Product Description: Information technology (IT) is widely understood to be the enabling technology of the 21st century. IT has transformed, and continues to transform, all aspects of our lives: commerce and finance, education, employment, energy, health care, manufacturing, government, national security, transportation, communications, entertainment, science, and engineering...read more

Product Description: This book offers a practice-based approach to developing strategies for utilizing broadband telecommunications for rural economic development. Edwards addresses four key questions in the publication: 1) How important is broadband telecommunications in the achievement of rural economic development success in the information-based economy? 2) What are the critical factors in assessing the potential of rural communities to utilize broadband telecommunications for economic development? 3) What policy trends are proposed to assist communities in the advancement of telecommunication-based economic development strategies? And 4) How can local leadership assist in the implementation of broadband for economic development success? By answering these important questions, Edwards provides the reader a step-by-step, practice-oriented framework for implementing a rural economic development planning strategy through the implementation of broadband telecommunications...read more