A DEVON County Council led project which has introduced the community of Hatherleigh to the benefit of computers and creating its own website is set to be expanded.
A second location is to be identified for the next phase of the West Devon IntraCom Project. Possible options include North Tawton, South Zeal, Princetown, Horrabridge and Yelverton.
In Hatherleigh a computer has been installed at Acorns Restaurant for community use and has been used to produce things such as advertisements, posters, newsletters and letters. In addition to this a touch-screen access kiosk is available at Alldays Supermarket and gives access to a range of Devon wide and local information.
Hatherleigh councillor Dennis Bater told a meeting of the West Devon partnership committee this week that extensive use had been made of the PC by individuals and voluntary groups and people were connecting to the internet and using it for E-mail.
But criticisms were made by Mayor of Tavistock Roger Mathew, a member of the IntraCom Core Group, who said the set up in Acorns Restaurant was not being used for what it was supposed to be used for and the Alldays touch-screen facility would not connect to anything worthwhile.
He said nothing useful would come out of the project unless it could be 'unglued from all the bureaucracy' that was surrounding it.
Representative from the county council, Chris Easter, explained the problem in Hatherleigh was that a group needed to be geared up to using IT in order to build its own information base. The PC was the focus for teaching people to use computers. Once this was done the information would become available on the touch screen facility for locals and visitors to access.
'The money became available all at once to put in the computer and the equipment in Alldays,' he said. 'In an ideal world the touch-screen kiosk would have come later.'
He said it was wrong to criticise the project too much at this early stage. He suggested it be reviewed in three months time.
In Hatherleigh, the community is being assisted by a student from Exeter University who is, at the same time, pursuing research for his degree. The student has recently undertaken a survey to ascertain interest in using the community computer and is encouraging people to have a go by offering to explain some very basic operations on the machine. As a result some 20 individuals have taken advantage — most of whom had no previous experience of using a computer.
Chagford was mentioned as a possible location for the second computer, as was North Tawton and South Zeal.
Parish councillor for South Zeal Bill Cann said a new store had opened from 8am to 8pm in the village which seemed like an ideal place to have a computer for the community. The school had nearly 200 pupils and a lot of parents might like to use a computer when they came to pick their children up.
'I see a lot of this IT in bigger places and would like to see it in smaller places for a change,' he said.
It was agreed that consultations would take place with the different communities before a decision on the location for the second computer was made.