Alternative technologies for rural areas–what about the ‘alternative’ dimension of Wi-Fi?

Abstract

The question of alternative technologies for high-speed Internet access lies at the heart of rural development problems. In this paper, we focus on one of those technologies, the system combining satellite technologies and Wi-Fi. Based on an empirical study carried out in three rural areas, we analyze the dynamics of the use and appropriation of that technology by the companies and organizations participating in the experiment. Considered both from a technical and social standpoint, the technology 'in use' appears here in its structuring dimensions.

Evaluating New Digital Technologies Through a Framework of Resilience

“…Whilst rural communities are embedded in multi-scale technological systems, they also experience patchy connectivity, including what are referred to as 'not spots' and can receive considerably lower speeds and quality of broadband Internet than urban areas (Skerratt 2010;Farrington et al 2013;Philip et al 2015). Rural geographers have highlighted rural-urban divides (Puel et al 2007;Basu & Chakraborty 2011) and community aspects of rural connectivity and ICTs (Warren 2007;Skerratt 2010) whilst elsewhere the 'embeddedness of ICT use in the geography of people's daily lives' (Gilbert et al 2008, p. 912;Couclelis 2009) has been stressed. Given the materiality and unevenness of these digital geographies (Zook & Graham 2007;Spinney et al 2012;Kinsley 2014), there is considerable scope, then, to think through the spatial implications of digital inclusion, adoption and tools in terms of rural resilience.…”