WHEN Boulia’s Ann Britton was named as a digital promoter by the Queensland Government, she knew her advocacy role would be harder than most.
This week the cattle producer, photographer and social media enthusiast was one of ten people named as Queensland’s inaugural digital champions, announced by the Minister for Science and Innovation Leeanne Enoch.
The digital champions will hold their titles for the next 12 months, where they’re encouraged to get their local communities more involved in using the internet and entering the digital world.
But Mrs Britton believes rural Queenslanders aren’t resistant to taking up the technology.
Instead, she said geography continues to hinder use.
“I think the only thing holding people back to be as active as I am, basically, is the amount of data out in the bush and basically people working,” she said.
“Where we are in Boulia, people out in field, if they go away from their homes around town of Boulia you have internet access, but once out of town and out in paddocks you’re out of range in the paddocks.”
“You can’t be active on twitter and social media.”
Mrs Britton first started sharing her outback imagery through her Facebook page ‘Ann Britton Photography’, but today you’ll often see her handle pop up in the Twitter sphere as she engages in strong agricultural debate.
“It all started in the first place because I wanted to tell the Goodwood story, the community of Boulia story, the outback story and the beef industry story,” Mrs Britton recalled.
“In 2011 I got introduced to Facebook. It was also the year the live export ban happened and so I then became a strong advocate for the industry.”
Mrs Britton is joined by three other rural women in the digital champions role: Longreach-based health coach Joy McClymont, St George woman Liz Hill and the founder of charitable donation portal, GIVIT, Juliette Wright.
