Community ICT Transformation: Next Steps

Farrow D¹*, Huta P¹*

1. Department of Communications, IT and the Arts, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are transforming the ways in which citizens and consumers interact and engage with each other, with institutions, organisations and government. The United Nations’ World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of Action identified digital inclusion, capacity building and the benefits of ICT in all aspects of life as major themes.

Ensuring that all Australians have the capabilities, networks and tools to participate in the benefits of the information economy is a major priority for the Australian government, as established by Australia’s Strategic Framework for the Information Economy 2004–2006: Opportunities and Challenges for the Information Age.

In order to advance this issue the Community Connectivity section of DCITA prepared two papers: The role of ICT in building social capital and communities and ICT transforming the nonprofit sector. The first paper considers some of the community and social aspects of ICT adoption and usage, and the role of ICT in community development, social capital building and social inclusion. The second paper examines the economic and social benefits of ICT for community and nonprofit organisations. The papers are supported and complemented by an illustrative set of 30 case studies. A period of consultation on these papers will take place from December 2004 to March 2005.

This conference paper will present the next stage of work based on the feedback received and issues raised on the use of ICT in communities and the nonprofit sector in order to further policy development in this area.

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