Hitnet

Hitnet brings information and services to the hardest-to-reach people. Hitnet Community Hubs with WiFi hotspots enable people to connect to online services and access culturally appropriate health and social information.

Project location: Remote and Regional NSW, QLD, NT & WA

A major focus of Hitnet’s work is building digital capability. In early 2019, Hitnet is scheduled to install new Hubs into five sites in regional and remote NSW, and another into regional WA, a total of six new sites. In addition, we will be making visits to other Hitnet Hub sites around Australia.

As part of the installation and ongoing service, Hitnet includes community engagement activities to ‘activate’ the Hub at each of the sites. This will cover training on the Hitnet Hub, its use and the content available, and how to update with locally produced content. Where sites are installing the Hitnet Wi-Fi, there will be a co-design workshop to decide on what types of functions the organisation would like to have on their mobile landing page. These could come under categories such as, banking, government services, shopping, art & culture. This process curates the internet for inexperienced users and provides an on-ramp to the digital world. Through feedback, we’ve heard that people often don’t know what they can use the internet for, so this gives them useful tips to begin.

We will conduct digital skills training using the Be Connected Learning Portal to help the organisations to develop or source their own content, including topics such as: Getting Started Online, Staying Safe Online, More Online Skills, Connecting to Others, Wi-Fi and mobile networks.

The content produced/sourced would be distributed through the organisation’s social media accounts and onto the Hitnet Hub at their Aboriginal Medical Service.