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National Level Culture and Global Diffusion 101

allows for a rough estimate of the number of hosts in each country.
The data is further limited by a change in data collection techniques.
After July 1997 the data collection techniques of Network Wizards
changed, thus making comparisons with data collected previously
questionable. Therefore, the dependent variable data used in this
study start in July 1991 and are reported every six months until July
1997. The host counts indicate that as of July 1997, 185 of 239 total
countries were connected to the Internet. With this data two sets of
dependent variables are constructed. The first indicates when a coun-
try first adopted the Internet, and the second is concerned with the
rate of growth of the Internet in each country.
The implications for using this data set in this analysis are the
following. First, all countries adopting during and before July 1991
are lumped into this time slot. Compared with subsequent six-
month periods, the non-cumulative number of adopters in this initial
time period is distorted. This distortion is taken into account in both
the analysis and conclusions made from the analysis. The second im-
plication is the data set is truncated and the limited number of data
points will have implications for the type of analyses possible. De-
spite these limitations, thirteen time points are certainly sufficient
to draw some conclusions. The data on the aggregate global diffusion
of Internet hosts is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Number of Internet Hosts Worldwide

Source: Network Wizards <http://www.nw.com>)