Telecenters for the Future in Tea Estates of Sri Lanka
This paper reports on a study conducted at one of the Sri Lankan tea estate districts, exploring the present day status of telecenters to examine how they have succeeded in meeting the initial high expectations attached to them. During a field study, two
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Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden {sirkku,thomasw,ranil,mozelius}@dsv.su.se
Abstract. This paper reports on a study conducted at one of the Sri Lankan tea estate districts, exploring the present day status of telecenters to examine how they have succeeded in meeting the initial high expectations attached to them. During a field study, two major types of telecenters have been examined through observations, interviews and document analysis. Our findings suggest that the challenges of the initiation phase still prevail. The hopes are placed on the younger generation, as they are regarded as those who can benefit from the ICTs and thus contribute to the development of the remote communities of tea estates. In the concluding discussion, we advocate for the possibilities of co-designing new services that might help to transform the telecenters to meet the needs and requirements of the tea estate communities of today and tomorrow. Keywords: Digital divide · Education · Telecenters · Tea estate areas · Accessibility · Sustainability · ICT literacy · Community development · Civic services
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Introduction
This paper reports on a study conducted in one of the Sri Lankan tea estate areas, Nuwara Eliya, and discusses the present-day telecenter situation. During the field study, two major types of telecenter arrangements were identified: the government initiated Nena‐ sala telecenters, and the e-kiosk type community centers run by the Thondaman Foun‐ dation connected to the Ceylon Workers’ Congress. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse the major telecenter models that exist today, and discuss the poten‐ tial and challenges of these to provide e-services to their communities. 1.1 About the Telecenter Movement The telecenter movement has its origins in Scandinavia and the United States, where telecenters were established in the 1980s in an effort to provide access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), particularly in rural areas where the access to the new technology was limited [1]. Telecenters have many names and many different forms depending on where and by whom they have been established. In general terms, telecenters can be defined as phys‐ ical places which facilitate public access to ICTs, especially to the Internet, and thus
© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2016 Published by Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016. All Rights Reserved F.J. Mata and A. Pont (Eds.): WITFOR 2016, IFIP AICT 481, pp. 121–131, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-44447-5_12
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benefit educational, personal, social, and economic development [2]. Telecenters have varying models for administration and funding. They can be run and financed by NGOs, government, international organizations, development banks, foreign assistance agen‐ cies, private companies and individual entrepreneurs [3]. Despite the various names – telecenters, e-kiosks, and Internet cafés – the common denominator is the aim to bring ICTs to the in
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