Summary
This paper reviews
the current state of the use of information technology (IT) to support
and advance the work of community economic development (CED) in Nova
Scotia.
This paper first
looks at the history of CED in Nova Scotia, highlighting the work of
the Antigonish Movement, the profile brought to CED by Voluntary Planning,
and the 1993 provincial election. It defines "CED" and describes the
principles underlying this work and government's role in the process.
The paper also
defines "Information Technology" (IT) and describes some recent developments
in Nova Scotia, highlighting the government's role. The paper links
the work being done in CED using IT, the "sixth element" of the government's
comprehensive support system for CED.
The paper looks
at four current CED/IT projects in Nova Scotia: the Tatamagouche Smart
Rural Community; SENCEN; the Community Access Program; and C\CEN at
the University College of Cape Breton. It touches briefly on four other
activities: Silicon Island; NovaKnowledge; the work of the Regional
Development Authorities in the IT field; and the recently announced
Industry Canada Smart Communities project.
The paper finishes
with consideration of six issues arising from CED/IT experience in Nova
Scotia to date: private sector role; cost; access; delivering on promises;
government's readiness; and the search for a balance between action
and reflection.
1 Introduction
1.1
Purpose of the paper
This paper reviews
the current state of the use of information technology (IT) to support
and advance the work of community economic development (CED) in Nova
Scotia. It makes suggestions for future developments in this field.
1.2 History
1.2.1 Antigonish
Movement
Nova Scotia has
a large number of small communities. There must have been "community
economic development" to produce these communities and the many more
such communities which existed in the past. For the most part, this
work was done spontaneously as people reacted to the circumstances in
which they found themselves. It is hard, therefore, to characterize
it as "community economic development" as we use the term today.
The first formal
work in this field was that of Jimmy
Tompkins , Moses
Coady and what came to be known as the Antigonish
Movement . In the 1920s and '30s, this movement sought to improve
the life of people in eastern Nova Scotian communities. The work of
the movement led to the establishment of credit unions, people's schools,
and a host of other innovations in organization. The Nova Scotians involved
were doing "community economic development" before the term was invented.
The work of the Antigonish Movement lives on today in the work of the
Extension Department
of St. Francis Xavier University and the activities of the Coady
International Institute there.
Jimmy Tompkins
understood people's need for information to help them decide what they
wanted to do to make life in their communities better. There was, of
course, no internet in the '20s and '30s but Tompkins brought a library
to Canso when he worked there. He helped people learn to use that source
of information to enrich their lives and deepen their understanding
of the circumstances in which they found themselves. He also encouraged
people to study their own situations. He did so with a strong trust
in people's own wisdom:
For us, what
the people most need to learn must be what they most want to learn.
Let there be the least trace of superiority or propagandism in our
attitude, let the people once think of us as academic persons come
to force our preconceptions upon them, and the undertaking is dead.
(1)
2 Community Economic
Development
Once a measure
of prosperity came to Nova Scotia after World War II, the pioneering
work of the Antigonish Movement was honored more abroad than it was
at home. There were some isolated innovative community development activities
like HRDA in Halifax
and New
Dawn in Sydney, and even some organized approaches through the work
of the federal program Community Futures, but CED work moved to the
sidelines.
In a 1991 document,
Creating Our Own Future, a Nova Scotia Economic Strategy,
Voluntary Planning
(VP), a unique Nova Scotia organization linking business, labour and
government, proposed that community economic development become one
of the 10 "levers for competitive success" for Nova Scotia. VP noted
that "the province's economic development programs should be designed
- for delivery at the community level, and - to build the capacity required
for increased economic activity to occur in smaller communities." (2)
2.1 CED Defined
What is this "Community
Economic Development" ? CED is a process by which communities take control
of their own economic destinies. Communities can be geographic - people
living and working in the same area - or they can link people who share
common interests or backgrounds but live in different geographic areas.
In Nova Scotia,
the provincial government uses the following working definition for
CED:
Community
Economic Development is a locally driven process to improve the economic
viability of communities.
This is a minimalist
definition. There are other useful definitions of the term and a healthy
debate about them. As long as that debate is a means to help clarify
what people are trying to do, it is useful to discuss the meaning of
the term CED.
A good site to
understand what CED means in practical terms in Nova Scotia is that
of Isle Madame,
a community which has made an excellent beginning on the process of
recreating itself in the wake of the collapse of the Atlantic groundfishery.
An overview of CED sites in Canada can be found at the site of the Centre
for Community Enterprise . A useful source of CED resources is maintained
by the University of California Berkeley.
2.2 CD - CED -
CCB
In Nova Scotia,
the Interdepartmental Committee on Community Economic Development (ICCED),
a regular gathering of provincial and federal staff working on community
issues in their various departments, began in 1995 with the goal of
sharing information about community activities. It has, over the years,
taken on an expanded role.
In the spring
of 1998, the committee developed a work plan. The first issue members
grappled with was the definition of CED. Staff from the Department of
Economic Development and Tourism (ED&T)
were comfortable with the term "CED". For them, it simply meant bringing
genuine community input to economic development activities, doing "from
the bottom up" some of the same things the department had been doing
for several years.
Other ICCED members
came at the issue from a different starting point. They favoured the
label "Community Development" for what they do and saw the social aspects
of their work as at least as important as the economic ones. Still other
participants saw both "CED" and "CD" as limiting phrases, implying development
being done "to" or "for" people, not "by" them. This group favoured
the descriptor "Community Capacity Building" as a more appropriate label.
ICCED members
chose to sidestep a debate about which "title" was right and to focus
instead on the common principles underlying the work being done, whatever
the title. The meeting agreed on the following set of principles:
•
RESPECT FOR LOCAL VALUES: Interventions by external agencies acknowledge
local values.
• DEMOCRATIC: Residents participate in decision making/consensus
building.
• FOCUSES ON COMMUNITY ASSETS: Sometimes involves developing
assets (increasing capacity).
• CO-OPERATIVE/HOLISTIC APPROACH: People and organizations
work together for collective benefits. Integration of interests without
adverse effects.
• COMMON VISION/SHARED INTERESTS: Increases commitment.
Builds trust and respect.
• SUSTAINABILITY: Community has the capacity to maintain
their level of responsibility.
• INCLUSIVE: Opportunities for all. Everyone has a
chance to participate.
• RECOGNIZES LOCAL LEADERSHIP: Self-reliance. Self-responsibility.
• LOCAL CONTROL OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES: Self-determination.
Bottom up approach. Local residents make decision about issues which
impact upon their community.
Public policy
development and program implementation of community-based initiatives
should reflect and respect these principles. The effectiveness of
inter-agency partnerships will be largely determined by the degree
of commitment to these principles. (3)
Since the 1998
meeting, ICCED has begun to popularize the principles among government
staff working on community issues.
2.3 cEd - ceD -
Ced
Peter Boothroyd
and H.Craig Davis, in Community Economic Development: Three Approaches
(4) take a different approach to the definition issue. They start with
the phrase "Community Economic Development" and analyze what it might
mean from, successively, the "economic", "development" and "community"
perspectives. Like the ICCED discussion of principles, the models put
forth in this paper help practitioners, of whatever brand of development
work, to see how their different approaches can be combined. Using the
definitions in this paper, in Nova Scotia, CED work is of the "cEd"
kind with a focus on the "economic" aspects of the work but well beyond
what Boothroyd and Davis dismiss as "smoke stack chasing", a form of
external investment promotion which often failed to address the local
issues holding back development and assumed new outside businesses alone
would solve community problems.
2.4 The Government's
Role in CED
In Nova Scotia,
CED is now a significant part of the province's approach to economic
advancement. The energy for this process comes from the people in their
communities, large and small, across the province. Governments - federal,
provincial and municipal - seek to facilitate and support the work of
the communities themselves.
In 1993 the Liberal
Party won the provincial election and embarked on a series of public
consultations called "30 - 60 - 90". The consultations led to the publication
of Initial Government Response and Action Plan on Leadership Starts
with Listening (5). In that document the government established
"a comprehensive Community Economic Development Support System" including:
• planning
support for communities
• continued funding support for CED coordination
• community opportunities funds
• small business loans program
• community-based business financing
• one-stop information and service centres
• training opportunities at the community level
In Nova Scotia,
the Community Economic Development Division (CED
Division ) is responsible for leading government's participation
in implementing this support system. Nova Scotia and Canada, working
jointly under the auspices of the Economic Diversification Agreement
(EDA) have funded activities
in a number of these support areas. Both the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency (ACOA) and the province have
also funded separate activities in each area. Other provincial and federal
departments, notably Human Resources Development Canada ( HRDC
) also support activities in the seven areas.
3 Information Technology
In this paper "information
technology" means the use of computers and other electronic media to
make information more readily accessible, easier to manipulate and disseminate,
and simpler to use generally. IT includes the world wide web or internet,
e-commerce and the like. There are a growing number of people who work
in the IT field creating new products and, indeed, inventing whole new
industries and occupations.
This paper will
focus on IT as a means to enable communities to achieve
their goals. Those goals can include the development of IT sector businesses
but this paper will not devote much space to particular industries,
IT or other. It will look more at the processes which utilize IT to
bring business in general to smaller communities. Another paper could
be written on IT as an end in itself.
Nova Scotia is
not the only place working on either IT or CED, or, in fact, a linkage
between the two subjects. Even a cursory search on the net yields numerous
examples of work in both fields. This paper will focus on developments
in Nova Scotia. The Berkeley
site noted above and an interesting site at the University of Pittsburgh
point the way to useful sources in the field of IT and CED.
3.1 The Impact
of IT on CED
Information technology
offers people interested in community economic development useful new
tools to help them understand their own situations and draw on the experience
of others to develop and implement solutions.
When the comprehensive
support system was launched in 1994, IT support for the provincial CED
strategy was minimal The Economic
Renewal Agency - as the Department of Economic Development & Tourism
was then known - had basic computer facilities at the time and no presence
on the World Wide Web. Few community groups had access to computers.
Even the new Regional Development Authorities (RDAs)
had minimal presence on the Internet until they were well underway.
Since then, the
role of information technology has grown quickly in Nova Scotian CED
activities, greatly aided by an overall provincial emphasis on IT development.
3.2 IT Development
in Nova Scotia
Information technology
has become such an important part of government work that it is hard
to realize how recent a phenomenon it is. In 1994, the government of
Nova Scotia did not have a web site like the one it has now. E-mail
was available but not nearly as popular as it is now. IT was still quite
new and somewhat mysterious. Quick written communication was by fax.
There have been
a number of significant developments in IT in recent years. Most were
not undertaken specifically to assist with CED but many have already
proven useful to CED or show potential for future use.
3.2.1 Community
Webs - Chebucto
One of the first
serious efforts in Canada to make the Internet a community tool was
undertaken by the people who organized the Chebucto Freenet. Now known
as Chebucto Community Net ,
it has led to a federation of community networks in the province. Chebucto
has played an active role linking community groups and getting their
messages onto the net. It has also sought to connect domestic development
work in the Halifax area with international activities involving Haligonians.
Chebucto was an early example of community people interested in IT seeking
to harness this new power to help develop their community.
3.3 Government's
Role
The government
of Nova Scotia has embraced CED as firmly as any other Canadian province.
It has also played a major role in the development and direction of
IT in the province. It is important to note, however, that in both fields
the private sector - both profit making and not for profit - has played
a vital role in developments. Defining and sustaining a working partnership
between government and the private sector is a key task for government
in both sectors.
In 1996, the province
established the Technology
and Science Secretariat (TSS) to lead and coordinate government's
work in the broad field of Information Technology. Its statement
of purpose notes,
The TSS will
actively promote industry development via the use of technology within
the provincial economy and will promote the development and application
of science and technology as enablers of economic growth and good
jobs for Nova Scotians.
In the 1998/99
edition of Government by Design, the annual provincial
business planning document, TSS had as its Goal Number 5, "Enlist IT
in community development" and expanded that goal to note:
•
Expand IT infrastructure and its use in Nova Scotia communities under
the provisions of the Community Access Memorandum of Understanding.
• Work with federal, provincial, community, and private-sector
partners to expand the role of local, public IT infrastructure in
community development.
• Take the lead in developing, supporting, and monitoring
Smart Community pilot projects and community network activity in Nova
Scotia.
• Make Nova Scotians aware of how IT can improve local
access to electronic information and services.
• Community Information Technology Development: Using
IT to expand the economic and social potential of communities.
One particular
recent activity, the Information
Economy Initiative announced in 1998 includes a strengthening of
the IT network in the province and focuses especially on the community
side through the provision of computers for schools where they are destined
to add to the community's potential for access and with the first formal
provincial funding support for the federally initiated Community Access
Program.
The province also
developed the Integrated Wide Area Network (IWAN) Project, a multi-year
project involving the development and deployment of an enterprise telecom
network throughout the province to support all provincial government
operations, some MASH (municipalities, academic institutions, schools
and hospitals) and private sector organizations with voice, narrowband,
broadband and wireless (e.g. cellular, radio, PCS and satellite) technologies.
The IWAN Project is a public-private partnership between the Province
of Nova Scotia and Maritime Tel & Tel and has included the participation
of IBM Canada, SHL Systemhouse, Deloitte & Touche, Motorola, Newbridge,
Nortel, Cisco and others. IWAN will place Nova Scotia as a world leader
in terms of information technology and communications capabilities.
TSS has been working
to complete a strategic, technical, and tactical design for the roll-out
of the integrated wide area network to support the delivery and efficiency
of a range of public services (e.g. policing, fire protection, search
and rescue) and information-sharing across government. Chebucto looked
to IWAN as a possible means to provide interconnection for many community
networks.
The province has
also put considerable energy into developing geographic information
systems. GeoNOVA
is the province’s geographic information management system. GeoNOVA
is guided by a set of principles including areas such as: geographic
data, information, databases, geographic information systems, the metadata
(indexes, directories, catalogues describing the data and databases),
the custodians of databases, the agencies mandated to create and maintain
the data and databases, and the multitude of policies, procedures, guidelines
and standards that govern the creation, maintenance and distribution
of the province's geographic information. The GeoNOVA concept implies
a "corporate" approach to the creation, management and dissemination
of geographic information within Nova Scotia. Simply stated, this concept
recognizes the role of each provincial government department and agency
to carry out its individual mandate, but requires that these efforts
be directed towards creation of a corporate resource - geographic data
and information collected, maintained and disseminated to mutually accepted
standards and shared with government users (created once, used many
times) to support decision making and to reduce or entirely eliminate
duplication of effort in any of the areas described. Community development
groups have begun to use the material GeoNOVA is pulling together as
they plan for their own development.
3.4 CED Support
- The Sixth Element - One Stop Information and Service Centres
When "Information"
was included as a key area in support for CED, the thrust was not for
better applications of IT. The objective in 93/94 was simpler: communities
wanted better access to the treasure trove of information available
to government. The government, in turn, was trying to understand that
need and respond to it.
The first manifestation
of a new approach to information was to set up "Access Nova Scotia",
a one-stop shop approach to the provision of government information
to the public. Access opened five centres across the province and hired
"navigators" to help the public get the information it wanted from government.
Originally, Access Nova Scotia was part of the Economic Renewal Agency
but in 1996, Access became part of the new Department of Business and
Consumer Services (BCS), an
agency which sought to bring all government's services to citizens under
one roof. (Parallel to the work of Access was that of the Canada
Nova Scotia Business Service Centre which focused particularly on
the needs of small business (CED Support System element #4) but made
increasingly effective use of IT to do so.)
Technology has
advanced more quickly than was foreseen by the architects of Access
Nova Scotia. The original plan for 14 information centres has been modified
as access to the internet through Community Access sites and a shift
in the focus of Access Nova Scotia to transactions with the public has
changed both the demand and the supply of information.
The value of information
for CED remains high and there are several experiments in meeting that
need underway.
4 Current CED/IT
Projects
4.1 Tatamagouche:
Smart Rural Community
One of the first
Nova Scotian communities to explore the potential of the Internet to
assist in its development was Tatamagouche, a village on Nova Scotia's
North Shore on the Northumberland Strait. In 1993 assisted by HRDC's
Industrial Adjustment Service, the community began to address its worries
about the decline of traditional resource based industries in the area,
the relative isolation of the village, and the sense that tourism, while
showing considerable promise as a four season activity, was not enough
on which to build an economy. Work on a community development strategy
uncovered the fact that there was a significant level of IT awareness
in the area and considerable potential to exploit that awareness to
increase economic development.
Harold Verge, one of the pioneers of CED work in Nova Scotia first proposed
the idea of a "smart rural community" to the then Minister of Economic
Renewal, Ross Bragg in late 1994. Verge put the price tag of the project
in perspective by comparing the cost of connecting to the information
highway with the cost of paving ordinary highways, figures more familiar
to Nova Scotia politicians. Bragg was excited by the possibilities and
promised government support. CoRDA
, the Colchester Regional Development Agency, developed a proposal to
tap into Minister Bragg's support.
In 1996, CoRDA
presented its ideas to the new minister responsible for the Economic
Renewal Agency, Robbie Harrison. He too expressed enthusiasm. CoRDA
had solid ministerial support but could not get a funding proposal approved
by the bureaucracy. Funding was tight and the programs available either
lacked sufficient funds to support, or had guidelines which could not
accommodate, a project that was heading out into uncharted waters.
Finally, under
a third Economic Development minister and assisted by consulting work
done under the auspices of the IWAN project, CoRDA submitted a proposal
which received government approval. Under the Economic Diversification
Agreement's Strategic Initiatives Program, $385,500 was made available
to support the "Tatamagouche Smart Rural Community Demonstration Project".
(SRC) Total cost of the project is $568,500. Formal approval came in
August 1997, almost three years after Verge had first tried the idea
on a government minister.
SRC has ambitious
objectives:
•
encourage existing businesses to take advantage of growth opportunities
provided by the ICT and the Internet and give them access to the equipment
and advice needed to do so;
• provide local expertise to aid businesses in computerizing
their operations;
• increase local business knowledge of ICT and the Internet
and its uses such as electronic sales, marketing and research;
• expand employment opportunities in the area for local
residents as well as members of the surrounding communities;
• increase local knowledge and use of ICT for telemedicine
and distance education;
• increase accessibility to computers and the Internet
for local residents through the fuller use of school, community access
and education centres and public access terminals;
• provide increased employment and training opportunities
for youth thereby retaining talent in the area and increasing the
base of educated, employable residents;
• increase employment opportunities for displaced adults;
• increase employment opportunities for those who may
be underemployed/discouraged employed;
• attract businesses in the ICT sector to the area by
providing them with an educated work force, a high standard of rural
living and modern ICT facilities. (7)
SRC also spelled
out its expected results:
•
improved information and telecommunications infrastructure for the
North Shore area economy;
• increased use of the Internet by Tatamagouche area businesses,
entrepreneurs and citizens;
• immediate new jobs and expanded local businesses through
facilitated use of information and Internet technologies;
• an increased availability of computers and access to
the Internet through creation of a network of public access terminals
resulting in a better educated and technologically aware community;
• new businesses attracted to Tatamagouche as it gains
a reputation for being a centre for ICT activity;
• proven community based demands for the use of high bandwidth
telecommunications capabilities will be identified and consolidated;
• a model for a "smart rural community" will result and
that can be used in other areas of the Province. (7)
In a short period,
the SRC project has made good progress towards those results. The Tatamagouche
Website won the Nova Scotia On-line
Editor's Choice Award and has had 2.6 million hits since being set up
in October 1997. The SRC project has initiated or supported a number
of different initiatives and, under the banner of the project, held
them together and kept them moving in compatible directions. The project
has worked on technical issues to make its public access sites effective.
It has worked with local businesses to get them listed
on the web and has helped 19 of them develop their own home pages. SRC
has integrated the local CAP site into its work. It has mounted training
courses, including programs to introduce citizens and businesses to
the possibilities of the web, and children's computer camps. It has
held two ITExpos to demonstrate to the public what is possible. It has
worked on the SchoolNet Digital Collections project, putting together
a portrait of Anna
Swan . SRC has also developed a tech support system. The project has opened links to Nova Scotia's telehealth
project . The hospital in Tatamagouche is to be the first in Northern
Nova Scotia to be connected.
In January 1999, the project pulled a group of people together to review
progress to date and make plans for further developments in Phase II
of the project.
[An interesting
part of the Tatamagouche website is its live view of Tatamagouche
through the Robocam ! ]
4.2 SENCEN
The Strait East
Nova Community Enterprise Network (SENCEN)
is a project of the Strait Regional School Board, the three Regional
Development Authorities in the Strait Region, and a number of Community
Access Projects. An informal network of CAP sites, largely located in
schools, found they had a better chance to achieve sustainability and
could make a greater impact by working together.
SENCEN set out
to "use the power of cooperation, shared goals and information technology
to attract and retain people, businesses and jobs in the Strait region
of Nova Scotia." The region faces a number of economic and social challenges:
unemployment, outmigration, business closures, health issues, declining
infrastructure, and dependency on government. SENCEN uses IT to overcome
some of the challenges of living in a rural community.
The Strait Regional
School Board sought to form partnerships which would make it an "active
player" in the economic health of the region. SENCEN was the first of
those partnerships.
SENCEN set itself
some challenging objectives when it got underway in 1996. Some results
to date:
•
Build the network: SENCEN membership has grown from 8 CAP sites to
68 points of presence, including 32 CAP sites, all school computer
labs and library public access terminals
• Employ youth: 200 youth have had seasonal employment
with network sites
• Employ people in IT: 70% of 35 unemployed people who
worked with SENCEN on work placement training have found FT IT sector
work
• Expose citizens to IT: 8,000+ citizens have used the
public access network for community education, training, job searches,
info gathering and personal interests
• Provide tech support: SENCEN has established a tech
support centre for schools, CAP sites and public access terminals
• Increase business IT use: 100 businesses have received
some IT training. 13 are participating in an e-commerce pilot project
• Increase community IT use: 40 + community groups have
received IT application training
• Develop local internet content :53 communities maintain
web sites. SENCEN hosts 30 online conferences. 7 communities have
completed digital collection projects for SchoolNet
• Support teacher development: Mulgrave PD Centre has
trained 1000 internal staff and 750 external users
• Build an IT sector: SENCEN started Spinnaker Solutions
Information Services to employ teleworkers, pursue IT contracts and
provide tech support
• Support other similar networks: 4 similar regional networks
have been established
SENCEN has received
funding support from the federal/provincial Economic
Diversification Agreement , Information
Economy Initiative , the Canadian
Rural Partnership , HRDC, Industry Canada. Directly or indirectly,
SENCEN has brought in over $2 million of new resources to the region
in the 1998/99 fiscal year. SENCEN has worked closely with private sector
partners, MT&T and IBM.
The project is
still young. It is difficult to predict the long term impact of its
work. The initial signs are promising and the use of IT as a central
feature in the CED work underway has certainly proved attractive to
citizens, businesses and institutions in the region.
The Strait Region
declared itself a "Smart Community" in 1998, one of the first places
to do so in Canada, a forerunner of a major Industry Canada (see below).
In its 1997/98
report, SENCEN highlighted the feedback from 8 community consultations.
Worth noting here are the points that "the involvement of youth and
students in the network has increased the energy of local community
groups" and IT "is viewed as a tool for community growth, instead of
a displacer of workers".
More information
on this project is available in the quarterly publication of EDT's feature
story SENCENding
a High-Tech Message .
SENCEN's success
has been recognized, not only in Nova Scotia, but also internationally.
John Ouellette from the SENCEN project was recently invited to visit
Argentina to advise on its plans to set up community access sites there.
Wilf
MacNeil , a key person in the development of SENCEN, now brings
his solid community based perspective to the national CANARIE
board.
4.3 Community Access
Program
As part of the
Connecting Canadians
activity, Industry Canada launched
the Community Access Program aimed at
helping rural and remote commentates acquire low-cost access to the
Internet and the skills to use this technology effectively. Nova Scotia
has been an active participant in CAP since it began.
The Community Access
Program About Cap website notes
that:
CAP, Industry
Canada's Community Access program works with rural Canadian communities
to take advantage of new communication technologies. CAP's goal is
to foster economic, social, and cultural growth in Canada. All CAP
sites are community-based, with a variety of provincial, territorial,
and national partnerships supporting these local initiatives. Also
helping to guide the program are Industry Canada's regional CAP reps,
CAP's Provincial/Territorial Review Committees, Special Provincial
Agencies, and the CAP National Advisory Committee.
The original program
has expanded every year since it was introduced as a pilot activity
in 1994-95 and continues to grow
. The goal is 10,000 sites by the year 2000. Currently in Nova Scotia
there are 108 active sites and 9 new sites have just been approved.
A full listing of the Nova Scotia sites, with links to many of the sites
can be found on the Cap
web site . (8)
The CAP sites see
their community development role quite clearly. For example, Havre
Boucher notes:
In January
1998, our proposal to Industry Canada was accepted and Havre Tech
2000 Community Access Committee was formed. The Committee's primary
goal is to aide in the the future development of Havre Boucher by
helping to bring the Internet to our rural community. Many of the
resources, human, natural, economic, educational and social needs
within our community can now be addressed locally. We hope to identify
how we can best use the site to profit, socially, culturally and economically
the local individuals, groups, and businesses in the community and
all the surrounding areas.
The original energy
for CAP in Nova Scotia came from the Nova Scotia library. Under the
leadership of Marion Pape the province took an active role in what was originally a federal
initiative. In addition to approving new CAP sites, the committee took
a number of other initiatives to promote community access more generally.
The Community Access '96 conference was a landmark event that broadened information about
and support for the concept of community access. The CAP committee also
played a role co-ordinating the Wire Nova Scotia project.
With the establishing
of the Technology and Science Secretariat, Nova Scotia took a more formal
approach to CAP. Recently TSS and Industry Canada have concluded a Memorandum
of Agreement which spells out a more formal role for Nova Scotia in
the delivery of the CAP. Under the Information Economy Initiative, the
province has funds available to participate in the further development
of the program. In February a joint press release
announced the plans for the coming years. Highlights included:
Robbie Harrison,
Minister responsible for the Technology and Science Secretariat, and
federal Industry Minister John Manley signed the memorandum of agreement
today. It calls for each government to invest $4 million over three
years.
"Under the
terms of this agreement, Nova Scotia looks forward to continuing a
strong partnership with Industry Canada and with other partners to
take full advantage of the potential of the CAP network for enhancing
community economic and social development," said Mr. Harrison. "From
a government service perspective, the CAP network also offers an excellent
mechanism for improving service delivery to Nova Scotian communities."
"This agreement
helps empower Nova Scotians to seize the opportunities offered by
the global knowledge-based economy," said Mr. Manley. "It also helps
the government reach its goal of making Canada the world's most connected
nation by the year 2000."....
The program
is a primary component of the Nova Scotia Information Economy Initiative,
which was announced in May 1998. The initiative is a comprehensive
partnered project designed to further develop world-class information
technology infrastructure and capabilities in Nova Scotia. The Nova
Scotia component of the Community Access Program will be administered
through the Nova Scotia Technology and Science Secretariat and Industry
Canada.
Both governments
will contribute $ 4 million to the program.
4.4 C/CEN
The Centre for
Community & Enterprise Networking ( C\CEN)
at the University College of Cape Breton (UCCB)
operates under the slogan “Using Information & Communications Technology
for Local Economic Development”. As noted on its website "C\CEN is a
Research, Development & Enterprise Incubation group". Its "staff work
on community-based projects and new business ideas that use Information
& Communication Technology -- especially the Internet -- for local economic
development."
C\CEN's goal is
"to support:
•
Public access to Information & Communication Technology
• Community education & action
• Business & economic development in Cape Breton & Nova
Scotia
• Sharing examples of how the Internet can be used for
development in other non-metropolitan areas"
C\CEN chose to
"focus on the Internet because the technology has opened an opportunity
for change in the way our economy is structured -- locally, regionally,
nationally and internationally. Tools like e-mail and the World Wide
Web make long-distance (and even local) communication faster and less
expensive. This allows for community & economic development in many
ways, including:
•
some kinds of work that used to be done in cities can now be done
equally well (and perhaps at less cost) in non-metropolitan areas
• governments can decentralize some staff and services
• long-distance collaboration and mutual support is now
easier between businesses, community groups and individuals
• public input into community and political processes
has become more practical
Community Access
to the Internet can help non-metropolitan areas become full and equal
participants in the global information economy."
Dr. Michael Gurstein, founder and Director of C\CEN has been an active participant
in discussions of the role of what he calls "information and communications
technology" in "local economic development" in Nova Scotia since coming
to UCCB. Gurstein has attempted to fulfill both an academic and a practical
role, both writing and speaking extensively on the potential uses of
IT and developing and implementing a number of projects to show what
can be done, especially in "non-metropolitan" areas like industrial
Cape Breton.
In a chapter on
Information and Communications Technology and Local Economic Development
in the recent book Perspectives on Communities (6) Gurstein
notes that globalization is reshaping the nature and organization of
business, partly a result of the availability of low cost information
and communication technologies. He notes too that "many in the real
world now are attempting to use the technology to create a world where
many can participate as and where they are; indeed, the new technology
can provide powerful tools to do so." (p 161)
In addition to
publications
, C\CEN has done some valuable practical work since its founding in
the spring of 1996. In November 1996, C\CEN hosted " Community Access '96 " Over 300 delegates, mainly from Atlantic Canada attended.
The "conference assisted people active and interested in facilitating
community access to:
•
sharpen their skills
• access the experiences of others involved in the process
• explore new avenues for the development of rural small
business
• explore options for economic sustainability for access"
Community Access
'96 broadcast many of the events live on the Internet.
C\CEN also played
a major role in the Wire Nova Scotia Project ( WINS'97) which sought to help staff Nova Scotia CAP sites with summer
students and to help encourage the involvement of local businesses,
local government and local community groups in the work being done at
the sites.
C\CEN has also
proposed several projects which have not attracted funding but have
forced funders to think carefully about possible links between IT and
development in rural communities. C\CEN has also been active overseas
in Angola and South Africa.
4.5 Some Other
CED/IT Activities
4.5.1 Cape Breton:
Silicon Island & McKenzie College
In Cape Breton,
the Silicon Island project is a local attempt to harness the power of
the internet for small businesses in the high tech field. Silicon
Island took over the old court house in Sydney and turned it into
an IT business incubator. The project is partly supported by the government.
It had its grand
opening in the fall of 1997. McKenzie
College has played a catalytic role in the development of this project
which is helping to create a new IT industry in Cape Breton almost unnoticed
as the coal industry's demise captures public attention.
4.5.2 NovaKnowledge
The mission of
NovaKnowledge
is to promote the development of a flourishing, sustainable, knowledge-based
economy in Nova Scotia, enabled by information technologies. Its Vision
is:
NovaKnowledge
envisions a flourishing, sustainable, knowledge-based economy in Nova
Scotia offering a good quality of life for all Nova Scotians. This
vision has many facets, and all stakeholders have roles to play in
turning it into reality. Essential components of the vision are: A
positive, confident attitude among Nova Scotians, A vibrant, high-quality
education and training system, A state of the art telecommunications
infrastructure, An internationally successful IT industry, A supportive
policy environment, An economy and a society making maximum use of
the technology infrastructure.
At its Fall Stakeholder
Assembly, jointly organized with the Regional Development Authorities
and community groups, NovaKnowledge brought together rural Nova Scotians
and proponents of the knowledge-based economy to work on community economic
development. The assembly featured regional workshops that identify
issues and develop action plans to be carried out by those in attendance.
The NovaKnowledge project team is developing strategies to partner NovaKnowledge
with rural Nova Scotian community economic development teams. The purpose
is to help rural Nova Scotia in understanding and cooperating on knowledge-based
economy opportunities. Past assemblies have covered a range of topics related to CED.
4.5.3 Regional
Development Authorities
Several of the
Regional Development
Authorities in Nova Scotia, as they have developed strategic plans
for their regions, have worked carefully on IT issues. The Antigonish
RDA (ARDA)
includes support for "Budding Entrepreneurs and Knowledge-Based Industries"
in its action plan. ARDA, along with the Guysborough and Strait-Highlands
RDAs, have been partners in support of the SENCEN project. The Colchester
Regional Development Authority ( CoRDA)
was the instigator of the Tatamagouche Smart Rural Community project.
The Pictou Regional Development Commission ( PRDC)
through its support for the Information Technology Action Group seeks
"to foster community economic development promoting the use and awareness
of information technology in Pictou County." The Western Valley Development
Authority ( WVDA
) has played a significant role in the development of CAP sites in its
region. The Kings Community Economic Development Agency ( KCEDA
) has used its newsletter to promote IT in its region and is working
on the establishment of a technology innovation centre in the Annapolis
Valley which will build on the work done at Acadia on the Acadia
Advantage , the integral use of computers at the university in course
delivery.
4.6 Smart Communities
In early 1998,
Industry Canada established a panel to look into the issue of "Smart
Communities" with a tight mandate
and timeline. Teresa MacNeil from Nova Scotia was one of the panelists. The panel looked
at the following questions:
•
What would be required to make Canada a leader among Smart Communities
internationally, and how will we know when we have achieved this?
• If Canada is to lead, what should be our objectives?
• Who are the main partners, what should be their roles,
and what type of leadership and support should they provide to the
participating communities?
• What service functions and application areas should
be targeted with the greatest potential for technological, economic
and social returns to communities?
• What are the minimum criteria that qualify a community
as smart?
• What selection and evaluation criteria will ensure maximum
benefit to Smart Communities and their partners, yet still allow for
creativity and interpretation?
• How can these activities best be organized and delivered
so that all regions of the country may benefit?
• What are the most suitable measures of progress and
success for any smart activities undertaken?
In November of
1998 the Blue Ribbon Panel reported and said:
We, the Panel
on Smart Communities, believe the six pillars of the Connectedness
Agenda as announced in the 1998 Federal Budget -- Canada On-line,
Smart Communities, Canadian Content On-line, Electronic Commerce,
Canadian Governments On-line, and Connecting Canada to the World --
will provide new opportunities for learning, interacting, transacting
business, and developing social and economic potential in communities
across Canada.
A Smart Communities
Initiative as presented here will play a fundamental role in linking
people and organizations, encouraging the sharing of ideas, and addressing
local development needs. We believe it will create a unique and exciting
synergy that will come from building locally based innovations into
internationally marketable applications. We believe it will result
in Canadian leadership in the use and development of information and
communications technologies for a knowledge-based economy.
The panel defined
"smart community":
Smart Communities
focus on achieving results in economic returns, social benefits, and
technological advancements. They emphasize the balanced and sustained
growth and development of all three key result areas with a view to
enhancing the human experience, strengthening the community, and achieving
world-class competitiveness. A community that improves its circumstances
significantly in all three areas, through the use of information and
communications technologies, is truly transformative.
It will be interesting
to see how the competition to become a "smart community" unfolds as
communities scramble for the federal funding available. Is a competitive
approach the way to get more communities into the "smart" category ?
It seems to go against the principles on which community economic development
is based but it is too early in the process to know how this will work
out in practice. By putting considerable funding into this new competition,
Industry Canada has certainly raised the stakes. Nova Scotia is considering
right now how best to approach this opportunity.
5 FUTURE
There is, as this
paper has tried to describe, a tremendous amount of activity in the
field of information technology as applied to CED. What lessons have
been learned ? Where might things go in the future?
5.1 Public or private?
An criticism of
CED work in Nova Scotia is that it has been dominated, at least financially,
by the three orders of government. The Regional Development Authorities,
the fundamental building blocks in the Nova Scotia CED support system,
are financed by funds from municipal governments, matched by provincial
and federal support. Although some RDAs do receive private funding,
at least for their project work, the vast majority of the funds that
RDAs have at their disposal come from government. The federal/provincial
support is assured until March 2000. What happens then?
On the IT side,
there is a similar situation. The CAP sites receive set up funding from
Industry Canada. The province has now identified a source of support
for CAP and the two orders of government appear to have funding under
control for the next three years. What happens then?
In the last few
years, as government funds have become harder to get, it has been common
to secure initial government support by making plans for some measure
of long term sustainability that does not include government. This has
never formally been spelled out for the RDAs. They expect continued
governmental support. The municipal partners have confirmed they are
prepared to continue to support the RDAs but there is no matching confirmation
yet from the two other government partners. Industry Canada still hopes
that the CAP sites will become sustainable from other sources but evidence
to date suggests this is a very long term proposition.
The key issue
here seems to be: how much support are governments prepared to provide
for the medium to long term to keep CED and IT support efforts going?
Is support for this activity to become the kind of continuing funding
provided to "infrastructure" type activities like schools or hospitals?
Are there real private sources out there which can be brought in to
supplement and eventually replace public support? Or, is this effort
to founder for lack of funding or waste its energy on the constant search
for funding?
5.2 Cost
The funding issue
is a serious one not just around "who" but also around the issue of
"how much" ? Both CED and IT come with significant price tags. The RDAs
receive core government funding of $300,000 each annually. For 14 RDAs,
this totals $4.2m each year. This is in addition to the project support
funds available for RDAs and other local CED agencies. Each CAP site
gets $30,000 to help get set up. For 130 sites, the price tag is $3.9m
and this does not deal with the issue of keeping the doors of the site
open. Volunteers can play a major role here but there is no guarantee
they can continue indefinitely.
Two of the projects
highlighted in this paper, Tatamagouche Smart Rural Community and SENCEN,
have achieved considerable initial success but at significant costs.
From the Economic Diversification Agreement alone, almost $1 million
has been made available to these two projects. They cover only a small
number of Nova Scotian communities. To provide a similar level of support
to all Nova Scotians would come with a price tag well beyond what governments
currently budget for activities. The people working in the fields of
CED and IT, no doubt, believe that support should continue, or perhaps
even be increased, but with the many demands on the public purse today,
the opportunity cost of funding needs to be very carefully assessed.
5.3 Access
How does government
make sure that costly endeavours like IT and CED do not simply become
additional means for prosperous communities to thrive and obstacles
which keep poorer communities on the outside looking in ? CAP has worked
hard to reach out to rural Nova Scotian communities. It has had some
success in getting community based IT work underway but the sustainability
issues noted above apply with a vengeance to communities which are having
a difficult time meeting needs often considered more basic than IT connections.
Michael Gurstein
in his writing has highlighted the potential that IT holds for making
things possible in small communities that were never dreamed of before.
This opportunity is a two edged sword, however. If some things can be
done away from metropolitan areas thanks to IT, other things that used
to be done in small towns can be done from larger centres and simply
"sent" to the rural areas. It is not yet clear which way the pendulum
will swing. The work of SENCEN, C\CEN, CAP and Smart Communities activities
offers some hope to small communities and shows serious public sector
support for their needs but the big private sector funding seems to
favour the larger centres where much of the action already takes place.
There is another
"access" issue just starting to surface in the CAP program. Once a CAP
site gets underway and makes the new technology available to more citizens,
given the availability of computers and internet connections and the
reductions in cost of both, some of the first community participants
at CAP sites will, no doubt, purchase their own technology. They may
no longer come to the CAP site or seek new services there. Will the
CAP sites be able to cope with reduced or changed demand for their services
? Are CAP sites simply an intermediate step towards a world in which
the great majority have their own links to the rest of the world ? What
impact will such "atomization" have on the community base which has
been carefully constructed over the last couple of years in CAP communities?
5.4 Delivering
the Goods
Both IT and CED
have attracted government attention and have featured in political debate.
In any such debate, there is a danger of promising more than can be
delivered, especially in the short run. The promotion of CED by Nova
Scotia, especially in the aftermath of the 1993 election when all three
parties featured CED as part of their platforms, promised results that
have been slower to appear than politicians expected. IT has also promised
major changes. In spite of the work of the programs noted in this paper,
IT work is only just beginning to make a dent in the consciousness of
the rural majority. Can either CED or IT meet the expectations that
have been created for them? Will government have the funds to sustain
the programs they have started ? to extend them to new groups that want
to participate ? If public funding falls short, will the private sector
come to the rescue ? Will the strong volunteer effort which has featured
in many of these programs be sustainable in the long run ?
5.5 Government
Readiness
Is the government
ready for what might happen if communities start using Internet based
IT technologies to tackle their community development issues ? While
it may seem that government has embraced the new approaches and should
therefore be ready to be a helpful facilitator as communities move into
the brave new world of IT, all is not what it seems.
The timing of issues
in the IT and CED worlds does not fit with the rhythms of government.
IT is developing much faster than most governments can accommodate.
Technological breakthroughs do not happen on the electoral schedule.
IT is too fast and unpredictable. CED on the other hand, at least as
practiced in Canada may be too slow. The groundwork for solid CED needs
to be patiently laid. Results are often not visible for the coming election.
As government funding
in Nova Scotia has become harder to get in times of tight budgets, the
province has put a premium on project proposals which have clear, concrete
inputs and outcomes. CED is often about changing cultures and changing
attitudes, issues hard to define in a proposal. IT is increasingly about
ideas and possibilities with the only hard data being the cost of the
machines, wires and high priced experts necessary to chase those ideas.
Neither CED or IT fit neatly with the current program approach favoured
by government.
How will government
modify its approach to remain relevant to the different paces of life
in IT and CED ?
5.6 A Balanced
Strategic Response
Another key issue
is how much planning and preparation needs to be done before launching
out on an CED/it project. Should the guiding philosophy be "Just do
it", the Nike approach, or is a more careful planned attack the better
way to go ? Or should communities in Nova Scotia simply wait until somebody
has tried out an idea before having a go themselves ?
This is not as
easy a question as might be supposed ? One of the things the internet
offers is the chance to watch, much more carefully than used to be the
case, experiments being tried in other places. A balance between initiating
things here in the province and following up on experiments taking place
elsewhere seems to be the appropriate road to take. To do this well
will require a level of care and attention to what is happening elsewhere
that has generally not been a hallmark of Nova Scotian approaches to
date. Nova Scotia needs a very strategic approach to moving the CED/IT
agenda forward.
The past five years
have seen tremendous developments in both CED and IT in Nova Scotia
and the ways in which these two activities link together. Work to date
positions the province well for future work. There remain many challenges
and opportunities to confront. The next five years should be very exciting
in both fields as they work more and more closely together.
Notes
Where possible,
the paper has linked to source material elsewhere on the Internet. The
notes below are primarily to print sources.
(1) http://www.schoolnet.ca/collections/co-op/resmine.htm
- Reserve & Jimmy Tompkins
(2) Voluntary Planning
Creating Our Own Future, A Nova Scotia Economic Strategy,
Halifax 1991 p 46
(3) Government
of Nova Scotia - Interdepartmental Committee on CED Work Plan
1998-99, unpublished committee document.
(4) Peter Boothroyd
and H.Craig Davis, Community Economic Development: Three Approaches
(5) Government
of Nova Scotia Initial Government Response and Action Plan on
Leadership Starts with Listening, Halifax 1994
(6) Michael Gurstein,
"Information and Communications Technology and Local Economic Development"
in Gertrude Ann MacIntyre (ed) Perspectives on Communities,
UCCB Press, Sydney, Nova Scotia 1998
(7) Letter of Offer
"Tatamagouche Smart Rural Community Demonstration Project" - Project
Brief, August 11, 1997.
(8) The CAP program
was competitive and in the first full year (1995-96) 271 of 750 applications
were approved "based on community need, proven organization, infrastructure
partnership and project sustainability." Rural communities in Nova Scotia
to receive funding for setting up their own sites that year included
Arichat/En Route Isle Madame; Barrington Passage; Canso/Eastern Guysborough;
Chester; Comte de Digby; Digby Community Access; Digby Neck; Dingwall/North
of Cape Smokey; Glace Bay; New Waterford; Port Hood; Richmond County/L'Ardoise/St
Peters; Sheet Harbour; Sydney/Cape Breton; Windsor; Yarmouth County/Lower
Argyle; and Yarmouth/Southwestern Coastal Telecommunications." Industry
Canada provided $30,000 as start up funding.
In 1997-98, more
Nova Scotian communities got involved. New sites included: Amherst,
Annapolis Royal, Antigonish, Baddeck, Birchtown, Boularderie, Bridgewater,
Carleton*, Cornwallis Park*, Country Harbour, Digby County, Dominion,
East Bay/Big Pond, Evanston*, Goshen, Greenwood, Havre Boucher, Hazel
Hill*, Isaac's Harbour, Johnstown, Lincolnville, Louisdale, Lunenburg,
Margaree Forks, Maryvale, Melrose, Annapolis County, Milton, New Harbour*,
New Ross, North Preston, North Queens, North Shore, Pictou, Pictou County,
Pictou Landing, Pleasant Bay, Point Edward*, Scotsville, Shipyard, Southend
Sydney, St. Ann's, St. Joseph, St. Joseph du Moine, Sunnyville, Sydney
Mines, Tangier, Tatamagouche, Terence Bay, Tiverton*, Upper Big Tracadie,
Whycocomagh, Wolfville, Wildcat Reserve*. (Sites with an asterisk represent
more than one community)
It would appear
that the success of the CAP work has outstripped the capacity of the
people at UNB who maintain the site to keep pace with developments.
Press coverage is dated and the promised list of 1998-99 sites, due
in early 1999, is not yet posted.
