Vicnet (Victoria's Network) was a business unit of the State Library of Victoria, Australia operating between 1994 and 2014. It was an early Australian internet service provider that provided website space and training. It was Australia's largest web host for community organisations and projects such as Skills.Net and Libraries Online. The State Library of Victoria closed Vicnet on 31 January 2014.
Contents
History
The State Library of Victoria and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) established a joint project to build a web-based publishing service for community organisations in 1993.
Vicnet worked with the State and federal government, private providers, the Victorian public library network and community based organisations across Victoria to address Digital Divide issues. Through a range of ICT programs Vicnet drove the roll out of public access internet points across Victoria and in the process connected every library in Victoria to the Internet for public access. To facilitate access, Vicnet staff delivered extensive training/community development programs across Victoria through government funded programs such as the Skills.net program (a program that was responsible for training more than 100,000 Victorians).
Additionally Vicnet developed an online publication platform and an extensive web directory for members of community organizations, as well as members of the general population.
By 2009, Vicnet was recognised for its work in culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and its digital inclusion services provided for 62 community language groups.