Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 148 Document Number: C23639
Notes:
Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference in San Antonio, Texas, August 2005. 19 pages., Examines what Fourth Generation wireless broadband technology (e.g., for blogging, live television broadcasting, Web publication) may mean to newspapers in small communities. "The small-city newspaper must realize its own historical advantages in terms of depth reporting and its position as the community touchstone."
The potential for rural areas to benefit from telecommunications technology is a persistent question. This article examines data for the USA concerning the "digital divide" and access of residences and businesses, which tend to suggest that all is (or will soon be) well. The article also presents data on aspects of digital infrastructure in rural America, including points of presence and digital telephone switches, which suggest that there are major shortcomings in most rural communities. Demand aggregation is a possible solution, but more serious pitfalls are those related to shortages of human capital. These might be resolved in some rural places, where immigration and return migration bring needed cerebral inputs to rural areas. A final set of improvements concerns how businesses use the Internet and e-commerce. In the end, telecommunications is not a "quick fix" solution for rural development, and the desired improvements will be limited to a fraction of rural places.
