Access to Internet in developing countries crucial resource for connecting people to information

A recently concluded five-year, eight-country study has revealed that community access to computer and Internet technology is a crucial resource for connecting people to the information and skills they need in an increasingly digital world.

Araba Sey, Information School research assistant professor and lead investigator of the study said that many people in low and middle-income countries, including the underemployed, women, rural residents and other who are often marginalized, derive great benefits in such areas as education, employment and health when they use computers and the Internet at public access venues.

The detailed study was conducted in eight low and middle-income countries on three continents: Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Lithuania, Philippines and South Africa.

According to the study, public access venues were the only source of the Internet for one-third of users surveyed, and provided the first-ever computer contact for more than half of those users.

Forty percent of users surveyed said public access venues had been crucial to their development of computer skills, and half said the same of learning Internet skills.

More than half of the respondents said that their use of computers would decrease if public access venues were no longer available, and about half cited a lack of computer access as their main reason for using public venues.