Measuring global public access to ICT: Landscape summary reports from 25 countries around the world

Abstract

This document contains a collection of short summary reports for each of the 25 countries included in the Public Access Landscape Study project conducted by the Technology & Social Change Group (TASCHA) at the University of Washington Information School. The Landscape Study examines how people around the world access and use information and computers in public settings such as public libraries, telecenters, and cybercafés. Understanding public access is particularly important in developing countries where there is often limited private access to information and communication technologies (ICT). This study covers a sample of 25 developing countries and over 250,000 public access venues. Local research teams surveyed over 25,000 people and conducted interviews and focus groups in order to develop a detailed picture of the public access ICT landscape in each country. TASCHA then collected, interpreted, and analyzed these detailed country-level results, and also conducted cross-country comparative analyses to uncover common themes, challenges, and opportunities.