Using Photo‐elicitation to Explore Social Representations of Community Multimedia Centers in Mozambique

Abstract

Ten Mozambican Community Multimedia Centers (CMCs) were investigated by analyzing Social Representations of users and staff members. Photo-elicitation, an underexplored methodological approach in the domain of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), was employed to conduct the study, and a three-step qualitative content analysis was performed on both visual and textual data. Results tend to confirm and build upon outcomes from the existing literature on Public Access Venues (PAVs). Local communities value these centers because they bring social recognition to people working or learning there. The venues are associated with a symbolism that extends from the social recognition of the individual to the development and social inclusion of the whole community, which, because of the presence of the venue, does not feel left behind. In this vein, the study also shows that the importance of CMCs is often not related to the newest technology available, but to the technology that reaches the most of the community. The study also highlights neglected dimensions of CMCs, such as the importance of the exterior appearance of the venue, and the perception of a switch in their nature from static centers funded by third parties towards more entrepreneurial-driven ones. The presented research also contributes to the ICT4D field by proposing a promising research protocol, which is able to elicit representations otherwise difficult to obtain. Keywords: Community Multimedia Center; Social Representation; Photo-elicitation; Telecenter; Community Radio; Mozambique. 1.INTRODUCTION Community Multimedia Centers (CMCs) are one of the numerous ways of providing access to information to all, as well as reducing the digital and development divides. The model of CMCs (UNESCO, 2004) combines the characteristics of a telecenter, a public access venue (PAV) where people can access a number of different Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services (usually computers, internet, fax, photocopy machines, etc.), and a community radio station, broadcasting in both the official national language and local languages; all managed by members of the community where it is located.In 2003, Mozambique was chosen for a scale-up phase of the CMCs program. This phase envisaged the creation of 20 new centers in two years and was projected to reach a total of at least 50 centers. The country, which at the end of the 1990s had already seen the appearance of both community radio stations and telecenters separately, was considered to be a promising field for the development of this model (UNESCO, 2004 (MCT, 2008). This article aims to inform academics, practitioners, and policy makers of local stakeholders' perceptions of CMCs in Mozambique and is grounded on the concern of understanding the contextual reality as an essential requisite to guarantee the impact and sustainability of ICT-based interventions for development (Brunello, 2010;Heeks, 2002;Irani et al., 2010;Kleine & Unwin, 2009;Tedre et al., 2006 (Moscovici, 1...

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