The Rural Information Society

Rural Communities will not survive in the Information Society if they do not adopt technology. The balance of employment has moved from production to service jobs (Webster 2002) and whilst rural areas still provide primary production, the services surrounding this are using more and more technology. Primary production is also affected by use of technology, for example computer controlled green houses. Developments in telecommunications have allowed cheap and easy communication to take place across the world, giving the potential for many jobs to be undertaken from anywhere as increases in teleworking and home working have shown.(Guardian article).


As rural communities make the transition to the information society some of the key factors will be:

• Broadband – Access to fast, reliable networks, both wired and mobile will be key to ensuring that rural areas can achieve the same service as cities and towns. This is likely to continue to need government support as can be seen in the the initiative to supply broadband to rural areas.
• e-Literacy – Rural people will need the skills to use new technologies. Starting with education programmes such as GLOW , people will need to develop and use technology skills.
• Bridging the Digital Divide – As more and more services go online, physical delivery will decline as can be seen in the decline in rural post offices and banks. Steps need to be taken to ensure that everyone has access to the online resources, this may be through development of support structures such as the Highland Council Service Point network
• eCommerce – Businesses will find that the opportunities available from online selling will enable them to expand their markets. ICT skills will be needed to take advantage of this, for example for a publisher how to maximise the potential from Amazon , or for a rural printer perhaps providing more online design rather than paper based.
• B2B – More and more done online, whether it be banking, tracking deliveries or working with suppliers, for example farmers can now order their cattle tags online.
• eGovernment - The EU is encouraging governments to use ICT to deliver more efficient services, rural areas are well positioned to access these services, which previously might have required a long journey, if they have the access to, and the skills to use, technology.