How should the Chinese government provide information services for Mongol ethnic minority?

•Exploring a holistic approach to providing information services for Mongols•Examining the digital divide from an ethnic minority perspective•Analysis of Mongol's ethnic characteristics related to their ICT access and use•Development of a framework for Mongol-centered information service•Proposal of special strategies for implementing Mongol-centered information services

The purpose of this paper is to explore a holistic approach to providing information services for China's Mongol ethnic minority, in light of their ethnic characteristics and socioeconomic conditions, to help bridge the digital divide. We developed a framework for Mongol-centered information services to analyze the relationships between various factors, including language, culture, types of information, access to information and communication technology (ICT), ICT skills, educational level, and attitudes toward information services. A survey was conducted to determine the status of the Mongols' access to and use of information services, in which we adopted a two-stage sampling procedure and face-to-face interviews, taking into account Mongolian culture and demographics. The results indicated that three Mongolian groups access to different communication devices, need different information, mostly prefer the service in Mongolian, encounter some difficulties, but all have a positive attitude toward government information services. Accordingly, several policy recommendations were offered. Finally, we concluded that the government should carefully examine the ethnic characteristics of Mongols, particularly their language and culture, use easily accessible and practical approaches to providing Mongol-centered information services, instead of those sophisticated but inaccessible ways. Other multiethnic countries can draw some insights from this study on how to provide information to their indigenous people.