No abstract

In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) has rapidly spread across the globe, along with increased market penetration and easy availability of economical smartphones and cellphones with both wired and nonwired connections to access the Internet; this leapfrogging in the Internet access is true even in the rural areas of the world's developing countries. Indonesia has the largest population of Internet users even though the Internet penetration rate is still under the regional average among Southeast Asian countries. To date, however, scholarly discourse on ICT use in rural communities in developing countries has, for the most part, been limited to the conventional discussion regarding the gap that exists between the “haves” and the “have nots,” often referred to as the digital divide. The current study applies a contemporary conceptualization of digital divide to the case of a rural village in Indonesia with a growing young population to arrive at policy recommendations for using ICT to improve this village as a possible model for other rural communities in developing countries. Semistructured interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted targeting digital natives, identifying a gap in Internet use between younger and older residents within the digital natives. The study then applied a model that examined a succession of 4 types of access—motivational access, material access, skills access, and usage access—for respondents who were grouped by age and level of Internet use. This analysis combined with an examination of the Internet paradox revealed the positive effects of Internet use on community participation and networking. Analysis also indicated distinctive challenges for each group at multiple stages of the digital divide, leading to policy recommendations for each group to take advantage of Internet technology for future rural development in the case study village and for possible use as a model for other rural areas of developing countries around the world.

This study investigates the recent changes in natural hazard prioritizations in northern Bangladesh and presents community-based risk analyses of the various natural hazards that present threats to sustainable agriculture. The study area in northern Bangladesh included two union council areas under the Panchagarh sub-district. Climatological data analysis, a detailed questionnaire survey, and focus group discussions were conducted to assess farmers’ perceptions regarding the shifting and identification of hazards, their seasonal variation, and hazard prioritizations. The SMUG (seriousness, manageability, urgency, and growth) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) models were applied for hazard prioritization. Hailstorms were found to be the most prioritized hazard over droughts and flash floods as perceived by the community. The farmers’ perceptions as evaluated through a questionnaire survey also support the findings of the SMUG and FEMA models. This was the first attempt to analyze the potential of hailstorms as a significant hazard in Bangladesh, and GIS maps showed their spatial distribution and temporal frequency across Bangladesh. This newly identified hazard is significantly diminishing farmers’ motivation to continue farming and has the potential to affect sustainable agriculture. The farmers’ perceptions, historical data analysis, use of the two models, institutional approach, hazard risk assessment, and vulnerability to the major sectors show that hailstorms should be considered as an important hazard in northern Bangladesh, and policymakers should pay urgent attention to minimize the threat to sustainable agriculture in northern Bangladesh.

Social innovation has received widespread attention in the rural development field, especially its contribution to future rural sustainability. Social innovation revolves around social networks. Rural areas, however, can be relatively disadvantaged by their geographical peripherality. Social media, therefore, has strong potential to foster social innovation by enabling remote communication, but in rural areas, social media use may be low because of an aging and decreasing population. This study examined community-level adoption and use of social media in rural areas in Japan, with a focus on Facebook, for the purpose of sharing community information and facilitating networking with a variety of actors to promote rural social innovation. The study involved a comprehensive search and case studies targeting 139,063 rural communities and 10,922 rural joint-communities, all of which are legally designated agricultural communities throughout Japan. The search found that disadvantaged rural communities’ adoption of Facebook was scarce, and most of the communities that had adopted Facebook did not expand their social networks. Furthermore, investigation into the communities that had adopted social networking to a larger extent revealed that external supporters or migrants had essential roles in successful networking. Based on the obtained findings, this study has provided insights for future policy design.

Rural populations are aging and declining, which has reduced the capacity for rural landscape conservation. Thus, collaborative governance with non-local stakeholders is essential to foster innovative ideas by combining knowledge bases. In the current digital era, remote actors can play a part in rural governance across boundaries through information technology. This study focused on the potential of 3D visualization for rural landscape planning and examined the effects and challenges of using 3D models for collaboration with non-local stakeholders. We conducted a survey with remote participants about a rural village landscape, using 3D models created from drone-shot aerial photos, and then discussed the findings with local stakeholders in a workshop in the village. We found that, by using 3D models, various opinions could be obtained from non-local stakeholders who had never seen the actual landscape. They used the 3D model to view the landscape from various perspectives and it enabled participants to accurately grasp local situations and problems. However, some of the opinions gathered in the survey were unrealistic for actual landscape planning. We conclude that 3D models are a useful tool to incorporate external opinions into rural landscape planning across temporal and spatial boundaries, to maintain healthy rural landscapes.