Global Info-Links and the smart city.

Scott Balson,Global Info-Links Development Manager, City of Ipswich, Ipswich, Queensland, moth@gil.ipswichcity.qld.gov.au
Keywords: Community access, connectivity

Introduction

The City of Ipswich is a typical Australian City with a community of battlers. Unemployment being a major regional issue since the late 1980s. Through the vision of the City Council it was decided to take on a knowledge industry focus as a local government initiative funded by the ratepayers. As the program proceeded it became necessary to gain the expertise of outside companies to establish the focus and direction of the project which was called Global Info-Links.

The focus moved to a series of modules aimed at maximising the benefit to all sectors of the local community. This included:

During the development of Global Info-Links it was decided to house the node in the new library building which was called the Ipswich Global Information Centre. The Internet became the initial focus of the program with the world wide web being aimed at two levels of interest - local and international.

Through the webs information and business opportunities started to appear and new businesses servicing Global Info-Links developed as a direct result of this initiative. The road to developing a new knowledge age based community in the smart city had begun.

The presentation at Ausweb '95

At Ausweb '95 we will discuss how Global Info-Links evolved - using the world wide web (together with a few slides) to present our vision for the community of the future. Vision has now become reality.

We will demonstrate the growth and involvement of the emerging services to the community.

Brief background to the City of Ipswich.

Ipswich is located about 40 kilometres west of Brisbane nestled in hilly, sub-tropical country with the Bremer river flowing through its heart. The settlement was originally sighted as the capital of Queensland in the 1840's - but the lack of access from the sea to and from the settlement because of the tidal nature of the Bremer river resulted in the capital being located in Brisbane.

By 1901 there was a strong coal mining industry, railway workshop and engineering works as well as meat preservation plants. In 1904 Ipswich was declared a city.

By 1960 the railway workshops in North Ipswich employed 2,500; the coal mining industry 3,000; and woollen mills about 1,000. There were also substantial brick and engineering works. This was the mainstream employment area for the Ipswich region's population of 43,200.

With employment in Ipswich being traditionally based around the manufacturing and mining industries the city was in for a major rise in unemployment in the late 1980's when the coal mining industry virtually closed down, the railway workshop was wound down in preparation for re-location and the industries supported by the railway workshops closed down.

Regional issues of early '90s

In the 90s Ipswich was faced with a crisis. The unemployment rate in a community of over 70,000 was reaching the highest levels in the country and little or no support was forthcoming from the state or federal governments to turn around the situation.

The City Council had a choice of either trying to woo new rust bucket industries to replace the dying coal and manufacturing industries with new emerging industries.

Under the leadership of the Mayor of the time, Dave Underwood, and his councillors the City embarked on a major project to change the focus of employment into smart industries based around a smart community. The challenge was to identify where the future development and employment opportunities would be.

Knowledge industry development focus

A leading lateral thinker and former West Australian cabinet minister, Mr Mal Bryce, was recruited to run the new Ipswich Development Investment Group in 1992. The challenge was initially investigated by a small project team made up of chiefly of key members of the City's Corporate Management. It was decided to pursue the development of a local information telecommunications and technology industry.

Development - use of specialists

Interactive Presentations Pty Ltd, (a company in the Interactive Group originating out of Technology Park in Perth), was contracted to establish and co-ordinate the development of the Global Info-Links project. This task was achieved on time on the 8th December 1994. The company is now developing the business section on Global Info-Links.

Creation of modules for maximising community involvement in the global highways

The focus was further refined into a series of community based groups who would be encouraged to participate in varying levels in the project. The main visual interface with the community is the provision of information and links to other sites through the world wide web.

Schools and education.

Goal: to create a smart young community who understand the global highway technology. Every school in the Ipswich region was offered a free account to the Internet as well as a free modem. Webs: In the Ipswich City Web there is a section dedicated to schools - providing contacts - both local and remote through links to programs like K12.

Business

Goal: to create employment and business opportunities as well as generate cash flow to assist in the development costs.

Webs: Provision of advertising webs on which a business can promote products and/or services.

SeniorsNet

Goal: to create an active involvement amongst the City's seniors. This will give them a new sense of purpose and new contacts to help them to overcome the common feelings of loneliness felt by this community. There is an active Australian seniors group focused around a small band of dynamic pensioners who think like teenagers.

Webs: The seniors have access to a large range of community based information through the Ipswich web. The seniors group are working together through E-mail to identify other sites world-wide where they can share interests through news groups or information from webs.

Art gallery

Goal: to develop the cultural side of the City.

Webs: The aim is to develop a web similar to other art gallery webs on the Internet, but based around local art including specialist areas like Aboriginal art.

Tourism

Goal: to promote Ipswich as a tourist destination. Its heritage sites and location just an hour from Brisbane providing the focus of this program.

A heritage web as well as a separate tourist web is currently being developed. It will include pictures and will be accessed through the Ipswich City Web.

Development of the Ipswich Global Information Centre and Global Info-Links

The Ipswich City Council recognised the need to give Global Info-Links a "presence" that could be seen and understood by the community. This presence was met by the building of the new "library" or Ipswich Global Information Centre. In this centre the public can gain direct access to the Internet through a number of the multimedia machines based on the second floor. This access costs only $4 per hour and is geared at allowing the public an inexpensive manner in which to "surf" the Internet before having to make any financial commitments should they be considering in investing in a link up to the Internet through Global Info- Links. Global Info-Links was opened for business on the morning of the 8th December 1994 and officially launched by Barry Jones on the 3rd February 1995.

There were, as of early March, over 1,000 subscribers to Global Info-Links.

Role of the Internet

The Internet is viewed as Ipswich's interface with the world. The major role of this interface is through E-mail, the world wide web and global news groups.

The Global Info-Links web interface is aimed at two levels:

A local level (ie Ipswich region)

At the local level the population of Ipswich and Brisbane regions are being encouraged to subscribe to Global Info-Links as an Internet access provider. The webs provide this audience with valuable information. To date over 1,000 individuals and businesses subscribe to the Global Info-Links service.

and at

A remote level (ie Sydney, London, Tokyo etc).

The commercial webs in the Global Info-Links Electronic Market will be available on a subscription basis to anyone on the Internet irrespective of their geographic position. Currently there is information on Queensland as well as Australia under the Ipswich City web. These webs provide an important function in informing potential overseas businesses about Australia

Role of the Global Info-Links Webs:

The Global Info-Links Home Page this evolves with the changing nature of Global Info-Links. Initially, at its launch on the 8th December the Ipswich City Council Web was on the Global Info-Links' Home Page. This Web carries a range of information including City Council details; the project's background; community support issues; links to other Internet resources through the World Wide Web; background information on the Ipswich region, Queensland and Australia.

During this period the foundations to the commercial part of Global Info-Links was developed and the Home Page changed in January 1995 from the single Ipswich City Council Web to the Global Info- Links Home Page providing access to a number of webs. These include the new and evolving Global Info-Links Electronic Market as well as a range of on-line government information all these webs being centrally accessible through the Ipswich City Home Page.

Commercial areas of the Global Info-Links Web:

The commercial area of the Global Info-Links Web is seen as a major revenue earner. Several projects are currently being developed in the areas of:

The Indy Carnival web was developed and designed by Interactive Presentations Pty Ltd. It covers the IndyCar race held on the Gold Coast during the weekend of March 17th to 19th. In a world motor racing first information was updated from the media centre at Surfer's Paradise trackside during the running of the race with pictures being scanned and relayed onto the web within ten minutes of being taken and information during the race being updated every two minutes. During the lead up to and after the event global interest in the Global Info-Links site increased by a factor of ten

Community area of the Global Info-Links Web

There are a number of Government on-line services which have been developed to support the growing information needs of Global Info-Links subscribers.

The webs linked to the on-line services include:

Copyright

© Southern Cross University, 1995. Permission is hereby granted to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction at educational institutions provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. Permission is also given to mirror this document on WorldWideWeb servers. Any other usage is expressly prohibited without the express permission of Southern Cross University.
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