Alex Pentland, Juan Carlos Barahona

Abstract

Technology and innovation are the motors of economic and social advance in any society1 , and thus there are many efforts around the globe trying to bring the benefits of digital technology to underserved communities. Telecenters of different types are being installed everywhere, usually with a lot of attention at the beginning, but after a year or two they often start to show serious operational problems related with the lack of organizational and economic sustainability. This paper proposes a novel approach to integrating telecenters into rural communities, and shows preliminary results in a rural coffee-growing village.