PUBLIC ACCESS TO INFORMATION & ICTs PHASE II REPORT Bangladesh

Abstract

Public Access Information Venue came into lexicon in the backdrop of changing information and knowledge landscape followed by emergence of Internet in early 1990s. People started to behave differently in terms of accessing information knowledge. Communication pattern of citizens across the globe also started to evolve. For accessing knowledge and information, along with libraries, people started to access Internet. As it is not possible to buy all books and journals for an individual and the obvious choice is to visit library, similarly not everybody can afford a PC and Internet connection, thus cyber café has become people’s obvious choice for accessing knowledge and information. The difficulties in accessing computer and Internet were more severe for the citizens living in developing countries. Furthermore, these difficulties were multiplied for people living in non‐urban areas. Thus, new choice emerged for them in form of “Telecenter”. As a whole the information and knowledge access landscape changed dramatically during last one and half decade. This study is an attempt to investigate all types of public access venues, including traditional libraries.