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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>>> </span></font><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'>What do your communities mean by "Lighthouse Centre" -
what rocks is it warning people away from? Or is it that this is the place
where the light of the internet can be found?</span></font><font size=2
color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:navy'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Toby this is a very interesting question…
A Lighthouse can be a beacon or a warning, or both. Accepted usage in the
context of a community gathering is a beacon designed to attract people to the community
of a Telecentre, I don’t think the Internet has a lot to do with it. However
having made this observation, many in our indigenous communities do view the Internet
with natural trepidation and will caution youth in particular from becoming too
involved with a medium offering very little in the way of indigenous values and
learning. Perhaps the Lighthouse serves as both a beacon and a warning.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>I would like to expand this idea further
to a current priority of some of the Telecentre’s in my home State of <st1:State
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">NSW</st1:place></st1:State> as well as in QLD Australia.
NSW is facing an imminent (within days or a few weeks at the most), plague of
locusts of proportions not previously seen in recorded history. Drought
combined with global warming produced a plague last year and the continued drought
conditions has resulted in hatchings of billions of these insects over the past
few weeks – only yesterday I travelled to a remote area of our region to establish
a macro link suitable for field data and video transfers for one of our local
environmental scientists. To see millions of these tiny creatures in a single
square metre of ground (in an area of thousands of hectares of similar terrain)
was really quite terrifying. They are yet unformed with wings however it is
only a matter of days before they begin to swarm and reap havoc on our crops,
pastures and livelihoods. Amongst the organizations at the fore of the battle
to mitigate the impact of these creatures are our Telecentre’s, all of
which locally are providing free access to Government and other resources combined
in a single effort to reduce the swarms and resultant damage. In this instance
our Telecentre’s are very much operating as a Lighthouse, warning residents
and providing vital information to the unwary or unprepared landholder. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>The State of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">QLD</st1:place></st1:State> is currently in the grip of an early
wildfire season and Telecentre’s are similarly at the fore of providing essential
community warning information. Most Telecentre’s in affected areas are
compiling fire danger alerts, providing free access to evacuation information,
fire losses of homes and other property, bureau of meteorology forecasts,
traffic delays etc. etc. in a coordinated effort to inform and as necessary to warn
people of imminent danger. These Telecentre’s are also operating as a Lighthouse
for the very rough “waters and rocks” of uncontrolled wildfires. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>These scenarios are continually played-out
right across our continental landmass – from remote Telecentre’s in
the West and North-West of Western Australia engaged in Cyclone warning and
support, to Telecentre’s in the ‘Red Centre’ providing drought
and travel warnings for people silly enough to try and cross a desert
unprepared. Maybe a “Lighthouse” is a very apt descriptor for the
warning value offered by many of these Telecentre’s. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'>Rgds, Don <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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