18 pages., via online journal., Findings in rural communities prompt authors to recommend a customized policy framework that is responsive to the diversity and uniqueness of local contexts in connectivity and digital inclusion.
11 pages, via online journal article, This study of Japan's electoral geography focuses on the outcomes of the 2014 General Election for the House of Representatives. It reflects on the political power of segmented policy communities involved in international free trade and domestic agricultural policy reform and the way they interact with each other. The capability of these policy communities to negotiate behind-the-scenes trade-offs, in order to facilitate reform without disrupting the status quo, is identified as a major determinant of the power structure in contemporary Japan. Also, as low-information and low-participation elections tend to result in a high rate of re-election of incumbents, the depoliticisation of the citizenry is in the interest of these policy communities. Therefore, specific policies and the differentiation among political parties played only a minor role during the 2014 electoral campaign. The paper demonstrates that the strong force of the agricultural policy community to resist transformational change is still deeply rooted in the proportional overrepresentation of agricultural interests built into the electoral system. It concludes that within the context of an increasing deficit of legitimacy and an aggravating depoliticisation trend, commitments to fundamental polity reform are integral to voters' perceptions of the fairness of Japan's democratic institutions. Significant structural reforms that embody federalist and direct democracy principles are discussed as an alternative to the unitary state model in order to seriously tackle issues of proportional misrepresentation and adequately accommodate rural interests.
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."
21 pages., The study has an aim to figure out the role of mobile communication in developing Knowledge base among rural women through knowledge sharing. Using a structured questionnaire quantitative data have been collected by survey method and qualitative data through FGDs. Data has been collected on the way of sharing knowledge, areas of expertise, sharing knowledge types, with whom sharing knowledge etc. Rural women are being interested in knowledge sharing through mobile phone because mobile phones are cheap, easier, and available medium for communication to them. Among the rural women who have completed at least secondary education, are sharing both their tacit (mostly) and explicit (moderately) knowledge. On the other hand women who are not literate they are sharing only their indigenous experiences. Both types of women have realized that they are positively being changed in their living attitude because of using mobile and now their knowledge base is somewhat better than ever before. The findings also revealed that they are getting benefit by enriching their knowledge base in different areas and its implementation in their livelihood. Moreover it is apparently clear that they will play important role in developing knowledge base society in rural area through sharing their knowledge in near future.
6 pages., via website,Ryerson Review of Journalism., Between the hours of about 4 p.m. to midnight, Ashleigh Weeden goes dark. Not for the usual reasons, though. In Weeden’s southwestern Ontario town, the internet connection becomes—for all practical purposes—nonexistent during those hours. The PhD student at the University of Guelph lives in Ariss, Ontario, a “dispersed rural community” sandwiched between urban centres like Guelph and Kitchener. Despite paying about $250 monthly for internet access, she finds herself shut out of the internet. “…[S]ometimes [internet speed] goes one, maybe half a megabyte down,” she says. “I can’t grade, I can’t do anything, there’s no point, I might as well give up until about midnight.”
