Bridging the digital divide: notes from the field: a case of joint production of information through kiosks

Slack, Frances and Rowley, Jennifer (2005) Bridging the digital divide: notes from the field: a case of joint production of information through kiosks. Comparative Technology Transfer and Society, 3 (3). pp. 264-266. ISSN 1542-0132

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Abstract

This paper examines the use of village-based Internet kiosks in rural India, known as e-chaupal. It describes the Indian Tobacco Company's (ITC) model of supply chain management as it wrestled with the problem of handling large numbers of farmers scattered across a wide geographical area. By providing farmers with access to both technology and information, ITC capitalized on the farmers' entrepreneurial spirit. The information helped them to run their businesses more successfully, and so ITC was able to enhance the quality of their product and the reliability of their supply chain. The issue of providing information and communication technology to rural environments is an important one in the context of information kiosks.