Suchergebnisse

In September 2015, the Swinburne Institute for Social Research commenced a two - year research project on safety and wellbeing as they relate to communication technologies, in remote Aboriginal communities and towns. This report provides an overview of findi ngs from the first phase of the project. A final report will be available in mid 2017. Telstra is funding the project as an action within the 'Connection and Capability' priority focus area of its Reconciliation Action Plan 2015 - 18. The research has been i nitiated for the benefit of Indigenous people and is being conducted to inform Telstra's strategy regarding cyber safety for this particular consumer group. It is also intended to inform social and community obligations related to Telstra's recent partners hip with the Northern Territory Government to extend mobile phone reception to remote areas, including Indigenous communities. The first , needs - analysis phase of the project, conducted from September 2015 to June 2016, involved seeking feedback on these is sues from a cross - section of Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal people living in a regional centre, a larger community and a smaller settlement, with different histories of exposure to I nformation and C ommunication T echnology (ICT). As described in this re port, we found that there are particular mobile phone practices and internet uses occurring among remote Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory leading to identifiable cyber safety problems. Some of these practices, and the resulting issues, appear to be different from those experienced by other segments of the Australian population

Within digital media scholarship, there are significant bodies of literature investigating forced disconnection ('digital exclusion') and voluntary disconnection ('digital disconnection') but there is little research addressing entanglements between them. This article explores how bringing together these bodies of literature through an empirical study offers new pathways and considerations for both areas. In doing so, we draw on qualitative data about the forms of disconnection experienced, negotiated, and enacted by low-income families in regional Australia before and during their participation in a digital inclusion initiative that provided them with Internet connections and laptops. We argue that their experiences illustrate the complex interplay of voluntary and involuntary factors that shape socially situated practices of disconnection. We also identify further implications for inclusion and disconnection research, including the need to recognise that within digital inclusion initiatives, participants' non-use of provided technologies does not necessarily indicate failure but may instead be a positive outcome.

With a growing range of education, information, government, and community services moving online, internet access is increasingly regarded as an essential service. The benefits of the digital economy cannot be shared equally when some members of the community are still facing real barriers to online participation. Digital inclusion is based on the premise that everyone should be able to make full use of digital technologies – to manage their health and wellbeing, access education and services, organise their finances, and connect with friends, family, and the world beyond. The Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII) was first published in 2016, providing the most comprehensive picture of Australia's online participation to date. The ADII measures three vital dimensions of digital inclusion: Access, Affordability, and Digital Ability. It shows how these dimensions change over time, according to people's social and economic circumstances, as well as across geographic locations. Scores are allocated to particular geographic regions and sociodemographic groups, over a five-year period from 2014 to 2018. Higher scores mean greater digital inclusion. This ADII report incorporates data collected up to March 2018.