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This project forms part of a national research project investigating how literacy can best be provided for groups with special needs. The research was conducted in 1999 by the Tasmanian centre of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Australian Research Consortium (ALNARC). If focuses on the learning needs of older rural Tasmanians and the potential of online technologies to foster local literacies and community well being. The project aimed to: - investigate access to computers, the Internet, for rural people over 55 - investigate literacy and numeracy aspects of over-55s using computers - investigate the effects of their interaction with the technology - consider implications of senior citizens' use of online learning for community sustainability, training, and lifelong learning. The report includes details of the literature review that was conducted, the interviews and questionnaire that was used to survey users of online centres, and results, in terms of access levels, effects of over-55s' interaction with the technology and implications for senior citizens' use of online technology. Overall the 'results of this research project suggest that these ageing rural communities are better placed to deal with social and economic transition because of their interaction with online technology' (p.21).