**5. Background context**

In 1999 an interdisciplinary team of researchers based at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) has embarked on the e-Bario project in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak [17]. This was to explore how indigenous communities in remote and rural areas can be "integrated" in Malaysia's race towards a Knowledge based-society by 2010. The knowledge society framework was deemed to inculcate the values and culture of life-long learning and the creation of knowledge-based products and services amongst its population. Exploring the use of telephones, computers, Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), and the Internet, e-Bario was implemented as a pilot project to explore the economic, social, and cultural potentials of ICTs through community-based Telecentre model for rural development in Sarawak. This is especially because ICTs are predicted to promote new social, economic, and cultural opportunities in rural areas [18].

Due to its success e-Bario became a catalyst to explore the roles that telecentre can play in advancing community-based development amongst other indigenous communities in Sarawak, Sabah, and Peninsular Malaysia. As a consequence, the University has formed long-standing community-university partnerships with diverse and dispersed indigenous communities who live in remote and rural areas in Sarawak, Sabah, and Peninsular Malaysia.

The out-of-the-way locations of these indigenous communities create immense distance both in time and space and therefore exemplify the disconnected portion of the digital divide in Malaysia. They are often are without network access, lack of adjacent infrastructure (e.g., grid electricity), lack of digital and language literacy, low income and affordability, lack of relevant content and services as well as lack of cultural and social relevance and therefore acceptance [19]. See **Table 1** for a complete list of the indigenous communities involved.

There is no doubt that because of the lack of digital and language literacy, it was easy to assume that these indigenous communities are knowledge-poor and incompetent in a global world. This is in spite of their capacities to manage the fragility of their own cultural heritage from human and non-human threats such as climate change. Their inherent indigenous wisdom are orally based and more embedded, therefore it was easy to overlook in the process of research and developmental efforts.

Moreover, digital innovation framework has been torn between a westernscientific idea and a more indigenous, community-based concept. Little attention is given to indigenous place-based knowledge, skills, and experiences within the


**Table 1.**

*List of diverse and dispersed indigenous communities and bridging digital divide initiative by the Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).*

*Digital Socio-Technical Innovation and Indigenous Knowledge DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.101861*

expanding digital-based framework for knowledge management. These unique ways of knowing are important facets of the world's cultural diversity and provide a foundation for locally appropriate sustainable development. It is made up of a rich understanding of the plant, crop, and tree species, medicines, animal breeds, and local ecological and biological resources. This includes their useful and adaptive techniques to respond to changes in the physical and social environment.

Raise the question of whether is it possible to introduce and transfer academic knowledge about the new digital technologies without displacing the position or disintegrating the integrity of existing local indigenous knowledge.
