Press Release

Australian Computer Society

P.O. Box 319
Darlinghurst NSW 2010
Australia

Telephone 02 211 5855
Fax: 02 2811208

Issued: 4pm, 9 March 1995

Minister launches SBS multimedia Internet service at Multimedia Forum One

After giving the keynote address of the first of the Government's Multimedia One Forums, on Wednesday morning 8 March, Hon. Michael Lee M.P., Minister for Communications and the Arts, launched an experimental Internet information service for the Special Broadcasting Service.

The SBS Internet service is provided with the assistance of the Australian Computer Society, through the ACSlink network (available to 30 million people on the Internet world-wide). The service uses the World Wide Web multimedia technology to provide information about SBS and its radio and TV services. The SBS "Home Page" also includes the SBS logo and users with multimedia workstations can play the station theme through their computer's digital sound system.

Senator the Hon Peter Cook, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology also viewed the SBS home page, after launching the Multimedia One Forum series.

The SBS service was established as part of the ACS Australia This Minute (ATM) project. ATM is a project by ACS members to help the community to document Australian culture on the World Wide Web, and as a supplement to the Government's "Australia on CD" project.

Tom Worthington, Director of the Australian Computer Society Community Affair's Board who designed the multimedia pages in conjunction with SBS said:

"The ACS is delighted to be able to assist SBS with bringing Australian culture to the world and world culture to Australians. As well as providing a useful service to Australians, we are projecting a progressive, sophisticated, high-tech image of Australia throughout the world. The SBS Home Page and the ACS's Australian This Minute are available on screens at the CeBIT exhibition in Germany, attended by the Prime Minister."

The SBS service is available on the Internet at: URL: http: //acslink.net.au/~tomw/sbs.html
The ACS ATM Project is available at: URL: http://www.tomw.net.au/atm.html

Photographs and video footage of the Minister launching the SBS service are available.

ABOUT THE ACS: The Australian Computer Society is the professional association in Australia for those in the computing and information technology fields. Established in 1966, the ACS has over 15,000 members and on a per capita basis is one of the largest computer societies in the world. Activities are announced in the Usenet newsgroup "aus.org.acs". Information is available via e-mail from info@acslink.net.au.

ABOUT SBS: The Australian parliament established the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) to provide multicultural and multilingual radio and television services that would entertain and inform all Australians and reflect the true nature of Australian society. SBS Radio broadcasts nationally in more than 60 languages. SBS Television now reaches more than 15 million people nationally, with 4.2 million viewers each week.

For further details:

John Woodward, Director Publicity, SBS, ph: 02 4303785, fax: 02 4303052

Tom Worthington, ACS Director of the Community Affairs Board, Ph: 06 2474830, Pager: 06 2856209, Fax: 06 2496419

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Comments to Tom Worthington at tom.worthington@tomw.net.au