“Project Puncar” is the first digital-divide program fully utilizing web 2.0 services in Asia. Maintained by Association of Digital Culture Taiwan (ADCT), “Puncar” has been using its Internet facilities to bring digital volunteers to remote villages to Taiwan since May 2008. It systematically travels around Taiwan to teach information technology and applications, such as blogs, Twitter, Google Maps etc. Students include the young and the old.
“Puncar” directly addresses “the last mile” issue, sending personnel, connections and resources to needy remote areas. It is hoped to increase public awareness of the digital divide and of related issues. It also aims to bridge the digital divide not only by channeling urban resources into the countryside, but also by exporting existing economic values to the villages.
In less than two years, members of the project have traveled to 150 places and covered more than 50,000 km of this island. It has also grown to manage a fleet of four vans, four full-time employees and 30 volunteers across different regions. ADCT believes the nature of the Internet can help to democratize and make transparent the collective intelligence that has fueled human development in the past. We also believe that resources can be aggregated and distributed by using modern web technologies, and we believe that only by visiting all possible stakeholders in local communities and NGOs in Taiwan can we lay the basis for future possibilities.

Links: http://puncar.tw

Founded by a group of bloggers and enthusiasts involved in digital culture community in 2005, Association of Digital Culture Taiwan (ADCT) aims to promote web 2.0, citizen media, blog and other Internet-based concepts in Taiwan. ADCT also works to bridge the digital divide by providing courses and workshops in remote villages and elementary schools and encouraging Internet users to participate in cultural issues. The Puncar Project was founded by the Tim Shyu, TH Schee and Cheng Li Hsu.