REDLAND City Council has used $10,000 from the Queensland library and Telstra to run a digital literacy program for 61 Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders at Dunwich.
Mayor Karen Williams said the Deadly Digital Communities literacy program, run from March to May, on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island) aimed to increase digital literacy in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to better help them unlock new opportunities for themselves.
"We are all expected to access health, social and financial services online but without the digital skills required to do so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are essentially cut off from these basic services," Cr Williams said.
"Digital literacy is an essential skill in this day and age, as more services and daily interactions move online."
Cr Williams said library and Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation employees were given skills to deliver group training to 43 community members as well as 18 one-on-one sessions.
"The group training sessions focused on topics like email, searching the internet safely, computer basics, cloud storage and Microsoft Word, with specific technology questions addressed in the one-on-one sessions," Cr Williams said.
"With council employees at Point Lookout, Dunwich and Amity Point library branches now equipped with the knowledge to provide such digital training, Redland Libraries is working on developing a pilot program on Minjerribah."
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