‘It’s revolutionised how we do things’: then and now - a case study of Internet behaviours in a remote rural community

This document is the final version of a published work that appeared in final form in Proceedings of the XXVI European Society for Rural Sociology Congress: Places of Possibility? Rural Societies in a Neoliberal World, 18-21 August, Aberdeen, Scotland. To access the final edited and published work see http://esrs2015.hutton.ac.uk/sites/www.esrs2015.eu/files/Final%20ESRS%202015%20congress%20proceedings.pdfThe Digital Economy has opened up new opportunities for societal wellbeing across many domains of life. However, the market dependency of the landscape of connection has resulted in communities which have inadequate broadband infrastructure and are off the digital map. This form of digital exclusion is most notable in remote, rural areas. In this paper we draw upon the Rural Public Access WiFi Service research study that is focused upon enabling Internet connectivity for commercially ‘hard to reach’ rural areas in the UK. Enabling broadband connectivity to those who were previously unable to access the Internet demonstrates benefits, which translate into the positive role that improved digital connectivity can have on the wellbeing of individuals and remote rural communities at large