This page is archived and is no longer maintained, but may be of historical interest.

The CyberCity Initiative:

... CyberCity Mailing List Archive - June 1996.

Table of Contents for this month's archive:

Preface.
CyberCity Mailing List Archive - entries posted during June 1996. All entries are posted most-recent first; the oldest entries are at the bottom.

Archive of postings for 27 June 1996.
- Washington State: Help for Municipalities - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 19 June 1996.
- Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 18 June 1996.
- Plugging In Minnesota Communities Statewide - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 14 June 1996.
- TELUS/CyberCity Partnership & Pilot Project - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 12 June 1996.
- History in the Making: CDA Overturned - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 10 June 1996.
- Cyber-Skills for All in South Bristol - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 7 June 1996.
- Telco Philosophies can Vary Widely - Bob Robertson.
- An Engaging On-line Book: "City of Bits" - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 6 June 1996.
- New Discussion List on Internet History - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 5 June 1996.
- Background Article on Wiring Austin, Texas - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 4 June 1996.
- Sylvania Electronic Village: TOP DRAWER! - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for 3 June 1996.
- Information and Telecom Research in Alta - Chet Meek.
  .
Archive of postings for the month of May 1996 (28 Kb).
Archive of postings for the month of April 1996 (80 Kb).
Archive of postings for the month of March 1996 (62 Kb).
Archive of postings for the month of February 1996 (58 Kb).
Archive of postings for the month of January 1996 (47 Kb).

Or, via the graphics navigation aids:

Preface

This page contains the archived postings for the CyberCity Mailing List for the month of June, 1996.

From the Photo Gallery (55 Kb): our City Skyline at Night. (29 Kb).
Or see an Overview of the Photo Gallery (90 Kb), or its Summary of Thumbnail Indexes.

For further information, e-mail us directly from your forms-capable browser.
Other e-mail and contact information may be found below.

CyberCity Mailing List Archive

... Postings made during the month of June, 1996.

The CyberCity Mailing List

is an open and free newsletter distributed through e-mail by the City of Grande Prairie to anyone who subscribes. It contains the ideas, proposals and discussion of all who are interested in Grande Prairie's CyberCity Initiative.

Postings are listed most-recent first; oldest are at the bottom.

Postings of 27 June 1996:

Washington State: Help for Municipalities - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

Again, following up the article in the 18 June digest on "Plugging in Minnesota," I see that Washington State has a web site where help for municipalities can be sought. The Washington model does not emphasize particularly the assistance to municipalities with getting on-line, but does include most kinds of help.

From their announcement, we quote the following:

Seattle, Wash., June 25, 1996 -- The Municipal Research and Services Center of Washington, has created a Web site:
- http://www.mrsc.org
The site was created to serve Washington municipal governments, provide a communications link for agencies who wish provide information, and inform citizens by providing access to materials about municipal government in the state.
The Center is a non-profit organization created to promote excellence in local government by providing needed information assistance to all of Washington's 275 cities and towns.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 19 June 1996:

Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

Following up the article in the 18 June digest on "Plugging in Minnesota," I see they have another project that has been in the works since 1994. It deals with supporting active citizen participation in the democratic election process through the use of information networks.

The introduction to the project is at:

http://freenet.msp.mn.us/govt/e-democracy/

and a "General Project Description and Volunteer Opportunities" page may be seen at:

http://www.freenet.msp.mn.us/govt/e-democracy/about.html

They hosted two forums (fora?) for debate. One allowed everybody to read it, but only candidates could post. The other forum was for participation by everyone. The latter was at least as lively as the former, though some complained that the queries posted by voters were often ignored by candidates. Overall, however, there was wide agreement that both forums were helpful in exposing issues to debate and informing voters. One big advantage that was new allowed everyone to download complete speeches verbatim rather than relying on reporters' highlights. Both candidates and voters lauded that development.

An archive of the 1994 campaign debates may be seen at:

http://freenet.msp.mn.us/govt/e-democracy/1994/

For those interested in this aspect of electronic democracy, the following sites may provide additional insight:

VOICE Project (in Columbus, Ohio; St. Petersburg, Florida; Oakland, California, and Evanston, Illinois):
- gopher://www.oclc.org:80/hGET%20/VoteSmart/lwv/lwvhomex.htm
Teledemocracy Action News & Network (Department of Political Science, Auburn University):
- http://www.auburn.edu/~tann/
CyberCaucus (Iowa):
- http://www.drake.edu/public/caucus.html

So, now: is there a CyberCity reader who would like to host such a thing here in Grande Prairie for a future election?

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 18 June 1996:

Plugging In Minnesota Communities Statewide - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

The following appeared recently in a mailing list about the state of Minnesota's efforts to get their communities into theInformation Age. It is posted here with permission from Kris Kytonen, and with the addition of a link to a page of guiding principles.

Posting From: Kris Kytonen .. {KRIS.KYTONEN@state.mn.us} .. [direct e-mail]

"Plugging In Minnesota Communities" Statewide Effort is Coming To Minneapolis On Tuesday, June 18.

The Minnesota Department of Administration has announced "Plugging In" Minnesota Communities, a statewide outreach plan to educate and inform communities on the value and use of emerging Information Technologies and telecommunications. The Government Information Access Council (GIAC) will lead the grassroots effort by hosting free, open-to-the-public town meetings in six regions across Minnesota, and four events in the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs. The regional meetings will serve as community "spark-plugs" by encouraging public and private partnerships to build networks that lead to technology-based economic development.

The "Plugging In" Minnesota Communities campaign addresses the National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council's (NIIAC) vision of empowering community-based leaders to champion telecommunications development efforts in their own communities and to close the gap between the technological "have's" and "have-nots." GIAC's outreach program identifies these three goals for Minnesota:

Increase public awareness of the potential impact of Information Technology and telecommunications on local communities and their economic future,
Link organizations and individuals already working on the local and regional level to take advantage of the new information and communications technologies, and
Provide GIAC with citizen input to help it make policy recommendations to the legislature.

Each meeting will feature presentations by regional groups already exploring ways to utilize Information Technologies and telecommunications. Citizens will have the opportunity to discuss how telecommunications technology can improve education, health care, culture and entertainment, and business efficiency in their communities. The meetings will also prepare communities for global networks and a competitive Information Technology environment.

Readers can contact GIAC at 612/296-6451 for more information. GIAC is a division of the Information Policy Office, Department of Administration, and has a threefold mission:

Provide information and services to citizens through the use of technologies enabling them to be more participatory in the government process.
Help to make government more effective and efficient through the use of technologies.
Promote Economic Development through deployment and the use of information technologies and services.

A statement of GIAC Principles may be found at:

http://www.state.mn.us/ebranch/admin/ipo/giac/fullprin.html

They are very comprehensive and forward-looking.

Thanks, Kris.

It looks like Minnesota is well ahead of Alberta and most other states and provinces in recognizing the value of helping their municipalities gain the considerable economic and general benefits of the Information Age.

Readers may also be interested in an article in the 19 June digest entitled "Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project."

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 14 June 1996:

TELUS/CyberCity Partnership & Pilot Project - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

In a very significant development this week, George Petty, President and CEO of TELUS Corporation, and the CyberCity Task Force have agreed to consider further details of a partnership that could result in an important pilot project in Grande Prairie. TELUS, owners of AGT, AGT Mobility, ED Tel and other units, is the third-largest telecommunications and information services company in Canada. AGT's widely-acclaimed Planet Internet service was the first such service in Canada with province-wide access. It became operational in March of this year.

In meetings with Mayor Gordon Graydon, new City Manager Deryl Kloster, Wes Brooks and Dennis Grant from local School Boards, and other members of the Task Force, Mr. Petty indicated that "I think what they are trying to do is an outstanding idea. I am very impressed with their enthusiasm." Mr. Petty also had the opportunity to meet with members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Grande Prairie press.

For its part, TELUS brings considerable experience and expertise in large-scale network engineering and management, while the CyberCity Initiative brings a consortium of major users as well as a long-term community-wide view. Successful negotiation of such a project would have enormous strategic importance to every Grande Prairian and to people in the region, and could help to identify initiatives with viable rates of return and acceptable levels of customer approval.

Early steps will involve careful study of present and immediate-future information needs of Grande Prairians. Longer term information requirements will be projected so that network designs can begin with the end in mind. Although specifics have not yet been worked out, we anticipate that a potential pilot project would develop in several phases. In time the product will form a "communications solution" that will meet the current and future needs of Grande Prairians.

TELUS' considerable marketing expertise may also be combined with the CyberCity Demand and Social Marketing Committee. Their mandate is to expand awareness and to persuade Grande Prairians of the urgent need to gain the knowledge and experience necessary to position themselves, their businesses and institutions so that they are able to cope with the demands and exploit the opportunities of the Information Age.

We are looking forward to this partnership with TELUS and the promise it brings to help Grande Prairians into the Information Age.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 12 June 1996:

History in the Making: CDA Overturned - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

On February 8th of this year, the U.S. Congress enacted the Communications Decency Act of 1996. On the same date the American Civil Liberties Union and others filed a motion for a restraining order to enjoin enforcement of the law's provisions until their constitutionality could be decided.

In a landmark decision today, a U.S. district court has ruled "without hesitation that the CDA is unconstitutional on its face."

Below we quote an announcement from David S. Bennahum {davidsol@panix.com} .. [direct e-mail] Moderator of "Community Memory" a mailing list with interest in the subject.

| Subject: History in the making: CDA Overturned.
| From: davidsol@panix.com (David S. Bennahum)
| 
| This morning at 9:00 a.m. EST a three-judge panel in 
| Philadelphia ruled that the Communications Decency Act 
| violates the principles of the First and Fifth Amendments to 
| the Constitution of the United States, and overturned the law.
| 
|  A full text of the decision is available at the URL below
| 
|   http://www.vtw.org/speech/decision.html
| 
| It is a remarkable document [~250K] which describes the 
| origins of the Internet, and the technology which makes the 
| Internet possible, in plain, clear English. The word 
| cyberspace is used extensively. The decision then goes on to 
| conclude that the CDA is unconstitutional in the United 
| States. What follows is an excerpt of the conclusion, written 
| by Judge Dalzell:
| 
| "Cutting through the acronyms and argot that littered the 
| hearing testimony, the Internet may fairly be regarded as a 
| never-ending worldwide conversation. The Government may not, 
| through the CDA, interrupt that conversation. As the most 
| participatory form of mass speech yet developed, the Internet 
| deserves the highest protection from governmental intrusion.
| 
| True it is that many find some of the speech on the Internet 
| to be offensive, and amid the din of cyberspace many hear 
| discordant voices that they regard as indecent. The absence of 
| governmental regulation of Internet content has unquestionably 
| produced a kind of chaos, but as one of plaintiffs' experts 
| put it with such resonance at the hearing:
|
|        'What achieved success was the very chaos that 
|         the Internet is. The strength of the Internet 
|         is that chaos.'
| 
| Just as the strength of the Internet is chaos, so the strength 
| of our liberty depends upon the chaos and cacophony of the 
| unfettered speech the First Amendment protects.
| 
| For these reasons, I without hesitation hold that the CDA is
| unconstitutional on its face.
| 
|                 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
|               FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA"
|

Additional information on the "Community Memory" mailing list may be seen at:

http://www.reach.com/matrix/community-memory.html

Post Script (26 June 1997): The U.S. Supreme Court today found the Communications Decency Act of 1996 unconstitutional on its face. See the CIEC website, which also posts the syllabus (14 Kb) of the Supreme Court decision (96-511), the unanimous opinion (95 Kb; written by Justice John Paul Stevens) and a concurrence (30 Kb; written by Justices O'Connor and Rehnquist). The initial appeals court decision (12 June 1996) contained an excellent Introduction to the Internet, written for the general reader, and other comment which may also be helpful.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 10 June 1996:

Cyber-Skills for All in South Bristol - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

From the South Bristol Learning Network we quote the following:

"The emerging Information Age heralds a period of unparalleled change. It will bring prosperity to many, yet already large sections of society are becoming alienated. This hazard was recognised at the G7 Industrial Forum at its Brussels meeting in February [1995]: 'Policies must ensure the highest possible levels of participation and avoid the emergence of two classes of citizen'."

"To most people the Information Superhighway has little meaning. Even for those with a PC at home or at work, use is often limited to stand alone applications or office systems. Understanding how the Information Age can impact our lives is not something that can be learned indirectly. It has to be experienced. People need to discover at first hand how to:"
- Communicate worldwide,
- Participate in new information business,
- Access a worldwide library of information,
- See the real impact of multimedia,
- Gain access to like minded individuals and groups,
- Begin a lifetime of learning, and
- Reshape their own organisations and businesses.

"The accompanying articles describe how one initiative is working successfully to include all sections of the local community, and has lit a beacon for others to follow."

The accompanying article is on the web at:

http://alice.cs.bris.ac.uk/SBLN/media/inform.htm

and the home site for the South Bristol Learning Network may be seen at:

http://alice.cs.bris.ac.uk/SBLN/

including its mission, strategic objectives, etc.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 7 June 1996:

Telco Philosophies can Vary Widely - Bob Robertson

FROM: Bob Robertson - {Bob_Robertson@mapler.intraconns.com} .. [direct e-mail]

Thanks for the June 5th digest on wiring Austin, Texas. In B.C. we are exploring a community web here in Maple Ridge--good support so far from various areas.

The Grande Prairie example continues to be a positive lead for others to follow. It is interesting to see reaction of telcos. Some are keen to partner, which I believe is the case with AGT, others notably in US are inclined to go on their own.

-- Bob Robertson - {Bob_Robertson@mapler.intraconns.com} .. [direct e-mail]

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

"City of Bits" an Engaging On-line Book - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

William J. Mitchell, Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT discusses the Electronic Village, or the CyberCity from a forward-looking point of view. His on-line book is "City of Bits."

In his first chapter he observes that

"the crucial issue before us is not one of putting in place the digital plumbing of telecommunications links and associated electronic appliances, nor even of producing content for electronic delivery, but rather one of creating electronically mediated environments for the kinds of lives that we want to lead."

And in an appendix to the last chapter:

"For designers and planners, the task of the twenty-first century will be to build the bitsphere: a worldwide, electronically mediated environment in which networks are everywhere, and most of the artifacts that function within it (at every scale, from nano to global) have intelligence and telecommunications capabilities. It will overlay and eventually succeed the agricultural and industrial landscapes that humankind has inhabited for so long."

There are seven chapters: all short and replete with hypertext links to background, further explanations, etc.

His book is a good read at:

http://www-mitpress.mit.edu:80/City_of_Bits/welcome.html

Enjoy!

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 6 June 1996:

New Discussion List on Internet History - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

The organization "Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility" (CPSR) is starting a new mailing list for the discussion of Internet History which may be of interest to CyberCity subscribers.

The new list is called "Community Memory -- Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace," a moderated discussion list whose purpose is to explore the origins, history and development of computer networks, computer hardware, software, and computer science, and the environment collectively known as "Cyberspace." Emphasis is placed on human factors -- on who knew whom, how ideas spread and originated.

This list is dedicated to the belief that awareness of history is an essential ingredient which can help us make reasoned decisions in the present and future. By exploring the history of Cyberspace, topical issues we face today -- such as privacy concerns, equality of access to computing, hacking, computer literacy, intellectual property rights, funding long-term R& D -- are placed in a broader, historical context. A primary focus will be the evolution of ideas in computing and the use of computers.

To subscribe to: "Community Memory -- Discussion List on the History of Cyberspace" please send an e-mail message to:

{listserv@cpsr.org} .. [direct e-mail]

Leave the subject blank; and in the first line of the body of the message type:

subscribe CPSR-HISTORY Yourfirstname Yourlastname

Additional detail from their announcement is available. If you would like to see the full announcement, send me a note asking for it.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 5 June 1996:

Background Article on Wiring Austin, Texas - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

An article in the Austin Chronicle entitled "Tolling of the Bell, " by Louisa C. Brinsmade, Robert Bryce, and Kurt Dillard casts some interesting light on the legal hassles between the telco the cable company and the City over the operation of Austin's Telecommunication Utility (CyberCity Digest of 30 May 1996).

Apparently, the telco and others lobbied for passage of a state law to prohibit Municipalities from owning, operating or partnering with others in providing telecommunications services for City residents.

Many of the issues remain to be worked out, including the guarantee of the U.S. Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, which supposedly guarantees a city's right to compete in the telecommunications market.

The article may be seen in its entirety on the Chronicle's web site at:

http://www.auschron.com/issues/vol15/issue38/pols.CSW.html

In a sidebar accompanying the article, the state legislation, HB-2128 is characterized as follows:

"HB 2128: House Bill 2128 passed last session in the Texas Legislature purportedly opened up the telecommunications market in Texas to more competition. In reality, the law makes it more difficult for new firms to enter the Texas market, and restricts municipalities from participating."

The complete sidebar may be seen on the Chronicle's site at:

http://www.auschron.com/issues/vol15/issue38/pols.CSW.side.html

CyberCity subscribers may also be interested in a mailing list hosted by the City of Austin which carries information and discussion concerning these telecommunications issues. It is a public forum of "Austin Telecommunications Plan," which may be seen on the web at:

http://www.main.org/ausplan.htm

Subscription information is available at that web site. Follow carefully, however. The subscription procedures are not the standard listserve or majordomo conventions.

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 4 June 1996:

Sylvania Electronic Village: TOP DRAWER! - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

The Sylvania, Ohio Electronic Village looks like they are really doing it right. A cooperative project of the City of Sylvania, Flower Hospital, the schools, and others, it was founded in late 1995. The City funded the project with up to $100,000 annually for three years in August 1995. Marshall Bennett, a member of the Council, was able to help a friend locate some medical information that was not available at the local library, and later to assist Sylvania schools to secure Internet access for teaching and learning. Seeing the profound implications of this access to information, Mr. Bennett expanded his community leadership by involving others, notably at the hospital, and eventually formed the Sylvania Electronic Village.

"The Sylvania Electronic Village will not only provide our students access to the educational and informational resources available on the Internet, it will also help them develop the skills they will need in the future. It will be there for them to learn and use today, so they will be prepared to compete in the information-driven marketplace of the future."

"If the people of Sylvania were going to be able to meet the challenges of the future, they needed to have unlimited access to the Internet."

Details of the Sylvania Electronic Village Mission and Vision statements may be seen at:

http://www.sev.org/Sylvania/vision.htm

Links there will take you to their history page, Help and Information page, and preliminary work on its Community Organizations.

For complete links to the Sylvania Electronic Village, and more than two dozen other electronic villages, see the "Related Information Sources section" of the CyberCity Initiative page on the web at:

http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/ccy_init.htm#Related_Information_Sources

In addition to the Electronic Villages we have seen before, there are some business and commercial pages (especially real estate businesses) which have called themselves "Electronic Villages" too. At the above URL you will also find some interesting links to sites dealing with "Starting an Electronic Village," "How to Build an Electronic Village," "Quality of Life in an Electronic Village," "Pathways of Service in an Electronic Village," and even "Chasing Bugs in the Electronic Village."

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Postings of 3 June 1996:

Information and Telecom Research in Alta - Chet Meek

FROM: Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

The Alberta Science and Research Authority is undertaking to set priorities for allocation of research funding in Alberta.

For the interest of our readers, their category "Information and Telecommunications" was initially ranked fifth after Energy production, Agriculture, Health, and Education. Following a revised weighting scheme, its rank was moved up to fourth, preceded only by the Environment, Agriculture and Energy Production. This revision reflected respondents' consistent concern for environmental quality, including its enhancement, protection and sustainability.

The outlook for this sector of the economy is very positive, including some of the following measures and indicators:

"Alberta's Learning Network, designed to deliver multimedia programs via cable, television, satellite, telephone, and wireless service providers is being established to assist in the education and training needs in schools, post-secondary institutions, libraries, media centers, and museums is under development."

"Research in this area is directed to the development of electronic hardware, software, computing, and telecommunications. Much of the basic and precompetative research and development is funded by the federal government and industry through PRECARN, the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canada/Alberta Partnership Agreement, and the Networks of Centers of Excellence. More applied research is funded through joint industry-government partnership such as the TRLabs consortium, the Alberta Microelectronic Center or Alberta Research Council joint ventures. The Canadian Network for the Advancement of Research, Industry and Education (CANARIE) is key to the development of the information highway."

"Its goal is to connect researchers and educational communities across Canada with a high-speed broad band highway and upgraded gateways to the Internet and other international networks."

"Several Alberta companies will benefit from investment for Phase II research activities estimated to be over $400 million."

"The transmission of information is crucial to economic growth. The electronics and telecommunications industry in Alberta has approximately 220 companies engaged in electronic design and manufacturing. In 1993, some 7,460 people were employed in manufacturing electronic and telecommunications products. The value of industry shipments was $1.46 billion, with 88% of the products being exported outside Alberta. Small firms having sales of less than $1 million and employing fewer than 10 people characterize the industry. There are 39 telecommunications manufacturing companies employing over 3,700 with sales revenues of $3.7 billion of which 80% is exported. There are 8 telecommunications service providers employing over 10,000 Albertans with annual revenues of $1.5 billion. Northern Telecom, NovAtel communications Ltd., JRC Canada Inc., and Computing Devices Corporation are global players operating in Alberta in this area. AGT Ltd. and Ed Tel had combined annual revenues of $1.57 billion and employed almost 10,000 people in 1993. Based on a 1991 survey, about 1300 Alberta software/computing service companies employ over 14,000 people and have total revenues of the order of $600 million."

The above measures and indicators along with lots of other information may be seen at:

http://www.gov.ab.ca/~sra/raainfo2.html

and the entry point for the ASRA website can be found at:

http://www.gov.ab.ca/~sra/

-- Chet Meek .. {cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca} .. [direct e-mail]

---[ Chet Meek ]--[ E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ]---
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada      Voice: 403+538-0443
1 9 9 7   --   Forest Capital of Canada        Fax: 403+539-1056
World-Wide Web: http://www.ccinet.ab.ca/city-of-gp/homepage.html
The CyberCity Initiative:  readying GP for the 'Information Age'

..... Return to the Table of Contents for this month's archive.

Afterword

Mailing list owner: City of Grande Prairie

. The City sponsors this list and its archive to assist with the circulation of the information and debate concerning the CyberCity Initiative. The opinions expressed herein are the opinions of the contributors, and are not necessarily the opinions of the City. The City does not accept any liability or responsibility for the ideas, opinions, proposals or complaints, or any of the content circulated in this list from any source. Moreover, the city does not accept any liability or responsibility for any outcome, including but not limited to those which may be indirect or consequential, or which result in any fashion from any of this list's content from any source.

List of Subscribers: We will follow the usual Internet mailing list convention in making the list of subscribers to this mailing list available to anyone who is also a subscriber to the list. This allows contributors to be familiar with their audience. The list of subscribers is made available, of course, with the proviso that it will not be used for marketing or any other unrelated or unauthorized purpose.

List Moderator: Chet Meek, E-mail: cmeek@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca ... direct e-mail.
City of Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada .. Voice: 403+538- 0443 .. Fax: 403+539-1056

List address: CyberCity@city.grande-prairie.ab.ca

Return to the Table of Contents for this page. ..... Return to the TOP of this page.
Return to the Selected Current Topic Indexes - to significant topics and their postings.
Return to the Index of all CyberCity postings - by title, author and date, Jan 1996 to date.
Return to the Significant Postings Concerning Current CyberCity Project Status.
Return to the List of Archive Entries by Month (Jan 1996 to date; most-recent first).
Return to the page introducing the CyberCity Mailing List Archive and its associated links.
Return to the page introducing the CyberCity Mailing List and its associated links.
Return to the page introducing the CyberCity Initiative and its associated links.
Return to the CyberCity Suggested Reading Order or Frequently Asked Questions.
Return to the CyberCity Executive Summary (a two-minute overview).
Return to the list of pages highlighting the CyberCity Initiative.

Go to the City Services Directory, or the City Guide and Visitor's Center.
Go to the Mini Departmental Telephone, Mail and E-mail Directory.
Go to the Photo Gallery, its Overview, or its Summary of Thumbnail Indexes.
Go to the Economic Development section - information about our community.