Papers on ICT, Telecenters and Development

Information and communication technologies as a part of development programs have been around for many years. The Department of Communication pioneered in the use of simple audo cassettes in rural development as early as 1970, and, of course, many from Asia to Latin America used radio, television, filmstrips and publications before and since that time to reach people with development messages. With the popularization of computers in the 1980s and the Internet in the 1990s, communication in development added a new dimension. The last decade of the 20th century triggered widespread efforts to explore the potential and the implications of these newer digital technologies. During the past five years, Cornell faculty members and students have written papers, manuals, and theses about different aspects of this new ICT age, which, in the development context, is closely associated with the "digital divide." Among those papers are the following which are available in their full text by clicking on the titles.

Please note that these documents are in Microsoft® Word format.

Papers on ICT, Telecenters and Development: eReadiness and African Universities, an updated version of a paper originally presented at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association, New Orleans, November 2004. It suggests how universities in Africa can get prepared to function effectively in the Internet environment, especially in reaching outside of university walls to become more relevant to communities around them. (R. D. Colle).

Memo to Telecenter Planners, the keynote address for Chinese Taipei's Telecenters Workshop at the APEC-TEL 30 Conference, Singapore, September 2004. The paper offers a list of steps that officials planning telecenter projects may need to put on their "to do" list. (R. D. Colle).

Mobilizing Digital Resource s for Social Change and Development, an updated version of a paper prepared for the International Research Foundation for Development World Forum 2005 Conference “Digital Divide, Global Development and the Information Society, La Marsa, Tunisia, November 14-16, 2005. It focuses on the applications of information and communication technologies, and especially the Internet, in supporting agriculture and rural development. (R. D. Colle).

Creating a Participatory Telecenter Enterprise, prepared for the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Barcelona, Spain, July 2002. This paper looks at the obstacles to community participation in telecenter operations, and it suggests some approaches that have the potential to increase participation, especially that of women. (Raul Roman and R. D. Colle)

Content for ICT Initiatives, prepared for the International Congress of Information's conference on information, knowledge and society, challenges of a new era, Havana, Cuba, April 2002. The paper identifies and discusses a variety of initiatives taking place that would remedy the worldwide problem of providing relevant, accurate, localized and practical information for ICT initiatives designed to promote social change and community development. (R.D. Colle and Raul Roman)

Themes and Issues in Telecentre Sustainability, prepared for the Working Paper Series on Development Informatics of the Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, UK, January 2002). The paper identifies ten themes that need to be considered in considering measures to promote the sustaibility of telecenters. (Raul Roman and R. D. Colle)

Challenges in the Telecenter Movement, prepared for the International Communication Association and International Association of Media and Communication Research Conference on the Digital Divide, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, November 2001. The paper examines three challenges: content development for telecenters, research to support decision-making, and community awareness of telecenter potential. (R. D. Colle and Raul Roman).