In the Report the section titled Findings details the findings that resulted from the Study and the various submissions from the community, Government and industry groups. This section divides the findings under the key telecommunications services that are relevant to the Study:
The content of this Web Site is a response to some of the findings concerning Internet services. Some of the findings and evidence that support and justify the content of this particular Web Site are summarised below:
- Lack of awareness;
- Low education levels; and
- Lack of technical support and skills
The Australian Computer Society Inc. made an important comment, stated in the last point above that is significant to this Web Site. In this submission they state the necessity for training that is supported by community consultation. This is a key step in the development of this Web Site that could not be carried out due to lack of opportunity. No community feedback or support through community consultation was achieved for this Web Site. We (developers of this Web Site) believe that it is important not to hide this fact to the audience even though this does somewhat reduce the significance and effectiveness of this Web Site. In terms of making modifications and/or improvements to this site community consultation and feedback would be the primary step in order to assess this site and carry out changes that could make it more culturally appropriate, better tailored to the communities needs and arguably most importantly raise the support of community members for this site. Without this the future effectiveness of this site and its content in achieving its purpose as an information site for remote Indigenous communities is compromised.
The Action Plan describes 15 broad strategies. Strategy 5 is directly related to and supports the relevance of the content of this Web Site as part of the public awareness information campaign.
· Strategy 5: Subsidise community Internet access points.
This strategy describes a program that will involve additional funding for improvements to Internet service targeted at ‘non hub’ communities. The important point made is that this program will be subject to wether the service in the community can be shown to be sustainable. Obviously a key factor in demonstrating this will be the extent to which the service is used. If these Indigenous people do not improve their knowledge of basic computer hardware and software skills they cannot be expected to take advantage of improved Internet services. This is where this Web Site can help as it can provide a starting point to improving the computer knowledge and skills of the Indigenous people who lack in this area and help to encourage Internet use. This strategy lends further support to this reasoning by stating that support for appropriate training and skills development will be essential to the success of this Program.
As shown above the content of this Web Site is relevant to the aims of the public awareness information campaign and the Action Plan in general. This Web Site and its purpose as part of the information campaign should now be clear. It is our (developers of this Web Site) intention that the following content be a starting point for those Indigenous people in the remote communities of focus who have had limited if any exposure to computer technology. We hope that the content is informative and initiates further learning in this area so that in the long run the people in these communities can make effective use of the Internet services that are and will become available under the TAPRIC and thus enable them to take advantage of the following benefits that the Internet can provide to their communities (as identified in the TAPRIC Report):
· improved access to government and business services;
· access to information, including information about recreational pursuits;
· opportunities to preserve cultural material;
· increasing interest and skills development in current technology;
· opportunities to sell goods and services, such as art and tourism, to a wider market; and
· communication within and outside communities.
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