Abstract
Purpose: Modern digital public spaces are evolving from being mostly the provider of ICT and internet connection to institutions that provide complex range of services and support for the community. With this shift in their focus new challenges are emerging, among others their sustainability.
Methodology/Approach: We build on and extend the methodology of Digital Cooperatives project. Within this project, survey on 59 digital public spaces from 12 EU countries was conducted. These digital public spaces were examined in 21 areas, some of them relating to their sustainability. We further analyse the sustainability issue of these digital public spaces.
Findings: We identified three main issues affecting sustainability of digital public spaces – budgeting, services and community. Digital public spaces mostly rely on public funding and have limited diversification of their funds, which increases a risk when one source of funding drops out. They also have to build a strong community of users, supporters, which will make use of their capacities and helps co-create new services and thus strengthen and improve the community itself.
Originality/Value of paper: Research in this paper is based on the collection of best practices from various EU countries in the field of digital public spaces. Recommendations based on these practices could help the creation of new, and in current digital public spaces.
Full text article
References
Abdulwahab, L. and Dahalin, Z. M., 2010. A Conceptual Model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Modification with Management Effectiveness and Program Effectiveness in Context of Telecentre. African Scientist, 11(4), pp.267-275.
Bailey, A. and Ojelanki, N., 2009. Social ties, literacy, location and the perception of economic opportunity: Factors influencing telecentre success in a development context. System Sciences, HICSS'09. 42nd Hawaii International Conference on IEEE, pp.1-11.
Bailey, A., 2009. Issues affecting the social sustainability of telecentres in developing contexts: A field study of sixteen telecentres in Jamaica. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 36(4), pp.1-18.
Campbell, D., 2001. Can the digital divide be contained?. International labour review, 140(2), pp.119-141.
Masiero, S., 2011. Financial Vs Social Sustainability of Telecentres: Mutual Exclusion or Mutual Reinforcement? The Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, 45(3), pp.1-23.
Mayanja, M., 2007. Rethinking telecentre sustainability approaches. The Journal of Community Informatics, 2(3), n.p.
Oestmann, S. and Dymond, A. C., 2001. Telecentres—Experiences, lessons and trends. In Latchem, C. and Walker, D. ed., 2001. Perspectives on Distance Education. Telecentres: Case Studies and Key Issues. Vancouver: The Commonwealth of Learning, Ch.1., pp. 1-15.
Reilly, K. and Gómez R., 2001. Comparing approaches: telecentre evaluation experiences in Asia and Latin America. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 4(3), pp.1-17.
Tiene, D., 2002. Addressing the global digital divide and its impact on educational opportunity. Educational Media International, 39(3-4), pp.212-222.
Van Dijk, J. and Hacker, K., 2003. The digital divide as a complex and dynamic phenomenon. The information society, 19(4), pp.315-326.
Authors
This is an open access journal which means that all content is freely available without charge to the user or his/her institution. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. This journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.
Authors who publish with the Quality Innovation Prosperity agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.