Informative ReadingContent Divide: New Challenge for Rural ICT Initiatives

Content Divide: New Challenge for Rural ICT Initiatives. Md. Shahid Uddin Akbar. International Federation for Information Processing newsletter. December 2006. Online January 2007. … The challenge to overcome the digital divide has been deepening in recent times in most developing countries. Significant initiatives have been planned and some activities have already been launched to bridge the digital divide. Most such initiatives are now facing the challenge of availability of local content, which is the key driver for any ICT for Development (ICT4D) initiative, especially for telecenter projects. The preferred language of the Internet is English, which most beneficiaries of telecenters are not familiar with. Besides, the content available on the net is not useful or relevant to the targeted users of telecenters. …