Abstract:

This provision of ICT infrastructure via the Wired Community@Collingwood Project is designed to reduce a number of impediments to digital participation by reducing social costs and economic costs (establishment costs, transaction costs and search and information costs). Importantly, it is not provision per se but how ICT access enables and empowers communities. Access to ICT infrastructure in the digital age is arguably as important a “merit good” as education and health, in which genuine opportunity is fundamental to reducing economic and social disparity. Reducing the digital divide is not about infrastructure provision but rather supporting ICT-enabled solutions to improve social and economic outcomes by empowering local communities.