ADM+S research delivers value for remote First Nations community partners
Author Leah Hawkins and Dr Daniel Featherstone
Date 11 September 2024
The Mapping the Digital Gap research project has released its final community report from 2023, showcasing findings on communications access and digital inclusion for First Nations people in Tennant Creek in Northern Territory.
The report is an update of the Tennant Creek 2022 Outcomes Report and is the 21st in a series of comprehensive outcomes and update reports tailored to the 11 remote First Nations communities and local partner organisations visited since 2022.
The reports are part of the project’s commitment to Indigenous data sovereignty, providing survey data and analysis of interviews and research findings back to the participating communities.
The reports identify barriers to digital inclusion in each site and outline suggestions of strategies to address these barriers, and support local advocacy, planning and partnerships with government and industry stakeholders.
Over three years, the research team has engaged deeply with the unique context of each community, developing mutually beneficial partnerships with local agencies and stakeholders to deliver reciprocal outcomes.
“The partnership with RMIT for [Mapping the Digital Gap research] has been awesome.” said Madeline Gallagher-Dahn, CEO of Kalumburu Aboriginal Corporation.
“It’s basically highlighted a lot of areas that [the] majority of us wouldn’t think of on a day-to-day basis. It also highlights the remoteness of Kalumburu and what is needed for these parts of the world and what can be done, what needs to be improved, and what still is a possibility.”
The community reports propose Digital Inclusion Plans for each community, tracking agency involvement and progress on place-based solutions to digital inclusion challenges.
Kerry Legge, CEO of Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation in East Arnhem Land, said “I found it really valuable because it feels like [the research team is] not just focused on this project, [they’re] actually helping Laynhapuy”.
“We really need technology here to run the organisation and then we’ve also got members who want it for their own purposes as well… that’s the story we’ve got to tell Australia [about the challenges in] closing the gap … to recognise that it is a gap.”
In a world that is experiencing accelerating digital transformation in many aspects of economic and social life, reliable and affordable communication technologies are necessary for accessing many services and managing daily life.
Through planning, advocacy, and local knowledge, First Nations community organisations are critical to the successful delivery of place-based digital inclusion initiatives in remote communities.
“Communication is really the vital key in any community,” said Darrin Atkinson, REDI.E team leader in Wilcannia, “especially Indigenous remote communities where we’ve got to bring ourselves up to date now and take advantage of the new technology that’s available … we’ve got to grab it with both hands.”
Mapping the Digital Gap is a supplementary project of the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), established through the ADM+S Centre in partnership with Telstra since 2021. It seeks to address a lack of quantitative and qualitative data on digital inclusion in remote First Nations communities in Australia.
In 2023, the ADII and Mapping the Digital Gap project found a significant digital gap between First Nations people and other Australians of 7.5, which widens significantly with remoteness to 24.4 for remote First Nations people and 25.4 for very remote.
All community reports published so far are accessible via the Mapping the Digital Gap webpage. Mapping the Digital Gap will be releasing another 11 community update and outcomes reports from 2024 research trips, as well as a 2024 annual outcomes report later this year.
Mapping the Digital Gap has been renewed for another four years and will be tracking digital inclusion outcomes in an additional eight remote First Nations communities from 2025-2028.
