Digital Towns : Accelerating and Measuring the Digital Transformation of Rural Societies and Economies

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.

Chapter 1 - Defining and rationalising digital towns      

Chapter 1 introduces key concepts in digital society policy and discusses extant literature on the urban-rural digital divide. Based on extant literature on the urban-rural digital divide, it outlines eight rationales for the digital transformation of towns and provides a working definition of a digital town.

Chapter 2 - Measuring digital readiness              

In Chapter 2, literature on existing approaches to measuring digital readiness are presented, compared and contrasted. These include frameworks for measuring digital readiness at a national level (e.g. DESI, the Digital Capital Index, the Digital Evolution Index, and the Digital Ecosystem Development Index) and city level (e.g. CityKeys and the Smart City Index), and town level (e.g. smart village indicators). This chapter will conclude with the high level dimensions necessary for a digital town readiness measurement framework.

Chapter 3 - Connectivity             

Digital connectivity is a critical building block of digital towns and is a key measure in many digital benchmarks. Increased broadband reduces the cost of sending and receiving data. As a result, it can impact a variety of direct economic and societal effects. It can both lower input costs and increase consumption across a number of industries. Consequently, greater broadband can increase competitiveness and economic activity resulting in greater employment as well as reducing the digital divide. This chapter will summarise extant research on the socio-economic impact of connectivity, and identify relevant connectivity measures for use in assessing digital readiness.

Chapter 4 - Digital Citizen          

The Digital Citizen dimension focuses on the competence and usage of digital technologies by citizens in a town. This chapter will summarise the research on the socio-economic impact of citizen digital skills and usage. Relevant measures for use in assessing digital skills and usage will be identified.

Chapter 5 - Digital Education    

It is increasingly accepted that digital technologies and related affordances can directly change the nature of teaching and learning; this is particularly poignant against the backdrop of the COVID19 pandemic. The chapter will explore how the use and sophistication of digital technology in education and the provision of training and education in digital technologies for all levels is measured and the socio-economic impact of such supports.

Chapter 6 - Digital Civil Society               

Digital Civil Society refers to the use and sophistication of digital technologies by voluntary and community sector organisations (VSCOs) in a town. These include charities, sports and social clubs, political parties etc. While there are indices to measure digital social innovation, for example the DSI Index, these indices typically focus specifically on innovation or social entrepreneurship ecosystems rather than the use of digital technology more generally by civil society, and specifically VSCOs, in their day to day activities. VSCOs are rarely included in the mainstream digital indices. Similar to the literature in the commercial domain, extant literature suggests that digital technologies can transform VSCOs'' organisational capacity and stakeholder engagement. Like commercial organisations, VSCOs can generate value and exploit the same opportunities digital technologies present including cost savings, process efficiencies, new revenue generation, and improved quality of service. Notwithstandi