Plans are under way to establish a community technology centre (CTC) in Lightning Ridge.
Following the recent formation of a local CTC committee to develop the application for the set-up in town, community surveys were released on Tuesday to gauge interest and support.
CTC community co-ordinator for the Orana region John Goldsmith has been meeting with the committee to assist them in their application, which needs to be submitted by the end of August to be eligible for the September round of funding.
The committee had gone through funding guidelines and was considering learning more about the set up proposal through videoconferencing mediums.
Mr Goldsmith had said the committee first needed to work out want kind of services the community wanted to be included in their CTC, and that was the idea of the community surveys.
It was also decided that each committee member would take on assigned individual tasks, so that the application could be filled out quicker and more efficiently.
Committee spokesperson Cheryl Hudson said to date they had already made contact with various community members, including youth groups, students and the school to see whether support could be gained for the proposal.
She said Aboriginal support had also been sought, and both the Murdi Paaki Regional Council and Barriekneal Housing had been approached.
She said the committee also wanted to get police involved with the project.
Mr Goldsmith said he had suggested the CTC committee expand itself to between eight and 12 members. It currently has eight.
The local CTC committee headed by chairperson Amber Burberry-Pearce, would be looking at proposed sites for where the CTC would be housed in early August.
CTC committee member, Wolfgang Johansson, said no council property was available in Lightning Ridge, as all council space had already been assigned.
He said there was the possibility of establishing the CTC next to the doctors' surgery, but it was believed that rent would be too expensive if that property was available.
Mr Goldsmith at a previous meeting had outlined to the committee that the CTC would need to become self-funded after two years.
So he said a good proposal and set up was needed.
Ideas of incorporating laptop facilities were mentioned at the second recent meeting, and different ideas and concepts that other established CTCs were using were being examined.
The committee had developed a timeframe into a nine-week schedule by which the application would need to be made.
It outlined the tasks that needed to be completed within a certain time frame.
Through discussion the committee also felt that many community members didn't know what a CTC was, so that needed to be explained.
Other target groups that would be approached, in the hope of supporting the proposal, included seniors and the multicultural community.
Mr Johansson said he believed the Transcultural Community Council (TCC) would fit well into the CTC proposal.
The committee also wanted to look into the possibility of creating a database of interested people who could help the CTC establishment along.
Mr Goldsmith said from the results of the survey the committee would need to work out what service their CTC could provide.
"We need to ensure the CTC would be able to supply a reliable and professional service," Ms Hudson said.
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