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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. Impacts of the usda broadband loan and grant programs, the: Moving toward estimating a rate of return
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Kandilov, Ivan T. (author) and Renkow, Mitch (author)
- Format:
- Journal article
- Publication Date:
- 2020-07-01
- Published:
- United States: Wiley-Blackwell
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 206 Document Number: D12777
- Journal Title:
- Economic Inquiry
- Journal Title Details:
- Volume 58, Issue 3, Pages 1129 - 1145
- Notes:
- 17pgs, In this article, we evaluate the rate of return to government efforts to promote broadband. Specifically, we estimate the impact of USDA's broadband loan and grant programs on the average payroll per worker using zip code level data from the Zip Code Business Patterns for the period from 1997 to 2007. Our results indicate that two of the smaller broadband programs (the Pilot loan program and the broadband grants program) likely had no effect on local payroll per workers. On the other hand, the largest program in terms of funding and coverage (the current broadband loan program) likely had a positive impact. Our estimate implies that a $1 per capita increase in a particular zip code's one-time receipt of the current program broadband loan results in a $0.92 increase in payroll per worker annually. Our calculated point estimates of the benefit: cost ratios for this broadband program range from 1.98 to 2.99, depending on assumptions about the time frame over which benefits accrue. However, the confidence intervals are wide enough to include the possibility that the costs outweigh the benefits.
6. 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.
7. Social and economic impacts of digital connection in remote communities: Central Western Queensland
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Format:
- Research paper
- Publication Date:
- 2020-06-01
- Published:
- Australia: Rural Economies Centre of Excellence
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 208 Document Number: D13197
- Notes:
- 6 pages
8. USDA’s rural partners network targets communities with greatest infrastructure needs
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Carlson, Claire (author)
- Format:
- Online Article
- Publication Date:
- 2022-04-26
- Published:
- United States: Daily Yonder
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 205 Document Number: D12617
- Journal Title:
- Daily Yonder
- Journal Title Details:
- Online
- Notes:
- 5pgs, Billions of dollars in federal funding are available to help rural communities repair and build infrastructure like roads and bridges, clean drinking water, hospitals, and schools. A new pilot project at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is designed to help communities that most need the funding receive it, officials said.
9. 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.
10. ‘We’re cut off’: rural farmers are desperate for broadband internet
- Collection:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center (ACDC)
- Contributers:
- Cadloff, Emily Baron (author)
- Format:
- Online article
- Publication Date:
- 2023-11-13
- Published:
- USA: Modern Farmer
- Location:
- Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 207 Document Number: D13021
- Notes:
- 16 pages