Ambiguity and Uncertainty in the Last Mile: Broadband Adoption in Rural Alberta

....................................................................................................................................................... 4 1.0 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 The Digital Divide........................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Project Significance ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.1 Purpose of study and research questions.......................................................................... 11 1.2.3 Why the Sensemaking framework and why is it relevant to rural broadband adoption in Alberta? ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.0 Literature Review ...............................................................................................................................15 2.1 Rural Broadband as organizing (emergent structures) ........................................................... 15 2.1.1 A Systems View of Rural Broadband ................................................................................ 23 2.1.2 The Individual as Sensemaker............................................................................................. 26 2.1.2.1 Leadership............................................................................................................................ 26 2.1.2.2 Culture.................................................................................................................................. 27 2.2 The Social Construction of Technology ................................................................................... 28 3.0 Research Methodology...................................................................................................................... 30 3.1 Data Collection .............................................................................................................................. 30 3.2 Data Analysis.................................................................................................................................. 33 4.0 Findings................................................................................................................................................ 35 4.1 Making Sense of the Last Mile.................................................................................................... 35 4.1.1 Currently, a sustainable business case for rural broadband does not exist. ................ 36 4.1.2 The role of government is unclear to stakeholders......................................................... 43 4.1.3 The pace of technological change influences broadband participation. ..................... 50 4.1.4 Broadband currently plays a limited role in rural Alberta. ............................................. 59 4.1.5 The expectations for rural broadband have changed little over time. ......................... 65 5.0 Discussion and Recommendations................................................................................................. 69 5.1 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................... 69 5.1.1 Research question #1 ........................................................................................................... 70 5.1.2 Research question #2 ........................................................................................................... 72 5.2 Recommendations......................................................................................................................... 78 5.2.1 Initiating action and the role of rural communities ........................................................ 78 5.3 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... 81 6.0 References ........................................................................................................................................... 82 Appendix 1................................................................................................................................................. 86 Appendix 2................................................................................................................................................. 88 Appendix 3................................................................................................................................................. 90 Appendix 4................................................................................................................................................. 97 Appendix 5................................................................................................................................................. 99