Digital Inclusion in Rural Areas: A Qualitative Exploration of Challenges Faced by People From Isolated Communities

• In Event: Digital Divide

Abstract

This study qualitatively investigated the interplay between contextual and individual factors related to the adoption and use of the Internet in isolated rural communities. By investigating the digital experiences of people from 10 remote rural villages located in northern, central and southern Chile that received Internet access infrastructure for the first time in 2010-2011, we identified five challenges faced by individuals from isolated contexts to get online once access infrastructure has been provided. Three factors were contextual –(1) geographic isolation (2) ageing of the population, and (3) needs of the community—and two were individual --(4) isolated mentality and (5) attitudes toward technologies. This study revealed that people’s possibilities and decisions to engage with the Internet in rural communities are bounded by the isolated context in which they live. Thus, in times when the Internet has reached the majority of the population, there are still communities digitally and socially excluded that confront very specific challenges we need to consider.

Authors

• Teresa Correa, Universidad Diego Portales

• maria pavez, Media and Communication