Open AccessLighting up the Dark: Telecenter Adoption in a Caribbean Agricultural Community
Author(s) -
Paola Prado
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the journal of community informatics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1712-4441
DOI - 10.15353/joci.v6i3.2541
Subject(s) - information and communications technology , agriculture , leverage (statistics) , prosperity , icts , solidarity , geography , economic growth , business , rural area , socioeconomics , political science , sociology , economics , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , politics , law
This study surveyed the residents of El Limón de Ocoa, a remote mountaintop agricultural community in the Dominican Republic, to examine how the community has integrated the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) since the establishment of a local telecenter in 1997. As the longest continuous-running independent telecenter in the Caribbean nation, this site provides a rich testing ground for the study of the impact of community-driven ICT adoption in under-privileged rural areas of the Western hemisphere. Analysis of survey data found that this remote agricultural community was able to leverage ICTs available at the telecenter in ways that promote social change, foster community prosperity, solidarity, and well-being.