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Can Regional Communities Successfully Participate in the Smart State? The Case of Maranoa Online Regional Community Portal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2016

Jane Summers  and
Meredith Lawley
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Abstract

This paper presents a case study of the initial planning and implementation of an emerging e-model, community portals, in a regional Queensland community, focusing on the adoption of this model by the two key stakeholder groups of businesses and consumers. Our study was undertaken in two stages: an initial exploratory stage utilising depth interviews with businesses and focus groups of consumers to identify key reasons for participation, followed by a survey of all businesses and households in the region. Two key implications for successful planning and implementation of regional community portals include the need to focus on not only the establishment and start up phase of the portal but also on the longer term growth and development of the portal and secondly, the importance of considering and addressing the needs of all stakeholder groups at initial planning and implementation phases, rather than focussing on one stakeholder group. Overall the results question the viability of regional community portals if they are to be self-funding, hence necessitating a commercial focus.

Type
Special Theme: Queensland: The Smart State
Information
Queensland Review , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , May 2003 , pp. 123 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 

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