Collaboration with public and voluntary organisations that have existing technology resources has been critically important. LCNL provides support services to voluntary groups, which have secured computers through the Com. Lochaber College has 4 satellite colleges each with a small computer training lab and videoconferencing facility. LCNL uses these facilities for training and refers local residents for further education. LCNL is working in Partnership with Highland Council's Community Education Service to provide basic computer training using Community Education's 6 laptops, which provide IT training opportunities in communities, which are not close to other, IT training facilities.
Information needs are very broad and difficult to predict in advance.
The most successful parts of their community web site so far have been the News Headlines, Job Vacancies Online, and the youth discussion forum, which has active involvement from the different areas of Lochaber. It s been a challenge to identify public locations in rural areas. Existing centres are heavily used and often have no extra space. Security has not been a serious problem once they instituted monitoring systems at each site. Also, people appreciate that the computer is an opportunity and that if they abuse it, they ll miss out.