Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy and E-Development Projects in Thailand: The Impact on Grassroots and Virtual Public Sphere

ICT POLICY E- DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IMPACT ON GRASSROOTS AND VIRTUAL PUBLIC SPHERE Page 2

Page 3 Introduction  New ICTs promise a myriad of benefits  The World Bank has launched a policy on Information and Communication Technology  2 main programs supported by the World Bank are ̔ e-Readiness ̕ and ̔ Country Gateways ̕ which initiatives of InforDev.

E-Readiness Page 4  An assessment of a country’s status regarding ICT infrastructure  Includes the accessibility of ICT to the population, the suitability of the policy environment for ICT effectiveness, and country’s everyday use of ICT.

Country Gateways Program Page 5  Purpose 1)To provide country level information and resources, and promote local content development and knowledge sharing 2)Provides e-government, e-business, and e-learning 3)Contribute to better connectivity and use of ICT

Page 6 ICT Policy in Thailand  To cooperate with public and private sectors in implementing projects to apply ICT for poverty reduction in Thailand  Most projects are involved with the ICT application for community development

ICT Policy in Thailand (IT 2000) Page 7

Page 8 ICT Policy in Thailand (IT 2010)

Page 9 1) E-education School Net 2) E-commerce Community Access Telecentres and Data Warehouse for Community Products 3) E-government Tambon Net E-Development in Thailand e-Thailand Project

1) E-education-School Net Page 10 Objectives: 1.To provide Internet access for schools 2.To provide opportunities access to the world’s information and knowledge resources 3.To reduce the gap in education quality between schools in urban and rural areas

1) E-education-School Net Page 11

Microsoft Thailand Partners in Learning Here comes your footer  Page 12

Page 13 2) E-commerce Telecenters are operated by monks/temples, schools, NGO ’ s offices, post offices, and Tambons offices. An initiative to bridge the digital divide in local community

2) E-Commerce for Rural Development Page 14

3) E-government Page 15 System developed to monitor readiness for e-government development

SEE System Page 16 Online Survey System

SEE System Monitoring and Evaluation System Page 17

3) E-government Page 18 Thai Tambon Net

3) E-government Page 19 Products with One Tambon One Product (OTOP) 5-star Logo

3) E-government Thai Tambon Net Page 20

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Page 22 Virtual Public Sphere

Page 23 Organization Launched Telecentres Projects in Thailand

 To explain the Non-govenment Organisation‘s roles in terms of promoting CMC in rural community and the feedback of people to create a virtual public sphere Page 24  Observation: Attended the activities  Focus group: Interview 16 people at Lahansai Information Technology Centre and observed the users at the telecentre  Questionnaire Objectives Method

Page 25 Findings Lahansai Information Technology Usage  Propose of use 1.Collect information of local business groups for the government 2.Typing reports and local business data 3.Sending 4.Search via Internet 5.Send Fax 6.Scans photo  User 1.Local scholars and the officers of telecentres 2.Children and educated people 3.Foreigners and tourists

Page 26  Telecentre is not able to attract the local adult people in communities and people living nearby.  The knowledge gap is still the main obstacle to develop IT for local people.  Most members of Lahansai Saving for Production Group are not able to use Internet although Community Organizations Dev. Institute (CODI) and Burirum Teaching College trained them.  E-commerce has not occurred in the society.  ICT seems to save local business data rather than exchanging information between the business groups. Discussion

Page 27 Recommendation Foster the community awareness Make telecentres content relevant Design and execute effective training programs Plan for long- term sustainability

Page 28  Thai telecentres are still developing to connect rural communities with information and resources beyond their geographic boundaries, encouraging information dissemination, information exchange and communication.  Comparing to the mainstream media, the new media may not widely popular in some rural communities and the grassroots.  Both mainstream media and new media may not disseminate the information to the grassroots effectively. Conclusion

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