|
Growth and Decline Rejuvenating and Sustaining Regional and Rural Communities
Author: Helen Thompson
Published: Saturday 5th Oct 2002 Researcher: Professional Doctorate Candidate Helen Thompson
Why do some regional and rural communities thrive whilst others decline? Regional and rural success and decline continues as a major issue in Australia but research remains discontinuous and incomplete. How, for example, do the roles played by federal, state and local governments, universities, private enterprise and by community organisations influence regional development (or indeed decline)?
Community led revitalisation and initiatives to expand the uptake of information communications technologies (ICT) are matters of considerable profile Funding to seed initiatives is available from federal and state governments with universities and local government often recipients and/or key participants in funded projects. Many are 'bottom up' initiatives which aim to build community capacity by developing and implementing 'local solutions to local problems'. But what are the factors that influence the likelihood that local initiatives will succeed?
This study examines models of economic and social development and explores the scope for private and public initiatives that may influence growth. More specifically, the study examines the benefits that regional and rural communities can secure through community informatics (CI) initiatives. Embedding ICT for community benefit is becoming known as CI. This approach requires a commitment to capacity building, community participation and a goal of community emancipation.
The aim of the study is to explore the importance both university-region and local government-region engagement in the development of a strategic approach to CI initiatives to identify whether, when suitable CI infrastructure is combined with strong university and local government leadership, a greater uptake of ICT and electronic commerce can be achieved across regional and rural communities.
Four industry partners support this research. They are the Rural City of Ararat, Wimmera Development Association, AME Systems and the Shire of Hepburn.
For further information contact Helen Thompson.
|
