Contribution: Case study of a rural-focused educational program with two components: 1) introducing high school students and teachers to smart and connected technologies (SCTs) that can be used to solve local problems and 2) engaging the local community in supporting local technology-driven entrepreneurship. Background: Rural communities typically…

This article reports on a technology stewardship training program to promote ICT leadership development with agricultural extension practitioners in Sri Lanka. Researchers used a multi-method approach with a single embedded case study. Data were collected using a pre-course survey, formal course evaluation, classroom observation, and…

In this National Science Foundation Advanced Technician Education program (NSF ATE) project, we aimed to explore factors that would strengthen the rural IT employee workforce and improve educational support related to broadband, telecommunications, and networks in rural settings. Using multiple methods to triangulate rural IT program curricula…

Driven by new digital technologies, the future of learning is increasingly interactive, individualized, and full of real-world experiences and information. Unfortunately, the average school has about the same connectivity as the average American home, but serves 200 times as many users, and fewer than 20 percent of educators say their school's…

Purpose: Reflections on negotiation processes between farmers and scientists in research projects provide insights into issues of participation, power and equity. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how actors chose places to meet, negotiate and represent technologies. Design/methodology/approach: The research involved semi-structured…

Many rural communities across America face several obstacles in the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) initiatives and struggle with the best approaches for leveraging these elements into an economic development strategy. These obstacles include: lack of quality local ICTs infrastructure, funding, inability to…

Introduction: Sharing of information across cultural boundaries does not always live up to expectations. Information behaviour is an underlying factor, which can contribute to poor use or non-use of the information or information services at the disposal of indigenous people in a development context. Method: A literature study of information…

The study focused on constraints affecting the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for agricultural extension activities by Agricultural Extension Officers in Nigeria's Niger Delta Region. Data were derived from 160 extension officers affiliated to both public and private extension organizations in four states of the…

This paper explores how rural communities with limited financial resources and technical expertise can have a useful Web page along with the ability for community and business leaders to maintain this presence. The tools to be employed are not new to the Web, but they may be considered "cutting edge" when it comes to a rural community's…

This report documents the status of information, computing, and telecommunications (ICT) technologies in the Appalachian region, assessing their potential relationship to economic growth and the federal, state, and local policies that influence their development. Key findings include the following. Leading producers of ICT products and services…

Describes the work of Rod Soltis in developing interlinked telecommunications networks in all 14 of New York's Appalachian counties. The networks connect to each other, state and federal agencies and networks, schools, social service agencies, hospitals, and museums, and include private partnerships with telephone and cable TV companies. Soltis'…

This paper considers the importance of information and communication in rural development programs, especially their centrality to building the knowledge, motivation, and skills that lead to behavioral change in health, nutrition, family planning, economic enterprises, and agricultural development. The countries of Thailand and Indonesia, for…

A positive relationship has been found between access to telecommunications capabilities and improved economic development. However, the deployment of systems that deliver toll-free Internet access favors urban regions. This research examines Internet service providers' (ISP) operations in rural portions of Texas, Iowa, Louisiana, and West…

Buying and selling on the Internet, known as e-commerce, has become big business, and is still growing. E-commerce has two components, business to consumer retailing and business to business supply-chain operations. Participation is dependent on access to and adoption of advanced information technologies. Access to technology is influenced by…

Examines how information technology (IT) might be exploited to promote rural development. Considers how IT impacts on the rural periphery. Implies that using IT for rural development may lead to greater decentralization. Describes the Nordic telecottage experiments in which 65 centers for telecommunications were established. (KS)