Digital inclusion and mobile media in remote Sarawak

Our research suggests the single most effective strategy for achieving digital inclusion in Sarawak is to provide remote villages with reliable, affordable, publicly accessible internet infrastructure. The research underpinning this report involved a qualitative examination of the context of internet use in remote Sarawak, in order to better understand internet use in relation to other resources and capacities. Because the region where the research took place has not been included in national-level surveys, we also administered a face-to-face survey in 11 villages in order to generate basic data on internet access and use. This research was conducted as part of the Cultural Enterprise Through Mobile Media Project, and took place between 2015 and 2017. The broader project aimed to ascertain whether the use of mobile media technologies and the internet can lead to sustainable cultural enterprise in remote villages in Sarawak. Because digital inclusion is a precondition of sustainable online enterprise, this report focuses primarily on how this inclusion might be achieved.