Welcome to our first newsletter for the year. We’ve been delaying sending this one out as we all adjust to the reality of COVID-19 in our day to day lives.

With most of our Hitnet Hubs in remote health services, the role we play in delivering relevant information and services has never been more vital. Most remote Indigenous communities are now going into lock down to protect their vulnerable families and we have a unique channel available to distribute directly to their Hitnet Hubs.

Social distancing and digital exclusion are an anxiety inducing mix, so our COVID-19 health messaging is as important as our community cultural stories and other health and wellbeing resources available through the Hubs.

To help combat the spread of COVID-19, we are also working with our hardware manufacturers on new solutions for hand sanitization and body temperature sensors which can be installed in new and existing Hitnet Hubs. We will keep you updated on this and other developments the team are working on.

Like many small businesses around the country, this is a tough time for us, so if you have been considering a Hitnet Hub for your community or organisation, or would like to distribute information or services to the Hitnet communities, we would love to hear from you.

Stay safe,

Julie

(pictured – Hitnet WiFi mobile landing page directing users to current Coronavirus information. Beautiful health promotion artwork from Michael Jalaru Torres for Geraldton Aboriginal Medical Service, displayed on their Hitnet Hub screensaver)

COVID-19 and the Hitnet Hubs

Hitnet is taking the threat of COVID-19 very seriously and clear messaging is key to our communications strategy. Information helps our communities alleviate panic and gain control so thanks to the communications teams at the Torres and Cape Hospital and Health service, Apunipima Cape York Health Council, Geraldton Regional Aboriginal Medical Service, SA Health and the AH&MRC (NSW) for providing us with some wonderful, culturally appropriate content. We have fast-tracked our processes and have been able to deploy all their COVID-19 information in a timely fashion to their Hubs, and across our national network.

Our Annual Highlights Report for 2019

We always look forward to this time of year, when we get to launch our latest Annual Highlights. Jimmy our in-house graphic designer takes it up a step every year, and I’m sure you’ll agree he has done a great job again. To celebrate this we’ve actually put him on the front cover – this is him at the Puliima Indigenous Languages and Technology conference that we presented at in Darwin last year.

This year’s addition includes our first usage stats for our WiFi hotspots, we look forward to seeing these grow as more sites are rolled out and communities become more connected and digitally experienced. You can download the report here.

Tech4Dev Project in the Solomon Islands

Our upcoming trip to the Solomon Islands has been postponed due to COVID-19 travel restrictions. This would have been our second project trip to install the outdoor digital hubs (Mobile Tutungu and Mobile Afia) in the two communities. You can download our information sheet to learn more about this project.

With our project partners, Earth Water People we’ve been capturing important cultural stories that will be part of an interactive map for the ‘Mobile Tutungu’ at Barana Community and Heritage Nature Park - see the photos above. Co-design has also commenced with the Distance and Further Learning Unit (DFLU) at the Solomon Islands National University to plan out the upcoming video production capturing former student’s stories of their time in the ‘Second Chance’ program at the DFLU. These stories will be made in to an interactive channel to be made available on their ‘Mobile Afia’ at Auki Community High School.

We can't wait to travel back there to restart the project. In the meantime, we'll be developing the locally produced content into interactive learning channels ready to be distributed to their hubs.

ThoughtWorks Strategy Workshop

During bushfire smoke filled skies in January, we met at ThoughtWorks in Melbourne to explore our technology roadmap and envision the next iteration of Hitnet, that we’ve called Hitnet 3.0. Nickeema Williams joined us from Woorabinda in Central Queensland to provide her important perspective and Matt Perfect continued his valuable work with us around our strategy and partnerships.

We’ve been fortunate to have ThoughtWorks Chief Transformation Officer Ange Ferguson on our advisory board for the past year. ThoughtWorks is a global software consultancy that builds technical capabilities for companies striving to grow their business. Through their social justice arm they’ve supported us in many ways over the years, and we’ve been able to give their staff unique insights into the technology for development work that we are doing.

Dream Lucid - celebrating Indigenous entrepreneurship

Early in March Hitnet was invited to Dream Lucid in Melbourne. Part conference, part experimental gathering its’ aim was to connect the next generation of indigenous innovators and changemakers with a community of allies, collaborators and mentors. It was a true honour to be considered an ally and the evening was authentic, inclusive and full of passion, purpose and great ideas. This generation of Indigenous innovators are genuinely inspiring. Sam is still raving about it and we hope to continue our involvement by offering Hitnet as a pathway for young innovators to gain knowledge and experience. Check out and support some of the amazing participants clothingthegap.com.au/, streetfeastmelbourne.com.au, joewilliams.com.au, indigitek.org.au, joelbraydance.com, pearlii.com, , ngarrimili.org.au, strongbrotherstrongsister.com

CareerTrackers - launching new careers

Late January saw our very own graphic designer - James Olsen attended the CareerTrackers National Forum. CareerTrackers Indigenous Internship Program is a not-for-profit organisation that aims to get Indigenous university students internships within corporate Australia. Jimmy has been studying at Charles Darwin University and is completing his Bachelor of Communications.

From Jimmy “I enjoy pretty much every aspect of it. It gives me an opportunity that my family and friends do not get to have and allows me to solidify my career pathway. I get to develop and improve my skills in graphic designs at an industry level. I get to network and make a lot of new friends”.

At Hitnet it’s wonderful to be able to support Jimmy as he develops his skills and networks to launch into his chosen career.

Downloads Available
Click on the links to download or interact with the following:
Hitnet Annual Highlights Report 201 9
Our Online Hitnet Hub
Our Mobile Apps
Mobile Max Packages
Hitnet Wi-Fi hotspot Packages
Mobile Max Pilot Project Report
Hitnet Strategic Plan 2017 - 2021

Thanks for checking in to see what we're up to. Please share this newsletter with your colleagues and networks to help us achieve our vision of a digitally included world.

Bridging the digital divide during times of crisis