I was invited to write a paper for the Encyclopedia of Developing Regional Communities with Information and Communication Technology - which I did and it was published. I presented it at the time in QLD. Blast from the past. Just included it in a CV for BMD Constructions. Feels like ages ago - however it is still so relevant.
Online communities can have useful international dimensions because of the very nature of the World Wide Web’s networking capabilities. However, while developing our South Australian community services and practice requirements, we have found a definite tendency in people that they “like and stay with their own kind.” Much of the literature examining the uptake of ICT in community has found that local content is a vital issue. Why? It has been widely demonstrated that local Web sites developed locally provide ownership where an international or national Web site often fails. Another key success factor in the local use of Web sites (in fact, any Web site) has been found to align with whether the development was born from “a need” within the community, i.e., the community has the need and requirements and then provides input, takes ownership of output, etc.
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