Modeling Web Accessibility: A Case Study on Texas A&M University People Website

Statistic analyses are applied to empirical data to test the Internet accessibility. Results indicate a strong statistical correlation between Internet access and computer domain density at international scale, but visit pages/host does not show a correlation with either computer domain density or physical distance. At international scale, access hosts are the most from North America, followed by Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa in a decreasing order. Visit pages/hosts are the highest from China, Japan, and U.S.A, followed by South Korea, Australia, and Canada in a decreasing order among the top 28 countries. At national and regional (Texas) scales, physical distance plays an important role to shape Internet access and visit pages/host. The closer the distance to the Internet server, more access from that physical location occurs. Access hosts have an exponent relationship with distance as gravity model, visit pages/host have a linear and exponent relationship with distance respectively. In the national scope, access hosts are relatively higher from Boston, New Haven (CT), New York, San Jose, and L.A. in comparison with similar distant cities. These may be due to the higher computer domain density in these areas. Statistical analyses suggest that claim of "death in distance" in the information age is misled and digital divide varies in a different scale. The results support "declining importance of distance in individual accessibility"