Studies of the demography of disability in rural America show that non-metropolitan areas have the highest percentage of people with disabilities, including people with severe disabilities. What are the barriers to dissemination of information to rural people with disabilities? This brief article outlines several barriers, including rural isolation, which can create communication barriers when the sources of information are people perceived as "outsiders."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 147 Document Number: C23543
Notes:
2 p., Rural radio is a vital communication tool for many developing countries. Despite the technological advances in the communication field, radio is still the most pervasive, accessible, affordable, and flexible mass medium available. In rural areas, it is often the only medium that can rapidly disseminate to large and remote audiences, critical information about markets, weather, crops and livestock production, natural resource protection. Rural Radio implies a two-way process, which calls for the active participation of the communities in the planning and production activities of the radio broadcasts. It is the expression of the community rather than a channel for the community. It promotes the exchange of views, brings people closer together, stimulates information, and enhances the value of local knowledge.
5 p., Ari Mwachofi, Ph.D., principal investigator of the research project titled "Developing a Rehabilitation Service Delivery Model for Minority Farmers With Disabilities," describes how personal contact, developing trust with farmers, and collaborating with community leaders enhances his study. The project's purpose is to build an effective model of service delivery to minority farmers who have traditionally been underserved. The study involves farmers from the Lower Mississippi Delta states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Wilde, W. David (author / Swinburne University of Technology) and Swatman, Paul A. (author / Swinburne University of Technology)
Format:
Paper
Publication Date:
1997
Published:
Australia
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 147 Document Number: C23538
Notes:
19 p., The farming community, in many parts of Australia, is widely dispersed and heavily dependent upon communication both within the community and outside. In this preliminary paper, we explore the information needs and information flows of the rural sector and consider the farm as the potential focus of a virtual community. A virtual community may form a basis both for electronic commerce, in the traditional sense, and for rich telecommunications-mediated social activity. We describe factors apparently inhibiting the implementation of rural virtual communities in Australia and finally, we introduce a research project that will evaluate a model of inhibiting factors for the development of virtual communities within a real-world rural setting.
