USING TELECENTERS FOR DEVELOPMENT: CAN WE MAKE IT HAPPEN? Royal D. Colle and Raul Roman Department of Communication Cornell University Information Technologies Group at CID Harvard University Cambridge MA, April 17 th 2002

A brief account of our involvement in telecenters A telecenter project in South India (IDRC) A Handbook for Telecenter Staffs (FAO, ITU) Experts panel Field research Field evaluation

What is this seminar about? A brief introduction to the rationale behind telecenters Information needs assessment in India Some major issues in telecenter development: CONTENT AWARENESS SUSTAINABILITY An invitation to discussion

The telecenter movement A worldwide movement: China, India, Mexico…. “ I don’t know what the Internet is or how it works, but it is changing our lives”. A village chief in Cambodia

Three assumptions behind telecenters Information and communication are important in development ICTs enlarge their impact Shared access = a strategy

Our research project in India

Assessing community needs Qualitative data: 20 focus groups Quantitative data: survey (N=750) Objectives of data collection: strategic value: project design and evaluation village awareness participation (telecenter steering committees)

Some information about our villages

The problem of content: why is it important? “Trying to get information from the Internet is like drinking from a firehose — you don’t even know what the source of the water is”.

What we found out regarding content WHAT type of content? Differences depending on gender, age and occupation Health Government Employment Agriculture Through what MEDIA?

Media use in villages studied

Socioeconomic differences in the use of information

WHEN? The right tempo of content

Content creation: the role of universities 1. Continual research: needs assessments 2. Own knowledge packaging 3. Packaging of information from external sources 4.Training of students in different aspects of ICT for development. 5. ICT training for community groups 6. Orient university officials and faculty to become opinion leaders in this area.

The issue of awareness: an example from India

How important are these services?

Raising awareness: the use of intermediaries “Too often projects assume motivation is present; too often it is not. In designing ICT systems within development projects it is critical to have an answer to the ‘Why should I?’ question for all stakeholders… Why should they learn ICT skills? Why should they access ICTs? Why should they use ICT-borne information?” Richard Heeks The role of the telecenter champion The role of volunteers

The issue of financial sustainability Creativity in income generation: Fees Contracts Shared access Membership fees The examples of Australia, Hungary and Bhutan. Still there is some controversy around this issue...

The controversy around financial sustainability “Soon we will be evaluating public libraries in terms of their sustainability, not in terms of the cultural and educational service that public libraries are set to provide. I believe telecenters should be a modern version of public libraries.” Alfonso Gumucio

What are we learning? Willingness to pay for services

Some conclusions A demand-creating project No field of dreams Information necessary but not enough

And many issues for discussion Are our projects contributing to equality of choices or are they favoring the already most advantaged sectors? In other words, are we widening the gap? Or are we maintaining a gap at a higher level? Are telecenter projects sustainable in the long term while providing affordable development communication services? What is the scalability of these pilot projects? Can THEY (the villagers) make it happen?

A final note “ People in the West tacitly assume that their model or practice of decision-making is universal… and it is not.” The Western model includes: Symptoms crystallized Underlying problem identified Evidence and information gathered Alternative courses of action evaluated Apply decision mechanism among alternative “For example, what if decisions are almost exclusively based on personal power? There is no need for information. And what if there are no resources beyond pure survival? There is no need for information.”

THANK YOU! Royal D. Colle Raul Roman