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2. Digital inequality in the appalachian ohio: understanding how demographics, internet access, and skills can shape vital information use (VIU)
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Khan, M. Laeeq (author), Welser, Howard T. (author), Cisneros, Claudia (author), and Manatong, Gaone (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-03-10
- Published:
- Netherlands: Elsevier B.V.
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12619
- Journal Title:
- Telematics and Informatics
- Journal Title Details:
- v. 50
- Notes:
- 18 pgs, Access to information and resources via the Internet is an increasingly vital dimension of contemporary life. However, there can be several impediments to optimal Internet utilization in the form of access, skills, and motivation. Even when access is available, several digital inequalities arise as citizens often lack the skills and motivations to pursue those vital uses through the Internet to the best of their advantage. Digital inequalities in the hills of the Appalachian area of Ohio are often manifested in terms of social, cultural and geographic divides. Not only do the hills block wireless signals and make cables expensive to install, but regional poverty also drives away telecom investment. We conducted a survey of Appalachian Ohio to explore digital inequity issues and the determinants of online participation for things that matter. Through a number of analyses, we explore how Internet access and digital skills impact online contribution to the community in terms of services and resources considered to be basic social needs: health, employment, education, and social media. These social needs, what we have called Vital Internet Use (VIU) can determine citizens’ political and civic participation, societal contribution, and overall benefit to their communities. Centered on the concepts of digital access, Internet skills, and benefit outcomes, we extend knowledge in this domain and propose a comprehensive framework of VIU.
3. Exploring the feasibility of rural broadband cooperatives in the United States: the new new deal?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Schmit, Todd M. (author) and Severson, Roberta M. (author)
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Publication Date:
- 2021-02-13
- Published:
- Netherlands: Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12778
- Journal Title:
- Telecommunications Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- Volume 45, Issue 4
- Notes:
- 13pgs, Sufficient access to and utilization of broadband is an ongoing concern for rural economic development. Using a rural region in Northern New York (USA), we consider the investment and operational costs of a broadband cooperative and determine service prices for which it is financially viable. Service prices need to increase 75%–131%, depending on grant restrictions, relative to existing market prices for a new broadband cooperative to become financially feasible. Put differently, the cooperative would not cash flow at market prices unless there was at least 14 potential subscribers per mile at a 62% take rate. For a cooperative, the grant restriction that providers offer a minimum level of speed at a maximum price results in a high level of subsidization by high-speed to low-speed members to support the business. Given grant funding and member equity investments, financial infeasibility has little to do with construction costs, than with annual operational and maintenance costs required to sustain the system long term. More reasonable feasibility scenarios occur for existing utility cooperatives expanding services into broadband, particularly areas with a high proportion of high-speed, year-round users and strong take rates. Consideration of public benefits of broadband arguably needs to be added to the equation, particularly surrounding access to healthcare and educational purposes, and as a prerequisite to supporting taxpayer-funded public-private partnerships to expand broadband services. Policy levers to eliminate or subsidize property taxes and pole rental costs reduce cash flow prices considerably; however, feasibility is highly sensitive to assumed take rates.
4. How small kansas companies bring fast internet to rural places that telecom giants ignore
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Condos, David (author)
- Format:
- Article/Audio Story
- Publication Date:
- 2022-05-03
- Published:
- United States: National Public Radio
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12789
- Journal Title:
- High Plains Public Radio
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- Installing fiber-optic internet in sparsely populated places like western Kansas is extremely expensive, even with government subsidies. But some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work where the big national companies have not.
5. Kentucky's $1.5 billion information highway to nowhere
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Miller, Alfred (author / Louisville Courier-Journal)
- Format:
- Article
- Publication Date:
- 2019
- Published:
- USA
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11197
- Notes:
- Online from the ProPublica Local Reporting Network. 16 pages., Report of a troubled and costly effort to provide "high-speed internet to Kentucky''s remote corners."
6. Maine leaders discuss whether public broadband investments should support national private providers
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Campbell, Carolyn (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-03-20
- Published:
- United States: Daily Yonder, The
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12877
- Journal Title:
- Daily Yonder, The
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 5pgs, Millions of Maine’s fiber dollars is going to a mix of government entities, regional internet service providers, and large, out-of-state companies. Some worry these national companies have not worked well with communities in the past. Others say the investments should be evaluated on what they deliver, not who gets the money.
7. New FCC broadband map of the U.S. as ‘a step in the right direction’
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Eaton, Kristi (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-12-12
- Published:
- United States: Daily Yonder, The
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12879
- Journal Title:
- Daily Yonder, The
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 3pgs, Experts say while the map is an improvement for future money allocation, some issues persist.
8. The digital divide: Implications for agribusiness and entrepreneurship. Lessons from Wales
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Bowen, Robert (author) and Morris, Wyn (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-12
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 148 Document Number: D11591
- Journal Title:
- Journal of Rural Studies
- Journal Title Details:
- 72:75-84
- Notes:
- 10 pages., via online journal., This paper investigates the impact of broadband access on agribusiness in rural Wales and the resulting implications on entrepreneurial activity. Despite attempts by Government and telecommunications providers to develop widespread broadband coverage in Wales, concerns remain in relation to an increasing digital divide between urban and rural locations. Broadband is a key enabling technology therefore connectivity is significant, not only in communication, but also in the ability for businesses to innovate and grow. Wales is a predominantly rural country with 84% of the total land area in Wales being used for agriculture (Welsh Government, 2013). The food and farming sector represents a significant part of the Welsh economy, and is dominated by small businesses. Connectivity and increased use of technology are vital for these businesses to overcome location constraints and various industrial challenges, notably Brexit. The research uses survey data from 738 farmers and 107 food SMEs in Wales, with 19 follow-up semi-structured interviews. The survey results highlight issues of technology adoption, with 19% of farmers in the survey having no access to broadband internet, with others reporting the speed of connection being a limiting factor. The consequences of poor connectivity point to limited computer skills and low levels of soft technology adoption, a lack of engagement with social media, limited scope for innovation and restricted business growth, with 55.1% of food respondents identifying poor broadband access as a barrier to internationalisation. This has led to agrifood businesses adopting a passive approach to growth opportunities. The findings suggest that rural areas remain at a disadvantage due to poor connectivity, an issue that must be tackled by the Welsh Government to readdress the balance in the economy and limit a brain drain of skilled people moving to urban areas, often outside Wales. Support for such businesses is vital, particularly given the pressures and uncertainty in the industry, as broadband access represents an important enabler for future innovation and entrepreneurial activity
9. The reluctant regulator: the rural utilities service and American broadband policy
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Ali, Christopher (author) and Duemmel, Mark (author)
- Format:
- Online journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2019-05
- Published:
- Elsevier
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 18 Document Number: D10500
- Journal Title:
- Telecommunications Policy
- Journal Title Details:
- 43(4): 380-392
- Notes:
- 13 pages., via online journal., Drawing on the increasing body of literature on policy stakeholders and the ever-growing acknowledgement that communication policy is crafted by more than just parliamentarians and formal communication regulators this paper examines the role that another set of regulators plays in communication policy: agriculture regulators. Based on a study of the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS), this paper explores alternative agents of communication policy. More specifically, through document analysis we examine the way in which the Rural Utilities Service has shaped rural broadband policy in the United States over the last three decades. The implications for this research are wide, as it brings another policy actor into the policy making melee, and pushes communication policy scholars to consider the role that non-traditional communication regulators play in the communication policy making process.
10. Where are families taking advantage of the home broadband discount?
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Eaton, Kristi (author)
- Format:
- Online Article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-03-30
- Published:
- United States: Daily Yonder
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12621
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 3 pgs, A new mapping tool shows where households have taken advantage of a federal stimulus program that defrays some of the cost of broadband for lower-income Americans.The tool, which was created through a partnership between Rural LISC and the nonpartisan nonprofit Heartland Forward, was designed to help target families that may qualify for the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) but who aren’t participating.