E-ENABLED COLLABORATIVE SERVICE FOR REMOTE INDIGENOUS

COMMUNITIES

Fiona BradyRemote Training Australia

Australia

Eleanor SelvaAssets North

Australia

Brady, Ms FionaRemote Training AustraliaPO Box 468Cairns Qld 4870

fbrady@remotetraining.com.au

E-ENABLED COLLABORATIVE SERVICE FOR REMOTE INDIGENOUS

COMMUNITIES

ABSTRACT

This project is a pilot to enable people from remote island indigenous

community councils to carry out some facets of asset management.

Community councils are legally responsible for a large number of assets;

however, the administration staff do not currently have the specific skills

to manage their assets. Many of the tasks associated with asset

management could be performed locally with strategic training and

support.

The project represents an innovation both in work content and work

practice. It is based on the use of ICT to ameliorate distance and isolation

issues. We investigate the practices of innovation, integration and change

using the focusing concept of workarounds in the implementation of this

project.

INTRODUCTION

This project addresses the topic “Locally based e-commerce and e-enabled local and

community economic development”. It is a pilot that includes training and an online

data sharing and support program for remote indigenous councils to record and manage

assets. The participants involved in this project are situated in the outer islands of the

Torres Strait.

Remote community councils have been reliant on the services of an asset management

company, based in a regional centre, in order to meet audit requirements. However

there is increasing political will in indigenous communities to take greater control of

their own business. The asset management company also has experienced difficulty

recruiting appropriate staff willing to travel to remote locations. The improvement in

regional infrastructure and technology skills of the remote council staff make it timely

to trial an innovative project where tasks are performed on the islands by local staff

under the IT enabled supervision and with the support of the asset management

company.

This would empower the remote community by taking direct control of its asset

management while ensuring audit requirements are met. The asset management

company would still perform the accounting functions and a pre-audit service but those

aspects of the work most heavily dependent on local knowledge would be done locally.

This represents a very flexible system where participants can work to the point that

meets their needs and abilities along a continuum from dependence on outside

consultants, to managing their own affairs with support, to independence as teleworkers,

delivering the service to other communities under contract.

The project faces a number of challenges. The islands are remote which makes site

visits by training and support staff expensive and therefore infrequent. Remote

participants use English as a second or third language, whereas the consultants and

training staff use English as their first language, this slows the training and support.

The cross cultural and language issues have particular impact for telephone support: the

difficulty or frustration with communication can lead to calls not being made so minor

problems may go unattended for long periods.

There are factors that indicate successful outcomes for this project. Participants are

currently employed and enthusiastic computer users. The project addresses a range of

identified needs. This research is very pertinent politically for this region. The proposal

for greater autonomy and the increasing restrictions on grant monies for the region

means that councils will have to become business oriented and take a more active part

in e-commerce, defined by Zwass as the “sharing of business information, maintaining

business relationships an conducting business transactions by means of

telecommunications networks”. (Zwass 1997). This project will trial an alternative

model for service delivery and for e-enterprise. Furthermore it will provide information

about how the users approach and use the model through an in depth study of their

interactions with technology by focusing on work-arounds (Gasser 1986).

Workarounds are a significant part of this project and have been described as

representing “resistance on behalf of users and the means by which they attempt to

wrestle control back from a technology or an institution” (Pollock 2001).

It is timely to carry out this research for a number of reasons. We have an established

working relationship with councils. The support of the project stakeholders enables us

to formalise asset management positions in council, provide training and onsite work

experience as well as off-site support. This project builds on previous projects about

use of ICT in the region, and hardware skills development. The incipient installation of

2-way satellite broadband in the region makes online support and data checking now

practically and economically viable.

This paper outlines the research problem and gives an overview of the context and the

theoretical ideas on which the project is based. The research techniques used in the

project are detailed and the potential ethical problems identified. A plan of the research

and a short progress report precedes the reference sections.

RESEARCH PROBLEM

The practical problem we are investigating is: Will this model lead to implementation of

asset management procedures in council administration offices? Are the outputs

reasonable and sufficient for e-commerce purposes?

The research focus question is how the participants deal with innovation. What are the

actants, connections and translation processes involved in the introduction of ICT

supported asset management positions?

The subsidiary questions investigate the use of “work-arounds” by staff to overcome or

avoid “problems”. How is our understanding of our remote “teleworkers” interactions

with technology enhanced by close observation of the networks that surround

workarounds? Does technology change them? Are they changing the technology?

Are the issues of maintenance of the asset program different from the issues that

instigated the implementation? Will a fuller understanding of the processes in this

project help us to design more effective programs and implementation strategies?

OVERVIEW OF THE SITUATIONAL CONTEXT

This project arose out of a number of considerations affecting all the participant groups.

The changed legislative requirements affect the reporting and performance of councils.

This project will enable Councils to make use of the information they already hold in an

asset database, to update their records, and to perform auditable stock takes. The

consultancy company is seeking to adapt their service to meet client needs through

collaboration and technology. Improvements in infrastructure make it viable to transfer

large data files and to use ICT. This project also offers a potential for job creation

through teleworking and e-service delivery. Although this project represents an

innovation in service delivery it has been developed in the context of a variety of

government and non-government service delivery models in use in the region.

This project is based on a three-way agreement between councils, asset management

company, and trainer/researcher. We invited four of our existing clients to participate

and selected three for the pilot, on the basis of their demonstrated interest in the project.

A training program was developed that builds on existing skills, involves workplace-

learning methodologies, is sensitive to cultural considerations and actively involves all

stakeholders.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

The outer island participants are on remote islands with populations of between 120 to

250 people. The staff on the three islands involved in the pilot use either Creole or

island language, Kala Kawa Ya or Kala Lagaw Ya, as their first language and have

English as their second or third language.

The participating council staff has a high degree of interest in technology but have had

no experience with the asset management software, and nascent skills in ICT. The

council IT equipment is less than two years old. Two sites will have satellite broadband

Internet access by the end of September 2002; one has limited access to the Internet.

The asset management company is based in a regional city and provides services to

remote as well as mainland clients. The manager has been involved in the project

design and is actively involved in the project.

The researcher is a trainer and financial consultant in the region and has academic and

commercial interests in this project.

Initial permissions have been sought from participating Councils and their designated

staff members, manager of the asset management company, Managing Director of the

consultancy company, financial consultants to the participating island councils.

Consent forms have been completed by all active participants prior to the

commencement of the project.

There are some known limitations for the project. The cultural commitments of

participants may affect their involvement in the project and or the timeframe of the

project. This is an innovative project in a region for which there is little research data so

our anticipated outcomes must be general. The dependence on technology sites means

we will have to allow additional time for hardware and software problems. The fact that

the new equipment is being installed during the project will further extend the time

frame required for the project as we will need to familiarise ourselves with the

equipment. The online environment itself is novel to participants and may have an

impact on the project in unforseen ways. The councils have agreed to support the

project on the basis of current understandings, as the project progresses this support will

be re-negotiated to reflect changed understandings.

THEORETICAL IDEAS THAT WILL INFORM RESEARCH

This research project draws on a number of key perspectives. We will use research

related to cross-cultural training, indigenous learning styles and access and equity for

indigenous people to ensure the project is culturally sensitive yet balanced against the

necessity of auditable outcomes. The geographic location is remote and the small

populations can make islands socially isolated, to address this we have the emphasis on

chat and informal communication and we draw on research on online community of

practice. The region has elements in common with developing regions, so research and

projects associated with implementation of technology in these regions has relevance

and will be used to situate this research. The training methodology draws on distance

learning and flexible learning strategies, as well as adult and workplace training theory.

The findings of Australian projects in Teleworking provide the practical structure for

the pilot project and teleworking research will be used for comparison and sensitising to

the issues. The research will be conducted and interpreted using techniques associated

with Actor Network Theory.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Equity

The report Access and Equity on Online training 2000 (ANTA 2002) gives an Australia

wide context for remote and indigenous online training, it highlights the need for

training for this equity group to include a strong support system and a combination of

face-to-face and online activity. We take notice of the concept of designing training for

“cultural fit” as proposed by Schwab (2001).

Online Communities of Practice

The concepts of community of practice (Serim 1996), online learning communities

(Learnscope 2001, Burstall 2000, Cashion 2000), learning partnerships (Oliver 2000),

learning cultures (McKenzie 1998) and collaborative learning (Fisher et al 2000,

Ragoonaden & Bordeleau 2000), show the value of peer support and informal learning

and underpin our promotion of ICT as a means of communication. There is work which

deals specifically with communities of practice as online support or dissemination and

implementation of innovation (Stuckey 2002). The models of online support for VET

students (Choy, McNickle and Clayton 2001, Krogh and Monaghan 2000), will inform

the choice to the type and range of support we use as base line. We expect that the

circumstances of this project will lead to a clarification of the needs and modification of

support provided.

Workplace learning

Workplace learning is increasingly recognised as an effective training method and it is

being supported by the Vocational Education Training sector through a number of

TAFE and ANTA publications (ANTA 2002, Skippington 2002). The research in

informal learning in the workplace, by Stephen Billet (1999) discusses how people learn

at work through modelling, questioning, diagrams, and that learning is an active

engagement but must be matched by workplace affordances. Billet’s stress on the

importance of real work activity underpins the training exercises and the use of on-site

modelling, mentoring and support section of our project design.

There is a body of work on Information Systems, which is principally concerned with

the interaction of people with technology (Zwass 1997, Baskerville 1999) that will be

used to highlight potential areas of interest for this project.

The reports and case studies on telecentres, introducing ICT to developing regions

(Harris 2001, Bridges, CTCNET) are particularly informative for examples of the

balance of cultural sensitivity with issues of changing local social environments.

Practically they also argue for the benefits of partnership arrangements with “more well

endowed” communities and the importance of using ICT tools to manage collaboration

to promote skill transfer (Fuchs 1997). These studies also provide an international

context for our project and reinforce the importance of sustainable development in

remote regions.

Workarounds.

The work by Pollock (2001) is being used to focus on function of workarounds to

illuminate how situations can be “read”. The particular way that remote users in this

project adapt to new technology will be compared to Madelaine Akrich’s 1992 research

in French Polynesia, with particular reference to her concept of scripting.

Teleworking

The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority materials on teleworking and how to set up

telework will be used to provide structure and context for this project. Research papers

from the British telework organisation (Telework.org) and US Department of Labour

Telework Report will provide sensitising material and a wider context for the project.

METHODOLOGY

This research is part funded by the consultancy companies; part funded by clients. The

employer and the consultancy companies provide their time for liaison, program

development and support. A fee is charged for the training course. This is a

participatory research project and there will be biases as we are interpreting behaviours

and language and stories, however we commence the project by acknowledging our

interests and the goals of our involvement. Robson (1993) will be used as a reference

for research and data collection techniques.

This research will be conducted in an actor network theory framework. We start by

identifying the participants and the legislative-historical context. We describe the

elements of tension within the networks as the project progresses. These will be used to

show how the interactions of technology and participants are organised and the changes,

amendments to the project that result. Variants of ANT have been used to investigate

technology, organisations and innovation (Callon 1999, Latour 1996, Star 1991) and

this research will use these studies as reference points. The ANT framework offers

valuable sensitising concepts to interpret mechanisms and processes including the

inherent indeterminability and unpredictability of change (Tilly 1997). The ANT

approach is consistent with a narrative reporting method, and we will use it to ensure the

project report is accessible to all participants.

Research process. Data will be collected by the researcher and participants as

appropriate. A document search of policies relating to IT in the region and statistics

will be carried out to provide a context for the study. We will use trainer assessment,

both qualitative and quantitative; employer comment, participant course evaluation, and

participant self-assessment. Observations and participant interviews will be conducted

both structured and unstructured. The information collected will be analysed using

content analysis method.

POTENTIAL ETHICAL PROBLEMS

The cross-cultural nature, and the duration of this project give rise to a number of

potential ethical problems.

Inaccurate portrayals

Lack of informed consent

Manipulation of the project for the benefit of trainer’s research theories

Publication of inappropriate/culturally offensive material

Research methodology may be culturally insensitive

Conflict of interest with commercial company and community councils

Most of these problems will be addressed through a methodology and summary sheet

for participants that outlines the nature and purpose of the research and principal ethical

concepts including negotiation, confidentiality, anonymity and action. All document

release beyond the group will be by negotiation. Any development of summary reports

will be by negotiation and endorsed by group as fair relevant and accurate.

WAY IN WHICH RESEARCH WILL BE MANAGED

This is a 2-year pilot project commencing June 2002. Online Discussion and chat will

be maintained throughout the project. Regular email contact will be made with tips and

news, and for feedback as well as reporting.

June 2002 i. Consultation

ii. Project design

iii. Training design

August 2002 iv. Training

v. Interviews

August/September 2002 vi. On-site modelling/mentoring

November 2002 vii. Data audit online

March 2003 viii. Data audit online

July 2003 ix. Site visit and end of year audit

May 2004 x. Final report

CONCLUSION

The two main anticipated outcomes of this project is that participants will perform asset

management tasks with appropriate support: they will enter assets to the asset register

accurately and in accordance with the law and perform auditable stock takes. However

if we expect ongoing development of the project we must have greater understanding of

the interests and motivations that are enacted during such processes.

I suspect the concept of workaround and evidence in IT and in that other intransigent

force: legislation – will have common ground as avoidance of top down power.

This study rests on the edge where actors indicate areas of concern and dissonance and

call into question established underlying concepts, it is crossing boundaries to write

from an outsider’s viewpoint to indicate local understandings of words and concepts.

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