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The Lower Great Southern comprises 16% of the land area of Western Australia, approximately 40,500 square kilometres, but has only one post-secondary education institution in its boundaries. This paper looks at the development of the Regional Computer Network (RCN), a unique cooperative venture between various local, state and federal government agencies with a vested interest in the delivery of education, training and public information across the Great Southern. It addresses issues of cooperation, management and ownership, network design, comparison with other delivery systems, funding and network maintenance, public acceptance and "user friendliness".The RCN is based on a powerful PC, modem and printer in the libraries of the eight largest shires in the region. Current features include
- provision of public access in person, or by modem, to major data bases on education and training
- provision of public access in person, or by modem, to local and state wide community information (including the Regional Information System developed by local community service providers in response to the rural crisis)
- access by modem to the Public Library Information system, giving up to date information on two million titles hold by the WA State Library System
- a PC bulletin board providing a distribution and collection point for training providers, eg, for down loading of assignments for marking at home at the cost of a local phone call
- data update and network control from Albany via modem
| Author: Bruce W Manning, Regional Coordinator, Great Southern Regional College, Anson Rd, Albany WA 6330
Please cite as: Manning, B. W. (1994). Innovation in the delivery of education, training and public information to rural and remote regions. In C. McBeath and R. Atkinson (Eds), Proceedings of the Second International Interactive Multimedia Symposium, 607. Perth, Western Australia, 23-28 January. Promaco Conventions. http://www.aset.org.au/confs/iims/1994/km/manning.html |