Rural communities can suffer from
lack of shops and entertainment, health and other services, plus high
costs of travel. Jobs may be scarce and irregular. Can IT help? Moira
Stone surveyed the field and found solutions on several fronts.
People in rural areas can live at
some distance from other communities, settlements, villages or towns.
There may be only a small number of people and this does not allow
the economies of scale which benefit urban residents.
In this means many people in rural communities live at some distance
from services of all kinds (such as shops and post offices, schools
and colleges, doctors, advice and benefit offices, and cinemas and
theatres).
Although some people in rural areas have well-paid, regular
employment, for others work may be scarce, irregular and/or badly
paid. Just as in urban areas, it's possible to be poor or
deprived.
Information technology and the Internet are tools which can help to
minimise some of these challenges. In doing so, rural communities can
be strengthened - not only geographical communities but also those
other groups of which people are members: young people, business, the
agricultural community, and so on.
The 'snapshots' in this article begin to draw out out the benefits
and challenges of using the Internet, together with some advice for
others thinking of using it.
Information technology makes it possible for many people in rural areas to find information about a huge range of subjects much more easily and conveniently.
Hampshire County Council's Cousin
(Community Users Information) service brings a enormous amount of
community information to the public, easily, quickly and locally.
Anyone can 'ask their Cousin' for a contact name for anything from
beekeeping to waste recycling. Cousin harnesses the power of
technology to bring together half a dozen or more local directories
from local authorities, health service providers, business, voluntary
agencies and charities. It can be accessed from different places
including information centres, local information points, libraries
and schools.
David Walden, the director of Age Concern Hampshire says: 'We welcome
Cousin as an important new resource. All our outlets are in the
directory. Through Cousin we can raise awareness of the services we
provide, recruit volunteers for our branches and inform our clients
about what's available to them. Cousin takes voluntary service into
the information age and we're delighted to be part of that.'
E-mail: Hantsweb@hants.gov.uk
Web-site: http://www.hants.gov.uk/
The Hereford and Worcester Library
Online Information Service (LOIS) began in March 1993 as the Golden
Valley Information Project. This tested the feasibility of providing
electronic information services to the Golden Valley area, a
relatively isolated area which is home to about 2,500 people.
Computer terminals which could access external databases were put in
public places such as village post offices, a shop and a resource
centre. The public's response to this, together with other
information, has led to a strategy to place public computer terminals
throughout the county.
Among the benefits of LOIS are that people can now find out
information from train times across the country and entertainment
listings to education courses and benefits details. All of this would
have been difficult to find before. Job vacancies within local
government are posted weekly. Soon other job vacancies will be
advertised and, in time, schools' prospectuses.
However, there are challenges. Finding the right place to put
a public computer terminal can be difficult in a rural area. Even
when somewhere is found circumstances can change. A room in a school
worked well for a time, for example, but eventually it was needed for
other purposes. The post office might seem an ideal location but in
some communities it's only open in the morning.
Those developing LOIS spent a lot of time in discussing with
residents of Golden Valley the types of information they needed.
David Morris of Hereford and Worcester's Library Online Information
Service suggests: 'Give it time for people to become comfortable with
the technology.'
E-mail: dmorris@tacin.co.uk
LOIS web-site: http://www.open.gov.uk/hereford/homepage.html
Golden Valley web-site: http://www.open.gov.uk/hereford/gvishome.htm
Information technology now makes it
possible for students to choose from a wider range of subjects at all
levels, whether they live in a city or a small rural community.
There's less of a need for a knowledgeable teacher or resources to be
available locally or for there to be enough students to make running
a course economical. The technology makes it possible for teaching to
be delivered from urban or larger centres to smaller ones. Students
from small schools in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, for
example, join with others in taking lessons, preparing for exams and
talking to friends all round the world. In West Wales, eight schools
are taking part in a pilot project about remote sensing and
geography. The schools make use of a large archive of remotely sensed
images from the Satellite Centre, together with image-processing
software and support on using it. Video-conferencing allows them to
share data.
The ambitious University of Highlands and Islands project will use
technology to link 11 further education collges and research
institutions. 'Distance learning' techniques such as video and
computer conferences will be used by students across an area bigger
than Belgium. The first UHI network degree will be one in rural
development. Sabhal Mór Ostaig, the Gaelic-medium college on
Skye, is part of the developing network. It has developed a web-site
so that it can become a centre for providing information in and about
Gaidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) and to advertise the college and its
courses across the world.
University of the Highlands and Islands web-site: http://www.uhi.ac.uk/
Sabhal Mór Ostaig web-site: http://www.uhi.smo.ac.uk/
NEST, the North East Scotland
Telematics Forum is currently running an innovative training
programme, the Telematics Competence Programme, on behalf of
Community Business Grampian Limited. It leads to three units of the
Information Technology Scottish Vocational Qualification and may be
the first in Britain to provide a formal qualification in telematics.
A team of participants work together on a project usually destined to
be placed on the Internet. What makes it unique is that they work
from home or resource centres around the region and only meet four
times, for workshops at the Northern College in Aberdeen. Course
tutors stay in touch by e-mail and by personal visits and all course
work is transferred electronically to them.
Web-site: http://regionlink.com/grampian/gtp/tele.htm
One of the possibilities offered by the Internet is for community to talk to community.
Network 2000 in Devon and Cornwall is
based on the recognition that work in society is changing and that
people need a range of skills to accompany them throughout their
lives. Interactive and visual skills connected with telematics
(information technology and telecommunications) are part of this
range. Network 2000 believes, therefore, that training and 'learning
for life' are the key, both to individual development and to the
future prosperity of the South West.
The Network also promotes direct access. In January 1996 a number of
rural community strategic organisations took part in a live satellite
and video-conferencing link-up with Jimmy Jamar, the head of the
European Lifelong Learning Year event. People from Devon and Cornwall
were able to question him directly without editing.
A European Training by Satellite project links rural areas in Devon
and Cornwall with rural clusters in Finland, Denmark, Spain, Sicily
and a number of other European partners. The project is creating
joint training programmes for the tourism sector in rural areas using
satellite television. With simply a telephone in the same room as the
television, people are able to contribute by telephone. Where groups
also have video-conferencing facilities, they can take part
'visually' from their own area and be broadcast simultaneously across
Europe by satellite.
The most recent broadcast of this type (called 'co-terminus
ISDN/satellite broadcast') took place in October 1996 from the ITN
building in London. Even seasoned business television broadcasters
were impressed. One of whom said: 'In all the years I've been
broadcasting, I've never actually seen the audience come back to us
and know who they are.'
Christine Fraser of Network 2000 comments: 'When you take part in
projects like this which reach out to you, then you have to be active
rather than passive. "Interactivity" itself is a challenge.'
E-mail: christin@net2000.zynet.co.uk
Lifelong learning event web-site: http://www.zynet.co.uk/net2000/
Angus and Mairi Mackenzie have got a
unique location for children's parties. And a collection of football
memorabilia. They run the Western Isles internet café in
Stornoway, the first in the Western Isles and only the fifth in
Scotland. The café has been open since March 1996 and has five
multi-media PCs with 17" screens available for the public to come in
and use to get onto the net. People of all ages use the café
although, at present, three-quarters are between 10 and 17 years old.
Angus and Mairi Mackenzie say: 'We are more than happy to pass e-mail
messages on to others on Lewis on your behalf.' It's no more than
you'd do if you found a person in common with someone you met whilst
travelling but also a good marketing device.
Among the benefits are that the Internet offers people in rural
communities 'an instant information access and communication method,
not disrupted by postal strikes, adverse weather or non-sailing of
the ferry! Children can further their education by corresponding with
people all over the world.'
E-mail: bayble@captions.co.uk
Web-site: http://www.captions.co.uk/
In County Mayo in the west of Ireland
Roisin Hambly (aged 14) puts together her global e-zine with the help
of her father. It's called Roizine. The magazine has sections on
entertainment, poetry, short stories and stars or you can find an
e-pal. There are links to pages about Mayo.
Roisin says: 'The benefits of the net are that I get to contact lots
of interesting people all over the world and see the homepages they
themselves have made. I've got loads of e-pals and I've learnt a lot
about different cultures and I've made great friends. The benefits of
my magazine to me are that it's a hobby; it's interesting reading
other people's work; knowing that at anytime, someone, somewhere
could be looking at my magazine. The benefits to others are that they
get a chance to put their work in a magazine that can be looked at by
anyone; they can find e-pals easily; they get an insight into Irish
life.'
She adds: I've only been on the net since April or May and I think
for a while I was really addicted! There's no end of things you can
find, it's very helpful for some school work or if you're interested
in contacting people in different countries. It's really easy to get
the hang of it - even my mother can use it and she hates computers!
When I first started up my magazine it had about three pages and one
person on the e-pal page. It took a fair bit of work to get it off
the ground but once people started to find it and send in their work
it got bigger and better. Now when I have to make changes it doesn't
take long. I'm really glad I set up my magazine and I think anyone
who's thinking about it should definitely give it a go.'
E-mail: editor@mayo-ireland.ie
Web-site: http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/Roizine.htm
Most businesses operating and
employing people in rural areas are small and that includes tourism
and accommodation businesses. How do they make sure they stay in
business and make a profit, thereby putting money into the local
economy? How do they market their product effectively? Being part of
an umbrella organisation is one way. Using the Internet as a
marketing tool to convert interest from anywhere in the world into an
immediate sale is another.
It's an easy mistake to think that only farming happens on farms.
Many, if not all, farms have always had more than one source of
income and that has become increasingly important. Tourism is an area
into which many farms have diversified, whether by providing bed and
breakfast accommodation or tourist activities.
The Farm Holiday Bureau is a network
of over 1,000 farms which provide bed and breakfast or self-catering
accommodation in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In
the last year (1995-96) it has put its 400-page guide to members on
the world-wide web. Each member can also pay an annual fee of between
£35 and £40 to have their own page which usually
incorporates a picture of the farm. Webscape, the Bureau's Internet
provider, then links the farmhouses to make sure that pages are
visited. In addition, the information is available in Japanese on a
Japanese web-server. (Webscape is also the service provider for the
Icelandic Farm Holiday Bureau.)
Visitors to the Bureau's pages can order a copy of the printed guide
and be put on the e-mail news list. They can make bookings using
e-mail or fax directly from the Internet, if farms have either of
these facilities.
In the year in which the service has been running, there have been
25,000 visitors to one or more of the Farm Holiday Bureau pages,
equivalent to the number of printed guides sold. Visits are made not
only via the first of the web pages (its 'front door') but also
directly to farms' own pages. Small bed and breakfast operations are
getting world-wide advertising at an affordable price.
Roger Phillips of Webscape suggests: 'Start with a small site which
can cost as little as £50 a year. Then decide whether and how
you want to expand it. Let it expand naturally.'
E-mail:
info@fhbaccom.demon.co.uk
Farm Holiday Bureau web-site: http://www.webscape.co.uk/farmaccom/
Japanese version: http://www.aandepro.com/farmholiday/
Icelandic Farm Holiday Bureau web-site: http://www.webscape.co.uk/iceland/
'It was the quietness that was heard
most, broken only by the sound of a cow lowing, or the breeze
stirring the trees and the crunch of gravel under our tires.' So
wrote the New York Times about a cycling holiday organised by Bicycle
Beano in Mid Wales and the Marches area of England.
In order to target potential customers in North America and Europe
(particularly Germany) Jane Barnes and Rob Green decided to be ahead
of the game and put their brochure on the world-wide web in May 1995.
Potential customers can browse through the brochure, choose a holiday
and then make a booking. At present this is done by printing out the
booking form and sending a deposit by post although provisional
bookings can be made by e-mail. There are plans to have a
multi-lingual site.
Direct marketing abroad is often too expensive and time-consuming for
small rural businesses but the world-wide web makes it possible to
reach individual potential customers. People are able to respond
immediately and make a booking. In the future, Bicycle Beano will
certainly save on costs, especially postage abroad and printing
brochures.
Jane Barnes says: 'You have to make sure that your pages are quick to
load but still look good. We've gone for a black background which
shows up our photos nicely. You also have to work hard to make sure
that your site is visited - by sending information around to the
major search engines and other sites.'
Jane offers this advice: 'Count the cost because doing it
properly will cost more than just buying the basic kit. You have to
decide if you think it's going to be worthwhile. And you won't get it
right in the first year!'
E-mail: bicycle@beano.kc3Ltd.co.uk
Web-site: http://www.kc3Ltd.co.uk/local/beano/
Web-site: http://www.yampa.com/aerie/resource/resource.html
The guide provides rural communities throughout the United States and
the world with a toolkit of resources to help them meet their
economic and community development goals using telecommunications.
The guide offers a directory of economic development resources, an
overview of basic telecommunications concepts, a schedule of
forthcoming conferences and events, and background information on
rural infrastructure.
European rural development
programme.
Web-site: http://www.powys.gov.uk:80/aeidl1/rural-en/welcom3.htm
NiAA (Northern Informatics Applications Agency)
Web-site:
http://www.niaa.org.uk/rural.html
E-mail: 100447.1113@compuserve.com
E-mail: 100272.3137@compuserve.com
Web-site: http://www.tca.org.uk/
E-mail: 74431.1372@compuserve.com
Web-site: http://www.telecottages.org/
E-mail: 100272.1472@compuserve.com
www.partnerships.org.uk/articles/rural1.html