auDA Foundation: 2006 Grant Recipients

For Australia’s indigenous youth - a project that aims to increase high school retention rates amongst indigenous students and encourage their participation in higher education.

The project will foster links and relationships between at-risk indigenous students and their local universities. It will encourage and assist those students to complete their secondary education and will present further studies as a practical and viable pathway.
While the target group for this pilot project is small, the flow on-effects have enormous potential. The students themselves stand to gain the most but the ability to use this pilot study as a basis for further research and activity in this area could also lead to substantial positive outcomes.

Association for the Blind WA

For the vision impaired - the development of a customised web browser for the vision impaired.
This is an important and potentially ground-breaking proposal. The Association for the Blind of WA is working in partnership with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Curtin University. The auDA Foundation funds will be used primarily for the salaries of a developer and interface designer.

Using JSP Java technology, the publicly available application will parse HTML web pages and present them in an accessible format. The interface will allow the user to input a valid URL at which point the server side application will re-render the given web site based on pre-determined settings. The reformatted page will then be presented to the user.

Goulburn Valley Family Care

For the prevention of suicide – the development and maintenance of a web site to support the delivery of a program aimed at preventing suicide by young men living in rural areas.

Next year, Goulburn Valley Family Care will launch an innovative pilot program that trains the coaches and captains of local football teams in ‘Mental Health First Aid’. The coaches and captains will in turn deliver (formally and informally) information about mental health issues to their teams.

Goulburn Valley Family Care will establish a web site to support the training program, providing additional ways for coaches, captains, team members and other young people to seek assistance (anonymously, if necessary). The pilot will be evaluated by the University of Melbourne’s School of Rural Health.

City of Darebin

For improving the administration of local government – the development of a generic model for local, online consultation that will assist all local governments to use online technologies for consultation and community engagement.

Darebin City Council will collaborate with Deakin University in the delivery of this project. Together they will develop a framework, based on the Darebin City Council’s existing online forum that (a) can be replicated by other local governments and/or (b) enable other local governments to trial and implement their own online consultation strategies.

Components of the model will include a training manual for moderators, materials to assist local governments to set up the forums and tools for evaluating the forums.

RSPCA Queensland

For the RSPCA in Queensland – completion of the first stage (web architecture) of a project to deliver humane educational material, webquests and online learning to schools, teachers and regional communities. The RSPCA Queensland is developing a substantial online curriculum for primary and secondary school students. The proposal is comprehensive and the organisation is well placed to deliver excellent outcomes. In particular, the curriculum will target those students in regional, rural and remote locations that the RSPCA is unable to see face-to-face on a regular basis.

Computing Assistance Support & Education Inc (CASE)

For the communities of the ACT and rural NSW – the delivery of enhanced access to mailing lists to member organisations. CASE is a not-for-profit co-operative ‘community net’. Membership is open to individuals and all of the bodies that voluntarily contribute to the region’s social capital such as charities, community and advocacy groups. CASE assists its members to make better use of the internet in order to accomplish their goals through education, advocacy, technical support and a venue for an Internet presence.

CASE sought funding to be able to offer its members enhanced and supported access to mailing lists, which will assist its members to communicate more effectively. CASE will deliver the necessary hardware, software and ongoing support while also educating and assisting members in the use of lists.

Australian Seniors Computer Clubs Association

For teaching Australian seniors – the establishment and piloting of a mobile training facility to deliver internet training workshops to seniors in any location throughout Australia. ASCCA is a peak body for more than 100 seniors’ computer clubs throughout Australia. The association seeks to establish a mobile learning kit of 10 laptops and associated peripherals and software. ASCCA will then use the kit to deliver training to seniors in rural areas. Training sites will be selected on the basis of demonstrated support, usually in areas where ASCCA will be able to assist residents to establish their own computer clubs.

Australian Theatre for Young People

For assisting young playwrights – the delivery of a program to assist young playwrights by providing them access to online resources, professional tutoring, mentorship and performance opportunities. The Australian Theatre for Young People will leverage its existing relationships with regional and remote communities to ensure young people from all Australian communities are encouraged to participate. Indeed, the online delivery of this program ensures that no participant need be geographically disadvantaged.

Stroke Recovery Association

For aiding the recovery of stroke victims – the delivery of training in the use of the Internet (and especially a stroke support group chat room) to stroke victims and their carers. The Stroke Recovery Association provides information, counselling, advocacy and education about stroke prevention and recovery. The association also facilitates the operation of 57 Stroke Recovery Clubs (support groups) throughout NSW. The association has 1,500 members, with some 840 regularly attending club meetings. The association’s staff will travel throughout NSW to conduct Internet training sessions at the club meetings.

Community Technology Centres Association

For teaching Internet safety courses to families and seniors – the delivery of training courses about Internet safety to children, parents and seniors in 15 locations throughout regional NSW. The Community Technology Centres Association is a newly-formed association of community-based centres that provide public access to the Internet. The Community Technology Centres Association seeks to deliver free ‘Cyber Safe Community’ training programs in community-based technology centres throughout regional NSW. The courses will cover online safety, security and online crime prevention.

Deaf Society of NSW

For the hearing impaired in rural communities – the establishment of dedicated Internet and webcam facilities in six regional locations for enhanced service delivery and assistance to the hearing impaired in rural communities. Within six partner organisations, the Deaf Society of NSW will install Internet and webcam facilities. Internet and webcam training will be offered upon request to deaf people and their families who will then be able to use these facilities to access information, specialist support staff and interpreters from the Deaf Society.

Parent Project Australia

For families living with muscular dystrophy – to undertake interactive communication, support and information, dissemination activities via enhanced online functionality. Parent Project Australia seeks to enhance their existing online presence so that members can have better access to relevant forums, blogs and information. Parent Project will also assist members to use the site by providing appropriate equipment (headset microphones and webcams) and ongoing training. As well as providing members with a source of support, it is hoped that the enhanced functionality will also enable Parent Project to collect improved data about members. Such data will be used to better meet member needs in the future, as well as to inform sponsors and support Australian medical research.

The Wimmera Information Network

For not-for-profit organisations based in rural Victoria – the undertaking of a scoping study to determine the technical requirements needed to establish a community information portal that includes an existing database of 3,500 not-for-profit organisations based in rural Victoria. The Wimmera Information Network sought funding for a small part of a multi-stage project. The overall aim of the project is to implement an online database of local, community-based organisations within a regional portal. The Wimmera Information Network has been working on the project for some time, undertaking relevant consultation and developing close links with the Department for Victorian Communities.

Lifeline ACT

For the facilitation of online counselling – an assessment of the opportunities for the delivery of online counselling and/or other web-based interactive services. Lifeline Canberra will to employ a researcher to investigate and develop options for expanding Lifeline Canberra services to include web-based interactive programs. Lifeline Canberra currently provides a telephone counselling service but proposes to research its options for (i) online counselling, (ii) improved online information sources and (iii) using online technologies to support volunteer telephone counsellors.

Swinburne University of Technology Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures

For reducing the impact of inbound email spam – the development of an open-source front-end for SMTP servers that implements a novel TCP-layer algorithm to reduce the impact of in-bound email spam. The project aims to release a flexible, easily installed software package capable of running on a standalone Linux or FreeBSD host and capable of protecting SMTP servers regardless of their underlying operating system. By publishing the results to the wider community Swinburne University of Technology also aims to raise the profile of Australian research institutions within the international Internet community.

Macquarie University’s Department of Business Law and the Department of Indigenous Studies

For the provision of a PhD scholarship to an indigenous student – the provision of a PhD scholarship to an indigenous student for the study of indigenous perspectives of Internet law. The scholarship will be available to indigenous graduates throughout Australia and the successful candidate will be mentored by staff from both Macquarie University’s Department of Business Law and the Department of Indigenous Studies. The scholarship will help to address the substantial under-representation of indigenous students within Australian Universities.