Microsoft Research Labs, India

In this 10-page document, the author reports preliminary findings from an on-going ethnographic study of 10 urban and peri-urban internet cafes in Mumbai, Surat, and Alibag, India, and 12 internet kiosks in rural western India, in order to raise debate about " usage for 'development' and 'commerce' as "mutually exclusive social processes and ideologies." The opening questions and debates for framing the research discussion include questioning whether the conceptualisation and discourse of information and communication technology (ICT) for development is placing it at odds with commercial ICT development and whether the national digital inclusion project can engage with "market impulses while driving development initiatives" and extend the national role in commercial spaces as they become "important nodes for entrenching ...technologies."

The author first explains the history of the national intention to use technology as a platform for development and the rapidly increasing use of technology, particularly mobile telefony, throughout India, and then discusses findings from the urban/peri-urban internet cafes. As stated here, they are commercial small business licensed much as "fast food joints" are licensed and appear to maintain themselves chiefly through user networked gaming, chat room use, and stock trading. The author points out that there is little interest in this environment for promotion of ICT for development.

The second location of study, the 12 rural kiosks exist along with as many as 150 such development projects across India. The author reports that these lack consistent infrastructure, maintenance, and attention to the institutional and practical contexts of the use of technology, an example of which is low usage of development-oriented services, such as e-agriculture. Not only are frequent power outages a barrier (one report detailed an ICT training venue that ran its own generator in order to have consistency of electricity during classes), but also insufficient training for repairs and maintenance is a problem in keeping computers functional and online. (Most urban cafe owners had internet technology (IT) degrees, giving them the training to support their maintenance needs.) In rural areas, acquiring these skills requires a break from the traditional intra-familial line of passing on skills and requires financing an education that is beyond the means of many in rural India.

A discussion of the closing of a number of development project-driven rural kiosks due to the frustrations of infrastructure, maintenance, and mixed local interest, frames the question of the future direction of government, non-governmental organisation (NGO), and private sector development initiatives. The author seeks to "highlight commercial transactions in public and shared cyber spaces that take specific, context-related forms" arguing that ICT planning for development ought to address a broader spectrum of rural needs, looking to the commercial context as an indicator of possible future directions. For example, some kiosk operators now generate profit from making custom digitally manipulated photos for customers; some are used almost exclusively as chat rooms (primarily by men). Others combine computer sales and service with cafes to survive economically, or their cafes become investment markets via online stock trading.

In conclusion, the paper urges contextual adoption of ICTs and suggests that the government look at how to augment the business models that survive by adaptation and look to licensing and promotion that might aid further business development in ICT.