Lighting up the Dark: Telecenter Adoption in a Caribbean Agricultural Community

Abstract

This study surveyed the residents of El Limón de Ocoa, a remote mountaintop agricultural community in the Dominican Republic, to examine how the community has integrated the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) since the establishment of a local telecenter in 1997. As the longest continuous-running independent telecenter in the Caribbean nation, this site provides a rich testing ground for the study of the impact of community-driven ICT adoption in under-privileged rural areas of the Western hemisphere. Analysis of survey data found that this remote agricultural community was able to leverage ICTs available at the telecenter in ways that promote social change, foster community prosperity, solidarity, and well-being.