School of Education Seminar Series

Dr Mutuota Kigotho:  More than just a “Rumble in the Jungle”: the use of metaphor to examine a regional town’s engagement with the national broadband network
 
This paper reports on stories about a New South Wales regional town’s engagement with digital technology in general and with the National Broadband Network (NBN), in particular. Participants in this study were residents in Armidale. Participants ranged from university students, parents and businesses. Participants were asked to explain what motivated them to sign up to the NBN and subsequently, what use they made of the new digital technology. The questions elicited mixed responses with some indicating that the NBN had been forced on them as the analogue telephone signal was shutting down anyway. They claimed to have found no change in services provided by the new system or they simply did not care. Others were however more optimistic about what emerging opportunities the NBN technology had brought to the township and the residents in the region. The paper also examines the language introduced by this new technology (also called the metalanguage) Finally, I provide some reflections on the stories told by those that are “digitally literate” as well as those opting to remain “digitally naïve

Date:             Wednesday 19 November 2014
Time:            1:00 pm
Venue:          Room 224 – Education Building
Please feel free to bring your lunch.
All interested persons are welcome to attend