Digital Inclusion panel

A few weeks ago I was asked to be part of a Digital Inclusion panel discussion at NetHui.

The theme for this year’s Nethui was “the Internet is everybody’s business”. The 3 day event covered a range of issues including education, privacy, security, copyright and a particular focus on digital inclusion.

The education forum on Day Zero was hosted by Mark Osborne and Andrew Cowie of CORE Education, and was well attended. The focus here was on ‘Equity, Inclusivity, Purpose, Passion’ and there was a range of challenging and useful presentations.  There were speakers from a range of providers in the education sector, including Connected Learning Advisory and National Library, as well as teachers like Caro Bush, Kimberley Barrs and Diana Wilkes.

I helped to facilitate a session about the Rural Broadband Initiatives, explaining the role that N4L has played in rolling out the Managed Network, showing the breadth of this network and exploring how communities could create digital hubs around these connections.

I was also invited to be part of a panel discussion on Digital Inclusion, which was to explore the challenges and aspects of digital inclusion, exploring issues of access, affordability, accessibility and digital literacy”.

The other members of the  panel were Vanisa Dhiru (2020 Communications Trust), Bob Hinden (Internet Society), Professor Charles Crothers (Auckland University of Technology) and Robyn Kamira (Mitimiti on the Grid Project).

On this recording of the panel, I speak for the first time at the 16 min and 30 second mark, and speak for about 5 minutes on what N4L has set out to achieve with regards to connecting all schools in NZ.

Each of the panelists presents their perspective on digital inclusion, and there is about 20 minutes of Q&A.

If you're interested in any of the other sessions that were at Nethui, do check out their channel on Youtube.