WA govt plugs ICT industry portal

The Western Australian state government has launched a new ICT web portal designed to showcase local industry and provide information about careers in the technology field.

"These pages will provide information about university and TAFE programs, career profiles, salary rates, students' plans and scholarships," said energy, resources, industry and enterprise minister Fran Logan as he launched the portal today at Geraldton Senior College.

The ICTWA Portal, which can be found online here, is being launched as part of National ICT week. It was developed by the Department of Industry and Resources, in collaboration with the state's ICT Industry Collaboration Centre.

"We are showcasing WA's amazing ICT industry - it should not be a secret that WA is home to exceptional ICT companies including Moodle, iiNet, ERG, Fundi Software and Immersive Technologies," said centre chairperson Valerie Maxville.

Other major ICT firms to call the state home include Amcom and ASG. In addition, Optus subsidiary Alphawest still has strong roots in the state.

What do you think about the ICTWA portal? A waste of time or a valuable resource? Post your thoughts below this article.

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WA State Government? Perhaps not. Anonymous -- 30/07/08

I believe you'll find that while ICTWA might have been initially funded by the WA State Government, it's owned by a not-for-profit non-government group.

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Mm. Anonymous -- 30/07/08 (in reply to #320108001)

Interesting that the website does not show any state government badging, and that the claims made by Fran Logan as reported in the article would actually duplicate many existing state government portals, such as the TAFEWA Student Portal and Products & Services Guide.

Given that this website is therefore probably not a government site, one wonders who is benefitting or likely to benefit from masquerading as one.

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ICTWA Portal Valerie Maxville -- 30/07/08 (in reply to #320108003)

There's only so much background that can be put into a press release, the Portal gives more information.

In a nutshell, the ICTWA Portal is an ICTICC initiative - aimed at promoting the WA ICT industry. The Department of Industry and Resources (DoIR) initially funded ICTICC, which is a board bringing together industry and professional associations in the ICT domain.

DoIR and ICTICC worked together to form the ICT Skills Leadership Group (SLG) this year to look at ways to encourage more students to take up ICT careers. The SLG has a broad membership and decided on some key initiatives to work through. One of these was the Portal, and DoIR funded the development of the careers pages, with SLG input.

We don't intend to duplicate services offered by other sites, but feel it is important to have a place where people can go to find out about the WA ICT industry, then click through to other sites for more information. ICTICC is the custodian of the ICTWA Portal, but it is a service to the industry.

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Moodle in WA? Anonymous -- 30/07/08

The WA government doesn't promote or widely use Moodle in state schools. Apparently WA has so much money that they're looking at building an entire course management system from scratch. Perhaps someone should tell the powers that be that Moodle is free!

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