Overview

Editors:

Ross Harvey, Marion Bannister and Elizabeth Moore
Centre for Rural Social Research
Charles Sturt University, NSW

Information and communication technologies have become an essential component of sustainable rural society. Equity in access to information technology, speed of internet delivery, training in web-based research and the cost of telecommunications is now vital for the economic, social and intellectual survival of rural communities.

This Special Issue of Rural Society focuses on social impacts of information and communication technology (ICT), information access and the issues, challenges and benefits it brings to rural communities. In this unique collection of research papers, Information and Communication Technology examines:

• Storage and dissemination of information in rural societies
• Libraries in rural and remote locations in the US, Canada and Australia - how they deal with the issues of service withdrawal and population decline
• 'The digital divide' and the impact of inequitable access to information and communication technologies
• Government policies governing telecommunications service market and information infrastructure
• Rural women's access to communication technologies and its role in enhancing women's leadership and participation in community development
• The role of ICT and business enter-prises located in remote rural areas
• Information-seeking perspective of the rural academic

This Special Issue is essential reading for policy makers, service providers, rural and regional government agencies and regional councils, librarians, as well as researchers and teachers in the field of rural sociology, ICT policy and information management.

Available separately as a reader, Information and Communication Technology is a timely and relevant contribution to the theory and practice of ICT in developing and declining rural and regional sectors, both within Australasia, and internationally.

Table of Contents

Editorial
Ross Harvey

The rural digital divide
Emma Rooksby, John Weckert & Richard Lucas

Internet access in rural Australia: issues and policies
Qiuyan Fan

Rural women's empowerment in a communication technology project: some contradictory effects
June Lennie

Can ICT in small and medium-sized enterprises overcome remoteness?
Wolfgang Greller & Mary Mackay

Intellectual isolation, geographical isolation and information overload of academics at a rural university: an information-seeking perspective
John Mills

Research and Practice Forum

Book Reviews