Duarte et al.: Internet Connectivity in Rural and Tribal Communities

In “As the Squash Plant Grows”: Social Textures of Sparse Internet Connectivity in Rural and Tribal Communities, Marisa Elena Duarte (Social Transformation, Arizona State), Morgan Vigil-Hayes (Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University), Ellen Zegura (Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology), Elizabeth Belding (Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara), Ivone Masara (Masters Student, Arizona State), and Jennifer Case Nevarez (Community Learning Network) reflect on their shared experience working to extend “last-mile Internet connectivity” in northern New Mexico in a space that includes rural and tribal communities as part of a joint cooperative Internet network.

The authors provide a helpful overview of the status of internet connectivity in rural tribal communities and then build on their specific project experience in northern New Mexico to suggest a new framework for engaging more inclusively and equitably with digital inequities in rural and tribal communities. The authors suggest a “Full-Circle Framework” of development that emphasizes recipriocal relationships and participatory design strategies, while also being particularly attentive to social inequities.

The Full-Circle Framework consists of four phases of concurrent design and inquiry that include understanding the current landscape, strategizing for future infrastructure, actually implementing augmented infrastrcture plans, and then reflection on the project impacts. The authors illustrate these phases by describing their interactions with many different stakeholders—from community members to state legislators to IT experts—to build rapport and establish relationships in their project communities. Their implementation phase included things like digital skills workshops and design workshops with community members to co-create meaningful tools and services.

As the Squash Plant Grows provides one model framework for those seeking to support technology in rural communities while also revealing creative options for sustaining innovation in rural computing.