Building the Knowledge Society - Department of Communications ...

Building the Knowledge Society Information Society Commission 15Community and Voluntary Sector54 Government must ensure that policy development in relation to the role of communityand voluntary organisations in inclusive Information Society development is underpinnedby a process of dialogue and consultation with the community and voluntary sector.55 The Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs should bring forward early proposalsin relation to the role of ICT in supporting wider community development objectives,building on the evaluation of the CAIT initiative.Role of Community Champions56 Clear priority must be given to progressing the Universal Participation initiative buildingon the leadership role of Community Champions as set out in the Government Action Plan.The creation of an engaging digital environment at the level of local needs should be keyfocus in this context.ICT Literacy57 Government must give a high priority to the establishment of a national ICT Literacyprogramme, building on the experience of the Equalskills pilot project.ICT Accessibility58 The NDA should establish a monitoring process to determine levels of compliance with the ITAccessibility Guidelines and whether further actions may be needed to promote their adoption.DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television)59 The Minister for Communications should bring forward new proposals for the DTT (DigitalTerrestrial Television) platform as a matter of priority.Northern Ireland Cooperation60 The benefits of all-island cooperation insofar as the enterprise sector is concerned shouldcontinue to be pursued through InterTradeIreland. The value of extending all-islandcooperation to knowledge society issues that go beyond the scope of the enterprise sectorshould also be explored, and the Commission will be including a focus on this issue in thecontext of its ongoing work programme.