Taiwan's Ministry of Education has built 300 Digital Opportunity Centers in 168 remote/indigenous villages since 2005 (NT$6.8bn/US$212m in phase one), across five national phases to raise digital literacy and narrow the rural-urban divide.
300
Digital Opportunity Centers built (2005-2008)
168
Remote villages covered
NT$6.8bn (~US$212m)
Phase-one funding (2005-2008)
Details
Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Education, Taiwan (MOE)
Period
2005–present
Keywords
digital literacy, rural development, indigenous communities, telecenters
Context
Taiwan's Ministry of Education has run the Digital Opportunity Center programme since 2005 to close the digital divide between cities and remote, mountainous and indigenous communities, funding the initial 2005-2008 phase with NT$6.8 billion (~US$212 million) to build 300 DOCs across 168 remote villages, and evolving through five national phases to 2023 serving indigenous peoples, new immigrants, people with disabilities, women and low-income households.
Results
Each DOC combines IT courses, mobile classrooms and online learning with support for local cultural and economic activities, run by community partners and coordinated nationally. Independent academic studies (Aslib Journal of Information Management, IEEE) have examined digital-divide effects, but output measures - centers built, villages covered, participation - are documented more thoroughly than long-run outcomes.
Implementation
Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
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