Rural Communities Making Technology Work for them, Report shows

Ten rural communities and the technologies being used within them are the focus of Networking the Land: Rural America in the Information Age, the latest report
released by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the Department of Commerce.

NTIA’s new Technology Opportunities Program (TOP) report reveals the communities are using telecommunications and information technologies for many purposes,
from developing local economies to managing natural resources to improving access to education. Case studies are presented on the 10 communities:

Seba Dalkai Boarding School, Navajo Nation (Ariz., N.M., Col., and Utah)

Mayville State University (Mayville, N.D.)

Sevier River Water Users Association (Utah)

Coastal Economic Development Corporation (Bath, Maine)

Regional Medical Center at Lubec (Lubec, Maine)

University of Vermont and State Agricultural College (Burlington, Vt.)

Marshall University (Huntington, W.Va.)

North Dakota State University (Fargo, N.D.)

Virtual Chautauqua (University of Colorado at Boulder)

Dance Partners (Minneapolis)

Asserting the U.S. is experiencing a revolution in information technology, the TOP report offers the case studies as it attempts to answer, "Is rural America playing a role
in this new period of invention, too?" People in isolated regions are finding ways to connect to information networks, the report shows. The Sevier River Water Users
Association, for example, demonstrates "the collection and distribution of timely information about the supply and flow of water through an entire river basin is enabling
farmers to stretch a precious but limited resource farther than ever seemed possible."

Networking the Land is available under "Lesson Learned Reports" at:

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/otiahome/top/publicationmedia/rural2001/networking_the_land.htm