Title: The digital divide and its implications on e-learning deployment in the Royal Thai Government

Authors: Kongkiti Phusavat, Pornthep Anussornnitisarn

Addresses: International Graduate Program in Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand. ' International Graduate Program in Industrial Engineering, Department of Industrial Engineering, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

Abstract: The paper attempts to demonstrate the digital divide obstacles hindering the Office of Public Sector Development Commission (OPDC)|s effort on its e-learning programme|s initiative. This program aims to improve the common skills of the Royal Thai Government (RTG) staff in response to the requirements of the Good Governance (GG) Act of 2003. The primary obstacles reflecting the digital divide include the infrastructure barrier (e.g., speed and size of the internet network that are varied between Bangkok and provincial areas), the language difficulty (i.e., increasing the content cost), and the low number of qualified developers for local-language content in the market. By having identified these issues, it is hoped that the deployment of the e-learning programme will be better planned and will not encounter significant roadblocks.

Keywords: e-government; e-learning; digital divide; electronic government; online learning; electronic learning; Thailand; good governance.

DOI: 10.1504/EG.2007.014163

Electronic Government, an International Journal, 2007 Vol.4 No.3, pp.290 - 298

Published online: 24 Jun 2007 *

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