A Fair Go For All In The Digital Era

The National Digital Inclusion Summit, held in Parliament House in August 2011, was designed to ensure that “no-one gets left behind” in the high-speed broadband era, and to give a voice to the community groups which will play a vital role in Australia’s digital future. A report on the outcomes of the Summit has been prepared by host Dr Tim Williams, titled “A fair go for all in the digital era: Towards a Digital Inclusion Roadmap” (downloadable form the link to the right). Dr Williams has worked to ensure that the report accurately reflects the input and hard work of the attendees themselves: this is a roadmap for the future which has been both written for the community sector, and written by the community sector.

National Digital Inclusion Summit

The National Digital Inclusion Summit was held in Parliament House, Canberra on September 17. View the full webcast of the day’s events online:

Presentation from Helen Milner – UK Online Centres, online speaker at the Digital Inclusion Summit

Connecting Communities is a groundbreaking review of the community benefits and innovation enabled by broadband in the UK and the policy implications for Australia. Commissioned by Huawei Australia but independently researched and compiled by Dr Tim Williams, Connecting Communities is based on a wealth of case-studies, interviews and analysis combined with a sharp personal insight. The report offers compelling real life evidence of the impact of broadband – on public services, democratic activity, and on communities themselves. Its conclusion that 'broadband is too important to be left to geeks and engineers' and that the objective should be to build not just a network but a 'networked society' will provoke debate. The author also hopes to promote and inspire engagement and discourse between Australian businesses, industry groups, Government and, of course, communities themselves.