Information and Communication Technology Development in Nova Scotia s Western Valley. A Backgrounder

Transcription

1 ICT Backgrounder 1 Information and Communication Technology Development in Nova Scotia s Western Valley A Backgrounder by Ryan MacNeil BBA, MAES (Candidate) Graduate Student Researcher Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking July 22, 2004

2 ICT Backgrounder 2 Information and Communication Technology Development in Nova Scotia s Western Valley A Backgrounder The Agency In 1994, the Western Valley Development Agency (WVDA) 1 was the first regional development authority to be established in Nova Scotia. It is jointly funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Nova Scotia Office of Economic Development, and seven local municipalities (the Town of Annapolis Royal, Municipality of Annapolis County, Town of Bridgetown, Town of Digby, Municipality of the District of Digby, Municipality of the District of Clare and Town of Middleton). The WVDA s mission is: Building on our diverse cultural heritage, the Western Valley Development Authority (WVDA) will work with the community to create a vital, prosperous, and self-reliant region where the people have ample opportunity for a full and satisfying life. 2 This document is intended to accompany The Western Valley Development Agency: A Backgrounder 3. Therefore, a general discussion of the WVDA s history will be foregone. Instead this document will describe the WVDA s information and communication technology development projects over the past decade. A Priority from the Beginning In the WVDA s first year it commissioned a set of 19 Sectoral Reports 4. Together these reports formed a strategy and action plan for community economic development in the Western Valley region. They gave direction to the newly minted organization. At the time, information and communication technology development was only a glimmer in the eyes of most Canadian economic developers. Internet use was only beginning to enter the mainstream, and so the potential of personal computer networks had not yet been fully identified. In the Western Valley, however, context lent itself to an early focus on information technology. The presence of the College of Geographic Sciences (COGS) 5 made the Western

3 ICT Backgrounder 3 Valley a provincial, national and international power centre for Geomatics development, education and training. 6 COGS inspired Peter Davies and Mike Donnelly to write the Information Technology and Geomatics section of the WVDA s Sectoral Reports. They were hired to write the report under the guidance of the WVDA. From these early stages, the WVDA was interested in the opportunities presented by the local college (and Université Sainte-Anne, in a passing reference 7 ). COGS became the Western Valley s first formal Internet site in 1991 when it began providing access to staff, students and graduates. 8 Meanwhile, the college was actively involved in research, development and commercialization. A number of collaborative projects involved partnerships with local municipalities, the provincial and federal governments and private enterprise. The resulting applications dealt with municipal property mapping, infrastructure and facility management, marine environmental systems management, and land records & information management services. One digital mapping project, a federal pilot project called the Centre for Land Information and Computer-based Knowledge (CLICK) 9, was only beginning in 1995 and yet was showing much promise. The students involved in these projects were even creating spin-off opportunities, like David and Lynn Roscoe s NS Limited 10 (later known as Terra Forma Ltd. 11 ). The WVDA saw the connection between these high-tech geomatics initiatives and the more global Internet evolution. Unfortunately, the Western Valley was being limited by old telecommunications infrastructure. In 1995 many parts of the region were dealing with outdated phone systems including mechanical switching, rotary dial and even two and four party lines. 12 These technologies presented small and homebased business with obstacles for facsimile transmission, let alone Internet connectivity. Davies and Donnelly present a number of recommendations for the WVDA to address the infrastructure challenge. They also go further, envisioning a local free-net and commercial use of the world-wide web. The Information Technology and Geomatics Sectoral Report presents sound recommendations for the growth of an IT sector in the region. Unfortunately, basic infrastructure improvements were required before any advanced use of telecommunications technology could be seriously explored. Despite the

4 ICT Backgrounder 4 obstacles, the sectoral reports give information technology and geomatics a priority position in the WVDA s future activities. From Intrigue to Strategy The challenge of a redundant telecommunications network relegated the WVDA s visionary ICT strategy of 1995 to the infrastructure sections of two annual action plans in and Some ICT application projects were able to move forward, however, thanks to pockets of existing infrastructure and talent. The WVDA was able to successfully demonstrate the application of geomatics technologies to the fisheries sector through the Digby and Annapolis Coastal Resources Mapping Project. The initiative employed five former/unemployed fishery workers who pieced information that included marine habitats, geological formations, tides, the location of ports and lighthouses, and more. This information has provided the community with the necessary tools both to identify new opportunities and to make informed decisions about managing our resources. 14 Clearly, the community was intrigued by ICT, and apt at applying it to local problems. Infrastructure upgrades came with time, but it was perhaps the federal government s Connecting Canadians initiative that fuelled ICT development in the region. By the fall of 1996, the WVDA was working with 12 community groups to establish Community Access Project (CAP) sites. It was also working on a proposal that would see the establishment of a local community net. 15 By that spring, the WVDA was trumpeting the Bridgetown High School CAP site, one of two national pilot projects after which the national CAP strategy was modeled. Eight additional communities were approved for Community Access Project funding that year, and the Western Valley Community Net began to fulfill its role as a portal for local information on the World Wide Web. 16 The Connecting Canadians Initiative had just been announced in the speech from the throne and its six pillars were providing cash investments to Canadian communities for ICT development. Over the course of the mid to late nineties, the WVDA used the Community Access Program to help 35 communities establish public Internet access sites.

5 ICT Backgrounder 5 Over the pending years, the government of Canada commissioned the WVDA to create three multi-media websites under the Digital Collections program. 17 The West Nova Eco Site 18, From Kespitukik to Port Royal 19 and New France - The Electric City 20 websites involved young people digitizing local stories. The WVDA was further able to help the Digby Neck and Islands Community Development Association secure a Digital Collections grant for Digby Neck in Stories. 21 By 2000, the WVDA was deeply involved in another Connecting Canadians initiative called VolNet. As a delivery agent under this program, the agency provided a subsidized computer, free training, and 12 months of Internet connectivity to approximately 10 local not-for-profit organizations. 22 Meanwhile, Industry Canada had, only months before, named the twelve national Smart Community Demonstration Project communities and the WVDA was ramping up for a major project launch. Western Valley Smart Community Back in 1998 the National Panel on Smart Communities submitted its final report to the Minister of Industry. 23 The panel had been tasked with devising a plan to use information and communication technologies to create twelve uniquely Canadian Smart Communities. Industry Canada promptly opened a competition and accepted letters of intent from communities across the country. 24 The WVDA responded quickly, since the Western Valley community had already articulated its intent to become a Smart Community in the WVDA s five-year vision and action plan, Building Tomorrow. 25 The region was one of three communities in Nova Scotia (out of 10 that had submitted letters of intent) that was asked to submit a full business plan proposal. Staff worked through the 1999 Christmas holidays to have a winning business plan 26 in the hands of the selection committee by January 12, Despite an announcement on May 12, that the WVDA had been selected to receive $5 million as Nova Scotia s Smart Community Demonstration Project, Industry Canada did not finalize a program contribution agreement until December 20, By then, community expectations and impatience had begun to escalate considerably. As project manager Leslee Fredericks puts it, residents and businesses really focused on the connectivity aspect and expected the high speed service to arrive at their doors very quickly. 28

6 ICT Backgrounder 6 Within a year of the project s start it encountered several obstacles, including an abrupt change of project manager, clashes with private sector partners and suppliers, and a lack of co-operation from the local telecommunications provider. This last challenge was perhaps the greatest. It caused the WVDA to revisit the Smart Community Project s infrastructure plan. Fredericks explains, Essentially, we would have been providing a one-time subsidy to allow the carrier to extend its reach further into the outlying communities. Once the project funding was depleted, the traditional business model would apply, with the same monthly rates and fees that residents and businesses couldn't afford in the first place. 29 In response, the WVDA developed a plan for a community-owned fibre-optic network, and facilitated the creation of the FundyWeb Broadband Board, comprised of the seven municipalities (NSCC would also later join). 30 This inter-municipal entity took on the task of building a publicly owned fibre optic network, as if it were any other municipal infrastructure like water treatment or waste collection. As a partner in the demonstration project, the FundyWeb Broadband Board has been able to build a network that supports other smart applications while providing an interesting case study in community governance. From Strategic Area to Strategic Tool By 2001, the WVDA had stopped speaking of ICT in terms of strategic area. Development of the information technology business sector was still important, but technology was no longer relegated to its own corner. Instead, the applications enabled by the Smart Community Demonstration Project were becoming tools for other strategic areas, particularly human resource development. The Western Valley Smart Community sub-projects are listed by strategic sector in the table below. Table 1 - Sectoral Focus of Smart Community Sub-Projects 31 Sub-Project Main Strategic Sector Status FundyMail Partnerships & Outreach Completed Kiosk Tourism & Culture, Infra. & Facilities Completed Videoconferencing Infrastructure & Facilities Completed Smart Building Business Development Deleted

7 ICT Backgrounder 7 Municipal GIS Municipalities Completed Virtual Teacher Human Resource Development Deleted Genealogy Digitization Tourism & Culture Completed NSCC IT Training Human Resource Development Completed Portfolio Development Human Resource Development Completed Smart Library Human Resource Development Completed Smart Outreach Human Resource Development Completed Personnel Training Human Resource Development Completed CIFA Radio Clare Tourism & Culture Completed FundyWeb Broadband Infrastructure & Facilities In Progress Over the course of the demonstration project, the WVDA s list of Smart Community projects expanded to include activities that, while not funded under the same umbrella, were inspired by its vision. Perhaps these projects were made possible by the synergy of the demonstration project, and perhaps they would have come about without it. What is clear is that information technology is reflected as one of the WVDA s favourite development tools through these supplemental projects. The WVDA uses technology to reach a variety of strategic areas in the projects listed below. Table 2 - ICT Projects Supplemental to Smart Community 32 Project Main Strategic Sector Family Resource Connects FundyArts FundySights Smart Mentors Smart Seniors Human Resource Development Tourism & Culture Tourism & Culture (Film Dev.) Business Development Human Resource Development Virtual Community Resource Centre Business Development Youth Entrepreneurship Camps Youth Intern Project Youth Linux Learning Human Resource Development Human Resource Development Human Resource Development The WVDA s most recent ICT development project (only approved for funding in July 2004) is an e-business outreach program that aims to

8 ICT Backgrounder 8 help businesses identify and implement e-business strategies that will create efficiencies, improve revenues, and contribute to a more dynamic business climate that will attract and retain investment. 33 In other words, this project is designed to teach the WVDA s business development clients the value of information and communication technology tools. Universal Tool or Univocal Distraction? Given the focus the Smart Community Demonstration Project brought to ICT development in the Western Valley, it is not surprising that there has been concern for the WVDA s broader mandate. Shortly after being awarded the project, the community raised the possibility that it could distract the organization from its other activities. In its 2000 evaluation of the WVDA, Praxis Research and Consulting found that staying focused on its broad mandate would be one of the WVDA s key challenges: the challenge will be to maintain the community and business focus, and to ensure the WVDA continues to be a community-based, grass-roots organization. 34 This finding stems from comments made by key informants, like the one below: [The] WVDA has to be careful not to get overwhelmed with [the] Smart Community Project, they have to be careful with their internal synergy so they can focus on mandate and other projects. 35 Concern that the WVDA could become an information technology development group was partly Figure 1 - Smart Community Spending versus WVDA s Other Spending $6,000,000 $5,000,000 $4,000,000 $3,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 $ Smart Community Other Source: WVDA Annual Audited Financial Statements

9 ICT Backgrounder 9 Figure 2 - Proportion of ICT Content in Western Valley E-News 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Oct / Nov 01 Nov / Dec 01 Dec 01 / Jan 02 Feb / Mar Mar / Apr 02 May 02 June / July 02 Sept / Oct 02 Dec 02 / Jan 03 Fall 03 Winter 03 Spring 04 Source: Western Valley E-News, available online at various issues. founded: including in-kind, Smart Community expenses would account for 68% of WVDA s total spending between April 1, 2000 and March 31, 2004 (See Figure 1). 36 The WVDA had seen considerable success in all sectors of the economy, and now information technology was appearing to consume nearly three-quarters of its attention. In the Smart Community Project s first year (also the first year of another major project, Learn$ave), the organization s revenues increased 587.2% and expenses increased 586.7%. This overwhelming increase in resources and responsibilities (mostly in the area of ICT development) had many of Praxis key respondents jittery. The concern that information technology, and particularly the Smart Community Project, would consume the WVDA s attention was partly propelled by the agency s communications efforts. In the year 2000, nearly half (49%) of the WVDA s earned media related to its information technology projects. 37 And this public relations penchant extended into the electronic newsletter the agency started the following year. On average, forty-eight percent of articles appearing in Western Valley E-News between October 2001 and June 2004 related to ICT projects. At points the proportion of ICT content in the WVDA s

10 ICT Backgrounder 10 Figure 3 - Number of ICT Projects in WVDA's Business Plan Partnerships and Communications Tourism, Heritage & Culture Natural Resources & Environment Infrastructure & Facilities Human Resource Development Business Development ICT Projects Non-ICT Projects Source: WVDA Business Plan newsletter reached 73%, closely matching the proportion of its ICT spending (see Figure 2). 38 While the agency may have been seeking a sectoral balance in its communication efforts, there was no such balance in its resources. Clearly, the majority of the WVDA s activity over the period related to the Smart Community Project, and this was reflected in the public eye. However, it cannot be said that information and communications technologies have become a univocal distraction in the WVDA s development efforts. Concerns that these technologies would distract the WVDA may have been realized, but only for a brief period. The resources provided by Industry Canada temporarily filtered much of the agency s development work through this strategic tool. They temporarily predisposed the agency s toolkit. Now that the three-year funding for the Smart Community Project has drawn to a close, the WVDA s activities have returned to a more balanced state. The agency continues to use ICTs, but only in 28% of planned activities for the fiscal year (see Figure 3). 39 The current business plans give the sense that ICTs are used where appropriate and helpful.

11 ICT Backgrounder 11 Conclusion In the Western Valley, context lent itself to an early focus on information technology for local economic development: the College of Geographic Sciences was renowned for its research and teaching in the field of geomatics. Beginning with geographic information systems, the Western Valley Development Agency tinkered with ICTs while working to have redundant telecommunications infrastructure upgraded. But over time the agency began thinking of technology as more than infrastructure. The Smart Community Project gave the WVDA enormous financial resources to use ICTs as strategic tools for a variety of sectors. And recent business planning confirms that this mind-set continues beyond the project s sunset. For the WVDA, information and communication technology is a universal tool for community development.

12 ICT Backgrounder 12 Notes: 1 Note that on June 24, 2004, the Western Valley Development Authority Board of Directors voted to change its registered name to the Western Valley Development Agency. 2 WVDA, Building Tomorrow - Vision 2000: A multi-year action plan for Annapolis and Digby counties (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 1999) 4. 3 Ryan MacNeil, The Western Valley Development Agency: A Backgrounder (Toronto: Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking). 4 John Lee, Alan Sloan, et al, Sectoral Reports - Strategy and Action Plan for Community Economic Development (Digby & Bridgetown, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 1995). 5 The College of Geographic Sciences (COGS) became part of the Nova Scotia Community College in 1998 when it was merged into the NSCC Annapolis Campus. It is has since been referred to as the Centre of Geographic Sciences. 6 Peter Davies & Mike Donnelly, Information Technology and Geomatics, Strategy and Action Plan: Sectoral Reports, in John Lee, Alan Sloan, et al. (Bridgetown and Digby, NS: Western Valley Development Authority) Davies & Donnelly Ibid. 9 The CLICK project would later be revisited as the CLICK2000 sub-project of the Western Valley Smart Community Demonstration Project. 10 Davies & Donnelly Ryan MacNeil, Smart Future: Putting Nova Scotia s Western Valley on the international map, Nova Scotia Open to the World, Autumn 2000, p Davies & Donnelly See infrastructure in two action plans: WVDA, Community Action Plan for Annapolis and Digby Counties (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 1996). WVDA, Community Action Plan for Annapolis and Digby Counties (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 1997). 14 WVDA, Mapping project creates more than just new jobs, Western Valley News, Fall 1996 (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority). 15 WVDA, Community Access Project, Western Valley News, Fall 1996 (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority). 16 WVDA, The Western Valley Gets Connected, Western Valley News, Spring 1997 (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority). 17 Digital Collections falls under the Canadian Content Online pillar of the Connecting Canadians Agenda SouthWest Shore Development Authority, Annapolis & Digby County VolNet Status Report (Barrington: SWSDA, 8 November 2000). 23 Canada, Report of the Panel on Smart Communities (Ottawa, ON: Industry Canada, 1998). 24 WVDA, Western Valley Smart Community: Rural Innovation, Global Transformation Letter of Intent (Digby, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 2000).

13 ICT Backgrounder WVDA, Building Tomorrow - Vision 2000: A multi-year action plan for Annapolis and Digby counties (Bridgetown, Digby and Church Point, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 1999). 26 WVDA, Western Valley Smart Community: Rural Innovation, Global Transformation Business Plan (Digby, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 2000). 27 Canada, Smart Communities: Report of the National Selection Committee (Ottawa, ON: Industry Canada, 2000). 28 Canada, Western Valley Smart Community Demonstration Project Profile (Ottawa, ON: Smart Communities Directorate, Industry Canada, 6/17/2004) accessible online at 29 Ibid. 30 Annapolis Royal, Bridgetown, Digby, Middleton, County of Annapolis, District of Clare & District of Digby, Municipal Services Agreement: FUNDYweb Broadband Board (Halifax, NS: Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, Department of Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, Government of Nova Scotia, 06/19/2003). 31 Creating by cross-referencing two sources: Pierre Boudreau, Review of Western Valley Smart Community Demonstration Project (Moncton, NB: Industry Canada, 2002). WVDA, Community Report (Cornwallis Park, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 2001). 32 Collected from issues of Western Valley E-News and WVDA Business Plans. 33 WVDA, Business Plan (Cornwallis Park, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 2004) PRAXIS Research and Consulting, Inc., Evaluation of the Western Valley Development Authority (Bedford, NS, 2000) PRAXIS Research and Consulting, Inc., Evaluation of the WVDA Report 2: Detailed Comments (Bedford, NS, 2000) Based on WVDA s Annual Audited Financial Statements. 37 WVDA, Media Clippings Binder, January December WVDA, Western Valley E-News (Cornwallis Park, NS) various issues. 39 WVDA, Business Plan (Cornwallis Park, NS: Western Valley Development Authority, 2004)