The Rural Web Newspaper Initiative
William J. Rust
Introduction: The Rural Web Newspaper Initiative seeks to improve the quality of life in rural areas through the use of Internet technology. By creating web-based, high school newspapers, RWNI seeks to help people stay down on the farm. Given the aging of America’s farm population, positive steps need to be taken to make life in rural areas more attractive to younger people. RWNI is one, small, positive step.
The Problem: Rural areas have been in a downward spiral since, at least, the Dustbowl days of the 1930’s. Through mechanization, farm employment has steadily declined. Smaller numbers of farm families have lead to declines in the infrastructure that supported them. Stores, schools, churches, etc., in rural have gone out of business because of the lack of people that support. These losses in social infrastructure and lack of employment opportunities have made rural areas less attractive to families and young adults. So they have sought opportunity elsewhere and reinforced the spiral of decline.
Communication: Communication is the heart and soul of a community. Birth announcements, obituaries, high school sports, community service clubs, senior center menus, etc., are the glue that make people choose to stay in rural areas. Farming tends to be very lonely. Small towns tend to be very isolated. Anything that relieves the loneliness and isolation will make rural areas more attractive, particularly to younger people. Anything that increases community spirit, while at the same time providing training and employment opportunities, will keep kids on the farm.
Rural Web Newspaper Initiative: In order stop the spiral of decline, some things have to be done. RWNI is one of those things. It seeks to improve the spirit of community in rural areas and provide educational and job opportunities. The idea is simple. Start, or supplement, web-based newspapers in rural areas, mostly at local high schools. To see the full scope of RWNI, it is necessary to analyze the beneficiaries by stakeholder group.
Students: Students are the most obvious group to benefit. First, they learn to be very effective, written communicators. English classes are transformed from writing papers for the sake of writing papers to writing articles to inform their community. Articles published on the web make them known better in their community. This increases their opportunities for employment within the community and gives them portfolio pieces for further education or employment outside their community. By reporting on local events, students develop a sense of belonging in their surrounding, adult community. Some students will also learn technical skills that they can use to work over the web, thereby possibly not having to leave their rural community for better job opportunities. They can provide a real service, and show off, by training adults in the community in the use of computers and the web.
General Community Members: Adults in the community benefit in a variety of ways. Young people will tend to be more attached, thereby increasing the vitality and viability of the community. News, and gossip, will be more readily available, increasing the cohesiveness of the adult community and making it more attractive for families to stay in the rural area. The use of the web will make for more demand for Internet infrastructure. This market demand will lead to improved service and lower costs to users.
Elderly adults: Elderly adults in rural areas suffer from increasing isolation and distance from their children who have left the community. Bringing low cost computers into their homes will increase their social contact with younger people, thereby improving their quality of life. Their children, and grandchildren, will be more able to communicate using email, photos and, perhaps, video. Daily communication with other elderly and medical personnel will enhance their quality of life.
Farmers and Ranchers: Farming and ranching are inherently solitary occupations. However, farmers and ranchers generally already have computers for watching markets and other business-related activities. Having local news would increase demand for Internet connectivity in the general community, providing the bigger base load that is necessary for infrastructure improvements that agricultural workers really want. This would enhance the ability of extension agents to provide real-time information, the desirability of which is highlighted by the current foot and mouth epidemic.
Expatriates: People who have left rural areas frequently want to keep up-to-date on the new from their community. RWNI would provide that news. Many older expatriates want to retire to rural communities but fear the isolation and lack of services. With the current commerce on the web revolution, most goods are available and fairly priced with delivery to your door.
Businesses: Local businesses in rural areas suffer from a variety of challenges. Advertising tends to be expensive and not targeted for the local community. The lack of a central repository for commercial news makes it difficult for businesses to get their messages to potential customers. RWNI provides a forum for the communication that is essential for viable businesses.
Costs The costs for RWNI are remarkably cheap.
Servers: Commercial web hosting costs around $50 / month for sites capable of serving 10-20 separate community newspapers. Since this is essentially a university extension activity, a web-serving computer could be put on the Internet at an extension office for the price of the server, around $500 including software.
School equipment and training: Most schools already have some computers. For rudimentary newspapers, 6-7 year old computers are adequate. Likewise, most word processing software can produce files capable of being put directly onto the web. Thus, even schools with only old, word processing labs will be able to produce a newspaper. Getting the newspaper to the web server requires some type of network connection, most likely dialup. Even a very slow connection is adequate for uploading a mostly text newspaper. As time goes on and the community realizes the value of RWNI, money for upgrades will be provided by the community. Training for teachers can be provided as part of the continuing education classes that teachers are required to take for their certification. The amount of training needed to produce and upload a newspaper is very small.
Community equipment: Since this initiative is directed at building up communities, community members must have access to computers. The computers needed for this project are not high-end. In fact, newspapers have been reporting that discarded computers are causing a landfill crisis. Old machines, 486s and early Pentiums, are being thrown into the dump because they have no commercial value. This class of machine is entirely adequate for looking at web newspapers and email. Already, some groups are recycling these machines for non-profit organizations and parochial schools. The biggest cost for these community computers is the phone line needed to connect to the Internet.
ISPs: Internet Service Providers, ISPs, have sprung up throughout rural America. Many rural telephone companies provide reasonably priced Internet connections, while other areas have traditional, dialup entrepreneurs providing services. Rural telephone systems are poised for major renovations and Internet services are one impetus for doing so. As DSL and cable modems spread through urban areas, huge numbers of dialup modems are becoming surplus. Moving that equipment to serve more rural areas will provide opportunities for current ISPs while providing better access in rural areas.
Conclusion: In conclusion, the rural web newspaper initiative is one small step to keep people living in rural America. It will enhance the education and employment opportunities for people living in rural areas thus increasing the chance that they will stay in rural areas. It will lead to better communication between rural residents and their far-flung families. It will promote businesses in rural areas, keeping rural infrastructure intact. And, it will do it all at an outstanding cost-benefit ratio.
