Linking the Internet and the SuperNet Will Reshape Rural Alberta

The wonderful world of technology to evolving and revolving – all at the same time and changing the way we live and work and relax!

Marshall McLuhan said “We shape our tools and then they shape us.” The way the tool of the Internet is shaping us is absolutely fascinating and I’m thinking absolutely profound in technical terms but also in socio-cultural terms.

In social terms we have newspapers are struggling to find a sustainable business model in the face of growing internet competition as a news and information source. Television no longer has the dominant grasp of our eyeballs because we are using more on-line viewing of programs. We now have a box of technology that will provide free internet based television that will be challenge the viability of the subscriber based cable companies. The box has the support of the major program producers to boot.

iTunes with MP3 players like iPods has found a successful business model to make money from music and are now the largest vendors of music on the planet. The e-book is an emerging challenge to traditional book publishing and the new Kindle reader from Amazon may be the tech breakthrough needed to make this finally happen.

The social media explosion of Facebook, Twitter and other such sites, where people “meet” and make sense of their world, has happened. It represents a fundamental culture shift that has happened around the globe and virtually (sic) overnight. The move from text based e-mail applications to social media methods and beyond that include YouTube video being uploaded at the rate of about 10,000 a day shows how the internet has changed the cultural context of the web.

One of the next big economic enablers from the changing internet is going to be from the declining cost of videoconferencing equipment and the increasing ease of use. There is a technological breakthrough that dramatically reduces the bandwidth needs so it can now use telephone lines instead of cable or expensive fibre optics. This will be a ubiquitous and cost effective way to get anyone with an old-fashioned phone line into the front lines of internet capacity and connectivity.

Rural communities in Alberta are no longer isolated by time and distance and their sustained economic viability is now more about their imaginations than the traditional limitations. Remote First Nations are now into videoconferencing. Other communities are restructuring relationship internally and externally to lever the opportunities for enhanced internet links for SuperNet access. Others are getting grants andlooking at the feasibility of providing optical fibre connections direct to all homes and businesses in an entire community.

Still others are taking advantage of CRTC regulatory procedures to seek a requirement to enable use of existing land line telephone services. This access, if approved, will provide for competitive services for internet, VOIP and even high definition videoconferencing all over the province with no additional physical infrastructure requirements or other costs to taxpayers or users.


This copper wire connectivity will also enable Albertans to link at fibre quality to the SuperNet fibre optic network that is all over the province too. This old-fashioned copper wire connectivity will ironically make that $B investment in the SuperNet pays off through personal, community and business access for anyone in the province who wants to use it.

The internet is definitely a tool that we shaped and it is dramatically reshaping us - and there is every indication that it will continue to do so for some time to come. Fascinating times.

IDEAfest and the Power of One

There is a strange shift happening in the world these days. The power to influence, change and adapt is shifting. The move is from creaky institutions stuck in hierarchies working in a "pecking ordered" world, to wired individuals who are in a heteroarchy, conversing in a linked and networked world.

This is all happening primarily because of three major forces. First is the decline of relevance, trustworthiness and capacity of our old-style institutions in all realms from the political to communications, to religion to the societal influences.

Second is the power of the Internet and the increasing access to high speed and high capacity bandwidth give everyone access to new sense of community when, where and how they choose. Third is the advent and mindboggling adoption of the social media and the participation phenomenon ranging from Blogs, to Facebook to Twitter and YouTube, only to name a few.

In the old “pecking-order” reality what it took to make a difference was not what you knew but who you knew. In the new “networked reality” what it takes to make a difference has changed. Now it is about what do you know for sure and who knows you. The social media tools needed to engage in this wired-world are just a click away. Anyone who wants to engage, share, create, converse and even take action has opportunity and capacity. It is all about personal expression and choice, not permission or position.

For a perfect example of the “Power of One” to make a difference, generate interest and enable action in this new networked world just look at Michael Janz and his IDEAfest 2009 project. One guy with an idea, a network of friends and contacts with a Facebook account and his is pulling this event off.

IDEAfest runs this Saturday, March 7, 2009 from 10am-5pm at the UofA Tory Basement 95 and it is free. It is a mini TED that will be made up of self-selecting people with a passion and a purpose who will present their ideas to anyone who wants to show up, lisaten and perhaps participate.

The event format is loose so you just show up and you can go to any of 3 concurrent sessions of 30 minutes presented by a variety of people all through the day. The subjects are and intriguing and the presenters are interesting.

The closing comment on Michael’s Facebook link for IDEAfest 2009 sums up the spirit when he says “At the end of the day we will get together and order Pizza and Beer.” Sounds to me like the beginning of a beautiful set of relationships.

Ken on CBC Wildrose (Feb. 25, 2009)

The Alberta Image Problem comes from the embedded images of dirty oil. It is now an image that is set in the imagination of the peoples of the planet and the recent National Geographic feature is all the proof one needs.

What are we going to do about it? There are lots or good things around oul sands development to talk about and other events and activities that we need to apolozige for and get fixed but we need to get on with it in an authentic and authoritative way - not just media messaging and spin.

We have to get serious about the reality of our ensuring ourt foundational Albertan values are more aggressively and obviously aligned with our actions in oil sands development. Research shows Albertans want the oil sands to be developed the right way - responsibly - and not just rapidly.

Slick messaging and focus group tested slogans will do more harm than good and only serve to add to cynicism and skepticism and just undermine (sic) our reputation in the world.

Albertans want to be proud of what we are doing in the development of OUR oil sands. So far we have been mostly boastful about the size of the reserves and the enormity of investment levels. Albertans have not been given enough reasons to believe that we should be proud about how we - as owners - are responsibly and sustainably exploiting this vital resource.

Buffet Says He "Blew It" on Energy Sector Investment

Warren Buffet "admits mistake" when he bought ConocoPhillips oil stock at the price peak of $147 for Berkshire Hathaway, his investment company. He, like many other irrational exuberant investors did not fore see the dramatic fall in energy prices in the second half of 2008.

the move cost Berkshire Hathaway "several billion dollars" according to reports quoting Buffet. Berkshire Hathaway posted 2008 net earnings just shy of $5B - a 60% haircut from the $13B of a year earlier.

Based on the US financial sector performance last year Buffet is still looking relatively good.

If Warren Buffet can get caught up in this downward fiscal vortex that badly, what are we mere mortals expected to do?

"Downstream" Film Showings in Alberta

The screenings of DOWNSTREAM a documentary on the health concerns downstream fomr the oil sands are happening in Ft. Chipewyan Friday March 6, two screenings in Edmonton Sunday March 8 and on Monday March 9th in Calgary.


Here is some of the promotional material for the film:

"DOWNSTREAMCanada, U.S.A., 2008, 33 minutes http://www.downstreamdoc.com/
At the heart of the multi-billion dollar tar sands industry in Northern Alberta, Dr. John O' Connor's career is jeopardized as he fights for the lives of the Aboriginal people living and dying of rare forms of cancer downstream from one of the largest oil operations in the world. Making the short-list for this year's Academy Award® Nominations for best short documentary, Downstream, provides an in-depth look at the impact oil sands extraction is taking on the surrounding communities."

"Witnessing unprecedented changes to their land, health and heritage, the people of Fort Chipewyan have struggled for years to have their concerns addressed by government and industry. Downstream has raised unparalleled awareness in Canada and the United States regarding the environmental, economic and social impacts of the tar sands on both sides of the border."

Here is the ticket information:

Sunday March 8th, 2pm and 4pm • Metro Cinema9829 101A Ave NW, Edmonton, AB T5J 0A1, CanadaAdvance Tickets in Edmonton available at 3 locations as of Monday, March 2nd. All tickets $10: Metro Cinema (office)6-32, Stanley Milner Library7 Sir Winston Churchill SquareEdmonton 780.425.9212metro@metrocinema.orgMetro Cinema Box Office Zeidler Hall, Main Floor Citadel Theatre9828-101 A Avenue, EdmontonTix on The Square9930-102 AvenueSir Winston Churchill SquareEdmonton 780.420.1757tix@tixonthesquare.ca

There will be panel discussions in each location but only after the 2 pm screening in Edmonton.


Leslie Iwerks Emmy® Award Winning Producer, Phil Alberstat, Family Physician, Dr. John O’Connor Professor of Ecology, University of Alberta, Dr. David SchindlerAlberta Liberal Leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature, Dr. David Swann Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Strathcona, Linda DuncanFormer Chief, Mikisew Cree First Nation, George PoitrasFormer Chief, Smith’s Landing Treaty 8 First Nation, Francois PauletteEcologist, Treeline Ecological Research, Dr. Kevin Timoney


CALGARYMonday, March 9th, 7pm and 9:30pm • Plaza Theater1133 Kensington Road NW, Calgary, AB T2N 3P4, Canada Advance Tickets in Calgary available at 2 locations as of Saturday, February 28. Adults: $9Students/Youth (13-17): $7Seniors/Kids (Up to 12): $5HERITAGE POSTERS:1505 11th Avenue SW, CalgaryTelephone: 403.802.1846Email: heritageposters@shawcable.comPLAZA THEATRE:1133 Kensington Rd NW, CalgaryTelephone: 403.283.2222Email: pete@theplaza.ca


A PANEL DISCUSSION WILL FOLLOW THE 7PM SCREENINGin Calgary PANELISTS WILL INCLUDE:Academy Award® and Emmy® Nominated Director, Leslie Iwerks Emmy® Award Winning Producer, Phil Alberstat Family Physician, Dr. John O’Connor Award Winning Investigative Journalist and Author of Tar Sands-Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, Andrew NikiforukAlberta Liberal Leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature, Dr. David Swann Proceeds of ticket sales will benefit the people of Fort Chipewyan.