While this report is focused on the experience in Montana, the findings reflect experiences all over the United States from Maine to Hawaii. There is a clear difference in access to online resources and broadband between urban and rural areas. Within urban areas there are often disturbing access issues as well, but that is not the focus of this study released today.

The study shows that Montana is way behind the nation in the availability and functionality of interactive government web-based services.  This finding is particularly evident in rural communities. The report also shows that internet access in Montana is costly and above the national averages for all categories of service.

"Montana's more metropolitan areas are experiencing significant population and economic growth, and much of the growth in information access and on-line services is centered in these areas" said Dr. Richard Wolff with Montana State University.
"This study demonstrates that the rural and remote regions of the state are underserved and falling behind."

Using county wide and local information where available, the study reveals a number of significant patterns and gaps:

• While about two thirds of the counties have web sites, the services offered in the rural areas are not comparable to those available in the metro areas, and are well behind national levels.
  
• Many of the rural county web sites are sponsored by business interests such as tourist agencies, chambers of commerce or real estate interests. These sites offer little in the way of transactional services that would enable citizen engagement in government.
  
• Rural county web sites offer online services in less than 50% of the categories defined in a nationwide county and municipal e-government assessment.  Even in Montana's metro counties, there are six of the twenty service categories where none of the counties offer the service online.
  
• Internet services and community-run electronic media, such as low power FM and TV coverage are less available in the areas with older and declining populations.  Similarly, these areas are not being served by wireless hot spots or community networks.
  
• While universal service fund expenditures for internet access for schools and libraries have been higher on a per capita basis in the rural areas of the state, the benefit to the general population is still very limited.  
  
• Internet service costs in Montana tend to run higher than the US overall. With the average cost in Montana exceeding the US average by 20%-40%.

"As an advocate for some of Montana's most impoverished and marginalized populations, I applaud Dr. Wolff and Montana Common Cause for shining a light on the extreme deficiency in access to electronic government services and necessary information for the people that perhaps need it the most," said Ellie Hill, Executive Director, Poverello Center, Missoula, Montana.  "It is clear that the poor, the elderly, the disenfranchised, and our rural Montanan's do not have equal access to e-government participation in their community and their own democracy.  Their voices need to be heard."  

Patty LaPlant with the National Native Children's Trauma Center, University of Montana Division of Educational Research and Service, further notes that "It is gratifying to have my entire Blackfeet Reservation community "public information access" experience supported by the findings of this study.  An additional layer of rural public information context to remember in Indian Country is the surviving presence of oral tradition and the legitimate mistrust of the colonizer word, whether written or oral.   Local tradition and issues need to be taken into account, when developing and considering standards for local government web sites and interactive services."

"This study shows that services that would offer Montanans alternatives to costly travel, such as document retrieval, filings and registration and streaming video are available on an extremely limited basis" said John Heffernan Montana Common Cause Chair.  "Expanded e-government services could be a valuable investment to help ensure that Montana citizens are equally enfranchised when it comes to electronic government services."

Citizens' access to government services and information is critical to a healthy democracy. The Internet has great capacity to put power in the hands of the people, but more needs to be done to ensure everyone can benefit from this opportunity.

This research was assisted by a grant from the Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere Program of the Social Science Research Council with funds provided by the Ford Foundation.