ED-MEDIA 1999 Proceedings Book - Association for the ...

Networking The Nation
Noel Craske
Senior Lecturer. Monash University, Australia.
noel.craske@csse.monash.edu.au
George Murdoch
VISE Course Co-ordinator. Australia.
gmurdock@tpgi.com.au
Arno Besse
IT Technician and Internet Trainer. Ballarat University, Australia.
a.besse@ballarat.edu.au
Marijke Heywood
IT Trainer and Web Publications. Ballarat University, Australia.
m.heywood@ballarat.edu.au
Joy Nunn
Course Co-ordinator/Project Manager. Ballarat University, Australia,
j.nunn@ballarat.edu.au
The Australian Government Networking the Nation Project is using the Internet to bring Educational and Community services to
Isolated and Remote communities.
The project training course creates a community of Internet trainers who then become trainers in various hubs of the bush. As each
training course and subsequent placements occur there is an expansion in the number of people using e-mail, conferencing, news group, WWW
and chat sessions. To people in the bush, isolated by enormous distances, this provides the comfort and support that many urban Australians take
for granted. This project has placed a magnifying glass on the reality of telecommunication services in the outback where even a reliable power
source is still a dream for many inhabitants.
The Project
“Internet to the Outback” is part-funded through the Federal Government’s “Networking the Nation” program - an initiative designed
to give everyone, living anywhere in Australia, access to the Internet at the end of a five year period. All families in remote or isolated areas of
country Australia are eligible to receive visits from Volunteers for Isolated Students’ Education (VISE).
Summary of Progress (Specifics may be found at http://www.ballarat.edu.au/vise)
Training
The training syllabus used to instruct the trainers and which the trainers in turn use to instruct the isolated families/communities has
been developed. Each trainer can link a family to the Web and train them to use email and access the Web in less than the week originally
suggested. Experience demonstrates it is possible to average two per week over a six-week period and allow for unforeseen problems and the
differing stages of development of families.
Equipment
We recommend buying from either a reputable national retailer offering a good warranty and a reliable network of service centres or
from a company offering a proven mail order service for high quality equipment who are able to support the equipment with warranties fully
covering transportation costs in the event of a service requirement.
Connection
The quality of the modem has been the definitive factor in connecting to the World Wide Web, thus it would be better to buy a
computer and add an external modem rather than buy a machine with an internal modem installed.
Concerns and Problems
Quality of Telephone Lines and Services.
The single most outstanding feature with regard to the speed was variation in both the quality and reliability of existing
communications links.
The single most common problem associated with data communication was line noise. A good modem is essential as it has the error
correction ability to compensate for a number of connection problems. However, no modem regardless of quality can provide adequate
connection speeds in some of the areas tested.
Availability of Communication Access