A few weeks ago I was asked to be part of a Digital Inclusion panel discussion at NetHui.

The theme for this year was “the Internet is everybody’s business”.  The 3-day covered a range of issues including education, privacy, security, copyright and a particular focus on digital inclusion.

The education forum was held on day one and was hosted by Mark Osborne and Andrew Cowie of CORE Education. The focus here was on ‘Equity, Inclusivity, Purpose, Passion’ and there was a range of challenging and useful presentations.  There were speakers from a range of providers in the education sector, including Connected Learning Advisory and National Library, as well as teachers like Caro Bush, Kimberley Barrs and Diana Wilkes.

I helped to facilitate a session about the Rural Broadband Initiatives, explaining the role that N4L has played in rolling out the Managed Network, showing the breadth of this network and exploring how communities could create digital hubs based on these connections.

I was also invited to be part of a Digital Inclusion panel discussion , which  explored  “challenges and aspects of digital inclusion, exploring issues of access, affordability, accessibility and digital literacy”. Other panel members included Vanisa Dhiru (2020 Communications Trust), Bob Hinden (Internet Society), Professor Charles Crother (Auckland University of Technology) and Robyn Kamira (Mitimiti on the Grid Project).

All of the sessions at Nethui were livestreamed, and are now available to view on YouTube.

In this recording of the panel discussion I start speaking for the first time around the 16 minute mark, about what N4L has set out to achieve with regards to connecting all schools in NZ, but it’s well worth listening to the full discussion if you have time.