| Summary: | This paper is concerned with questions about the role of geographic community in the information society. Specifically, I am interested in the contribution rural communities in Canada can make to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and their perspective on the practicality of federal connectivity programs enabling their participation in the information society. I argue that the current formations of the information society do not leave much room for community technology in rural areas. In this paper I first outline the WSIS process and provide background on its goals. I then elaborate on rural and remote environments and technology and provide context for the two case sites which provide insights into the situated challenges of the information society in the rural Canadian context. I then argue for the continued importance of geography and the centrality of place within the information society, and discuss the challenges of sustaining community informatics initiatives with these two case illustrations. Finally, I explore the contentious issue of corporate funding of community based technology projects. To frame the discussion of rural Canada, which represents a diversity of communities with different (and often competing) needs, I have chosen to focus on Atlantic Canada, a region in which I have long been interested due to personal experience and its large rural population. I will examine two areas that were chosen as federal “Smart Communities,” a program of the Connecting Canadians agenda administered by Industry Canada. These include the Western Valley of Nova Scotia and the Labrador region. Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) - Initiative on the New Economy Public Outreach Grant; Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN).
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