Abstract
Although access to broadband has become a facility embedded in everyday life, many communities still have poor or no connectivity, especially in rural areas. The paper considers how some local communities have taken matters into their own hands and set up their own community broadband infrastructure in the UK. The paper examines four case study rural communities in terms of the organisation of broadband provision. It identifies common skills and resources that were necessary in order for these community broadband initiatives to be successful in the form of five capitals: human, technological, identity and financial.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 109-117 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies |
Volume | C&T'15 |
Early online date | 1 Jul 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Bibliographical note
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe authors would like to thank the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for their support through grant number (EP/G066051/1) Digital Economy Hub and grant number (EP/K003585/1) Communities and Cultures Network+
Keywords
- community broadband
- social enterprise
- social capital
- technology
- communications technologies