iByron launched

It’s been a long time coming, but the Byron shire now has its very own online portal for community groups.

Called iByron and built for the Community Centre by Community Engine, the website has been developed over the past 18 months and was launched last night with fanfare at the Byron Community Centre. Present were many of the community groups who will benefit from the tool, as well as candidates for the upcoming election, who spoke in support of the website.

“iByron will enable people throughout the Byron shire to publicise and communicate their projects and activities” said the Community Centre’s Paul Spooner. “We’ve never had this before in such a clear and accessible way. It’s bringing community organisations into the 21st century”.

The website will utilise social media and youtube, providing simple web publishing and planning for groups and individuals who may otherwise be unable to afford or access such tools. As well as being able to search for and communicate with community groups, the site will promote a calendar of events and volunteer registry.

Community Engine’s Dean Power, who oversaw the tool’s development, spoke at the launch of how we are living through a time when more than half the Australian adult population carries in their pocket a smart phone, which has more computing power than NASA had when they put man on the moon. “We will create more information in the next five days than we did from the start of cave painting until 2003. And it’s our close connections, our community that help us make sense of that deluge” he said.

At the launch Community Engine also gave out three oversized cheques as a part of their $100,000 giveaway to Northern Rivers not-for-profit groups. Rainforest Rescue, the Byron Youth Service and the Byron Community Centre all received funds. “We have close to $90,000 left to give” said Dean Power, “so we strongly encourage Byron groups to actively participate in this giveaway”.

Zenith Virago from the Natural Death Centre closed the evening by facilitating a group visualisation, where guests blew iByron as bubbles from a wand out into the wider world.

http://byronbay.nsw.au/

Downloadable high res images:

Photo #1 – Community Engine’s Dean Power speaks at the launch of iByron

Photo #3 – The Community Centre’s Paul Spooner with Rick Slater from byronbay.com

Photo #3 – Simon Richardson and Kirra Pendergast at the launch of iByron

Photo #4 – Di Mahoney from the Byron Youth Service collects her cheque from Community Engine

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