Internet in the Street Project: Helping the Extremely Poor to Enter the Information Society

The most common measures so far to reduce the digital divide has been the development of telecentres (Internet public access points) that provide Internet access and specific training. However, the extremely poor very rarely enter the telecentres. In this paper, we propose a more specific approach suited to this population. We first describe the social-digital exclusion process facing the extremely poor, its inputs, its outputs, and our approach to help the poor to start to integrate the information society. We then present stories collected during our field actions in our Internet in the street project. We conclude by presenting what we have learnt so far.