Friday, July 2, 2010

Dunedin digital strategy

There are currently calls from the Dunedin City Council for submissions about the Dunedin Digital Strategy. We have two options for giving feedback - send in a submission and/or complete an online survey. The submission date is the 16th July and they will be heard at a meeting held on the 26th July.

I am planning to send in a submission but am just mulling over what I want to say. I think the main points I want to emphasise are:
  • Dunedin should have widespread quality Internet connection;
  • people need to be supported to learn what to do with the Internet once they have access to it;
  • steps should be taken to make sure everyone has access to the Internet and no one is excluded.
What would you include in a digital strategy?

I have never written a submission before so if anyone has any tips on how to do it, please feel free to let me know.

4 comments:

David Callaghan said...

I know San Fransciso city has been blanketed with free WiFi access for a few years - perhaps one might find some of their experineces useful to draw on? More info from: http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2008/01/san_francisco_gets_free_wi-fi_courtesy_of_meraki.html

Sarah Stewart said...

Thanks for that, David. We also have a NZ Digital Strategy here, so it will be interesting to compare with the SF work.

enableot said...

OK so I'm biased but in the UK the Digital Britain report http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Britain has been criticised for excluding people with disabilities and focusing much more on those in low socio economic areas and children and young people.

I know its a question of where do you end, but consideration also needs to be given to giving people an understanding of what can be done by having internet access (online shopping? I never knew!), and a framework for developing "web smarts" for people who face particular risk online

Sarah Stewart said...

Hello Claire, great comment and thoughts I'll keep in mind. And , thank you for the link - much appreciated