Perceptions of the use of Mobile Enabled Social Hub by rural communities in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

This paper describes the perception of rural communities in the use of Mobile Enabled Social Hub (MESH) that was field tested in several villages across Sivaganga district in the southern part of rural Tamil Nadu, India, during May 2010 to December 2010. The present study was conducted through well structured pre-tested questionnaire with 90 users who took active participation throughout the project. The survey results showed that the rural communities perceived the MESH platform favourably, in terms of its usefulness and ease of use in exchanging information within their communities. Mann-Whitney U tests confirm that gender played a significant role in the perception of MESH as a means for effective communication. The Kruskal-Wallis test analysis also substantiated that people have perceived the MESH platform in an equal way, regardless of age group, education level and type of occupation.

Keywords

mobile phones social networking short messaging service rural communities India

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