Australian Trip Report Oct. 6-20, 2003
Frank Odasz, Lone Eagle Consulting
Email:
frank@lone-eagles.com
Here’s a summary attempt
addressing the key points regarding DCITA and TAPRIC challenges and
opportunities. Being politically neutral, I’ve tried to squarely address what
I’ve perceived as the key opportunities for clarification. I believe the
biggest single issue is the gulf between admirable intensions and the level of
planning required to produce an implementation strategy that will produce the
desired results. This will be hard work! “The devil is in the details.”
I’d like to address the core issue of developing a process for
“Informing Government” on an ongoing basis as to genuine opportunities and
potential fatal flaws.
Information Technology is THE E-government leadership issue of the 21st century; creating and managing new forms of interaction. Less is more, and new levels of efficient communication between government and citizens - leading to greater accountability based on greater communication efficiency - are indeed viable.
While I don’t feel fully on top of all the details - and based on comments from those I met during my trip - I feel compelled to warn against Telstra’s promises for a beneficial local presence and their potential dismissal of regional sustainability due to inevitable economics once the privatisation has taken place. It would be my guess that the short term political agenda is to see the privatization go through and in a year or two to announce the economic failure of Countrywide as economic projections already suggest may be inevitable without some prearranged guarantee of support for sustainability.
The Online Council’s recent discussion paper “Maintaining the Viability of Online Access Centres in Regional Rural and remote Australia” stresses widespread partnerships as essential to sustainability, but the specific economics for sustainability have not yet been detailed and will bear heavily on defining what’s sustainable and justified as the “best” application investments.
There seems to be some question of what constitutes truly competitive pricing VS monopolistic pricing slated for inevitable failure. $200/hr video conferencing will prove prohibitive for expanded use, as will a usage quota fee for Internet. I believe flat fee pricing is the trend you’ll find in the U.S. which would allow for expanded use without penalties. Technologies are evolving rapidly, costs are dropping steadily, new satellites are becoming available, and ongoing monitoring of the best cost/service ratio is advised.
Could Telstra be betting that government won’t catch the following presumptions before it is too late?
Core Issue #1: Dedicated Broadband
The promised broadband is based on shared capacity which means as more people use it, the speed of shared access becomes less and less. Already I’ve heard that sometimes 8k speeds are the reality when government has been told 64k will be available. The promised broadband benefits can’t be realized if broadband is not guaranteed via dedicated bandwidth minimums. In the U.S. - major projects have failed because the phrase “up to 64k” really means no minimum is guaranteed and the minimum might well be below the level of usability as already cited by several people at your recent conference. “Broadband” must be defined by numeric minimums.
Core Issue #2: Projected Video-conferencing Usage and Economics?
Touted as the largest 2-way satellite video conferencing system in the world, how much sustainable usage is anticipated if costs are around $200/hour? Usage figures may well fall far below all expectations if pricing is prohibitive for regular use. Is local expertise and funding available for use “on demand?” Will economics dictate that this medium will primarily be a conduit to prisons (family visitations) and funerals (viewing and ceremonies)??
Core Issue #3: Staying Informed. I recognize DCITA faces a huge challenge attempting to stay current with worldwide lessons learned concerning telecentre models and regional/rural internet empowerment strategies. My paper detailed many of the challenges and opportunities which I’m confident will grow in importance. The paper is online at http://lone-eagles.com/wings.htm and I look forward to receiving comments from anyone who has read the full paper.
Core Issue #4: Raising Rural Awareness on the Need for Community Learning and Engagement. I’d like to suggest you consider a regional/rural community Internet empowerment conference for community leaders - “ to address realistically what will it take to realize benefits once access is available.” Perhaps titled “Authenticating Regional Internet Benefits.” Such a conference could be used to emphasize the importance of local community learning programs and also as a means for gathering success stories, gathering innovative approaches and lessons learned, and perhaps particularly emphasizing which failures need not be repeated. Creating an online directory of available expertise and consultants across these communities and beyond is specifically recommended. Cross community collaboration cannot be over emphasized as a good idea!
Sparks
of innovations in communities need to be brought together to establish a flame
that can grow to generate a greening of the human potential landscape.
The National Community Television Broadband Initiative seeks to generate community storytelling using broadband to serve this purpose. Contact: Glenn Stapleton glenn@ace.org.au
Daily Events
Oct. 6-8 Regional Communications Forum, 300+ persons attending
Promises of broadband: 150 satellite dishes are planned to bring broadband to indigenous communities but there lacks any genuine accountability for a minimum dedicated level of broadband essential for broadband educational and economic uses. Indigenous communities stated their real speed is closer to 8k than the promised 64k. Accountability at all levels is necessary to dispel the current lack of trust regarding Telstra promises by regional communities. The Government needs to be crystal clear regarding the broad difference between general assumptions and specific technical and economic realities. For example; the impression exists that two-way video conferencing will open doors of unlimited communication - but at costs up to $200/hour few can use it and if expanded use occurs the economics may quickly discourage most uses based on costs. Third party validation for Telstra assurances are necessary as is comparison with comparable services and costs in peer countries.
In the U.S. broadband is generally sold on a monthly flat fee. In Australia there is an additional fee per unit gigabyte download which again will discourage and ultimately prohibit the expanded use presumed when broadband benefits are discussed. If you can’t afford these additional fees you don’t really have the benefits of broadband as presumed. PC video conferencing may prove to be a more cost-effective alternative to current pricey systems as an option to explore.
Alternative vendors and satellite systems are likely to provide dramatically better broadband speeds at lower cost. While references to the benefits of competition bringing better service at lower cost are made, the reality is that monopolistic fees are higher than in peer countries and may ultimately doom your connectivity projects to economic failure. Flat fee access, as available in U.S., may well prove necessary for wide spread take-up.
Oct. 9 Indigenous Forum, 100 persons attending.
The need was stated for a clearinghouse of all indigenous projects with emphasis on what’s working, lessons learned, maintaining a listserv and print newsletter to help keep everyone current - to include global indigenous projects, new resources, and International funding sources. Someone needs to be the designated clearinghouse person (single point of contact), responsible for moderating the listserv, producing a monthly print newsletter, and maintaining a companion web site listing all indigenous projects, resources, and resource persons by region and category.
Oct. 10 Met with Karen Flick and TAPRIC Staff for the morning and then with Multimedia Victoria staff in Melbourne for one hour
At MMV there was agreement on importance of effective motivational storytelling for Ecommerce and they’ve produced a glossy brochure with 15 ecommerce success stories and referenced having experimented with a road show. While many of their phrasings resonate well with what’s needed, measures for success in reaching their designated audience may be necessary to determine their effectiveness.
Discussion touched on the huge need for reform of teacher education at university and inservice levels. K12 education needs to prepare citizens for tomorrow, not yesterday. Whose responsibility is community Internet learning? Larry Stillman attended from Monash University representing a newly formed international community networking research group and shared the Monash community networking research site at www.ccnr.net
MMV has installed 10,000 kiosks (public internet access terminals,) 5400 located in skills.net sites including 279 schools, 940 libraries, 79 per cent located in regional Victoria to provide public with free or affordable online access bundled 30 local councils through an E-gaps program to establish 75 additional public access sites, 94 percent of which are in regional areas.
Oct. 11 Flew to Alice Springs
Upon arrival I had lunch with Linda Chellew, manager of the Deadly Mob. I also met with Steve Fisher for one hour, technology group manager Centre for Appropriate Technology, and we visited Telegraph Park and focused on discussing vocational education.
Oct. 12 Spent three hours at Desert Park, drove to Umuwa with Will Rogers, General Manager of PY media and met new trainers Mike and Glenn. Enjoyed ample time for long conversations on all topics.
Oct. 13 Toured PY Media center in Umuwa
Met Mary - the Aboriginal director. Saw a woman using Aboriginal history photo archive mobile unit, heard indigenous music on the radio, and saw women and children viewing a video of a local celebration. I’d be very curious as to what the typical usage figures might be for Umuwa and other communities regarding regular use of such technologies. Visited Fregon, saw trash, graffiti and petrol sniffers upon arrival. I understand violence is a daily occurrence. Met local MSO (Pastor) and two council members who viewed short digital photo demonstration by PY Media trainers. Saw video conferencing unit in the corner for which I understand the costs prohibit use for more than one or two conferences per month. I don’t believe access to prison (family visiting) and funerals (traditional viewings and ceremonies) was the sole intent of these systems. I believe it is timely to ask just what educational programming will flow through these units, particularly programs created by indigenous community members.
The PY Media web site, www.waru.org is under construction and the primary mentor is a volunteer from the U.S. working remotely. Ultimately, the best and easiest “community network” for encouraging online interaction skill development needs to be identified and tested for the best short term results. (More on this below.)
Visited the Kaltjiti art center in Fregon and met David and Beverly Peacock who spent ten years developing this outstanding model for a sustainable art center. David was emphatic that such centers should not be required to provide a dollar per dollar match due to designation as an economic development unit because of the essential social value and self-esteem they generate. There is little else to engage or motivate citizens. The quality of the art and their web site www.kaltjititarts.com.au is outstanding. Their art is sent to Kashmir when third world artisans create tapestries based on the artistic patterns and the resulting products are co-marketed and royalties shared.
This is a fundamentally significant example of the global opportunities for collaboration which are opening doors and for which the Internet can serve as a lifeline. My impression was much more could be done to Emarket globally the opportunity for direct sales of discounted aboriginal art with a percentage publicized as going to support the local training of artists. There exists huge economic and social potential and expanded art sales could provide a source for sustainable telecommunications, as well.
The statement was made that government representatives arrive and offer major sums of funding for infrastructure but won’t consider more thoughtful development uses of the funding such as supporting the art center. I’ve repeatedly heard that government visitors look only at the surface funding needs and rarely listen to the deeper needs of the communities. I suspect the short term funding cycles lead to dumping unspent funds in preparation for the next funding round. Better coordination and long term planning is advised. Longer term funding cycles appear to be necessary for truly sustainable results.
We visited Ernabella but the art center was closed. We saw building where PY Media was founded.
Oct. 14
Return to Alice Springs, via Uluru
I met Clive Scollay,
Executive office for Nyangatjatjara Aboriginal College. Had lunch with five
teachers who were very excited about the CDROM storytelling camera. I left a
collection of my printed resources which were of immediate interest as was the
opportunity for online professional development. I left sample digital audio
and video files on a local computer. These computers appear to be seriously
outdated in contrast to the modern architecture.
Oct. 15 Visited the Deadly Mob Project www.deadlymob.org at the Gap Youth Center 9am-10:30am Met with Linda Chellew, manager of the Deadly Mob project, Ann Tregea, director of the Gap Youth Centre Aboriginal Corporation, Neville King, Infrastructure consultant, and Georgina, a volunteer teacher. I saw an outstanding center with pictures of students’ heads on movie star bodies and other fun photo manipulations on the walls. Their sophistication leaves in question who actually did the work. It was my impression the only real skills taught are browsing basics, playing computer games and some photo manipulation. Creating general computer and Internet awareness is the stated goal. A dozen CAT workers were there playing games and it was explained this access is in return for their hard work building the center.
I understand the center is vacant daily until school is out at 3pm (what about adult programs?) and then is very busy, but closes at six some days and is open until nine on others. I’d be curious to see usage statistics and a report on full accomplishments of the past 18 months. Stated goals are to focus on skill development for next grant round. Volunteer Georgina is interested in creating online courses once funding becomes available.
I see huge potential - but believe the “devil is in the details” and the level of careful planning required to produce the desired outcomes will prove to be a major challenge.
Visited Desart Aboriginal Art Project, www.desart.com.au Neville King accompanied me to meet director Rose Wallis. We listened to Aboriginal artists and community leaders, Valerie and Margaret, on the social problems resulting from government giving too much money and the social consequences of youth not developing a work ethic, self esteem, or understanding of what they can contribute to society and their culture. We discussed the issue of what the government can’t do for the communities. The communities must develop their own goals and local action initiatives to develop a values structure. About 15 minutes of video were taken recording the core of this discussion and has been forwarded to Karen Flick.
Visited CAAMA,
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association
Neville King and I met with Priscilla Collins, CEO, and eight board members
and discussed the role of media for raising awareness of the potential of I.T.
for indigenous empowerment for one hour. Passion for indigenous empowerment
issues was discussed as a core component of the reason for their broadcast
business. I distributed printed resource handouts.
Arrived Darwin at 7pm and had dinner with Les Hodgson, Exec. Dir. Information and Communications Technology for DCIS.
Oct. 16 Darwin, Had breakfast with Karen Groeneveld. Presented two two-hour presentations for DCIS staff - eight attended the first session, including Doug Cook and about eight attended the second session. Indigenous projects were represented such as the Electronic Outback Project and several faculty from Charles Darwin University were present. I was able to present many important tools and concepts that time prohibited my sharing at the Regional Communications Forum and the Indigenous Forum, as listed below.
Spent one hour with NT Minister Peter Toyne and Les Hodgson at Parliament House. Was pleased to discover great synergies with Peter’s background as he was a teacher and had run a consulting business called Wedge-tailed Eagle. Striking similarities in our histories and educational philosophies. Peter gave me a draft paper on multi-level community-based secondary instruction which suggests many opportunities for co-development of curriculum relating to computer skills for community-based employment. Of key importance was his suggestion of involving the ICT industry in creating remote learning products that could be used by community members to teach remotely as a telework employment strategy.
Flew to Kununurra and then Halls Creek to spend the night, had dinner with Karen Groeneveld and Peter Jebb.
Oct 17 Flew to Ringer
Soak with Karen Groeneveld and Peter Jebb
We spent the morning presenting for
local CEO Nigel and discussing issues. He stated his calls are not returned by
government (ATSIS) in his efforts to find funding for a local youth center.
Local people are ready to go to work to build it. Their computer lab is in
place awaiting installation of the satellite dish. He relates the community as
functional. Current fuel storage tanks are inadequate to assure power during a
long wet season and there was frustration that government was not being
responsive. Specific curriculum for use by the community technology center
appears to be up in the air. I sent Peter a full packet of instructional
curriculum materials to share with Nigel. There was a satellite dish on the
school, the clinic, and the main office. I wonder if sharing one robust dish
using wireless would lower costs? Peter is a representative of the COAG
initiative which raises questions about the opportunity for enhanced
communications regarding government services.
Flew to Yagga Yagga and presented for Shane Harman and Kathryn Njamme (Aboriginal) Kathryn easily created ten first art pieces using the digital art tablet. No one else was in the community as it was Friday. Vandalism was apparent and dust covered existing equipment. The store owner had just disappeared that week - fraud and missing funds are anticipated. Everything was in a severe state of neglect. The power went off during my one hour presentation and Shane left briefly to start the backup generator. But on the bright side – they were genuinely excited about their first hands-on experiences with the digital storytelling camera and the digital art tablet.
Oct 18 Flew to Kununarra, returning to Darwin
Oct 19 Returned to Sydney
Oct 20 Met with Karen
Flick 8:30 am-11am
Debriefed and showed trip slideshow
with commentary, gave CD’s with all photos, presented 1 ˝ hours of remaining
presentation material not shown due to time constraints at both forums. Shared
Peter Toyne’s mixed-mode delivery structure for secondary education in remote
communities.
Flew home, arriving 28 hrs later.
Key Two Hour Presentation Elements:
Keynote slideshow with
Jamaican school, Alaskan villages, rural U.S. communities, with commentary (20
minutes) Purpose was to highlight common challenges creating inspired and
motivated communities to actually use available Internet access.
Keynote powerpoint,
(Only shown in two hour presentations to DCIS and to Karen Flick) (20 minutes)
Demo CDROM
storytelling camera as easy multimedia publishing for narrated still photos
and video. Purpose is to motivate all concerned by showing how easy digital
storytelling can be – with the right equipment and training.
(Camera details: Sony MVC CD 550 available at
www.sony.com $700 U.S.)
Demo Art Tablet and Fractal Painter software. Purpose was to motivate all
concerned by showing how easy and motivating digital art can be as a means of
teaching familiarity with technology. (Available at
www.wacom.com for $199 U.S. and it comes with Painter software and Adobe
Photoshop Elements, a $199 value!)
Demo Webwhacker as a
tool for capturing hundreds of web pages easily for convenient offline
presentations and training. Purpose is to show how huge collections of
Internet content can be easily captured and used in communities without
Internet access for training and teaching on any topic. $45 from
www.bluesquirrel.com
Demo best Alaskan Native community web community, cultural, and instructional content. (fifteen minutes) As listed at http://lone-eagles.com/alaskan_innovations.htm