Village Knowledge Centre of Pondicherry.

This paper examines a project in India that aimed to empower the poorest of rural villages by giving them access to knowledge via networked ICT. The case discussed shows a model of success and the means by which seemingly intractable problems of technological complexity, network connectivity and user illiteracy have been overcome. The key factors to success were the following: the enabling experts are local; and the needs of the villages were carefully assessed and agreed upon by stakeholders before any technology was introduced. The success of the project was illustrated by its growth and developed over the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]