ICT, rural dilution and the new rurality: a case study of 'WheatCliffs'

In many parts of the world rural communities have undergone significant transformations, through changing population demographics (rural dilution), and through changing modes of production and consumption (the new rurality). In this paper we explore how ICT are implicated in these transformations through an in-depth study of five families living in a small rural Australian town. In our study we trace the associations and connections these families weave through their local communities and through their extended networks, and we examine the role communications technologies play in the constitution of their relations to each other, to the town, and beyond