Barbara Crump, Professor Judy McGregor, Dr Andrea McIlroy Massey University, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand
The harnessing of social capital in a "wired community" project is the subject of a unique urban experiment in New Zealand. The Smart Newtown Pilot project's vision is to create a "digital divide free zone" in Newtown, a low income, multi-ethnic suburb in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Phase one of the project began with a partnership between schools and university to wire up the primary school to high-speed broadband width and implement a Computers in Homes Project. Phase two involved rolling out computers to families with children at Newtown Primary School, establishing computer hubs at Newtown Park council housing flats, the Newtown Community Centre, the Pacific Island Networking Centre and the Newtown library.
This presentation reports interim results of the evaluation and identifies issues of governance, management within the hubs, coalescence of social capital, computer literacy and individual self-esteem and vocational outcomes.