.21
Internet
Formal
60
1.63
1
4
0.80
Self study
59
2.61
1
5
1.08
Web development
Formal
27
1.96
1
4
0.98
Self study
26
2.58
1
5
1.03
Table 4. Web development tools used
Number
Percentage
Microsoft Frontpage
15
55.6
Microsoft Word
13
48.1
Notepad
12
46.2
Macromedia Dreamweaver
11
40.7
HotDog Pro
2
7.4
Adobe GoLive
1
3.7
Macromedia Homesite
1
3.7
CoffeeCup HTML Editor
1
3.7
HotMetal Pro
0
0.0
 
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