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Background

In 2023, council accepted an invitation to participate in the Queensland Connects Program in a team made up of government representatives, academics and entrepreneurs from across Queensland. This team has been named ‘Team Connectivity’.

What is the goal of the program?

Team Connectivity is working towards building a model and tool called ‘Connectivity Compass’ to help the community map its current level of connectivity, identify gaps and link them to existing programs and funding opportunities to fill those gaps.

While there are many programs that try to address stand-alone aspects of connectivity, unfortunately they are often addressed in silos, delivered as separate programs and disconnected from other aspects of connectivity. The ‘Connectivity Compass’ hopes to change this.

Under the Queensland Connects Program, Team Connectivity have funding to undertake stages 1-3 of the ‘Connectivity Compass’ project, which focuses largely on community engagement. This feedback will help inform the development of the ‘Connectivity Compass’ model and is the basis for future grant funding applications which is needed to build the tool and start implementing in the pilot locations.

What will happen if Team Connectivity don't receive future funding?

Without future funding, Team Connectivity will not be able to build or implement the tool. Feedback gained from community engagement will aid in building a case for future funding to build and roll out the tool.

What you shared

The community was asked to provide feedback on their experience with digital connectivity to help inform the development of the 'Connectivity Compass' and as the basis of future funding applications. See a summary of the feedback that was shared with us below, or read the full report. For ongoing updates on the overarching project, please visit https://connectivitycompass.au.

Demographics

Who participated

Shape Your Ipswich Findings

Over a four-week period between Saturday 1 June and Sunday 30 June 2024, the community were able to provide feedback on their personal experience of digital connectivity through an online survey. In total, 140 visitors viewed the page, and 8 contributions were received through this channel. Below is some of the feedback we heard:

  • Technology Use

    • Respondents indicated reliance on online banking (100%), staying informed (87.5%), social connections (87.5%) and leisure (87.5%).
    • All respondents had a minimum of two devices, with an average of 4 devices per respondent.
    • Majority of respondents connect from their own phone or home (both 75%).
    • Over 70% of respondents rated their internet connectivity ‘Good’ or ‘Very good’.
    • All respondents rated their confidence and skills in digital literacy at least fair with over 70% being good or very good.

  • Connectivity Experiences

    • Connectivity issues experienced by the respondents appeared to be infrequent with one quarter answering every month and one quarter answering a few times a year.
    • All respondents advised when they experience connectivity issues, they usually lasted a few hours.
    • Majority of respondents did not have a specific location to list that was deemed unreliable.
    • Feedback from respondents indicated that the majority had experienced one or more major outage events since 2020.

Workshop Findings

A face-to-face workshop was held on 12 June 2024. Some of the feedback shared by the group, through their lived experience included:

  • Social

    • People with a disability and the elderly are consistently left behind as their needs are not considered in design and delivery e.g. how to use the cloud, recognising scams.
    • Cyber security tools are not always inclusive e.g. voice ID is not accessible for people whose diction is different.
    • Pace of change is so fast that there is an increasing dependence on others with digital skills, which creates vulnerabilities e.g. elder abuse.

  • Economic

    • In older suburbs of Ipswich, there may be power to the street but not to the house, which can cost more than $30,000 to install.
    • Modern cyber security requires a level of hardware and software not accessible to everyone.
    • Community support organisations have limited funding to support with digital connectivity.
    • Transition to cashless won’t work until connectivity issues are resolved everywhere in Australia.

  • Education

    • Incorrect assumption that all students are IT-literate.
    • Many students don’t have laptops at home, only mobile phones.
    • Inequity of being outside the capital city i.e. less teachers, poorer equipment.
    • The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and other critical assessments rely on connectivity.
    • Focus on digital education creates barrier for people returning to study at a mature age, especially those who left before the digital revolution.

  • Resilience

    • Being able to contact loved ones during disasters is paramount.
    • In disasters, if technology doesn’t work the first time, peoples’ fight, or flight response may cause them to give up.
    • Many disaster communications now rely on connectivity e.g. disaster dashboards, BOM app, but more traditional methods are required to continue until connectivity issues are resolved or people will be left behind or worse, in danger.

  • Health

    • Telehealth is great, but relies on good connectivity as a baseline, including for individuals to have credit/data on their phones.
    • My Health Record must/should have a hard copy backup because connectivity is not reliable enough.
    • GPS/mobile blackspots prevent navigation even locally, creating a barrier to attending health appointments.

How you shared

Community engagement was undertaken between April 2024 and June 2024 and included:

  • Online engagement through Shape your Ipswich
  • One external workshop