The Innovative Role of Telecenters in Rural Nepal
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Information, Communication and Social Networks: The Innovative Role of Telecenters in Rural Nepal Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Western Sydney Atma Ram Ghimire January 2012 Dedication To, My late mother Radha Devi Ghimire – For the life that I have My father Ganga Prasad Ghimire – For his deep faith in education and inspiration My wife Seeta – For her encouragement and support My grandson Amish – 2 years old, future knowledge Sage And To all the people and organisations working to improve the lives of rural poor through the use of the Internet in Nepal Acknowledgements I am indebted to many people for their inspiration, support and guidance without which this research was not possible at this late stage of my career. I would like to acknowledge their valuable contribution in completing this research. First of all, I would like to offer my heartfelt thanks to my supervisors Prof. Tim Turpin (Principal Supervisor) and Dr. Phillip Toner, who constantly encouraged me, engaged professionally with research process, guided, supported and made themselves ‘always available’. Thank you for promoting innovative concepts and critical thinking, bearing my awesome ideas and expressions and at times my perception of academic argument, especially Professor Tim for always putting things in positive perspective and Dr. Toner for his frank opinion and statements. I am especially grateful to Prof. Tim and Robyn offering peaceful and creative boatshed living at Scotland Island in completing my last stage of writing. I am thankful to University of Western Sydney for RTS, Tuition Scholarship (after a year), library and other resources, CINIS and Prof. Oscar Hauptman for inspirational and engaging environment and interaction. I would like to thank many people in Nepal, who helped during field research, group discussion and conference organization. I am thankful to all program owner institutions, NITC, HLCIT, NWP, READ, all 25 Telecenter managers, management committee members and users who supported me by participating in interviews and supported in many other ways. I am especially thankful to Mr. Mahabir Pun for his time, interview and suggestions. The most cordial thanks go to Biplav Man Singh and FNCCI for organising the conference in Kathmandu with Telecenter stakeholders. Finally, this research would not have started far less been completed without the encouragement and support from my wife Seeta and my family members Amar, Alka, Ashish, Anusha and Barsha. The special appreciations go to my sons Amar and Ashish for assisting me in the preparation of the final document. I should not forget to appreciate little Amish for letting me study instead of playing with him. I thank all other individuals, who have been part of this process directly or indirectly. My sincere thank you to all of you! Statement of Authentication The work presented in this thesis is, to the best of my Knowledge and belief, original except as acknowledgement in the text. I hereby declare that I have not submitted this material, either in full or part, for a degree at this or any other institutions. ...................................................... Signature Atma Ram Ghimire Table of Contents List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. viii List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. ix List of Participation in Events .................................................................................................... x List of Abbreviation .................................................................................................................... xi Appendices ................................................................................................................................. xiii Chapter 1 Research Case and Background ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Why Nepal? ........................................................................................................................ 3 1.3 The Technological Background: ...................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Defining ICT? ............................................................................................................. 6 1.3.2 ICT in Nepal ............................................................................................................... 6 1.4 What are Telecenters? ....................................................................................................... 7 1.5 The Core of the Research Problem ................................................................................ 9 1.6 Research Gaps .................................................................................................................. 13 1.7 Research Questions ......................................................................................................... 13 1.8 Research Design............................................................................................................... 14 1.9 The Analysis and Findings ............................................................................................. 15 1.10 Organization of the Thesis ........................................................................................... 17 Chapter 2 Conceptual and Empirical Issues .......................................................................... 22 2.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................... 22 2.2 ICT: An Enabling Technology for Driving Innovation ............................................ 22 2.2.1 ICT Investment and Productivity in Developed Economies ............................ 25 2.2.2 ICT Productivity and Social Return in Developing Economies ....................... 26 i 2.3 The Digital Divide and ICT4D ..................................................................................... 29 2.3.1 Disaggregating the Digital Divide .......................................................................... 33 2.4 The Internet as a Social Process .................................................................................... 39 2.4.1 The Emergence of the World Wide Web (WWW) ............................................. 42 2.4.2 Implications of the Internet for Developing Countries ..................................... 42 2.4.3 Diffusion and Use of the Internet in Developing Countries: The Telecenter Mechanism .......................................................................................................................... 45 2.4.4 Telecenters in Nepal ................................................................................................ 50 2.6 Assessing the Impact of Telecenters and Their Social Consequences .................... 64 2.5.1 Social Capital ............................................................................................................. 65 2.5.2 Trust ........................................................................................................................... 73 2.5.3 Openness Issues ....................................................................................................... 79 2.5.4 Absorptive Capacity ................................................................................................. 81 2.6 National Innovation System (NIS) ............................................................................... 86 2.7 A Framework for Analysis ............................................................................................. 87 2.8 Research Gaps and Pervasive Contradictions ............................................................. 92 Chapter 3 Location: Context of the Study ............................................................................. 94 3.1 Background ....................................................................................................................... 94 3.2 The Geographic Context ................................................................................................ 94 3.3 The Political Context ...................................................................................................... 95 3.5 The Economic Context .................................................................................................. 96 3.6 Education ........................................................................................................................ 103 3.7 The Caste and Linguistic Context ............................................................................... 104 ii 3.8 Information and Communication Technology in Nepal ......................................... 109 3.8.1 Legal, Regulatory and Institutional Framework ................................................. 109 3.8.2 ICT and Partner Organizations ............................................................................ 110 3.9 Telecommunications ..................................................................................................... 111 3.10 Telecenters and Policy Regime in Nepal .................................................................. 113 Chapter 4 Research Method ..................................................................................................