| The final project report is to be submitted to the Department of Communications and the Arts by 30 June. Copies of the report will be available for general councillors at the meeting. The training pilot was conducted in co-operation with the Cairns City Library in December 1997.
Five communities have been provided with computing facilities, online access and comprehensive training:
- Yarrabah, in co-operation with the State Library of Queensland and their Indigenous Training Unit in Cairns. Staff from the Unit participated in the training and will continue to work with the Yarrabah community and other regional communities in providing online access and training;
- Koonibba and Umoona in South Australia. Indiginet Multimedia will provide online support to these communities; and
- Santa Teresa and Port Keats in the Northern Territory, in co-operation with the Northern Territory Library Service.
Some of the key points arising from the project are:
- the receptiveness of community members to accessing online information;
- the importance of observing community protocols;
- the importance of appropriate consultation and communication with community members;
- the importance of community members controlling the online access; and
- the technical and support difficulties when working in remote locations.
Overall, the online access and training has raised the level of access to information by community members considerably and provided them with new skills. The training, conducted by Mary Mortimer (Docmatrix) and Cameron Goold (Indiginet), was very well received and provides an excellent training model.
A session on the project and the Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund is scheduled for the Biennial Conference.
Discussions are continuing with the Department and relevant state government, research and indigenous organisations on how the project model may be applied more widely. |
