Evaluation of Regional Rural Information Environment Based on Fuzzy Method in the Era of the Internet of Things

Internet of Things technology has brought new opportunities for rural informatization. The quality of rural information environment is directly related to the level of rural informatization. So accurately understanding the status and level of information environment in rural areas is a prerequisite for rural informatization. This paper assesses differences in rural information environment by developing a framework based on a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method to measure information environment changes. The assessment focuses on three aspects: one is the evaluation of the overall rural information environment based on macro-factors in time dimension, the other is in 31 different provinces in space dimension, and the third is the evaluation of regional rural information environment based on macro-and subjective factors. The Probit model reveals the influence of various factors on the rural information environment, which constitutes the primary and secondary indicators of the evaluation system. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is adopted to evaluate the rural information environment, and the cluster analysis is applied to the results. The results show that the differences in rural information environment exist objectively, which are the result of a variety of subjective and objective factors. In addition, the differences in rural information environment promote the diversified development path of rural information construction. These findings have clear policy implication for the rural ministry, since understanding the changes and differences in the rural information environment is important for their successful development. Results of the experimental applications of this evaluation system are given to illustrate the proposed method.