Toward Universal Broadband in Rural Alaska

The TERRA-Southwest project is extending broadband service to 65 communities in the Bristol Bay, Bethel and Yukon-Kuskokwim regions. A stimulus project funded by a combination of grants and loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), TERRA-Southwest has installed a middle-mile network using optical fiber and terrestrial microwave. Last-mile service will be through fixed wireless or interconnection with local telephone networks. The State of Alaska, through its designee Connect Alaska, also received federal stimulus funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for tasks that include support for an Alaska Broadband Task Force “to both formalize a strategic broadband plan for the state of Alaska and coordinate broadband activities across relevant agencies and organizations.” Thus, a study of the impact of the TERRA project in southwest Alaska is both relevant and timely. This first phase provides baseline data on current access to and use of ICTs and Internet connectivity in rural Alaska, and some insights about perceived benefits and potential barriers to adoption of broadband. It is also intended to provide guidance to the State Broadband Task Force in determining how the extension of broadband throughout the state could contribute to education, social services, and economic activities that would enhance Alaska’s future. Results of the research could also be used proactively to develop strategies to encourage broadband adoption, and to identify applications and support needed by users with limited ICT skills.Connect Alaska. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration. General Communications Incorporated.Part 1: An Analysis of Internet Use in Southwest Alaska / Introduction / Previous Studies / Current Connectivity / Analytical Framework and Research Methodology / Demographics / Mobile Phones: Access and Use / Access to the Internet / Internet Useage / Considerations about Internet Service / Interest in Broadband / Sources of News / Comparison with National Data / Internet Use by Businesses and Organizations / What Difference may Broadband make in the Region? / Conclusiongs / Part 2 Literature Review / Reference

E-government adoption: A cultural comparison

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2008.E-government diffusion is an international phenomenon. This study compares e-government adoption in the U.K. to adoption in the U.S. In particular, this study seeks to determine if the same factors are salient in both countries. Several studies have explored citizen acceptance of e-government services in the U.S. However, few studies have explored this phenomenon in the U.K. To identify the similarities and differences between the U.K. and the U.S. a survey is conducted in the U.K. and the findings are compared to the literature that investigates diffusion in the U.S. This study proposes a model of e-government adoption in the U.K. based on salient factors in the U.S. A survey is administered to 260 citizens in London to assess the importance of relative advantage, trust and the digital divide on intention to use e-government. The results of binary logistic regression indicate that there are cultural differences in e-government adoption in the U.K. and the U.S. The results indicate that of the prevailing adoption constructs, relative advantage and trust are pertinent in both the U.S. and the U.K., while ICT adoption barriers such as access and skill may vary by culture. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Applying Bourdieu to socio-technical systems: The importance of affordances for social translucence in building 'capital' and status to eBay's success

This paper introduces the work of Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and his concepts of ‘the field’ and ‘capital’ in relation to eBay. This paper considers eBay to be a socio-technical system with its own set of social norms, rules and competition over ‘capital’. eBay is used as a case study of the importance of using a Bourdieuean approach to create successful socio-technical systems.Using a two-year qualitative study of eBay users as empirical illustration, this paper argues that a large part of eBay’s success is in the social and cultural affordances for social translucence and navigation of eBay’s website - in supporting the Bourdieuean competition over capital and status. This exploration has implications for wider socio-technical systems design which this paper will discuss - in particular, the importance of creating socially translucent and navigable systems, informed by Bourdieu’s theoretical insights, which support competition for ‘capital’ and status

E-business impacts for urban freight: results from an Australian study

E-Business is expected to dramatically change the way business is conducted internationally, nationally, within states and at the local area level. Moreover, these changes are very likely to happen well within the planning time frames required for provision of transport infrastructure and services. E-business is defined as including e-commerce, either between Businesses to Business (B2B) or Business to Customers (B2C), and the adoption of electronic technology within businesses. This paper presents some results from a study commissioned by the Australian National Transport Secretariat (NTS) to assist Australian business and government pro-actively address the transport issues arising from e-business. The resulting working papers will be used to establish a research framework for identifying policy and planning levers to maximize benefits to Australia from national and global e-business activity. The study sought to investigate three principal questions on e-business impacts: how will the transport task change; what will be affected; and how can the transport system respond? Current literature suggests that growth in e-business stems from the combined existence of market demand, suitable enabling technology, and skills and familiarity in management/users/ industry/government. The results of the study suggest that e-business will have implications for urban freight including higher levels of demand for goods and services, increased requirements for logistics distribution, changes in location preferences and improved transport network performance

Information Society Strategies in the European Context: The Case of Greece

This article sets out to analyze the policies adopted by the Greek government in its effort to accelerate the pace of reform towards a knowledge-based economy. These policies have to take into account the position that the country occupies within the emerging information society and, of course, the opportunities created by EU initiatives that aim to promote economic competitiveness and reduce regional disparities. Within this framework Greek policy makers have recognized the need for a coordinated, coherent and integrated approach, which attempts to diminish inequalities both within the country and with respect to other European Union economies. What emerges as a distinctive feature of the Greek information society strategy is the emphasis placed on the pivotal role of the state and the adoption of active interventionist policies

INSTITUTIONAL ANALYSIS ON POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAM IN THE SOCIETY: A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT OF INDEPENDENT URBAN (PNPM-MP) IN SEMARANG, INDONESIA

Institutional PNPM-MP in Semarang put poverty alleviation as the main priority of the empowerment-based development policy. The strategy developed is to synergize government agencies with community institutions built by PNPM-MP program at the village and base level, that is, Community Institutional Agency (BKM) and the Community Self-Reliance Group (KSM). The problem studied in this research is: How does PNPM-MP institutional in society involve in poverty reduction, with the aim of describing and analyzing institutional programs in the community. The research approach used phenomenological qualitative, by conducting interviews, observation, focus group discussion to obtain data from informants (BKM / KSM). Informants include two BKM and ten KSM which is purposively selected (deliberately) from two villages in two districts. The analysis was performed interactively, that is, analysis techniques which are integral cycle among data collection, data reduction, data performance and conclusion withdrawal. Research conclusion: PNPM-MP institutional at the village and base level (BKM / KSM) has not been able to be a driving force in poverty reduction and is still seen by the community as a program requirement, not institutionalized on both horizontal and vertical level. Recommendation for the research result is that it needed awareness that poverty reduction requires a synergy between government agencies and community agencies embodied in the development planning of one village one planning

Creating Low-carbon Communities: Evaluating the Role of Individual Agency and Systemic Inequality in San Jose, CA

Following a scholarly need to test compelling community level sociodemographic representations of environmental behaviors and outcomes, a sequential mixed method approach was used to evaluate the connections of human agency and systemic inequalities with carbon footprints. Statistical analyses of the 2016 SDG San Jose Dashboard data of city blocks and 2009 - 2013 ACS survey data were supplemented with interviews with eight climate action-oriented community engagement professionals in the South Bay. Boundary limiting socioeconomic conditions for systemic inequalities and human agency, dimensions of Gidden’s Structuration model, were specified. Partially supporting structural inequality theories, socioeconomic resources, primarily, and to a lesser extent dominant race concentration, were associated with larger carbon footprints, particularly when wealth was concentrated. Both human (time driven alone) and demographic (senior and mid-aged blocks) agencies were also in part at play in shrinking or even enlarging carbon footprints, in wealthier communities. These findings not only contributed to the literature on climate action, but also highlighted the need for targeted interventions in communities of different socioeconomic standing