{"content":[{"text":"Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 2012, 18(2): 364–387","bbox":{"left":0.119063,"top":0.056565,"width":0.595522,"height":0.019019}},{"text":"365","bbox":{"left":0.859577,"top":0.056462,"width":0.032962999999999965,"height":0.018021999999999996}},{"text":"1. Introduction","bbox":{"left":0.119048,"top":0.09138,"width":0.13719900000000002,"height":0.020750000000000005}},{"text":"Telecenters (places where shared access to information and communication technology (ICT) \n and IT enabled services are available) are considered a potential instrument for addressing \n the asymmetric information problem and the digital divide, and therefore as development \n enablers (Fillip, Foote 2007). The World Summit on Information Society held in 2003 recog- \n nized telecenters as a cost effective way of bringing the information revolution to developing \n countries, and thus endowed with the potential to empower the poor. There are instances of \n E-Government projects of this nature in some countries that have yielded significant positive \n gains for the poor (Bhatnagar 2009). \n The growing concern is that poor people, especially those in rural areas, have benefited very \n little from rapid economic growth. While the migration of the rural poor to urban areas has \n helped cater to urban requirements, it has accentuated urban poverty and migration related \n social problems. Asymmetric information coupled with poor skill sets are considered the \n root cause of the inability of the rural poor to take advantage of opportunities in the markets \n created by technology advancement and policy changes. Addressing the problem of asym- \n metric information is expected to empower the rural poor to take advantage of the market \n opportunities as well as overcome the skill set deficits in the long run and therefore enhances \n inclusiveness. This would also contribute to faster and more balanced growth of the economy. \n Last decade has also seen a marked increase in the number of projects in developing coun- \n tries that use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social, economic, and \n political development (Toyama et al. 2004). A large number of these projects aim at bringing \n the benefits of ICTs to communities where individual ownership of computers is low and \n use of the Internet is infrequent (Best, Kumar 2008). This trend illustrates the high and ever- \n increasing expectations placed on ICT in terms of bringing about improvement in quality \n of life, empowerment and economic development for the rural communities (Hosman, Fife \n 2008). The prevalent method of reaching out to rural areas in these projects has been telecent- \n ers (Heeks 2008) which provide shared public access, often intermediated by an operator, to \n information and communication technologies and services via computers and the Internet. \n Apart from many other areas, rural communities in Iran still depend on agriculture and \n small-scale trading for livelihoods. Through a telecenter, the community is able to access \n information resources on farming practices via access business information resources to \n expand their businesses. They use a local center as a communication platform for products \n and services. Through skills training services, telecenters help to build a skill base for local \n business. Traders place online business orders with urban suppliers. \n The idea behind these shared-access facilities is that while the goal of providing all \n households access to ICT, that is, universal service, is not possible for most people of the \n world, providing shared access is possible, particularly with the rapid evolution of technol- \n ogy. Through the use of Internet and mobile technology services, the communities are able \n to access social and economic services that could have been difficult without their presence. \n Telecenters have developed and offer services through social enterprising models that bal- \n ance between social aspects of the communities therefore offering economic empowerment \n opportunities to the rural population.","bbox":{"left":0.119048,"top":0.125444,"width":0.774214,"height":0.779025}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}