Developing Regional Communities with Information and Communication Technologies

It is becoming evident that a “digital divide” is developing between those who are in a position to take advantage of information technology (IT) enabled opportunities and those who are not. This disadvantage can be caused by the lack of access to information and communication technologies (ICT) or by the lack of skills, experience, motivation, support and awareness that are necessary for making good use of ICT. This divide is to a great extent a function of the ruralurban divide, and so disadvantaged groups exist in both developed and developing countries. For example, indigenous populations such as those that can be found in the developed countries of North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, together with people from developing countries in the Indian Sub-Continent, Africa, South America and the Asia-Pacific region, are regularly over-represented in statistics relating to the lack of access and use of ICT. Also, people living in regional towns (as opposed to metropolitan cities) in North America and Australia may well have access to ICT, but the actual use of ICT (e.g., home access to the Internet) is well below the national average. The purpose of this encyclopedia is to outline how ICT can be used for regional transformation and how regional communities can close the digital divide. It does this by bringing together definitions, explanations, research, action research, best practice and case studies to develop and explain policy, practice and theory development in the use of ICT to strengthen regional economies and communities. This encyclopedia covers the theoretical, thematic and country specific issues of using ICT to develop the social, economic and cultural capital in regional communities around the world. The articles blend theory, policy and practice in a way that encourages an integrative cross-sectoral approach in the use of ICT to increase both social and cultural capital as a means to increased sustainability for regional communities. Thus, it provides practitioners, regional elected representatives, public service agencies, community groups, international and regional development bodies, researchers, academics and students with successful strategies and principles of ICT use to address regional needs, especially social, health, economic and sustainability problems. It also provides explanations and very practical information on methodologies and hard and soft technologies for practitioners in the field of community development. The encyclopedia covers five broad topics and sub-categories. The five broad topics are: Theoretical and General Issues; Thematic Issues; Regional and Country Issues; Methodologies; and Technologies.