Missingham, R. (2009). Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship. Australian Library Journal, 58(4) p.386-399.

“Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship” was written by Roxane Missingham in 2009 and is based on a presentation given at the ALIA public libraries summit in 2009. Missingham is the Parliamentary Librarian at the Australian Parliamentary Library and during her career she has focused on the development and delivery of digital services. This paper discusses how Electronic Resources Australia (ERA) was established and the challenges that face providing broadband access and affordable internet access across Australia. I believe that the purpose of this paper is to bring to the attention of a wider audience the problems confronting Australia’s digital economy. The purpose of writing this review is to examine the main issues raised and to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the article.

The digital economy is the main topic that Missingham discusses. This has been broken down into six sub-topics:
• What the digital environment means to Australians
• What you can find online
• Why do Australians need access to quality information
• What do libraries do to help Australians secure access to quality online information
• The importance of access
• Issues and barriers
From these six sub-topics Missingham makes the argument that “a digital economy can only be built by a community with digital access and digital content that supports their lives and digital skills” (Missingham, 2009, p397).
Missingham provides data taken from the “Australia’s digital economy: future directions final report” that shows that compared to the United Kingdom and Canada widespread, affordable access to broadband and internet content is not yet available in Australia. Details of how ERA was formed are also included in the article with Missingham stating that collaborative action was an important step in delivering quality information. Issues and barriers are also discussed and some solutions to these problems are offered. For example:
• Connectivity – lack of broadband access and affordable internet access remains a significant issue in Australia with only 67% of households with access.
• Content – online material needs to be comprehensive, easy to find, easy to use and consistent.
• Capability – Australians needs to have the skills to effectively use the internet. Training and user support need to be offered by libraries and the government.

“Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship” has many strengths that combine to make an informative and interesting article. One of the main strong points is the use of examples, references, statistics and figures to both complement and prove the argument that the author makes. Another strength is the fact that the author explains what the references mean and also adds her own analysis. This allows a reader who is not an expert in the topic to fully understand the article. The other main strength is when Missingham suggests issues and problems that face the digital economy she provides solutions or examples of what could be done to fix the problem, in preference to just stating the problem. Other strong points include easy to understand language, up-to-date information, clear headings and explanation of what is being done and what needs to be done.

When reading this article I was not able to discern any significant weaknesses that impacted on the quality of the argument. One point to consider however, is adding more detail and information on the issues and barriers that are affecting the digital economy and digital citizenship. This could be achieved by stating specific examples of how connectivity, content and capability can be barriers.
One area that has not been discussed that it is relevant to the topic is examples of how other countries created their digital economies and overcame their barriers. In order to improve this article I would add the above information as well as include further information on the issues and barriers affecting Australia.

In conclusion “Encouraging the digital economy and digital citizenship” is a well written article that refers to a wide range of resources and provides information about what is currently being done by libraries and the Government in order to increase broadband access for Australians.