Cybercafés and their potential as Community Development Tools in India

The following article examines the role of Cybercafes in urban, semiurban and suburban areas of India. Cybercafes have become an important access point for different urban communities in India, and the paper discusses their role in an urban development context. To examine the role of Cybercafes, a broad quantitative and qualitative analysis of cybercafes has been made in different urban, semiurban and suburban areas in India, including a user survey of 1500 users and 30 interviews. This paper discusses some of the findings, shows some up to date trends of the Indian Cybercafe Scene and shows some interesting potentials that Cybercafes in urban areas have to serve different communities.