Rural Connective Workshop

I was lucky enough to recently be invited to attend a workshop, which forms part of a series of workshops called Rural Connective http://air.falmouth.ac.uk/research-projects/rural-connective - a collaboration between BT, dot.rural at University of Aberdeen and University College Falmouth. The workshop was based in a great location - a lovely rustic pub in St. Agnes - a gorgeous fishing village in Cornwall. 

Satellite Internet for Rural Access (SIRA)

I am working on a project called Satellite Internet for Rural Access (or SIRA). This project explores the impact that broadband (and a lack of) has for rural businesses in the UK. The project is founded on the philosophy that the rural economy not only needs but deserves access to broadband in order to compete with other businesses in the UK and worldwide.

The Internet is becoming increasingly integrated into our society. Internet access is now crucial for access to much information and many Government, healthcare, business, employment, educational and leisure services. It is a growing assumption that people can access the Internet and therefore these services. The relatively low provision of Internet to rural communities is therefore disadvantageous to them in cultural, educational, financial, social and political terms.

Agent and Semantic Support for Rural Enterprise (ASSURE)

I'd like to tell you a bit more about the ASSURE project. For rural businesses in the UK networking is  (and always has been) really important. Many rural businesses are isolated - from clients, from other local businesses and from the hub of activity around their particular sector (which is often in more urban environments). Rural businesses need these links in order to overcome the problems they face due to rurality - ironically rurality itself makes it harder to form and maintain such connections. Stuart Burgess, Prime Minister's Rural Advocate reported in 2008 that rural businesses are failing to work together to tackle the distinctively rural obstacles that they face. At dot.rural we wanted to carry out research which could help rural businesses to better network with one another. The ASSURE project does just that through exploring the potential of semantic matchmaking and intelligent agent technologies to intelligently enhance networking for rural businesses. We're working in partnership with Scottish Enterprise http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/ who have put us together with a number of rural businesses/entrepreneurs  who are keen to widen their networks.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog and thanks for taking a look. The purpose of this blog is to outline my research and associated activities and to provide a platform for all those interested to contribute their own thoughts and experiences in this area. My name is Leanne Townsend, I'm a researcher at dot.rural - http://www.dotrural.ac.uk/

dot.rural is one of three UK research hubs funded under the RCUK Digital Economy theme. Our focus is on the transformational potential of digital technologies in rural communities, enabling them to participate more fully in an increasingly digital economy. I work across three projects and a number of associated strands of research - and I'm developing a number of ideas to take forward for future funding (fingers crossed!). My background is in the social sciences - originally psychology although I feel I've drifted somewhat and would now vaguely describe myself as a social digital economy researcher. In the following posts I'll outline the projects I work on in more detail.