TELECENTRE AS BRAND NAME

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Permalink Reply by Niranjan Meegammana on November 24, 2008 at 5:23am

Telecentre as well as Telecenter has become a generic words like Shopping Mall or Arcade. In Sri Lanka Telecenters are called "Nenasala", meaning Knowledge Center. It could be termed as something else in other world locations.

Most of the Telecenters are located in rural villages rather than population centers and the services offered depends on community needs. Mainly provide training, communications and internet access. The service offered are varied depending on TC capacity. It's unlikely to develop a similar service model for all.

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Permalink Reply by Cuchie Echeverria on December 4, 2008 at 7:46pm

Hi there, Dr. Syed. Nice to meet you here.

You're right, there should be one common term and I think that "telecentre" - or "telecenter" for that matter (the spelling may actually vary with users) - is already being used widely and is actually the general term used especially when we come together and discuss matters pertaining to, well, telecentres.

But we also have to take into consideration that each country may have its own name or branding of telecentres depending on the local community needs and the term that people in that particular country may already have gotten accustomed to.

In the Philippines for instance, there is a lot of telecentre initiatives and they go by different names. But, at the national level, we have agreed to brand them collectively as "Community eCenters", and so far this has worked just fine. However, when we are dealing with members of the international community, we accordingly do make reference to "telecentres" so we can understand one another much better.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on December 5, 2008 at 6:13am

Hello Zainul, good discussion here. I think creating a brand for telecentres is such a brilliant idea.
A brand is an impression that the public shares about an organization. It encompasses the general conception of what the public thinks. Branding all telecentres with one name would help influence telecentre activities around the world since this would attach value to the movement.

However, telecentres need to brainstorm how they would like to be perceived to promote a general cause. The outcome of this will be a set of unique and compelling statements that summarize what the telecentre movement is all about. Brands have existed since forever so why not for telecentres? They spell reliability, quality and trust. Brands provide sensory stimuli to enhance customer recognition and also cultivate brand loyalty. Strong brands can also lead to financial advantages (brand equity) if the brand itself is valuable.

So if branded, telecentres can enjoy this.
Sandra

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Permalink Reply by Niranjan Meegammana on December 5, 2008 at 3:05pm

When branding is concerned
I think we should re look at what is a telecenter ?
The purpose it exsist and needs it serve.

Basic principals are

a Public place - everyone are welcome
provides access to ICTs
has a social purpose
Run by volunteers or paid staff with a social mission
A player in a network - not isolated!
Hence telecenters differ from cybercafes

in Sri Lanka we call them "Nenasala" meaning Place for Knowledge or Knowledge Center

Best Regards
Niranjan

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Permalink Reply by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on December 5, 2008 at 7:59pm

I am very happy that Sandra,Cuchie and Niranjan have made very valuable contributions regarding the question of branding.The discussion has resulted to one very strong recommendation that branding is necessary for the very existence for the activities and business concerning the telecentre.I hope the group handling the policy issues and IDRC will join the exciting discussion for a fruitful concensus.

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Permalink Reply by Shipra Sharma on December 7, 2008 at 4:40am

Dear Dr. Zainul, a good discussion point! I am sorry for being a late contributor.

I think internationally "telecentre", no matter which way it is spelled, is already a brand name. It traces its roots to the Scandinavian "telecottages", and the term telecentre was coined (I am not sure who coined this term or who started using it first and when?) to generalise the concept. In India also different telecentre networks have developed their own terms to refer to it, like Village Knowledge Centres, Tarakendra, Community Information Centres and so on. But when we refer to them in an article or blog meant for an international audience, we (I specifically) generally use the term telecentre.

Over a period of time, the term telecentre has undergone tremendous changes, which also reflects the expansion of its activities. From the Scandinavian telecottages which were primarily ICT access and training centres for the rural poor or disadvantaged groups, it transformed into telecentres and then into Knowledge centres. The term "knowledge centre" undoubtedly finds more currency in South Asia like India, Sri Lanka, where the activities of the telecentres are not limited to only ICT access and training, but to a number of other community development programs. For example, it is being used to impart adult literacy, to run and manage the community newspaper, enhance livelihood skills of the community. mainstream eGovernance services and a number of other government programmes for the benefit of the digitally excluded and so on.
So, apart from its regional variations, I think "telecentre" has already established itself as a brand name.

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Permalink Reply by Dean Mulozi on December 7, 2008 at 5:24am

Hi Zainul,
Good to hear that you are conecerned of the Brand name. Yes Brand name is important in associating to type of services. In some countries, you note that telecenters are denominated differently such as names like telecottages, information centers, ICT centers etc, is there any way as ZAinul proposes we can impact on the Brand name and speak the same languge and services.

This can be done in form of a international charter or policy declaration.......

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Permalink Reply by M. Srinivas Rao on December 8, 2008 at 4:09am

In developing / deciding a brand name , we need to keep in mind the "target audience " , the value the brand connotes , uniqueness and the longevity . There may be a common barnd name for an "international group " , but if your target users are going to be "local" , then probably something that they can relate to / identify with would be more appropriate . It could be in the local language too . Some egs which come to mind are "e-seva " , bhoomi , tarahaat etc etc .

The decision between a too "generic " and too "localised" brand needs to be debated a bit more , I would think .

cheers / Srinivas

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