The Information Society
| Date | 01 May 1995 |
| Published date | 01 May 1995 |
| Pages | 494-497 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045419 |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
The Information Society
Continuing our review of initiatives and projects that will help the growth of the
Information Society. If you know of such a project, or are involved in one that you
would like to see here, please contact the Managing Editor, Ben Jeapes, at the
publisher's address or by
e-mail
at
tel@learned.co.uk.
Australia
Community Information Network
The Australian Minister for Social Se-
curity, Mr Peter
Baldwin,
launched the
Community Information Network
(CIN) in July. The CIN is aimed at
bridging the gap between the informa-
tion rich and the information poor in
Australia.
CIN will provide free access to
government and community informa-
tion, communication facilities and
services, initially through 100 Local
Access Points (LAPs) situated in De-
partment of Social Security offices, li-
braries and community organisations.
The number will increase to 300 in a
few months.
The first of the CIN sites to come
online are at Chermside and Nundah in
Brisbane, at Gympie in Queensland
and at Elizabeth, Modbury and Salis-
bury in Adelaide. Tasmania and the
ACT will also be linked by the CIN.
Over the next few months Mr Bald-
win will be examining options for a
National Community Information
Network (NCIN) which will ink a
range of community facilities around
Australia, including libraries and com-
munity organisations, into a public
computer network. The Minister took
a submission to Cabinet in August
concerning its implementation.
Cooperative Multimedia Centres
The Federal Government has ap-
pointed an assessment panel to recom-
mend which of
the
eighteen consortia
submitting bids should be invited to
establish Cooperative Multimedia
Centres (CMCs). The CMCs, accord-
ing to Minister for Employment Si-
mon Crean, will promote the develop-
ment of 'creative precincts', bringing
together multidisciplinary teams to
pool Research and Development, pro-
duction and distribution expertise and
to market high quality educational
IMM for domestic and export con-
sumption. CMCs will also contribute
to Australia's multimedia industry
skill base. They build on the very suc-
cessful examples of the Cooperative
Research
Centres.
They
will
be associ-
ated with universities but will also
maintain a strong market focus with
other educational sectors.
Mr Crean has asked the Assessment
Panel to make its recommendations
for up to six CMCs in two months.
Seed funding for A$20.8 million over
the next four years was announced last
year.
Mr Crean said:
'The Centres
will
forge partnerships
between the education sector and
the broader Australian multimedia
industry to produce multimedia
products for domestic use, and to
develop the Australian market as an
export platform. They will offer
education, training and professional
services, access to the state-of-the-
art equipment and facilities, access
to leading edge research and devel-
opment, and assistance with the
handling of issues such as intellec-
tual property and product testing
and evaluation. They will act as a
resource for the multimedia indus-
try at large while also accelerating
the uptake of multimedia within the
education and training centres.'
National Information Services
Council
On
10
August the Prime Minister, Paul
Keating, chaired the first meeting of
Australia's National Information
Services Council
(NISC).
The Council
was established as
a
high-level discus-
sion forum for broad policy issues as-
sociated with Australia's development
as an information society.
Mr Keating reported that the Coun-
cil focused on four matters:
• access to the emerging informa-
tion services and technologies;
• industry policy issues;
• the legal questions and chal-
lenges arising from the new tech-
nologies and services;
• Australia's role in the interna-
tional telecommunications envi-
ronment.
Independent working parties pre-
pared papers on each of these topics
for the Council's consideration.
The paper on access issues
(http.//www.nla gov.au/pmc/nisc/
aug95/access.html) argued that the
right to communicate, and the right to
access information, are fundamental to
a democratic and equitable society. It
identified a range of groups with par-
ticular access needs, including: rural
and remote, indigenous and ethnic
communities, older people, people on
low incomes and the unemployed,
women, and people with disabilities.
The report identified
a
number of prin-
ciples which the working group be-
lieve should be acted upon. A funda-
mental principle is that access should
be non-discriminatory,
so
that all Aus-
tralians can share in the benefits of the
services. A cooperative and coordi-
nated approach between governments,
industry and the community
is
also im-
portant. The report argued that access
is
not only an issue for
the
future, but is
already a problem, and action is
needed to provide access to narrow-
494 The Electronic Library, Vol. 13, No. 5, October 1995
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