Another try at VideoConferencing for Development

Just picked this up. Videoconferencing in the Western Desert

A trial to test the use of satellite videoconferencing and high speed Internet access in remote communities is underway at Kunawaritji in the Western Desert.
The trial is a joint initiative of the Pilbara Development Commission and Telstra Countrywide.
At the launch, Pilbara Minister Tom Stephens was able to see and talk to personnel at the Telstra office in Karratha some 800km away.

"Satellite technology will bring better access to an increased range of Government and non-Government services, especially in important areas such as health and education," he said.
"Videoconferencing will allow residents in remote and isolated communities to talk face- to-face with service providers and decision makers, while high speed Internet access will increase the availability of information and online services."
Telstra and the Commission will evaluate the best technical options for delivering videoconferencing to remote communities via Telstra's standard two-way satellite.
I wish them the best of luck but here are the predictions;
1. The technology will work pretty well, Telstra will find the best technical solution to the connection problems.
2. There will be a flood of usage over the first three months
3. Within a year there will be a tiny fraction of that use ongoing
4. The project will not be sustainable unless the government users are prepared to fudge the books, but any decent audit will show that it doesn't pay its way
5. It will not be replicable without signifiant subsidies and will not become a "development market" tool for Telstra, the government or the local communities.

There is one chance, if the three communities have enough in common already and have a significant backlog of non-trivial communication, the financial transaction costs of which are currently unsupportable and that can be expedited online.

On the other hand, since people will still need to travel for community and cultural business, which has to be conducted in person, even that is a dubious proposition.

The business case for projects like these must start at the local cashflow and ask, "how much of this money flows out of the community now? How much of that can be retained within the community by adopting this technology? What is the ROI out of the remainder?

Comments

[Benefits of Video Conferencing]

The first time when I used the video conferencing I was really nervous about how do I look or how do I speak through the equipment, but it was a great feeling.

[John Beck Foreclosure]

I think the three communities have enough in common already and have a significant backlog of non-trivial communication.