Rural Science Parks: Lessons learned about language and culture impacts

In this study, lessons learned with respect to the impact of language and culture in South Africas rural science and technology mini-parks (STPs) are highlighted. The main objective is to sensitize policy developers as well as implementers about language and culture contributions towards the delay that is observed in the process of bridging the digital divide. This divide continues to exist mainly between the urban and rural dwellers in South Africa, despite the attempts by government and other agencies to deal with it. Lessons from cases studied by the author elucidate some of the insights and key issues as revealed by various stakeholders and other research participants. Experiments, observations and interviews were used during the data collection process. Furthermore, based on these findings, in this paper the author suggests some pertinent access and sustainability opportunities which exist when technological innovations are considered within the context of language, culture and other forms of indigenous knowledge systems (IKSs). Finally, the discussion is structured in such a way that these lessons could be used in analyzing the situation with regard to STPs in other parts of the world as well.