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UESUGI Shiro
Department Matsuyama University Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business Administration Position Professor |
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| Publication Date | 2007/08 |
| Type | |
| Peer Review | With peer review |
| Title | A Case Study from ICT Experimental Project in Rural Japan |
| Contribution Type | |
| Journal | International Telecommunications Society Africa-Asia-Australasia Regional Conference Papers |
| Publisher | International Telecommunications Society |
| Details | This paper presents a case study of a rural DIY (Do It Yourself!) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) project in a Japanese depopulated rural community. The paper consists of two parts. First, an illustration about the technology which enables the project is presented together with policy considerations about why such a technology must have been deployed. Then, analysis about the result from questionnaire surveys and hearing investigations are presented.
In order to make sure sustainable development of rural ICT, which is the key to enable Economic Development, it is essential to involve resident's participation. We constructed a test-bed DIY project in a rural community of Japan in 2004, and conducted surveys in 2004 and 2006 in order to identify resident's needs, awareness about ICT, grasp information literacy level, and attitude toward the acceptance of ICT. Also, an individual hearing is performed to look at qualitative side of resident's perceptions. As a conclusion, the resident's attitude in general was found indifferent as far as the statistical significance is concerned. However, insights from individual hearings presented some useful factors about how to tackle digital divide including usefulness of DIY in ICT. |