Australia has the Great Dividing Range, our most substantial mountain range that mostly parallels the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria and stretches more than 3700 kilometres. But there may be a greater divide -- the huge digital chasm between rural and urban areas across Australia.
closing the digital divide
The Australian Digital Inclusion Index 2017 (ADII) Report was established through the collaborative efforts of RMIT University, Roy Morgan Research, Swinburne University of Technology, Telstra and Centre for Social Impact. It notes that there are digitally disadvantaged communities within rural and remote regions compared to urban areas. This report outlines that the national average digital inclusion reading sits at 56.5, rural areas have scored 50.7 while urban areas hold a score of 58.6 which is a 7.9 difference in terms of connectivity and accessibility to digital devices and services. With this in mind, the introduction of the NBN (National Broadband Network) to Australian communities is a call to action to provide more sustainable services to people who reside in rural areas and allow for more consistent connectivity.
10 The official NBN website highlights that the objective behind the establishment of the NBN Sky Muster (satellite service) is to extend the broadband boundaries to the bush. The goal is to balance out the distribution of digital access across the nation and minimise the gap that divides rural and urban areas on the Australian Digital Inclusion Index. This satellite service empowers people in rural, remote and regional communities by enhancing communication services for social, medical and economic factors. Additionally, it introduces a reliable consistency of internet to isolated areas and implements improved education capabilities for the children who don’t have immediate access to a school or academic resources.
Kylie Lindsay, (in her role as Senior Corporate Affairs Manager) published a blog on the NBN website in early September of 2016. She recorded how the School of the Air services have benefited school-aged children in remote locations since 1960. Radios were once used by students to communicate with a tutor up until the 1990s when phones started to replace radios, audio interaction still being the main means of gaining academic content. Ms Lindsay states that Sky Muster and School of the Air can work effectively together to bring higher quality learning opportunities to students who do not live in the hustle and bustle of urban areas or attend boarding school, adding that lessons now have the ability to shift from over the phone to over the internet. This opens up a whole world of possibilities for students who were once academically restricted. It is important to recognise, however, that every family’s situation is different and while Sky Muster may work wonders for some, it doesn’t work so effectively for others.
