Stories from e-Bario

The e-Bario project, which began in 1998, has provided modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to a remote and isolated village in the Kelabit Highlands of northern Sarawak, one of the Malaysian states on the island of Borneo (Harris et al, 2001). The project continues to evolve as the community finds new ways to use computers and the internet. New challenges continue to emerge as new opportunities for making good use of ICTs intertwine with the social and economic dynamics of the community. The experiences of the project staff and community members are called upon regularly within national and international forums to give advice on other rural ICT projects. From the 10 stories featured here, it is evident that whilst the e-Bario project has delivered significant benefits, some of which were unexpected, problems also remain with its future development. The stories highlight aspects that data would have missed, but they fail to capture the full extent of the project&...