Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Rural Information Penalty

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Information for a Better World: Shaping the Global Future (iConference 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 13192))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

This paper articulates the concept of rural information penalty, or the accumulation of rural disadvantages that lead to lower quality of information, disparate understandings of information, and increased barriers to information for rural people. Drawing inspiration from rural public health and economic development literature, I bring together research from information studies and human-computer interaction to build a framework for understanding the rural information penalty.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    I do not define rurality in this paper due to the complexity and diverging definitions of what rural means depending on geographic context. For further discussion of rurality in the computing context see [17].

  2. 2.

    I focus primarily on the American context in this paper. This is not to say that the rural information penalty is not a useful tool for understanding other international contexts, but merely to acknowledge that, as presented here, it reflects a particular geography and perspective. To utilize this concept outside of the American context, researchers should first seek a broader understanding of what rurality means in their particular context.

References

  1. Penelope Muse Abernathy: News Deserts and Ghost Newspapers: Will Local News Survive? UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Olugbenga Ajilore: Economic Recovery and Business Dynamism in Rural America. Center for American Progress (2020). https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2020/02/20/480129/economic-recovery-business-dynamism-rural-america/

  3. Ali, C.: The politics of good enough: rural broadband and policy failure in the United States. Int. J. Commun. 14, 5982–6004 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Ashwood, L.: For-Profit Democracy: Why the Government Is Losing the Trust of Rural America. Yale University Press, New Haven (2018)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Baylor Religion Surveys: American Values, Mental Health, and Using Technology in the Age of Trump. Baylor University (2017)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Burrell, J.: Thinking relationally about digital inequality in rural regions of the U.S. First Monday 23, 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.5210/fm.v23i6.8376

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Cosby, A.G., et al.: Growth and persistence of place-based mortality in the United States: the rural mortality penalty. Am. J, Public Health 109(1), 155–162 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2018.304787

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cosby, A.G., et al.: Preliminary evidence for an emerging nonmetropolitan mortality penalty in the United States. Am. J. Public Health 98(8), 1470–1472 (2008). https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.123778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Cossman, J.S., James, W.L., Cosby, A.G., Cossman, R.E.: Underlying causes of the emerging nonmetropolitan mortality penalty. Am. J. Public Health 100(8), 1417–1419 (2010). https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.174185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cramer, K.J.: The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker. University of Chicago Press, Chicago (2016)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Freudenburg, W.R.: The density of acquaintanceship: an overlooked variable in community research? Am. J. Sociol. 92(1), 27–63 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1086/228462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Gonzales, A.: The contemporary US digital divide: from initial access to technology maintenance. Inf. Commun. Soc. 19(2), 234–248 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2015.1050438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Haider, J., Bawden, D.: Conceptions of “information poverty” in LIS: a discourse analysis. J. Documentation 63(4), 534–557 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410710759002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Halfacree, K.H.: Locality and social representation: space, discourse and alternative definitions of the rural. J. Rural. Stud. 9(1), 23–37 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1016/0743-0167(93)90003-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Halfacree, K.H.: Talking about rurality: social representations of the rural as expressed by residents of six English parishes. J. Rural. Stud. 11(1), 1–20 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1016/0743-0167(94)00039-C

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Hardy, J.: Queer information literacies: social and technological circulation in the rural Midwestern United States. Inf. Commun. Soc. 24(1), 102–117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1635184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Hardy, J., Wyche, S., Veinot, T.: Rural HCI research: definitions, distinctions, methods, and opportunities. In: Proc. ACM Hum. Comput. Interact. 3(CSCW 196), 1–33 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1145/3359298

  18. Hite, J.: The Thunen model and the new economic geography as a paradigm for rural development policy. Rev. Agric. Econ. 19(2), 230–240 (1997). https://doi.org/10.2307/1349738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. James, W.L.: All rural places are not created equal: revisiting the rural mortality penalty in the United States. Am. J. Public Health 104(11), 2122–2129 (2014). https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.301989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. James, W., Cossman, J.S.: Long-term trends in black and white mortality in the rural United States: evidence of a race-specific rural mortality penalty. J. Rural Health 33(1), 21–31 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1111/jrh.12181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Kyzyma, I.: Rural-urban disparity in poverty persistence. Focus 34(3), 13–19 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Lee, M., Butler, B.S.: How are information deserts created? A theory of local information landscapes. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. 70(2), 101–116 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lloyd, A.: Framing information literacy as information practice: site ontology and practice theory. J. Documentation 66(2), 245–258 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411011023643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Lloyd, A.: Information literacy as a socially enacted practice: sensitising themes for an emerging perspective of people-in-practice. J. Documentation 68(6), 772–783 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1108/00220411211277037

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Malecki, E.J.: Digital development in rural areas: potentials and pitfalls. J. Rural. Stud. 19(2), 201–214 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00068-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. McKnight, M.L., Sanders, S.R., Gibbs, B.G., Brown, R.B.: Communities of place? new evidence for the role of distance and population size in community attachment. Rural. Sociol. 82(2), 291–317 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1111/ruso.12123

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Mehra, B.: Mobilization of rural libraries toward political and economic change in the aftermath of the 2016 Presidential election. Libr. Q. 87(4), 369–390 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1086/692303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Mehra, B.: Information ACTism in “Trumping” the contemporary fake news phenomenon in rural libraries. Open Inform. Sci. 3(1), 181–196 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1515/opis-2019-0013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Montiel-Overall, P.: Information literacy: toward a cultural model. Can. J. Inform. Libr. Sci. 31(1), 43–68 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Newby, H.: Locality and rurality: the restructuring of rural social relations. Reg. Stud. 20(3), 209–215 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Pariser, E.: The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding from You. Penguin Books, London (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Pew Research Center: From Distant Admirers to Library Loves: A typology of public library engagement in America (2014). https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/03/13/library-engagement-typology/

  33. Sacchetti, M., Guskin, E.: In rural America, fewer immigrants and less tolerance. Washington Post (2017). https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-rural-america-fewer-immigrants-and-less-tolerance/2017/06/16/7b448454-4d1d-11e7-bc1b-fddbd8359dee_story.html. Accessed 1 Apr 2019

  34. Sampson, R.J.: Local friendship ties and community attachment in mass society: a multilevel systemic model. Am. Sociol. Rev. 53(5), 766–779 (1988)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  35. Sherman, J.: Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream. University of California Press, California (2021)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  36. Stern, M.J., Adams, A.E., Elsasser, S.: Digital inequality and place: the effects of technological diffusion on internet proficiency and usage across Rural, Suburban, and Urban Counties. Sociol. Inq. 79(4), 391–417 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2009.00302.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Stommes, E.S., Brown, D.M.: Transportation in Rural America: issues for the 21st Century. Commun. Transp. 20, 4 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Strover, S., Whitacre, B., Rhinesmith, C., Schrubbe, A.: The digital inclusion role of rural libraries: social inequalities through space and place. Media Cult. Soc. 42(2), 242–259 (2020)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Vavrek, B.: Rural information needs and the role of the public library. Lib. Trends 44(1), 21–48 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Veinot, T.: A lot of people didn’t have a chance to support us because we never told them Stigma management, information poverty and HIV/AIDS information/help networks. Proc. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Technol. 46(1), 1–20 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1002/meet.2009.1450460273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Veinot, T.C.: Regional HIV/AIDS information environments and information acquisition success. Inform. Soc. 29(2), 88–112 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2012.757261

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Vogels, E.: Some digital divides persist between rural, urban and suburban America. Pew Research Center (2021). https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/08/19/some-digital-divides-persist-between-rural-urban-and-suburban-america/. Accessed 8 Sept 2021

  43. Washington Post.: Survey of Rural America. Survey of Rural America (2017). http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/washington-post-kaiser-family-foundation-rural-and-small-town-america-poll/2217/. Accessed 1 Apr 2018

  44. Whitacre, B.E., Mills, B.F.: Infrastructure and the rural—urban divide in high-speed residential internet access. Int. Reg. Sci. Rev. 30(3), 249–273 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1177/0160017607301606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Winkler, R.: Living on lakes segregated communities and inequality in a natural amenity destination. Sociol. Q. 54(1), 105–129 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1111/tsq.12002

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Media and Information, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Jean Hardy

Authors
  1. Jean Hardy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Hardy .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Malte Smits

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Hardy, J. (2022). The Rural Information Penalty. In: Smits, M. (eds) Information for a Better World: Shaping the Global Future. iConference 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 13192. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96957-8_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96957-8_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-96956-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-96957-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation