THE GEORGIAN



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A Robinson-Blackmore newspaper serving Bay St. George and areaClick here to read the article - Community Supporting Telecentre
The Georgian,
Box 283,
Stephenville, Newfoundland,
Canada, A2N 2Z4
709-643-4351

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Telecentre Review might cost the area important resource











Editorial by Chisholm Pothier


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When the provincial government unveiled its new zonal board strategy after reviewing economic development agencies in the province a few years ago, it said it is devolving power away from St. John's into the regions. So economic development would happen from the grassroots up from now on.

It soon became apparent, however, that the one truly grassroots structure in the province, the rural development associations, were being left out in the cold. Run by volunteers from the specific areas, many of the associations accomplished wonderful work on shoestring budgets of less than 10,000 a year in government funding. Now they have been cut off. Many are still operating thanks to the volunteer work of former paid staff, but their effectiveness has been vastly reduced. These grassroots just got whipper-snipped.

(Unfortunately, criticizing the government's treatment of rural development agencies implies criticism of the new zonal development agencies. That's not the case. The zone boards have an important role to play and the one in this area has started with lots of important initiatives involving youth, information technology, aquaculture and tourism.)

Now the future of the Regional Telecentre in Stephenville is uncertain. Without talking to anyone in the regions served by telecentres, the provincial government decided from St. John's to review their operations and come up with a new structure and role for them. Of course the government hasn't bothered to let anyone in the regions know what its vision is, but people here suspect that the telecentres will be changed into business libraries.

No. No. No. That might be an important role telecentres can play, but their most important role is bringing information technology to rural Newfoundland and teaching people to use that technology in rural Newfoundland. That's what the province needs - access to the information highway and the skills to use it - if there's to be any substance to politicians' blathering about being competitive in the global marketplace and preparing for the knowledge based economy.

That seemed obvious to anyone we talked with about the issue last week. Funny the government didn't decide to talk to anyone about it before deciding, from St. John's, that it was going to change a program that serves rural Newfoundland.

You can talk about being competitive in the information based global marketplace. But it doesn't mean anything unless people are given the skills and opportunity to do something in that marketplace. You can talk about grassroots-up decision-making. But it's a lie if you're going to continue to impose decisions on the regions from St. John's with apparently little understanding of the regions you are affecting.


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Community supporting telecentre


by Chisholm Pothier



Community organizations are concerned about the future of the Regional Telecentre in Stephenville.

The provincial government is conducting a 90 day review of the operations of the five telecentres in the province and has indicated it wants to form new partnerships and a new organizational structure to extend their "business and economic development support services" to all 20 economic zones of the province.

The government has been vague about what this means and what will be offered in the new structure, but observers worry that the provincial government forgets that a more important function of the telecentres is educating and giving access to rural Newfoundland in information technology.

Darren Roberts, president of the Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce, says the impression he gets in a letter by Development and Renewal Minister Judy Foote is that the new facilities will be simply information sources.

"But the telecentre is much more than an information resource," said Mr. Roberts. "It is a facilitator for economic development and it gives our members an opportunity to identify new opportunities and training in information technology."

"Any downgrading of that service would be contrary to the Minister of Finance's budget speech, where he called the budget an investment in the future."

Any disruption in economic development in rural Newfoundland puts it further behind after already suffering years of devastation. It needs every opportunity to turn its economy around because without a strong economy the social programs will suffer, as we've seen recently with hospitals and education, said Mr. Roberts.

While the provincial government seems intent on continuing to rely on natural resources to develop the economy, the telecentres are the community's link to the new, information based economy, he said.

Stephenville town council is also concerned about the future of the Regional Telecentre here and at last week's meeting talked about coughing up dollars and becoming partners to ensure its survival. Deputy Mayor Scott Hurley said we're living in a computer age and the telecentre is the region's only route to the information highway.

"The government provides this service and I don't think they even know how valuable a tool it is, " said Mr. Hurley. "This is a fight we can't let go without making some noise."

Last summer the Festival Coast Tourism Association worked on a proposal to develop a regional marketing strategy for tourism. The employees working on the proposal used the technology at the telecentre and the expertise of the staff to learn how to use the technology effectively, said association chair Debbie White.

People can become computer literate using the telecentre, says Ms. White, and once they do they'll probably want to get computer equipment for themselves. That modernizes the region and if the telecentre goes the region's progress will slow down dramatically, she thinks.

"If you want quality you have to start with quality products and pay the price, " said Ms. White. "This is something worth paying for if you're looking for regions to upgrade themselves and increase efficiency. In the short-term government might save a few dollars but in the long run it will cost us."


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Telecentre review might cost area important resource




by Chisholm Pothier





Computers, The Internet - the information highway, World Wide Web. Get on-line or get left behind. That's the buzz of the 90s and it looks like the future - the new economy.

Politicians trot out the buzz words in speeches about how important information technology is to make us competitive in the global economy, how esential it is for rural Newfoundland to get on line.

But if Regional Telecentres across the province - offices with a specific mandate of helping the education of rural Newfoundland in information technology - are closed and replaced with something else, areas of rural Newfoundland will likely be losing an important tool to get its residents comfortable and familiar with that now essential technology, observers suspect.

Governments talk a lot about information technology and its importance in the new, knowledge based economy. The five regional telecentres are an opportunity for people in rural Newfoundland to walk in off the street and actually learn how to use computer hardware, software and the Internet - the information technology considered so important in the new economy.

There are five regional telecentres in the province, in Stephenville, Trepassey, Clarenville, Baie Verte and Forteau. The provincial government says it wants to extend to all 20 economic zones the delivery of the small business and economic development support services currently delivered by the five telecentres.

"This may mean that the organizational structures that currently exist may have to change in order that those services deemed important to economic and small business development can be maintained and indeed extended to serve all areas of the province more effectively," said Development and Rural Renewal Minister Judy Foote in the house of Assembly March 27.

When Ms. Foote talks about economic and small business development she makes the telecentres sound like another business development agency. But its important contribution to development in rural Newfoundland is not business support and services - although it does that too - but rather an education in the skills of information technology. Their mission statement is "to develop local economies in Newfoundland and Labrador by creating an awareness of information technology, with a focus on improving the opportunities and choices in skills, employment and services for rural areas."

The provincial government is conducting a 90 day review of the operation of the telecentres. A March 20 Department of Development and Rural Renewal press release discussing the future of telecentres refers to providing access to business information but makes no mention of the work they do promoting the use of information technology for economic dvelopment, points out a press release from the Southern Avalon Development Association.

People in this area are also afraid that the government will replace the telecentres - which have expert staff facilitating clients' learning to use computers and the Internet - with an office where the employee simply finds business information for business clients. If that is the case, Bay St. George will lose a friendly environment to learn information technology. Right now someone can walk in off the street and be helped as they learn how to use computer software, learn how to access and use the Internet and World Wide Web and how to put up a Web page.

Support





Last Thursday the telecentre was a bee-hive of activity as students from the New Enterprise Store and Westviking College were busy at the several computer stations learning about using computers and working on various projects. Down the hall from the telecentre, the students at the New Enterprise Store are unequivocal in their belief of the importnace of the telecentre to the future of Bay St. George.

Maggie Samms plans to open her own business when she graduates from the New Enterprise Store. At the busines centre she found information she needed to develop her own business plan and she also learned how to find that information for herself. When she had a little trouble figuring something out, the excellent and efficient resource people helped her out, she said. She doesn't have a computer and a modem but she has acces to the Internet through the telecentre.

Cindy O'Neill is another student at the New Enterprise Store. She is furious that the government would even contemplate removing such a sucessful and important resource. When most people are faced with something new, they find it intimidating, she said. And with all the hype about information technology, computers can be downright terrifying. But she said she and her classmates have learned to use this technology in a non-intinidating environment guided by staff than let you learn by yourself rather than do the work for you.

"I was so intimidated," said Ms. O'Neill. "So many people out there are intimidated by new technology. The telecentre bridged that gap, but by removing it government is breaking that bridge."

"In all of this nobody ever came and said 'Cindy, what do you feel about the telecentre?' All I heard was, 'Cindy, the telecentre is gone.'



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