The preceding description of a Community Technology Center in rural Nigeria which will be named “Televillage Center” is a conceptualized work waiting to be developed. However, the impact of information and communication technology on communities is not a work of fiction. There have been many examples in recent years of the applications of the distance-shrinking effects of telecommunications and computer technology. These technologies and developments have been used in the United States and other parts of the world as an aid to economic or community development in rural areas. In particular, recent years have seen the development of many forms of local and regional centers intended to facilitate the use of computers and telecommunications. There are few standard terms for these centers, but "telecenters" is a very general term that can be used to refer to them.
The community technology center is a particular kind of telecenter, and represents an effort to bring together the different functions of telecommunications and computer technologies in locations where there are barriers to the successful adoption of these technologies by any single user or group of users. Rural areas and depressed urban neighbourhoods are two examples. Community technology centers are so young as a concept that they are the subject of only a relatively small amount of analysis, and there are no community technology centers at this time in rural Nigeria.
A rural community technology center, generally, is a building, office space or collection of offices in a central location within a rural community or region equipped with computer and telecommunication equipment and services superior to those that the users generally have themselves. These are shared by a number of users such as businesses, government entities, schools, and community members. It may or may not have additional equipment and services associated with it. It provides hardware, software, and support to a group of individuals and organizations that, alone, might find them unavailable, difficult to understand, or more expensive. Just a few of their possible uses are small-business technology cooperatives, remote work sites, government service sites, and education centers.
The community technology center is a young concept, but one with considerable promise. This project explores the community technology center concept and develops an understanding of them, especially rural ones: What are they? What are they like? What roles might they play in a rural community? Where have there been efforts to develop things like community technology centers? How have they developed in some locations, and how might they develop in other locations? What functions does communication and information technology perform for various user groups in rural Nigeria? What functions might a community technology center perform for them? What is the telecommunications network context in Nigeria?
The overall economy is becoming more and more based on services and information. Telecommunications and computer technologies have the ability to lessen the importance of distance in the processing of information and the provision of certain services. The potential for rural communities to lag seriously behind in the spread of a new infrastructure is real. For example, in 1999 rural Nigeria had less than five percent electrical service coverage, at a time when much of Europe and New Zealand had near universal service (Ayomi 2011). Rural communities also have special challenges that these technologies have the potential to ease. Their more dispersed population can make many forms of interaction more difficult; they are also more isolated (Kimel 1994). (This isolation can be simply the long commutes in an exurban region or the greater isolation of other rural regions.) In the past, many rural regions unserved by electrical power banded together to form rural electric cooperatives (Cisler 1994, 2). Community technology centers and related telecenters have been proposed by some and implemented by others as a way of overcoming the challenges presented by new technology and rural communities. In a sense, they are the new rural information infrastructure cooperatives.
The community technology center addresses the communication and information technology needs of rural regions. Rural regions face special challenges when they try to adopt information and communication technology. They lack economies of scale because of their smaller population size, and they generally have a smaller base of human and technological resources upon which to draw (Kimel 1994). There are many possible ways to define rural. The Center for Rural Nigeria has found the population density of towns to be a useful indicator of rurality. It is a relatively uncomplicated measure and accounts for the wide differences in the areas of towns in Nigeria.
The word "community" is used here on purpose for its vagueness. This examination does not rule out the possibility that a rural community technology center could serve communities on a variety of different scales and in a variety of different forms. "Community" is also used here for another reason. In contrast to years past, the physical isolation of rural places is more associated with social isolation than social cohesion (Cisler 1994, 5).
To address this challenge in Nigeria, The World for World Organisation an Italian based not for profit organisation which operates in Italy and internationally will work with local government officials in Nigeria and donor development organisations for the establishment of a community technology center (CTC) that will be called Televillage Center.
The Community Technology Centers will offer access to computers and other technology both for disadvantaged students and adults. It will give kids and teenagers a place to socialize and participate in meaningful after school activities. It will serve youth and adults, and sponsors everything from poetry readings to tennis lessons and basket ball. There will be classes, team sports, movies and plays offered onsite at the centers.
Televillage will attempt to transform today’s pilot efforts for ICT education into a comprehensive and efficient model carried out by strong partnerships. By employing such models ICT solutions could be delivered at costs that are potentially five to 10 times less expensive than current approaches.
“If we are to bridge the Digital Divide, we must match the powerful new tools of development with the people who need them most”, said Secretary-General Kofi Annan. “The Global e-School and Community Initiative does just that, and has the potential not only to improve education, but also to empower people, strengthen governance, open up new markets and galvanize our efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.”
The distinctive feature of Televillage is that it does not limit its impact to improving education through the use of ICT. It goes further and aims to use the strengthened education infrastructure to empower local communities, by facilitating their access to global and local information and knowledge. This will significantly strengthen their capacity to benefit from e-health, e-commerce, e-government, e-democracy and all other empowerment tools that ICTs bring about.
The first states that will use the Televillage approach are Kaduna, Delta in Nigeria. Local governments will bring together all states, regional and local stakeholders in education to create an efficient, comprehensive system for delivering education through ICT. Based on this system, the international Televillage coalition will garner international services needed for implementing the system.
National processes in the two pilot states have already started. The project in Jaba local government area in Nigeria has thus far come the furthest: consultations have been held, a model has been agreed upon and implementation of the model is about to start.
“This innovative partnership can help millions of children and young people throughout the developing world to improve their lives”, Mr. Annan said. “After all, while education unlocks the door to development, increasingly it is information technologies that can unlock the door to education”.