The Local Government Association of the Northern Territory (LGANT) has many information technology initiatives up its sleeve to improve the online capabilities of Councils in the Northern Territory. NT Connect is just one of LGANT’s current schemes.
Supported by the Commonwealth Government through the Networking the Nation Program of the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA), the program aims to:
- provide reliable and appropriate IT infrastructure and business systems for Community Government Councils
- provide Councils with access to the support they need to manage and maintain their IT environment
- establish a web publishing template/service to enable, support and assist all Community Government Councils to
- easily develop and update their own web presence to provide information on their Council and community.
Some 47 websites have already been developed for Councils under the NT Connect program.
LGANT Programs Manager, Louise Fuller, said a recent development in the NT Connect program has been the ability for Councils to now send a support request to LGANT and have their computer analysed remotely. “Councils email us their problems and we can search for viruses or setup issues from our office,” she said. “We send the Council a request to takeover their desktop, allowing us access to their entire system, right down to individual computers.
“This is saving Councils and LGANT time, money and resources. Previously, if there was an issue with a computer, Council would need to take it to the nearest computer service centre, which may have been hundreds of kilometres away. This could often lead to the Council not fixing the unit at all.”
Another LGANT initiative is 20/20 Connecting Communities – a project aimed at enhancing internet access for people with disabilities or impairments restricting computer use.
“LGANT has recently completed the installation of a combination of hardware and software across the Northern Territory to assist people, for example, who have limited mobility or vision/hearing impairments,” Louise Fuller said. Through the use of touch screens, magnifiers and larger keyboards, we are making it possible for more people to access information technology. We have also installed ball mouses for people that have low mobility in their hands. The mice are curved and shaped like the hand for easy rest.”
The 20/20 program is based on a similar Local Government Association of Queensland project, which involved 139 installations in Queensland libraries.
For further information contact Louise Fuller on (08) 8936 2893.
