Senator the Hon Helen Coonan
Minister for Communications,
Information Technology
and the Arts

Deputy Leader of the Government
in the Senate

A Digital Culture

Pre-recorded message for the Digital Collections Summit

Recorded in Canberra
17th August 2006

Welcome to the Digital Collections Summit.

Australia has a strong and vibrant collections sector.

The books, research materials, art works and artefacts collected by our cultural organisations are a source of great national pride.

It is our job to ensure that these are preserved, and accessible, for future generations, whether they be scholars, special interest groups or individuals keen to explore Australia’s rich heritage.

Introduction

This Digital Collections Summit is an opportunity to delve into the challenges and the opportunities ahead for Australia’s collections sector in the digital age.

Australia’s libraries, archives, museums and galleries have a long and proud history of collecting significant items that reflect our past and tell our stories.

Many of us rightly feel that the libraries, archives, museums and galleries have been an important part of our lives for years.

There is a feeling that they have always been there.

Compare this to the Digital Content Industry which, only five years ago, was barely on our radar.

This exciting and relatively new industry is having a positive impact on our more traditional business and cultural sectors.

The rapid changes in technology have seen the emergence of 95,000 firms in the digital content industry employing around 300,000 people.

I congratulate the Collections Council of Australia for holding this Summit to explore how the collections sector and the digital content industry can best work together.

Digital content and the economy

The Australian Government is proud to support the digital content industry—an industry with wide implications for the Australian economy.

And because the work done by the digital content industry impacts on all sectors of the economy, I am keen to see that all sectors benefit and take advantage of the opportunities to grow their businesses and the range of services they offer.

This is good for business, great for consumers and helps develop a culture of innovation.

Already we see digital content producers working in film, broadband, mobile content, games, broadcasting and the information and communications sectors.

We only have to look at the movement of analogue to digital to see the possibilities.

Analogue to digital describes one of the Government’s aims in reviewing the television/media industry regulatory framework.

Traditional media services are constantly being challenged by new digital technologies which foreshadow the emergence of new players, content, services and delivery platforms.

This provides new sources of information and entertainment for consumers, and new challenges and opportunities for industry.

The collections sector, as keepers of our heritage, are a great source of information for this convergent world and creators of digital content will be looking to the collections sector for material.

The synergies are obvious and the scope for more collaboration and cooperation across all sectors is only limited by the imagination.

It is also important that we continue to work together.

Governments, businesses, the creative industries and training institutions need to continue to work together to harness the potential of the digital world.

Australia’s digital content producers are keen to make a major contribution to the production of digital content through growing their firms and export capacity as well as helping to develop a highly skilled and adaptable workforce.

Most of the digital content and creative businesses are small to medium enterprises with 60 per cent of these firms turning over less than $5 million a year.

The advantage of being an SME is that these firms are quite often in the best position to take advantage of the rapid changes to technology and marry these to the desires of customers.

When the creativity meets the developers of technology we can only imagine what they will come up with!

Growth in the media and entertainment sectors, for example, is forecast to achieve an average annual global rate of growth of more than seven per cent.

Essentially, this means we can anticipate an industry worth more than $1 trillion in 2005 to be worth over $2 trillion by 2009.

The Digital Content Industry Action Agenda

In order to build on this growth, and take advantage of the opportunities in this sector, the Government is committed to developing a comprehensive Digital Content Strategy.

This Strategy is supported by the Digital Content Industry Action Agenda.

The Digital Content Industry Action Agenda was launched in 2004.

With my colleague the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resource, Ian Macfarlane, I recently launched the Report to Government prepared by the Digital Content Strategic Industry Leaders Group.

The Report put forward a two year strategic plan for the industry and the Government supports its key recommendations for industry action.

The key recommendations are aimed at boosting investment, building exports, extending industry-based training and linking industry with research and development priorities.

These recommendations will provide the guidance and support needed for a confident, innovative and successful future.

But what does this all mean for the Collections Sector?

The relationship between the collections sector and the digital content industry is already strong and the work these sectors are doing with broadband technology is leading the way.

Broadband and the Collections Sector

Improving broadband access is a significant government priority and one that affects both sectors.

Innovative and rich media content such as audio, video, maps, books, photographs, scripts and other materials will be more readily accessed through emerging broadband, mobile and other new technology platforms.

The Australian Film Commission’s australianscreen online project is one example of how cutting edge digital content and applications, using rich media content services, can be made available nationally.

This particular service is complemented by other services such as the National Library of Australia’s Libraries Australia, Picture Australia, Music Australia, Dance Australia, and the Cultural Ministers Council’s regional Collections Australia Network.

These projects work in parallel with the development of broadband infrastructure to deliver innovative content to schools, researchers and remote communities.

Conclusion

Australia’s cultural organisations and flagship collecting institutions have an important role to play in our nation’s social cohesion and economic prosperity.

Your participation in this Digital Collections Summit will help prepare the collections sector for the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Have a great conference I look forward to hearing about the outcomes.

Thank you.