A LOCAL development project has set out to spread computer literacy into rural areas of Co Waterford and among a generation that might have missed out on the technological revolution.
Housewives, farmers and shopkeepers are being offered basic computer training on their own doorsteps, so they may use this modern tool to assist them in their everyday occupations.
Waterford Development Partnership, which supports many local development projects in enterprise, tourism, education and training, initiated the scheme.
WDP education officer, Michael Power, set up the programme to bring computers to people who might otherwise have to travel long distances to urban centres to gain this expertise.
The Partnership bought 13 laptop computers for this distance learning programme, managing to secure 50 per cent finance from the LEADER programme. Courses are advertised in villages well in advance of the starting date. Community groups are contacted and local interest is assessed.
When a basic class of about 12 people has been signed on, the courses are set up. The portable computers are brought to the venue for the 2 1/2-hour classes, which take place one day a week for 10 weeks.
The introductory courses are designed "for people who don't know one end of a computer from the other", Mr Power said, but there are also more advanced courses.
The first courses are already under way in Tallow, west Waterford. The enrolment so far has been 75 per cent female but Mr Power is aiming to attract the interest of farmers and commercial fishing groups.
He pointed out that the agricultural communities in other countries had already adapted to this technology: "In France, they're about 10 years ahead of us on computers.
Questionnaires circulated among working farmers have indicated enormous interest in acquiring computer skills, which may be used for keeping farm accounts, milk quota data and telemarketing - all offering new employment opportunities.
Like most WDP projects, the programme is intended to be self-financing, and a modest fee is charged. But groups and individuals who can come under the designation of disadvantaged are eligible for funding under the Local Employment Scheme.
Over-40s, women's and men's groups, community groups, those running small and medium enterprises, and also long-term unemployed who decide to go back into the workforce by setting up their own businesses, are all being targeted.
By September, Mr Power hopes to have courses running in five places and most will offer an afternoon class and an evening class.
The programme is using expert professional tutors under contract. The initial course tutors include Karen Dunne and Gerry Buckley, each of whom has set up their own computer training business in Clonmel and Waterford respectively.
The potential for use of computer technology is increasing in rural areas, as information on bases, public libraries go online, and so on.
Computer training is already available in VEC and FAS courses but usually in towns or cities, and access has been difficult and inconvenient for rural dwellers. The new scheme, in contrast, brings the computers to them.
The training courses will be on-going in the east and west of the county, the main difficulty for the organisers being the logistics of ensuring that the equipment is transported from place to place for the set times.
The on-farm computer may become an everyday phenomenon in the future. Already, in England, a bar-coded tag on the ears of cattle can be read with an electronic scanner, to access data on the animals' veterinary and other histories.