Electronic Networks - Building Community

Australia's Information Society - a government perspective

Ann-Marie Lansdown, National Office for the Information Economy

For Australia's Information Society to continue to develop, the emphasis must shift to the provision of compelling content and services. The technology must integrate itself into the cultural and social fabric and at the same time immerse people in it.

Most government activity to date has focussed on the supply side - deregulation of the telecommunications market, establishing the necessary regulatory framework and assisting with the provision of telecommunications infrastructure. Australia has been a leading adopter of key technologies. More than 50% of Australian adults have gone online and nearly 40% of households have Internet access. However, the rate of increase in connected households is declining as the number of technically literate, first movers reaches saturation point. Unconnected households are generally those that are constrained by lack of income or lack of interest. In addition to improving affordability, new, compelling products and services are required to encourage those unconnected households to make greater use of online technologies. Applications must relate to peoples' practical needs. One of the main advantages of ICT lies in its network effects, so that the more people that use the system, the greater the economic benefits of the new technology. Raising awareness of the potential of the technology is essential. People will not spend the time and effort to learn how to go online unless they believe it will be useful to them.

Government and industry must therefore increasingly focus on stimulating demand for online products and services by identifying value propositions for users that are culturally relevant and compatible with users' lifestyles.

Information technology can also make a valuable contribution to community development. The technologies provide communities with a number of means to enhance their social cohesion:

• enables community groups to interact with each other more effectively and more easily access relevant information;
• provides new tools which community groups can use to help others, promote their existence and build social capital; and
• creates new places where people can interact (virtually).

Consequently, community initiative and leadership needs to be encouraged and supported to enable the potential benefits of widely connected communities to be realised.