:: netwoman's blog ::

Rural and Urban Household Internet
Not related to my thesis (which I should be writing at this moment), I am involved in a new research project. The project researches a Canadian town called Chapleau, which until Nov 9th, 2005 only had dial-up internet access. Bell Canada and Nortel funded the laying of fibre optic wires and creating wireless internet access. So depending on your location, you will either have DSL or wirless internet access. They're offering the service free for 3-6 months depending on which one you're using.

Enter in University of Toronto, Department of Sociology and Netlab, where we are replicating the survey used for the recent East York study (which my thesis IS a part of), plus the same interview schedule. We added some questions and removed others, and create a second survey about their experiences of the high-speed internet access. We are concerned with the social aspects of the implementation of high-speed internet access - looking at health and education in addition to leisure, information and communication. I believe Guelph University is also involved, but looking at the business aspects - how the internet has influenced how businesses run etc.

These are some of the things that I am interested in - basically comparing rural and urban households and how they use the internet etc etc:

How do Rural and Urban residents utilize the internet in the home?

Almost all existing research regarding the impact of ICTs and the resulting networked society has looked at either community life (reviewed in Wellman 2001; Wellman and Haythornthwaite, 2002; Wellman and Hogan, 2004) or organizations (Adler and Heckscher 2005). There has scarcely been any attention paid to how ICTs and the possible change to a networked society affects relations within households. Statistics Canada (2002) indicates that internet use is highest from home, with 62% of households using the internet at least once a day on average from home. However, rural areas do not point to the same levels of internet participation due to geographical constraints (McLaren, 2002).

By employing a comparison between an urban area of East York, and a rural location of Chapleau, we will be able to:

1) Examine internet users and usage patterns in two distinct Canadian locales

Given that East Yorkers are quite ‘connected’, we might expect to see variances regarding internet usage patterns of residents in Chapleau. According to Singh (2004), residing in a rural area constrains household internet use. These differences are important to note if we want to get a clearer picture of not only how Canadians utilize the internet in the home (or how they may want to utilize household internet), but also how people maintain and create their social networks. Because rural residents are faced with geographical isolation, studying internet use in this context will provide a comprehensive understanding of the needs and expectations Canadians have of the internet overall, both in an urban and rural context.

2) Investigate the diversity of household types in an urban and rural context and consider how this diversity might shape household internet use

Household organization has changed over time; repeat divorces has increased, marriage rates have decreased (Statistics Canada 2005), more households have dual-earners (Jacobs & Gerson 2001), people are working longer work weeks (Fagan 2001), the average age of married couples has increased, and more women are having children later in life (Statistics Canada 2003). As well, women are spending less time on household chores (Robinson & Godbey 1997), but they are still primarily responsible for these tasks. This signifies a new family structure – or the post-familial family (Beck-Gernsheim 2002), reflecting modern family life in an individualized society (Wehner & Abrahamson 2004). Households have moved from solidary groups to that of social networks with CMC being used to communicate and coordinate busy schedules and tasks. Family members organize their own schedules, but often around the schedules of others in the home.

While this is certainly true in urban locations such as East York, we cannot make generalizations about families and households and internet use without including small cities and towns that are limited by a lack of computers and modems, internet access, and/or broadband access, and the skills and literacy to use computers and internet. We need to consider the demographic specificity of residents in rural towns, which generally have lower incomes than the Canadian mean, lower levels of education, and a higher number of First Nation residents. For example, because of geographic location, residents in rural areas are faced with expensive long distance costs in order to keep in touch with family and friends (Singh 2004). This will have repercussions regarding the way rural residents can preserve and construct social networks, and if they are even able to do so.

3) Examine household relationships in an urban and rural setting and consider how this might influence household internet use

In order to contextualize the household Internet, we need to consider household roles – interactions and relationships shaped by societal expectations and social roles and the domestic division of labour – who is responsible for domestic jobs and how does this influence household Internet use? Overall, women and men of East York utilize the Internet differently within the household; women’s use of technology the household is often functional so that work is done more efficiently and quickly (Frissen 1992), and women tend to use internet more instrumentally in such instances of helping children with homework and communicating with family and friends, using it as a tool (Singh 2001; Shade 2002). Women are the historic kinkeepers and networkers within and between households (Rosenthal, 1985; Wellman, 1982; Wellman and Wellman, 1992; Spitze, 1996), yet they are spending less time at home doing household chores and more time out of the home doing paid work (Robinson and Godbey, 1997). The modern household has become complex with household members keeping different schedules, no matter if they are dual career, single parent, married couple, or several friends.

However, given that Chapleau’s industry consists of forestry, tourism, and gaming, household roles and the division of labour will vary from East York urban residents; employment types and schedules will differ, and this will ultimately affect the internet needs of the household in terms of access to different types of information and how individuals might communicate with others both inside and outside the household.

Furthermore, we shall evaluate the extent to which ICTs affect relations among household members, facilitating contact when all are not home, changing power dynamics, and possibly diverting attention to immersive online relations and away from other household members.

4) Consider ICT policy initiatives that are suitable to the specific needs of the Canadian population.

As the prevalence of household internet access increases and spreads to more remote areas of the Canadian population, the connectivity divide between urban and rural locations should start to shrink. New pathways to information and new modes of communication will become available to small towns such as the residents of Chapleau. As small towns such as Chapleau become more dependent on ICTs with the implementation of broadband and wireless technology, economic structures and public institutions will continue to change. Change, however, cannot be made without understanding the needs and expectations of the residents involved. As well, we need to consider the ramifications of implementing ICTs into the community. While broad band implementation might address the connectivity divide, we must be wary not to create additional digital divides. For example, providing workshops for new internet users to accommodate digital literacy and skills might be necessary. Also necessary to consider are impending costs of computers with DSL or cable modems to local residents, and whether local residents be able to afford DSL and/or cable access prices, as they are usually more expensive then dial-up services. These are the kinds issues that should be not only be addressed, but residents need to be included in these decision making processes; one must have a keen critical eye that community member's interests and needs are really being met and satisfied.

Here are some media articles related to the 'opening ceremonies' and kick off.

"Bell Canada and Nortel Deliver Advanced Broadband Services and Applications to Northern Ontario Community" HERE

"Project Chapleau Wires Northern Ontario" HERE

"Bell Canada and Nortel Deliver Advanced Broadband Services and Applications to Northern Ontario Community; Next-Generation Wireless Solutions to Enhance Socio-Economic Growth in Chapleau" HERE

Here are some websites about Chapleau and the project.

Should be a very interesting research project. I am looking forward to diving in (as if I haven't had enough already!).

If you have any input or suggestions, let me know.

posted by Netwoman @ 9:17 PM