Rural Users' Expectations of the Information Superhighway

This paper reports the results of ongoing investigations of residential user expectations of the Blacksburg Electronic Village, a program which is providing the residents of a community in the Appalachian region of the US with sophisticated high-speed communications capabilities. The goal of the Blacksburg Electronic Village is to link all residents in the town with fibre-optic communication technology. Findings indicate that residents are especially interested in services that will increase their connectedness with the local community. The findings have implications both for policy makers, about the kinds of services which are of importance to rural users, and for communication researchers, about the links between new communication technology and the maintenance and construction of community.