This article draws on ethnographic research in three rural places in the Western United States to understand how rural workers incorporate the Internet into their work practices. We find two key, divergent types of work in rural areas that leverage the Internet: (1) telework and (2) work to market and sell goods and services online. We consider why these two forms of Internet-enabled work are pursued by different segments of the rural population, attending to the socio-demographic variation within and between these two broad categories. Some key differences include whether workers are urban transplants or rural-originating, in “white-collar” or “blue-collar” occupations, and whether they are men or women. We argue that deficit framings that focus on inadequate infrastructure or absent skills are insufficient to understand such patterns of differentiated use. Instead a sociocultural explanation is needed: one that draws connections between work cultures, occupational values, skills, and practices.

中文翻译：

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农村网络化工作的社会文化解释

本文利用美国西部三个农村地区的民族志研究，了解农村工人如何将互联网融入他们的工作实践中。我们在农村地区发现了两种关键的、不同类型的利用互联网的工作：(1) 远程办公和 (2) 在线营销和销售商品和服务的工作。我们考虑了为什么这两种形式的互联网工作被不同的农村人口所追求，关注这两个广泛类别内部和之间的社会人口变化。一些关键差异包括工人是城市移植还是农村出身，从事“白领”或“蓝领”职业，以及他们是男性还是女性。我们认为，关注基础设施不足或缺乏技能的缺陷框架不足以理解这种差异化使用模式。相反，需要一种社会文化解释：一种将工作文化、职业价值观、技能和实践联系起来的解释。