For those with broadband Internet, it often seems as if we are inundated with streaming movies, social media and the occasional entertaining cat video. That pervasiveness makes the practical ways in which broadband improves daily life go largely unappreciated – unless you are

among the thousands of Hoosiers who don’t have that access.

With broadband access, many people can work from home or start home-based businesses. Children can work on school projects or lessons for home e-learning days. Health conditions can be treated and monitored remotely, and local physicians can consult with specialists no matter where they are located. And, in a digital economy, broadband is a basic infrastructural necessity for community economic development.

Today, many people throughout rural Indiana and America are living in “Internet darkness,” lacking the high-speed access that provides opportunity and improves quality of life.

Work at the Purdue Center for Regional Development has pulled in experts from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Purdue Extension to both quantify the extent to which Hoosiers in rural areas lack broadband access as well as the social and economic benefits that would accrue from addressing the issue.  READ MORE