Digitalization and social cohesion in rural communities

The social structure of rural communities has changed. Whereas in the last century social cohesion in rural communities used to be ensured by tight family networks, locally bound social circles, and community associations, today these associations are in decline and the remoteness of rural areas no longer guarantee caring communities and local support networks. Digital communication and co-ordination tools might inspire new systems of local social support, attract new volunteers to engage in community work, change the ways members of local associations interact, and accordingly mitigate social disintegration and restore social cohesion in rural communities. Recent research estimates that digitalization may support volunteer engagement, since decentralized networks such as online volunteering platforms, online neighborhood help groups, mediated counselling, or location based social media groups are supposed to offer low-threshold opportunities for both, potential volunteers as well as recipients of care. To understand whether digitalization effectively might sustain social cohesion in rural areas, it is paramount to investigate the actual usage of digital tools in the practices and interactions of volunteers in rural communities. To empirically investigate these actual phenomena, we resort to exploratory field studies both in a variety of rural contexts and places as well as with a variety of digital tools and practices. A living lab shall be initiated to further harness best-practice measures and disseminate the lessons learned among regional developers, local volunteers, and practitioners, as well as social services, and public service institutions. Our focus should eventually turn toward not only investigating digital forms of enhancing social cohesion in rural areas, but also toward contributing to identify and refine best-practice measures and to enable distributing them throughout different local communities.