Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study examines the prospects and problems of Internet use and access in Africa, focusing on a profile of Internet café users in Uganda. The results from a survey of 188 Internet café users in the country’s capital city, Kampala, suggest that while initiatives such as cyber cafés have brought the Internet and ICT closer to more people in developing countries, the bad news is that these initiatives, especially when they are commercially based, may serve to increase the digital divide within poor countries.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Conversation Cafés are discussion groups held in public places (coffee shops, libraries, bookstores) where anyone can participate. Conversation Cafés enact a specific set of group processes that create the structure for group conversation and sharing. As such, the cafés provide places to study how structured group discussion creates committed group members. This ethnographic study examines the relationship between communication and commitment in Conversation Cafés. It explores how the Conversation Café process begets member commitment. This study does this by first considering in vivo codes, the ways that participants and group organizers characterize and make sense of the Conversation Café process. Second, the group process is analyzed in terms of the small group commitment model to demonstrate how “the process” begets ideological commitment. This qualitative case study broadens the understanding of group processes in non-decision-making groups by offering a thick description of how group processes can be used to create committed group members.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Telecentre initiatives run by non-profit agents are largely understood as critical access points for digital inclusion. By the same token internet or cyber cafés viewed merely as commercial sites fall outside the purview of non-profit initiatives promoting e-literacy. From a contextual study of ‘small’ internet cafés in urban and peri-urban Maharashtra, India, we report localization of information and communication technology (ICT).Here, internet technologies localize, find survival niches and in many cases, serve as initiation nodes for first time users. The paper introduces a variety of context specific and commercial immersions of ICT services as part of everyday commerce. We argue for-profit spaces like i-cafes equally contribute to digital immersion in ‘information poor’ contexts. ‘Non-developmental’ (read commercial) spaces successfully use ICTs, sustain businesses, generate regular clientele and adapt to local demand. Here, ICT technologies involve and initiate all those who access them at suitable and affordable prices. Can i-cafés do what telecentres supposedly do? In this effort and from a perspective of commercial adoption of ICTs we try to open up debates around telecentres as privileged sites of digital inclusion.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: With the rapid development of Internet technologies, the Internet users in China have greatly increased. It reached 162 million in 2007, accounting for seven times as many as that in 2000. The Internet usage in China was ranked number two among the “Top 10 Countries With The Highest Number Of Internet Users.” However, the Internet penetration rate is still low in China, i.e., about 12.3 percent. The majority of Chinese people do not have a personal computer at home. They use Internet Cafes to satisfy their needs for the access to the Cyberspace. Internet Café became an important part of online communication. In 2006, a quarter of Internet users in China were the customers of the Internet Café. On the other hand, Internet Café was seen a social problem because many teenagers spend tremendous hours in the Cafe without parents’ supervision. Although there are numerous studies on the Internet usage and Chinese government policy, Internet café remains a complex issue in China. This paper aims to conduct a meta-analysis of existing studies on Internet café in China, including the nature and management of Internet Café, the demographics of Internet Café users, the advantages and disadvantages of Internet Café, the Governmental policy-making, the impact of Internet Café on Chinese society, and the future development of Internet Café in China.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript