The TPOA Telecentre: A Community Sustainable Telecentre Architecture

Tan, Chong; Bala, Poline; Lau, Sei Ping; Wong, Siew Mooi

doi:10.14569/ijacsa.2020.0110824

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…In fact, to further mitigate the situations, the devises are designed to be self‐automated, their contents are synchronized virtually; and if the telecentre caretakers encounter any problems they can be remotely assisted in solving the issues. Four devices were innovated for the purpose: the quick restart mechanism, the self‐management portal guide, the self‐training platform and the remote access management devise (for details of these devises, see Tan, Bala, Lau, & Wong, 2020).…”

Section: Terrain Constraints and The Creation Of Remote Virtual Management Schemementioning

confidence: 99%

Digital inclusion of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: Remote virtual mechanism for usability of telecentres amongst indigenous peoples

Bala

Tan

2021

E J Info Sys Dev Countries

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Over the last decades, researchers and development practitioners have been experimenting with models, frameworks and devises to meet the needs of diverse users of information communication technologies. Turning to an ICT‐based community development known as the Telecentre Programme amongst Orang Asli, an indigenous people groups in Peninsular Malaysia, this paper describes why a remote virtual management devise was invented to encounter challenges related to rugged terrain constraints, which would have directly impacted the planning and the execution of programmes designed at the telecentres. This paper argues as a technological solution, the virtual remote management system has powered an ecosystem, which shored up the digital inclusion of the indigenous communities and in the process enabled the enhancement of local informational capabilities. To this end, it reduced their technological dependency on outsiders leading to the usability and sustainability of the telecentre for local capacity building and socioeconomic benefits for the disadvantage communities.

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Section: Terrain Constraints and The Creation Of Remote Virtual Management Schemementioning

confidence: 99%

Digital inclusion of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: Remote virtual mechanism for usability of telecentres amongst indigenous peoples

Bala

Tan

2021

E J Info Sys Dev Countries

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“…Lwoga and Chigona (2018) reported that in Tanzania, power outages were among the barriers that affected telecentres in the provision of information services to the people. Frequent power outages could easily affect the primary purpose of the telecentre as most of its services such as photocopy, printing, internet services and others are power dependent (Tan et al, 2020).…”

Section: Limited Space Within Telecentresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do people use telecentres in the age of mobile technologies? Answers from Malawi

Kapondera,

Mtambo

2023

E J Info Sys Dev Countries

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Telecentres provide access to Information and Communication Technonology (ICT) services to disadvantaged communities. With the coming of mobile technologies such as smartphones, some services that telecentres provide such as internet can easily be accessed through mobile technologies. This, therefore, questions the relevance of telecentres in the age of mobile technologies. Two main questions exist: are telecentres still relevant? If yes, why do people still use telecentres in the age of mobile technologies? This paper aims at answering these questions. It also discusses the challenges that users face in using telecentres. Qualitative data were collected from telecentre users and managers of two telecentres in Malawi through focus groups and interviews. Gioia methodology was used to analyze the data. The study reveals four main reasons why people still patronize telecentres: (i) to socialize with fellow users; and (ii) that it is cheaper to access services in the telecentre as compared to using smartphones for the same services; (iii) telecentres provide services compatible with users' needs such as library services and computers; (iv) and to attain ICT skills some of which are applied in using smartphones. However, users face numerous challenges such as limited space within telecentres and unreliable power. The study is valuable as it provides insights into why governments should continue investing in telecentres. It also comes at a right time when the government of Malawi plans to abandon the community telecentre model to adopt the school managed model that may limit the number of users thereby limiting the benefits of telecentres in the presence of mobile technologies.

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“…Recently, Telecentre Programme for Orang Asli (TPOA) in Sarawak, West Malaysia is a community-university based initiative in partnership with the Department of Orang Asli Development (JAKOA) is committed to develop community telecentre as a platform to enhance quality of life. TPOA also facing problems with internet connectivity and accessibility (UNIMAS, 2019;Chong et al;2020).…”

Section: The Telecentre Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sustainability of a Telecentre is the "Capacity to generate enough revenue from ICT enabled services to ensure continues existence in the community, fulfilling the socio-economic well-being of the society" (Niranjan M, 2009;Chong et al;2020). The problem related to this research is policy failure at the institutional capacity.…”

Section: Sustainability Concept Of Telecentresmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Sustainable Rural Telecentre Concept on Sustainability Pillars

Noor¹

2021

JSD

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Over the years, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become more relevant in today’s society. A telecentre is a community centre where people use, access and utilizes the benefits of the centre through the ICT-based services provided. This paper reviews rural telecentres in Malaysia. The roles and functions of telecentres are explained and discussed to analyze the question on sustainability. The ‘Just Transition’ is a recent and particular transition for rural telecentre to be sustained. Based on the qualitative analysis and review of telecentres’ sustainability, we found that some telecentres can be sustained while others could not. This is because of the impacts of economic, social, environmental and policy sustainability pillars on community telecentres in Malaysia. The review of this paper reveals findings obtained from in-depth interviews with telecentre managers and telecentres’ sustainability depends on natural resources, geographical location, social entrepreneurship, social capital, human resources (competency of leaders) and basic infrastructure. Therefore, future research should be focus on the roles of governance on resource utilization and implement effective public policy for telecentres’ sustainability.

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The TPOA Telecentre: A Community Sustainable Telecentre Architecture

Cited by 6 publications

References 10 publications

Digital inclusion of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: Remote virtual mechanism for usability of telecentres amongst indigenous peoples

Digital inclusion of the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: Remote virtual mechanism for usability of telecentres amongst indigenous peoples

Why do people use telecentres in the age of mobile technologies? Answers from Malawi

A Sustainable Rural Telecentre Concept on Sustainability Pillars

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