Digital towns : : accelerating and measuring the digital transformation of rural societies and economies / / Theo Lynn [et al.]

• Author: Lynn, Theo.
• TeilnehmendeR: Rosati, Pierangelo.; Conway, Edel.; Curran, Declan.; Fox, Grace.; O'Gorman, Colm.
• Place / Publishing House: Cham : : Springer International Publishing AG,, 2022.; ©2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (230 pages) :; illustrations (black and white).

This open access book explores the digital transformation of small and rural towns, in particular, how to measure the evolution and development of digital towns. In addition to access to resources, competition from urban and global markets, and population trends, rural communities present lesser access and use of digital technologies and have lower digital competencies and skills than their urban counterparts.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Foreword -- Acknowledgement -- Contents -- About the Authors -- Abbreviations -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Defining, Rationalising and Measuring Digital Towns -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Digital Society-Key Concepts and Terms -- 1.2.1 What Do We Mean by Digital? -- 1.2.2 Mainstream vs Frontier Technologies -- 1.3 What Is a Town? -- 1.4 The Urban-Rural Digital Divide -- 1.5 Rationalising and Defining Digital Towns -- 1.6 The Need for a Discrete Digital Town Measurement Framework -- 1.7 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 2: The Digital Citizen -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 The Digital Divide -- 2.2.1 The Grey Digital Divide -- 2.2.2 The Income Digital Divide -- 2.2.3 The Education Digital Divide -- 2.2.4 The Gender Digital Divide -- 2.2.5 The Digital Divide and Other Vulnerable Parts of Society -- 2.3 Digital Literacy -- 2.4 New Forms of Work and Rural Towns -- 2.4.1 Remote Working -- 2.4.2 The Gig Economy -- 2.4.3 The Sharing Economy -- 2.5 Measuring Individual and Household Access and Use of Digital Technologies -- 2.6 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 3: Digital Public Services -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 What Do We Mean by Digital Public Services? -- 3.3 E-Government -- 3.4 E-Health -- 3.5 Open Data -- 3.6 Measuring Digital Public Services -- 3.7 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 4: The Digital Economy and Digital Business -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 What Is the Digital Economy? -- 4.3 What Is Digital Business? -- 4.4 Benefits and Challenges of Digital Technologies for Businesses -- 4.5 Measuring Digital Business -- 4.6 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 5: Digital Technologies and Civil Society -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Defining Civil Society -- 5.3 The Role of Civil Society -- 5.4 Digital Technologies and Civil Society -- 5.4.1 Mainstream Technologies -- 5.4.2 Frontier Technologies.

5.4.3 Digital Inclusion and Exclusion -- 5.5 Measuring Digital Civil Society -- 5.6 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 6: Infrastructure for Digital Connectivity -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 What Is Infrastructure for Digital Connectivity? -- 6.3 Economic Impact of Infrastructure for Digital Connectivity -- 6.3.1 Macro-Level Economic Impact -- 6.3.2 Households and Digital Connectivity -- 6.3.3 Firm-Level Productivity and Entrepreneurship -- 6.3.4 Employment Impact of Digital Connectivity -- 6.4 Free and Municipal Wi-Fi -- 6.5 Rural Digital Hubs -- 6.6 Measuring Infrastructure for Digital Connectivity -- 6.7 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 7: Digital Education -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 What Is Digital Education? -- 7.3 Digital Technologies in Education: Rationales, Benefits, and Challenges -- 7.4 Measuring Digital Education -- 7.5 Conclusion -- References -- Chapter 8: The Governance of Digital Town Initiatives -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Agenda Setting and Governance of Digital Town Initiatives -- 8.3 Community Resilience, Vertical Integration, and Horizontal Integration -- 8.4 Measuring the Governance of Digital Town Initiatives -- 8.5 Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 9: Bringing It All Together: The Digital Town Readiness Framework -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 Design Principles -- 9.3 The Digital Town Readiness Framework (DTRF) -- 9.4 Digital Town Dimensions, Sub-dimensions, and Indicators -- 9.4.1 Digital Citizens -- 9.4.2 Digital Public Services -- 9.4.3 Digital Business -- 9.4.4 Digital Civil Society -- 9.4.5 Infrastructure for Digital Connectivity -- 9.4.6 Digital Education -- 9.4.7 Governance of Digital Town Initiatives -- 9.5 Methodological Considerations -- 9.5.1 Selection of Indicators -- 9.5.2 Data Collection -- 9.5.3 Data Preparation and Cleaning -- 9.5.4 Weighting and Aggregation -- 9.5.5 Sensitivity Analysis.

9.5.6 Stakeholder Support and Communication -- 9.6 Conclusion -- References -- Useful Links -- Index.