Telematics and Informatics 28 (2011) 204–214

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Telematics and Informatics

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate / te le

The challenge of e-participation in the digital city: Exploringgenerational influences among community telecentre users

Arlene Bailey a,⇑, Ojelanki Ngwenyama b

a Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaicab Institute for Innovation and Technology Management, Ryerson University, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 26 April 2009Received in revised form 24 August 2010Accepted 14 September 2010Available online 21 September 2010

Keywords:TelecentresCommunity informaticse-ParticipationVirtual communitiese-GovernmentDigital cities

0736-5853/$ - see front matter � 2010 Elsevier Ltddoi:10.1016/j.tele.2010.09.004

⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 (876) 977 0315.E-mail addresses: arlene.bailey@uwimona.edu.jm

a b s t r a c t

A primary challenge for the development of e-government and the digital city is participa-tion by low-income, older and technology-challenged citizens. This paper reports on therole of inter-generational interactions in community telecentres in facilitating low-income,older and technology-challenged citizens in gaining access and using digital city infrastruc-ture. Our research also finds that virtual communities are playing a role in supporting e-participation among older, technology-challenged citizens. We examine the influenceand interaction of members of offline communities, who use telecentres, on virtual com-munity participation. These communities and telecentres can provide support for the pro-vision of e-services and the development of the digital city. We explore these issues basedon empirical field research in community-based telecentres in a developing country. Inter-generational interactions are explored through an analysis using social networks, socialidentity and social representations theories.

� 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

As countries work towards implementing e-government initiatives and developing digital cities, there is an increasingfocus on access, usage and e-participation at the community level. The term ‘e-participation’ is used in this paper with awider meaning, and involves the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for supporting communicationand interaction of individuals with other individuals, communities, and public authorities. This reflects the objectives of e-participation to support and enhance participation of a wider audience (Loukis et al., 2009; Macintosh, 2004; OECD, 2003).One of the challenges to the development of e-participation is the inclusion of low-income, older and technology-challengedcitizens. Awareness and usage of information and communication technologies are important in helping to facilitate socialand digital inclusion among older citizens (Morris, 2007; Olphert et al., 2005). Proponents of e-government and digital cityinitiatives are recognizing that concerted efforts must be made to overcome the digital divide if all citizens are to have theopportunity of participation (Barzilai-Nahon and Scholl, 2007; Odendaal, 2006). In conceptualizing digital cities, e-participa-tion and various forms of community networks are critical elements in the realization of the digital city (Day, 2002; Ishida,2002). The challenges of accessibility, usage and low literacy levels within different groups of society must be addressed ifthe digital city is to be successful (Loukis et al., 2009; Scholl et al., 2009). e-Participation is the basis by which citizens willinteract, share information, discuss issues and help formulate policy in digital cities (Barzilai-Nahon and Scholl, 2007). Thesuccess of telecentres in providing access to digital culture (internet, e-commerce, virtual communities, etc.) to a wide crosssection of society could be instructive in designing modalities of interaction in digital cities (Kumar and Best, 2006). Given

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(A. Bailey), Ojelanki@ryerson.ca (O. Ngwenyama).

A. Bailey, O. Ngwenyama / Telematics and Informatics 28 (2011) 204–214 205

the imperative of e-participation in the digital city, more research on how various ICTs can support citizen participation inthe digital city is needed (Loukis et al., 2007). Investigations of the different modalities of e-participation could help in devel-oping a knowledge base about strategies to improve e-participation (Phang and Kankanhalli, 2007; Tambouris et al., 2007). Arange of mechanisms for e-participation have been suggested such as virtual communities and telecentres (Maciel et al.,2009; Gurstein 2003; Ridings et al., 2002). Virtual communities are viewed as modalities to facilitate dialogue between cit-izens and government (Maciel et al., 2009; OECD, 2003), and to promote e-government, e-participation and e-democracy.However there may be issues or barriers that inhibit low-income, older or technology-challenged persons participating invirtual communities (Komito, 2007).

Primary access points to the Internet in developing countries and in low income areas in developed countries are telecen-tres (Colle, 2000; Middleton, 2003). Telecentres exist in a variety of forms, such as, community access points, communitytechnology centres, cybercentres and community multimedia centres (Gurstein 2003). They are typically hosted by commu-nity-based organizations and used by local residents. While telecentres play a unique role in facilitating digital and socialinclusion in the information society they face many challenges (Ferlander and Timms, 2006). Some of these challengesare finding appropriate mechanisms for knowledge and information sharing, social interaction, collaboration, and e-govern-ment or business-related telecentre use by the local community (Colle, 2000; Qureshi et al., 2007). Knowledge on the variousways of improving access to the Internet and digital city is still emerging and more research is needed (Bailey and Ngweny-ama, 2009; Gomez et al., 2009; Middleton, 2003). There is growing acknowledgment that if we are to achieve universal ac-cess in the digital city more research is needed to understand the needs of older persons’ and members of excluded groupsfor support in understanding and using ICTs (Foth and Podkalicka, 2007; Morris 2007; Sourbati, 2009; White and Weatherall,2000). Research is needed on a range of issues, such as attitudes, e-literacy, user experience, interface design, and social sup-port in the use of ICT in our emerging digital culture (Aula, 2005; Hernandez-Encuentra et al., 2009; Godfrey and Johnson,2009; Morris 2007; Selwyn, 2005).

This paper focuses on the role that inter-generational interactions in telecentres play in facilitating participation of olderadults in low income communities. The paper aims to contribute to knowledge on e-participation in the digital city via anexploration of how inter-generational interactions in the use of ICTs enable older adults to achieve better access to ICTs. Weare specifically interested in understanding how ‘collective use practices’ and inter-generational interaction in Internet usecan contribute to a higher level of inclusion of older adults in digital culture. Specifically we want to know: What is the influ-ence of social interactions among different generations of telecentre users on virtual community participation? We explorethis question via field studies of social interactions in four telecentres in low income communities in Jamaica.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. First, we review the literature relating to e-participation, virtual com-munities and telecentres, followed by a description of the research method and context. Empirical observations are then pre-sented, and the findings are discussed highlighting themes which have emerged from the research. The conclusions arepresented in the final section of the paper.

2. Related previous research

An examination of the literature reveals some of the benefits that can be derived for offline community development fromparticipation in virtual communities. Much of the literature associated with the relationship between telecentres and virtualcommunities focuses on community computer networks. Reilly and Gomez (2001) describe the use of the Telecentros virtualcommunity in building an effective and collaborative evaluation methodology for a telecentre project in Latin America andthe Caribbean. This approach of using a virtual community was seen as a way to enhance cooperation and participationamong community members through the development of a network of telecentres (Menou et al., 2004). Williamson(2003) argues that local community leaders are usually cognizant of the benefits of the Internet, including being aware ofits potential for circulating information, communicating with others and research. She notes that a physical telecentre spacecan provide greater community participation both online and offline.

In this regard it is argued that further research is needed to explore the use of community informatics in supporting thedevelopment of virtual communities (Lee et al., 2002). This can be beneficial both to offline and online community develop-ment, and Lee et al. (2002) note that it can enhance knowledge sharing and strengthen relationships in communities. Fur-ther, Wagner et al. (2003) argue that virtual communities provide one of the most appropriate tools to facilitate knowledgemanagement in developing countries, and can be applied to the sharing of e-government services. The use of virtual com-munities is presented as an alternative to more complex, less affordable enterprise systems which organizations in develop-ing countries may not be able to fund. They also highlight the ease of use and manageability of virtual communities, based onthe various technologies on which they can be built.

There are a variety of types of virtual communities which reflect and are based on the diversity of purposes for which theyare used and the range of forms in which they are implemented. Armstrong and Hagel (1996) outline four types of virtualcommunities based on users’ needs – communities of interest, communities of transaction, communities of relationships andcommunities of fantasy. These categories include communities related to social networking, gaming, online learning andcommunities of practice. These can be implemented using various technologies and can take the form of e-mail groups,blogs, discussion forums or websites with networking features. Pratschke (2007) describes the use of virtual communitiesin facilitating discourse and interaction among community members as an alternative to less peaceful interactions that were

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occurring in the offline world. The project provided new ways to enhance and extend community interaction both in thephysical and virtual communities. Some projects merge the offline and online communities via community networks whichresidents access from home (Gaved and Mulholland, 2005).

An initial step towards participation in a virtual community may involve the need to find some information. Ellen (2003)examines the use of telecentres by local communities to access electronic information and identifies factors that affect andenable use of the telecentres for this purpose. In a study of telecentres in Peru, Fernández-Maldonado (2001) finds that tele-centres were popular meeting points for young persons, and among this group of users, participating in online chat groupswas their most frequent online activity at the telecentre. In investigating usage patterns among local associations, she notesthat members of associations have tended to focus on individual use, and collaborative usage should increase once technicalskills and strategies are in place.

Gurstein (2004) argues that there can be a highly supportive relationship between community-based ICTs and externalvirtual communities. Granovetter (1973) highlights the impact of social networks on communication and community orga-nization. Based on a socio-technology perspective, Matei and Ball-Rokeach (2001) are guided by the idea that strong ties tooffline social and cultural groups will create online connections with local communities. They note that the higher the levelof involvement with offline communities, the greater the level of online interaction. Wellman et al. (2002) argue that theInternet supports the integration of online and offline community. Currently the need for this integration can be seen forexample, in the number of virtual communities in the Caribbean and developing countries that seek participation fromstakeholders in rural communities.

There is increasing interest in research on the interactions with ICTs in communities (Gaved and Anderson, 2006). Older,technology-challenged persons generally require more assistance and support in making use of online services (Sourbati,2009) and it is important to address this need (Chin and Hastings, 2006; Godfrey and Johnson, 2009). Community telecentrescan provide a supportive environment, providing training and support, or help through intermediaries (Bailey, 2009; Seinand Furuholt, 2009). This role is important in facilitating e-participation, since older persons form a large group of potentialusers of e-government services based on transactions they may have to do based on life-events (Haraldsen et al., 2004; Sour-bati, 2009). Barriers to e-participation by vulnerable groups need to be considered in the design of e-participation initiatives(Thomas, 2009). Dannecker et al. (2007) argue that with the increase in access to the Internet that has occurred over time, ithas become easier for persons to participate in virtual communities. In this regard, telecentres have played an important rolein facilitating increased access to the Internet, particularly in developing contexts. While research has shown that there islimited social interaction at other public access points such as cybercafés (Lee, 1999), telecentres have the potential to in-crease involvement in virtual communities by providing an environment conducive to design and participation, throughthe social interaction that may occur face-to-face at the telecentres. This would provide a setting which would enable par-ticipants to observe and consider each other’s actions as occurs in routine social interaction (Ngwenyama and Lee, 1997).Further, participation in these virtual communities may contribute to the development of the geographic community.

While the literature provides some insights into the use of virtual communities in community interactions in developingcountries, there is little research on the formation of virtual communities by these offline groups, the impact of participationin existing virtual communities and the influence of the characteristics of members of the offline community on participationin virtual communities. The review of the literature provides the platform on which to investigate and explore how membersof offline communities who utilize telecentres are involved in the design and participation in virtual communities and theimpact of this on their communities.

3. Research context and method

3.1. Research context

In the Caribbean, the role of telecentres and libraries has included the facilitation of e-government services (Durrant,2002). As governments move towards enabling citizens’ access and usage of these services, they have embarked on initia-tives to establish more public access locations such as telecentres and community access points (Durrant, 2006). In Jamaica,this initiative is part of the National ICT Strategy, which envisages the development of additional community access points tosupport the delivery and usage of e-government services in communities (Central Information Technology Office, 2007).

Four telecentres in Jamaica with varying characteristics were selected for this study. Two of the telecentres are located inrural areas, one in a semi-rural area and one in an urban area. Two of the telecentres were established by development agen-cies and two by the government through its programme for developing community access points.

The Eastern Peace Centre (EPC) is located in Kingston, the capital city and serves many communities that it is surroundedby. The EPC hosts one of the community access points established by the government as part of an e-government initiative topromote information sharing through the use of information and communication technologies. Having been operational for afew years, the EPC in reflecting on its accomplishments, highlights the success it has had with providing computer access tocommunity members and promoting usage through training. The Bluefields People’s Citizens Association (BPCA) is located inWestmoreland, and is a community-based organization which provides several services for members of the community. Thetelecentre hosted by the BPCA was funded by the Jamaica Sustainable Development Networking Programme (JSDNP), aprogramme established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Some of the focus areas of the BPCA are

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sustainable fishing practices, environmental preservation and community tourism. The telecentre is a physical location inthe community where information can be obtained in support of these activities. Another telecentre which was establishedby the JSDNP is one that is hosted by the Caribbean Coastal Area Management (CCAM) Foundation in Clarendon. It is the hubfor nine communities and works with these communities on community development activities such as training and envi-ronmental protection. The Jeffrey Town Farmers’ Association (JTFA) is located in the hills of St. Ann and provides support forcommunity development, particularly for economic activities of the farming community.

3.2. Research method

In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with telecentre operators and telecentre users who were membersof the geographic community hosting the telecentre, along with participant observation during site visits to the telecentres.The semi-structured interviews included questions related to the establishment and operational elements of the telecentres,the communities’ needs, the target users, and actual usage. A pilot survey was also conducted of 88 telecentre users at thefour telecentres. Questionnaires with both closed and open-ended questions were administered to users. The survey focusedon specific aspects of telecentre usage including use of e-services and support for e-business, online communication, com-munity participation and demographic information of the telecentre users. The findings from the interviews, participantobservation and questionnaires were used in conjunction with the literature to develop an understanding of the issues influ-encing virtual community design and participation by community members through the use of telecentres. The empiricalobservations are analyzed using social network, social identity and social representations theories.

4. Research findings

The multiple forms of telecentre implementations and the variety of forms of interaction that are possible through virtualcommunities suggests that there are various methods by which telecentres facilitate virtual community participation. Wepresent the findings from two perspectives, that of the telecentre coordinators, and that of telecentre users.

4.1. Telecentre coordinators’ perspective

One of the telecentres was established as a community multimedia centre and has a radio station as part of its operations.This telecentre encourages e-participation by community members for information sharing purposes. As an extension to thevirtual community, the telecentre offers ‘radio browsing’, where community members without access to the Internet can usetheir cellular phones to text in their questions, and have these questions answered on air. These questions and responses arealso included online for the benefit of the virtual community.

Another challenge to e-participation is the perceived cost-benefit by the users, and telecentre coordinators are working topromote awareness among community members, particularly the older generation. For example, in promoting online appli-cations for government services such as birth and marriage certificates, a coordinator noted that ‘‘The service charge at thetelecentres is basically equivalent to the taxi fare to go down to the office, and they can spend much less time getting it done online’’.

The potential of the use of the mobile phone to support e-participation has also been considered, and it is envisaged thatthe telecentres would play a supporting role in assisting and training the older generation. A coordinator noted that ‘‘Theolder folks can type in a phone number and call on their cell, but they come by the telecentre to add credit and let us show themhow to send text messages to their children abroad’’.

One of the telecentre coordinators noted that some of the older generation were aware of the potential of the use of theInternet at the telecentre to maintain contact with relatives and looked forward to their children sharing e-mails or photoswith them that had arrived via email. ‘‘They encourage their children to use the Internet, and they keep in touch with their fam-ilies who live overseas’’. It was also reported that the older generation would also be encouraged by their children living over-seas to go online: ‘‘sometimes their children abroad say to them, ‘Mummy, Daddy, I can send you an email you know, it’s cheaper’’.

Telecentre coordinators are now interested in utilizing the technologies housed at the telecentres to enhance and marketthe artistic and cultural talents that they have identified in the communities. Community members have displayed creativityand proficiency in the literary arts, music, art, and computer graphics. They are looking at the best way to promote theseactivities thereby providing economic benefits and opportunities for cultural and social integration for residents of the com-munity. They have been discussing the idea of establishing or joining a network or virtual community to provide support inaddressing the challenges faced by the community-based organizations. Factors that have been considered by the telecentrecoordinators include the design and management of the virtual community, security of content, and issues of governanceand collaboration. As one of the telecentre staff asked ‘‘How can we share our ideas and market our creativity online, withoutseeing one of the songs we wrote turn up in another language? We wouldn’t even know it is our lyrics! We’d like to be able to talk toother people around the world with similar interests, as well as promote our community’s products’’. As a CBO, they network onmany levels: among the communities they serve, with other organizations and government agencies that work in the com-munities on specific focus areas, and with other community access points. This raises the question of whether the virtualcommunity should facilitate a specific group or several or all of the groups that they network with. They were also consid-ering who should establish the virtual community. If, for example, a decision was made to design a virtual community for the

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community access points (CAPs), should it be created by the organization with overall responsibility for all the CAPs orshould a group of interested community members assume responsibility for the project? Some of the aspects being consid-ered included the availability of resources and expertise, and acceptance and support by the organizations participating inthe virtual community.

The telecentre coordinators are establishing websites and would like to increase outreach activities online. Virtual com-munities are seen as a way in which community members can interact with others locally and abroad to share informationand ideas. One of the telecentres which covers a number of communities highlights one of their goals as being able to net-work all participating groups electronically. These groups include the community association, telecentre and telecentre usersand the organizations in the community that use the telecentre. An international volunteer who works at the telecentremaintains a blog, on which diverse entries are posted related to the telecentre, the environment, family and friends and per-sonal interests. One of his entries was an appeal for resources for the telecentre, part of which stated ‘‘Help my organizationand the environment – Sitting in my co-worker’s desk is a bag filled with 15 or 20 ink cartridges. We try to do as much of our cor-respondence as possible through e-mail, but a lot of our fundraising efforts involves the printing and mailing of letters. Ink car-tridges are more expensive here than in the United States – where they are already pretty expensive – and there is no means ofrecycling old cartridges here, which means we spend a lot of money to create a lot of waste. My solution? Ink refill kits. Here iswhere you can help’’ (Colvin, 2007).

The telecentre operators participate in online communities related to community development and the environment. Atelecentre staff member stated ‘‘Some of the online communities are active, others are not. It usually depends on whether there isa project going on. We also communicate using mailing lists’’. They note that the residents are interested in using the telecentreto interact with other members of fishing communities that they have met abroad or who have visited their communities.

As a result of the online interactions at telecentres, spillover benefits have been observed including business opportuni-ties, older adults providing offline moderation to young people’s behaviour, and increased inter-generational interaction out-side of the telecentres. Telecentre staff pointed out additional benefits where after initially introducing young users to thetechnology, they often learned about new technology applications and gained new technology skills from interacting withthe younger users.

4.2. Telecentre users’ perspective

Our empirical observations and interviews with telecentre users indicated that young persons were enthusiastic partic-ipants in virtual communities with an emphasis on social networking such as Hi5, Facebook and MySpace. Persons theyinteracted with online included friends in their community and from school, as well as others that they met online. Friendssit together while they check the latest updates on their profiles on these virtual communities. The telecentre operatorsnoted that when the adolescents first visited the telecentres, they had to be taught how to use the computers and Internet.Within a short period of time, they were then showing the trainers and other adults how to participate in virtual commu-nities. It was observed that the adults at the telecentre would observe the young people interacting online and ask questionsabout particular friends online or events being discussed. This was illustrated for example, by an adult telecentre user, whoknew the group of young people at the telecentre and asked ‘‘What about your friends from. . .when are they coming to visit?’’The older community members and telecentre staff were both interested and cautious about the participation of the youngpeople in the online communities. They expressed concern about the amount of time being spent on social networking sites,and the potential dangers associated with meeting persons online, however they were interested in the activities, as re-flected by one adult who said ‘‘I joined their group this morning! They invited me and I joined’’.

One group of telecentre users told of their participation in virtual communities following a hurricane. The telecentre hadall utilities such as electricity, water and telecommunication services still in place after the hurricane, and members of thecommunity were able to participate in online discussions, post visual material such as photographs and iReports and updatefriends and relatives online on what had happened, how everyone had fared and the disaster relief supplies that wereneeded.

Older users of the telecentre were also interested in participating in virtual communities on health-related issues. As oneuser mentioned to a telecentre manager ‘‘There are so many of us in the community with some health problem or other, diabetes,high blood pressure, glaucoma; it would really be good to talk about it and share information with each other and with other peopleon the computer’’. Another community member indicated that the anonymity of online communication would enable com-munity members to discuss and acquire knowledge about illnesses they may be reluctant to talk about, such as HIV/AIDS.

Other telecentre users described their participation in online groups associated with their economic ventures. For exam-ple, one telecentre user was able to share knowledge on computer graphic design techniques, while another used social net-working to promote eco-tourism activities.

5. Discussion of findings

5.1. Generational influence

An analysis of the empirical observations reveals that there is a generational influence in the social interactions amongtelecentre users which impacts virtual community participation. A generation is defined as ‘an identifiable group that shares

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birth years, age location, and significant life events at critical developmental stages’ (Smola and Smutton, 2002; p. 364).While investigating the social interactions among telecentre users through interviews and participant observation, theresearchers found evidence of a generational effect. Further, an examination of the results of the pilot survey illustratesthe age distribution of telecentre users who are members of virtual communities. This distribution is shown in Table 1. Whilethe quantitative data shows that the majority (80.8%) of virtual community members are in the age group 16–25 years, thequalitative data provides insight into this occurrence and the interactions surrounding it.

The generational gap has been discussed in the literature as a potential disadvantage to the usage of ICTs for communitydevelopment. For example, Roman and Colle (2002) argue that generational differences can present a barrier to participation.They describe a case where a telecentre project had to provide separate locations for young people and adults to participatein activities, as each group was daunted by the presence of the other. However, researchers have found that there are ben-efits to be derived from inter-generational interaction associated with the use of technology, such as knowledge sharing andincreased understanding in interactions across generations (Caskey, 2003; Kolodinsky et al., 2002; McKay, 2005; Wright,2000). It has also been found that increased digital inclusion of the elderly can facilitate social inclusion (Ferlander and Tim-ms, 2006). While young people and students are more likely to explore and use new ICTs (Brown et al., 2006; Proenza et al.,2001), older persons and teachers tend to become interested in the new ICTs that they see the younger generation using (Paz,2004). One of the telecentre coordinators, in recognizing this, wrote and taught children a song about the computer, to thetune of a well-known children’s rhyme, which they could sing to their parents and teachers. It is envisaged that knowledgediffusion may occur as children pass on skills to parents, encouraging participation despite the generational divide (Samuel,2002). Shunnaq (2006) gives an example of this, where public access points provide a space for families to spend time to-gether, while also providing the opportunity to build other social relationships in the virtual world. In this regard, Parkinsonand Lauzon (2008) suggest that it may be useful for telecentres to include older persons in their target group. Moreover, therefocusing of approaches used to involve older adults in using ICTs has been advocated (Selwyn et al., 2003). For example,research has shown that parents may initially set out to bring their children to the telecentre and end up staying to use theservices (Bailey and Ngwenyama, 2009). This is especially important in the Caribbean context, since as Greenidge et al.(2005) articulate, many of the region’s senior citizens are the main caregivers in their role as grandparents while parentswork overseas, and they may have to be involved in their grandchildren’s use of technology. Further, these ICTs can facilitatemore frequent communication with those living abroad.

Telecentres, themselves, are recognizing the importance of inter-generational interactions and the benefits to the individ-uals and communities, as illustrated by a comment from one of the telecentre coordinators in an interview with a nationalnewspaper – ‘‘We provide computer training and try to create links and activities that will allow the youths to interact with theelders. I’m really glad that they are getting the opportunity to socialise and interact with the elders’’ (Reid, 2008). Additionally,telecentre staff and users indicated that ‘‘many of the volunteers are older persons, senior citizens’’. While it was noted that‘‘sometimes the senior citizens’ initiatives are not always relevant to the youth’’, telecentre staff members observed that ‘‘thecommitment of older persons provides a good example. The youth have embarked on trying to keep it [the telecentre] alive withthe help of older persons.’’

Given the potential for the generational gap to be a ‘social obstacle’ (Roman and Colle, 2002), it is useful to further exam-ine these interactions – how they manifest and the results of these interactions, so that telecentres can provide support toeach generation, and to the interactions between generations. We suggest that this phenomenon can benefit from closerexamination of the social networks and ties among the telecentre users using social identity theory and socialrepresentations.

5.2. Social identity

The key concepts of social identity theory are that individuals have different identities based on their group membershipsand the identity of these groups becomes a part of one’s own identity. Shared social identity may result in cooperation andinfluence as members interact based on the social categories they identify with (Ellemers et al., 1999). In the context of

Table 1Membership in Virtual Communities by Age Group.

Age Group Percentage of Telecentre Users

10 years and under –11–15 years 6.516–20 years 55.321–25 years 25.526–30 years 8.531–35 years 2.136–40 years –41–45 years –46–50 years 2.151 years and over –Total 100.0

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telecentre use, social categories that users identify with include groups differentiated by age, gender, community, technologyawareness and purposes for using technology. A sense of belonging may influence the adoption of an innovation (Chigonaand Licker, 2008) and participation in or learning new activities at a telecentre can impact social identity (Tacchi, 2005). Rid-ings and Gefen (2004) suggest that the factors which motivate persons to identify with offline communities may also be thefactors which influence participation in virtual communities. Our empirical observations show that generation influencestelecentre users’ identification with offline groups, where the users form their social identities based on age, level of tech-nology usage, community activities and social ties. Pfeil et al. (2008) note that older people tend to have a diverse network interms of age in their online interactions, while younger people generally have networks of similar age groups. This possiblyreflects their offline interactions.

An important contribution of these inter-generational interactions in the context of ICT use is shaping of new social iden-tities for new and older users of ICT. Initially, telecentre users identify with groups based on similarity in age and familiaritywith technology. But the inter-generational interactions opened new possibilities. The older adults were able construct newidentities in the digital culture: (a) they were proud of their interactions with children and grandchildren in other countries;(b) the older women used e-mail and the internet to cultivate and maintain strong ties with their grandchildren; (c) the oldermen seemed to use reports their interactions with the technology to bond with their peers in the local community. Some ofthe older adults also gained status in the local community for their apparent expertise in the use of the internet and email.

5.3. Social networks

Social identity is also closely related to social networks as Wellman (2001; p. 1) defines communities as ‘‘. . .networks ofinterpersonal ties that provide sociability, support, information, a sense of belonging, and social identity’’. Social networktheory has been important in the study of online and offline social networks. Given the increasing interest in social networksand their influence on community technologies, social network analysis presents ‘a promising new area for research on com-munity informatics’ (O’Neil, 2002; p. 80). Social network analysis provides a means of defining in a precise, formal way therelationships among social entities and the implications of the relationships (Wasserman and Faust, 1994). Observation ofinteractions among actors, and face-to-face interviews can provide data for modeling the social networks. The graph

TCAsst

TCMgr

TCUser6

TCUser5

TCUser1 ProjAsst TCUser2

TCUser3

TCUser4

Assists with VC use

Key

Moderates VC use

Interactions

Member of same VC

Invites VC participation

Affiliations

Observes VC use Discusses VC offline

Generation

Younger generation

Older generation

Fig. 1. Interactions offline and online at a telecentre.

Table 2Social Representations of Virtual Community Participation.

Mode Examples of Observations

Habitual behaviour Accompanying children to the telecentre and observing participation in online communitiesIndividual cognition Telecentre provides opportunity to interact onlineInformal

communicationDiscussions on sharing resources with other community members and communities

Formalcommunication

Letters being circulated about a conference on community access points, and the possibility of establishing a network ofcommunity access points

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theoretic notation is appropriate for defining the relationships in the form of nodes and ties (Wasserman and Faust, 1994).Through the data collected at the telecentres, we use social network analysis to identify and define the social ties amongtelecentre users.

An analysis of the relations among a group who gather at one of the telecentres regularly on Saturday afternoons revealedthat the relations reflect Borgatti’s (2004) and Wasserman and Faust’s (1994) typology including kinship, social and otherroles, interactions and affiliations. The social relations among telecentre staff and users evident in this scenario include kin-ship and other roles such as co-workers and friends. Affiliations such as attendance at the same school, living on the sameroad, and membership in the same community clubs also emerged in the social interactions. These social relations, whichwere influenced by users’ social identities, provided the platform for other interactions and affiliations to emerge fromthe offline community in virtual community participation. The interactions around virtual community participation areshown in Fig. 1. This graph is a directed graph with binary representations; if the relationship exists it is depicted.

For example, the telecentre manager (TCMgr) and one of the telecentre users (TCUser4), who are friends, invite partici-pation each other to participate in virtual communities; the telecentre manager discusses the formation of a community net-work, while TCUser4 invites participation on their MySpace page. As another example, TCUser6, who is the mother of 8-year-old TCUser5, keeps an eye on and moderates from offline his virtual community participation. This reflects some of the con-cerns being expressed by adults with regards to online social communities which are popular among youth (Cramer et al.,2007).

The way that this group comes to identify with digital culture can influence their e-participation in two aspects: (a) typeof participation- social, e-business, e-government, e-democracy, (b) the frequency and level of participation. Presently, whilethe youth in our study tended to be involved with social networking, they are less alienated from the technology and as suchhave fewer barriers to participation in the digital city.

5.4. Social representations

Having identified the social relations involved in the offline and online communities at telecentres, social representationstheory can be used to explore the meanings attributed to technologies by groups of telecentre users based on their socialnorms and identities. Research which uses social representations theory as a theoretical lens, examines the way in whicha group grounds its view of technology based on history and identity (Gal and Berente, 2008). It is best suited for the inves-tigation of natural groups facing a new situation that presents challenges (Bauer and Gaskell, 1999). In this regard, researchon telecentre users would benefit from the social representations perspective as the users are members of natural groupssuch as families, communities or social networks. Social representations facilitate communication among members of a com-munity through providing shared meanings and enabling interaction (Moscovici, 2001). Social representations relate to acommunity and are constructed by groups based on social interactions taking into account existing social identities, groupnorms, cultural traditions and shared goals (Gal and Berente, 2008; Wagner et al., 1999).

Generations may have distinctive social representations (Moscovici, 1984). We examine the social representations of theolder generation of telecentre users as it relates to their use of technology and participation in virtual communities. A keycomponent of constructing social representations is the process of anchoring and objectification of a social object. This en-ables the event or phenomenon to be perceived by the group. From our empirical observations, the older generation, whileinitially hesitant, eventually approached virtual community participation from the perspective of usefulness (e.g. informa-tion sharing on specific issues and communication support for community-related activities). They also shared supportfor the interaction on social networking sites with family and friends, however were initially less interested in meetingnew people through this medium unlike the younger generation. In Table 2 below we present some of the observationsof the modes in which social representations were manifested.

The habitual behaviour of the older generation accompanying children to the telecentre, as observed by the researchers,and captured in interviews (25% of telecentre users were caregivers for children using the telecentre, and of this group 65%accompanied the children to the telecentre), enabled the formation of social representations among the older generation.Their shared histories of communicating via other media, and the cultural norms of supervising children in their care, en-abled social interactions and the acquisition of knowledge on the potential of participating in online communities. Thiswas supported by informal communication while at the telecentre. Formal communication also played a role. For example,a letter that was sent to telecentres about a conference on community access points and the potential establishment of a

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network contributed to building the knowledge and collective imagery of virtual community participation. As one of thetelecentre stakeholders noted ‘‘It helped to be able to identify what it would be good to do as a group, and how a network oronline community could assist us. When you have a sense of community first, then it creates a need for technology to support it’’.

6. Conclusions and implications

This research has illustrated the importance of inter-generational interactions in mediating digital culture for olderadults. The inter-generational interactions benefit older adults with improved access to digital culture and strengthen socialties and knowledge sharing across generations. They also positively impact e-participation. Typically, older telecentre usersexpand their e-literacy skills by learning from the younger users. Much of the interaction between young people and olderadults in the telecentres involved the young people providing support to the older adults. We also found that the social tiesthat developed among older adults and youth in telecentres had positive spillover effects to the wider community. Theyoung users served not only as mediators of digital culture for older technology-challenged persons but as prospectors ofnew frontiers on the Internet and ICT applications (animation, design, etc.) that help expand the relevance of the telecentresto the communities.

It is important to point out how essential identity formation in the context of technology is to the realization of the digitalcity. The use of the Internet and e-mail by technology-challenged older adults within telecentres is a useful modality fortransitioning them to fuller participation in the digital city. Entry into digital culture via social uses can function as a bridgingmechanism to fuller e-citizenship and wider e-participation for older adults.

Our observations also show that these inter-generational interactions influence not only participation in virtual commu-nities, but impact other areas such as social cohesion and community development that are essential to developing digitalcities. There is recognition that these inter-generational interactions can have mutually beneficial impacts on individuals andcommunities.

As a result of recognizing the importance of inter-generational interactions, developed countries have embarked on pro-grammes to promote these forms of interaction (Hirshorn and Piering, 1999; Souza, 2003). Our observations show thatdeveloping these programmes at telecentres may be useful, particularly in a developing country context, and should be con-sidered in policies being formulated in the area of ICT for development and the digital city. The awareness of evolving tele-centre roles and need for matching core competencies (Bailey, 2009) will enable telecentre stakeholders to observe theinfluence of these interactions on social identities, which can be taken into account in designing telecentre programmesand spaces for optimal benefits. It will be useful for future research to examine whether these interactions result in higherparticipation in e-government and e-democracy.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the telecentre coordinators, staff, users and community members for their participation in thisresearch. We also thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

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