The services offered at the centres related to the technologies that were available in a given centre. All the stand-alone centres had photocopying services while Photozone Studio; Frazer‟s Studio and Ga Mosotho offered services for passport size photos. These centres also had video production and graphic design services. Both the infomidiaries at Ga- Mosotho and Frazer Photo Studio noted in separate informal discussions during the preliminary visit that passport photos and video developments were their main income generating services.
The computers at these centres were mainly used for photography, video editing and graphic design. For example, the infomidiary at Frazer‟s Studio noted that the first computer that was bought for this centre was primarily for editing and developing photos. The infomidiary at Ga-Mosotho Investment also acknowledged that he had his first computer for photography. The demand for passport photos was mainly for processing different application forms for a broad range of social services. For example, one of the participants in a group that was interviewed at Photozone Studio had come to take passport size photos that she needed for processing her tuck-shop trade license. This participant was from Takatokwane, a village 87 km west of Letlhakeng village. Within this group, there were four other users who had come for passport photos while three others needed to photocopy some forms and national identities. Within the same group interview, there was also a retired school teacher who had come for both passport size photos and to photocopy a title deed for his field.
The infomidiary at Frazer‟s Studio also added that although initially he was not skilled in graphic designs, the users‟ demand for the service propelled him into developing the needed skills. This participant added that he designed and printed flyers; seasonal
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greetings cards; invitation cards and business cards. The infomidiaries at Photozone Studio and 3G Holdings also indicated through separate guided interviews that 51-75% of their tasks were to create “information packages like leaflets, pamphlets”. An in-depth discussion on this revealed that the participants were referring to designing and printing invitation cards for different social events in the village.
The observed high demand for such invitation cards and printed programmes was also corroborated in a group interview of non-users at a local primary school. One of the women said the stand-alone centres helped in developing invitation cards and programmes used at funerals, weddings and other social gatherings. Within the same group interview, the other woman further added that the good thing with these stand- alone centres was that they could “design the cards and allow you to pay later on specially tailored payment terms”. These women were responding to a question that sought to find out what the community used the centres for.
During the preliminary visit, the researcher found the infomidiary at Fraser‟s Photo Studio designing an invitation card for a “kitchen top up” party. The researcher learned from informal discussions with community members that there was a growing trend of “kitschen top up” parties. Such parties were organized by friends with theintend of supporting a needy friend with kitchen items; groceries or any house hold items that the hostess needed. The organizers, which in most cases were family members or a select team of close friends, then prepared snacks for the guests, who then brought in the gifts.
During the same visit at Fraser‟s Photo Studio, the researcher also noticed that there was also a printed copy of funeral programme that infomidiary had just finished designing. The infomidiary said that although production of such social invitation cards and funeral programmes was a good potential for income generating, the local funeral service providers were giving the stand-alone centres competition because they had started offering the programmes as a free add on to their bouquet of services.
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Although at the time of indepth data collection, the researcher did not see any centre offering laminating services, Jeirah Internet café, Ga-Mosotho Investment and 3G Holdings had laminating machines. The infomidiary at 3G Holdings demonstrated to the researcher how the laminating machine operated. It emerged that the community preffered to laminate the different documents that they frequently photocopied. This was mainly for the preservation of the documents. The researcher did not get to confirm if the machine at Ga-Mosotho Invesrment was in working condition because the centre was closed through out the indepth data collection phase. Informal discussions with community members who lived around this centre also acknowldged that the centre offered laminating services.
Jeirah Internet Café was the only stand-alone centre that offered access to Internet. The two computers at this centre were both used for accessing Internet and word processing. The infomidiary also did the centre‟s administrative work on one of these computers. During one of the visits to the centre, the researcher also found the owner of the centre using one of the computers for some administrative work for both her work at RAC and her other businesses. Although as noted earlier, this centre did not have good visible signage, it is worth noting that this was the only stand-alone centre that had a leaflet of services offered. Some of the leaflets were distributed at the library.
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As reflected in the above figure, this centre had a number of pay options for accessing Internet. However, discussions with the former infomidiary indicated that the arrangement for advanced payment was not working very well because of the disruptive power cuts. He also alluded to the fact that it could also be because people generally did not have money for advanced payments.
Both Jeirah Internet Café and 3G Holdings offered faxing services. There was also a fax machine at Photozone Studio, although it was not connected. 3G Holdings was also the only stand-alone centre that sold office stationery and equipment. The researcher observed customers buying some stationery items at this centre then proceeding to RAC for various services.
Photograph 6: Display of stationery sold at 3G Holdings
It emerged in the interview with the infomidiary at this centre that RAC also bought stationery from this centre. She also indicated that sometimes she prepared tender
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documents to supply goods and services to local schools and other businesses in Letlhakeng and neighbouring villages. She added that the greatest challenge with such tenders was what she referred to as the “long complex government processes and procedures”.
None of the stand-alone centres had training programs for the community. The participant that was interviewed as a user at Ga-Mosotho Investment indicated that he appreciated the fact that infomidiaries in these centres could not afford to have such training programmes because “the time they spend on you will be so much that they could have covered three more people”. This participant was referring to the cost in terms of money and time that the infomidiaries in stand-alone centre would incur if they did community training. The two siblings that were interviewed together as Sesigo e- library users also shared similar sentiments that stand-alone centre did not have community education programs because such programmes would be costly for the centres.
Although there were no specific training programmes at Jeirah Internet Café, users could do their own typing. This offered the users a chance to practice using the computer. The infomidiary then assisted these users if and when they experienced any challenges in using the computer. The infomidiary at Photozone Studio also indicated that he at times allowed the users to do their own typing; and that whenever he had time he helped in sharing skills with his users. He however acknowledged that this was on very rare occasions.