Winning ways : Online regional communities that click

- Knox, Ian

Title
Winning ways : Online regional communities that click
Creator
Knox, Ian
Date
2005
Type
Text; Conference paper
Identifier
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/41798
Identifier
vital:1422
Abstract
Significant resources have been allocated to regional and rural communities in Australia to provide information technology and connectivity infrastructure. A sense of community was traditionally provided by the local primary school, church, or tennis club. As many of these facilities are no longer available, the Internet is seen as an opportunity to foster community activities, interests and events. Although significant funding has been provided to support the establishment of online communities, websites and regional web portals, many projects fail or stall once the initial funding has been expended. In terms of ongoing sustainability, it is rare to find examples of life after funding as most initiatives fail to develop sufficient revenue streams or systems that can support the project staff, content maintenance, and infrastructure beyond the seed-funded period. This paper examines factors which contribute to the success of Australian community web sites. It seems the level of seed funding provided to establish sites is not as important as other less tangible features such as the degree of community ownership, the ability for multiple users to contribute, local relevance, and levels of interactivity. The study confirms that technology can play a useful role in bringing communities closer together, but ultimately it is the people that make up a community, not the technology.; E1
Publisher
Bendigo, Victoria : Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities
Relation
Paper presented at Centre for Sustainable Regional Communities (CSRC) 2nd National Conference on the Future of Australia's Country Towns, Bendigo, Victoria : 11th July, 2006
Rights
Open Access
Rights
Copyright Unknown
Rights
This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
Subject
Regional; Communities; Online
Full Text
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