Knowledge Ontario's Submission

Summary

Knowledge Ontario is a collaborative partnership involving educational institutions and LAMs (libraries, archives, museums, as well historical societies and other cultural heritage organizations) that invests in innovative services and tools designed to build an inclusive, digitally literate Ontario. Knowledge Ontario partners seek to ensure that the benefits created by the changes taking place in society as a result of the digital revolution are shared equitably throughout Ontario.

Our vision and objectives are rooted in collaboration, in fostering creativity and deep learning, in building skills and extending capacities, and in promoting a culture of innovation in our schools, our cultural institutions, and our communities. Our expertise is in digital media content creation, discovery and sharing, and on building and supporting digital literacy skills, with the purpose of engaging, empowering and connecting Ontario communities and individuals. We welcome this opportunity to participate in the Government of Canada's initiative to address the challenges and opportunities of enabling all Canadians to participate fully in the 21^st century knowledge–based digital economy. The digital revolution is transforming the economy, but its impact transcends any one sector — information and communications technologies (ICT) are transforming the very nature of Canadian society.

Canada needs a fully articulated national digital strategy. One that recognizes the profound and far–reaching implications and transformative potential of current and emerging digital technologies on how we learn, communicate, work together, and think about engaged citizenship. One that develops and builds on ideas in both the private and broader public sectors. We need a national digital strategy that is comprehensive enough to ensure that Canada's digital infrastructure is sustainable and inclusive. Our submission centers on three themes:

• Capacity to Innovate Using Digital Technologies
• Creating Canada's Digital Content Advantage, and
• Building Digital Skills for Tomorrow.

Submission

Capacity To Innovate Using Digital Technologies

What conditions best incent and promote adoption of ICT by Canadian businesses and public sectors?
What would a successful digital strategy look like for your sector? What are the barriers to implementation?

Stakeholders need to recognize that many of our existing business models date back to the 19^th century, and that in the digital age and the social web, we need to increasingly embrace a 21^st century models of collaboration to fully leverage creativity, innovation and cross–sectoral capacity building opportunities. This will also necessitate a change in the mindset of government that encourages and rewards entrepreneurship in non–profit social enterprises as well as private business ventures.

The open source movement has far–reaching implications in advancing open, less proprietary business models and creating the climate to help sustain collaborative efforts and the culture of creativity necessary to transform innovative ideas into leading edge solutions for digital content.

Government leadership is required in several key areas. To start, Canada should follow the lead of the United States, Australia, Britain and other jurisdictions in moving toward public access to public funded research and data sets. Transparency and open government are foundation elements in promoting the kind of engaged, active citizenship essential to harness the best ideas and the public imagination in tackling the complex problems of the next generation. Making publicly funded datasets available for review and analysis by academics, businesses, and broader public sector organizations supports responsiveness and opens up possibilities that might otherwise not have been discovered.

Transforming our business models to suit a new era requires us to break down silos across society, across governments (such as within Canada's federation) and even within governments (such as between ministries so that cross–sector projects can flourish.) Many users, partners and stakeholders require the same tools and they only need be developed once, well, for broad use and adaptation, as sector requires. In the case of Knowledge Ontario, we work towards seamless access so that early learners are introduced to digital tools and e–resources they can then access throughout their education in K–12 schools, colleges and universities, and beyond, via public libraries and cross–sector creations like KO's e–portal.

Next, Canada must commit itself to ensuring that between now and 2017, the 150^th anniversary of Confederation, that every Canadian will have access to broadband. In the digital economy of the future, the failure to make this commitment effectively denies many citizens living in rural, northern and isolated communities access to the online resources that all other Canadians can take for granted. As more and more content is delivered online, and as every aspect of business, communications, education, government come to rely on services delivered digitally, lack of access to this infrastructure creates two classes of citizens — on opposite sides of the digital divide. This is simply not acceptable.

Digital Media: Creating Canada's Digital Content Advantage

What does creating Canada's digital content advantage mean to you?

For Knowledge Ontario, Canada's digital content advantage means investing in the development of publicly available and widely distributed digital tools and services for content holders and creators; standardized, comprehensive toolsets that are easy to use and able to support tens of thousands of local groups and individuals in creating shareable and discoverable digital content. It means doing so within a framework that is open and accessible to all, that leverages the intellectual leadership of knowledge workers in the broader non–profit sector, and that makes focused investments in organizations that deliver innovative Web 2.0 tools, applications and services at a regional, provincial and national level.

In this way, content can be created, aggregated, sustained and made available in a myriad of ways that meet the needs of content creators and learners today and tomorrow. It enables the content holders and creators to focus on the digitization and the description of the content, while giving learners the tools to discover the content and bring it together in contexts that make sense to them.

What are the core elements in Canada's marketplace framework for digital media and content?
What elements do you believe are necessary to encourage the creation of digital media and content in both official languages and to reflect our Aboriginal and ethno cultural communities?

Canada's digital framework requires as a core element a sustainable infrastructure that provides equitable access to low–cost, widely distributed tools and resources. This, in turn, generates capabilities in delivering digital resources that enable the creation of shareable content, and that do so as collaborative investments scalable at regional, provincial and national levels. In addition to building huge leveraging opportunities to rapidly disseminate recent innovations and emerging best practices, such an approach avoids repeated individual investments that duplicate resources and capabilities many times over at the organizational level of the content creator or holder. The services and tools need to be flexible, modular in design, and customizable so as capture digital stories and artifacts in ways that reflect local needs and expresses a diversity of cultures. Core elements need to embrace a cloud–computing environment so that a broad array of technology platforms and devices are supported.

A critical element in encouraging new media and content is to confirm the value of preserving the cultural expressions of the past. We need large scale, systematic digitization of existing content rather then fragmentary, piecemeal efforts. Canada has a rich tradition of Aboriginal and ethno cultural newspapers, for example. We need to ensure that these sources are available online.

Long–term preservation of our digital assets needs to be a cornerstone of our infrastructure, as more content is born digital or is digitized we need to ensure sustainability of our intellectual capital.

How do you see digital content contributing to Canada's prosperity in the digital economy?

Digital content contributes significantly to Canada's prosperity in a number of ways:

• Enabling a 21^st century educational environment at all levels — for scholarly research as well as part of the K–12 curriculum;
• As primary resources (audio and video formats) to enable digital storytelling;
• Supporting the creative and smart communities movement;
• Sparking the creation of innovative technologies for search, discovery and access of content, applications designed for specific audiences of digital content;
• Requiring skills acquired through the digitization of analog content, and
• It has become a constituent part of attracting and retaining international (and Canadian!) workers, students and faculty.

Digital media is a key component of the global marketplace, and a major growth engine for our economy. To harness and feed that growth, Canada can develop economies of scale for digitization projects, as evidenced by the work of the Our Ontario component of Knowledge Ontario. Over 4 million government documents, images, historical objects, newspapers, videos, audio files, and more digital assets are available globally through our sites and portals. (Example: Our Ontario and Our Ontario Government Documents). Our toolsets have allowed for hundreds of content organizations to create standardized shareable digital content. In turn, that investment has elicited a "build it and they will come" response as discovery of these objects has grown exponentially in K–12 schools, colleges, universities and through projects funded federally such as the significant 1812 history project (created using Our Ontario digital toolsets.)

We also fully support the position as articulated in their response to this consultation by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries.

What kind of "hard" and/or "soft" infrastructure investments do you foresee in the future?
What kinds of infrastructure will you need in the future to be successful at home and abroad?

It would be beneficial to have a Canadian cloud–computing infrastructure accessible from coast–to–coast, anywhere in Canada with a network connection. Google, for example, has built tools to carry cloud–editing offline. A lightweight and web–savvy content creation infrastructure can leverage both the power of global collaboration while also lowering the bar for individual investment in software/hardware for small organizations.

We welcome broadband initiatives that are narrowing one digital divide but recognize another is growing. Our partners in smaller, remote, northern and Aboriginal communities fear being left behind and, in some cases, do not have the capacity to create even basic tools, such as websites, which would allow them to benefit from digital tools on offer. In our years of operation then, we have learned that both local and wide (barrier–free) access is needed to support Ontarians wherever they live, work, study and play. For this reason Knowledge Ontario is launching an e–resources portal using Geo–IP authentication, accessible at one stop for anyone in Ontario, with an internet connection. (Knowledge Ontario — eResources)

How can stakeholders encourage investment, particularly early stage investment, in the development of innovative digital media and content?

Especially important in this regard are collaborative efforts designed to enable support for all Canadians to tell their stories digitally. These stories can focus on towns and villages, on family histories, personal stories, or cultural traditions. By creating easy–to–use collaborative tools and spaces, Canadians can come together to express their diversity and document their local experiences. This can help to give voice to First Nations peoples, war veterans, ethno–cultural groups, and the rich mosaic of Canada's communities and their local histories. These tools should be part of a publicly funded commitment supporting all Canadians to participate as part of a connected, inclusive and digitally literate Canada that can tell its story to the world.

The same digital storytelling tools can be used to generate business opportunities as well. For example, an artisan wants to create an internet–based business to sell the crafts created by her family. She searches the government documents section of a site like Our Ontario, and finds several helpful online resources offering quick tips and sound advice in getting started. More generally, government documents portals such as this are early examples of open government that bring a wealth of public documents together in searchable forms that promote active, engaged citizenship.

Q6: How can we ensure that all Canadians, including those with disabilities (learning, visual, auditory), will benefit from and participate in the Canadian digital economy?

In order to be inclusive and enable all Canadians to participate in the digital economy, the digital strategy needs to recognize and support equitable and seamless access to high quality digital content, with tools and services that reflect local culture across the diverse communities that make up the Canadian landscape. We need to support and strengthen investments in those organizations that provide the collaborative tools and digital services that can be scaled provincially and nationally and leveraged for the benefit of all Canadians.

On a basic level, we need to discourage proprietary formats: the mobile world is already converging on HTML 5; the web can be the most open and accessible toolkit imaginable. Make network traffic flows bidirectional. Legislate accessibility compliance using clear standards.

Building Digital Skills for Tomorrow

What do you see as the most critical challenges in skills development for a digital economy?

Some of the most critical challenges to skills development in Canadian society today are: lack of access to computers for lower–income, remote and isolated communities, lack of high–speed bandwidth in rural areas, lack of access to free wireless services throughout Canada, high cost of mobile services, lack of access to free or affordable training. Most of all is lack of a concerted and coordinated approach — and the resources necessary — to integrate development of digital literacy skills as part of the educational curriculum and a lifelong learning process. Although bandwidth and access to computers remain challenges, significant progress has been made, and the most critical issues today have to do with a digital divide between those who know how to search effectively, how to validate information, how to get information "pushed" to them, how to create and re–use digital media — and those who do not. This digital literacy divide will impact their ability to participate in the knowledge economy and equally important, it will diminish their ability to participate fully as engaged citizens in our developing digital society.

What is the best way to address these challenges?

We must integrate digital literacy as part of ongoing educational curriculum. Sweeping changes are required to learning environments, training and skill building for both educators as well as students. Specific safety nets and supports need to be in place for self–learners as they master the new technologies. Training and reemployment services need to incorporate the digital literacies for full participation in the job market. Those who are tasked with leading and educating others will need advanced and targeted training.

Directed federal funding should support and strengthen successful provincial and national digital collaboratives who are already taking lead roles in these areas. For example, Knowledge Ontario builds networks, establishes initiatives and partnerships and thinks creatively to deliver the digital tools, trusted resources, and online help Ontarians require to succeed in a digital economy. This ensures a coordinated and shared life–long approach to learning and skills development for every citizen.

What can we do to ensure that labour market entrants have digital skills?

Provide training at low or no cost on 21^st century skills, and integrate digital literacy as an integral part of the curriculum. Ensure that libraries and schools have the tools and resources to provide these skills development services. Citizens need access to tools and services focused on digital literacies at every stage of life.

What is the best way to ensure the current workforce gets the continuous upskilling required to remain competitive in the digital economy?
Are different tactics required for SMEs versus large enterprises?

Provide easy and multi–level access to training and tutorials in a 24/7 online environment, reinforcing learned skills and providing quick answers to common technology questions at the point of need. (Example: Learn Ontario)

How will the digital economy impact the learning system in Canada? How we teach? How we learn? What strategies could be employed to address the digital divide?

The digital economy is already impacting all of us on a daily basis.

Provide the necessary infrastructure in the educational system — ensure every student has access to an information specialist who understands the digital literacies and integrates them across the curriculum. (See Together for Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons).

In conjunction there also needs to be a 21^st century technology component in all Teacher Qualification programs to ensure that the new corps of educators have the digital literacy skills that they will need to use in their teaching.

Bidirectional and global communication flows in learning are intensely powerful. The strength of the digital economy is in its ability to personalize the learning. Local and community connections can colour the content — such as a heritage moment expressed in the story of the grandfather's brother who didn't come home from Vimy Ridge. The local connection that can be made via digitization projects can't be matched.

Build on web standards and the cloud — low–cost devices that can leverage this platform are appearing faster than any other class of hardware.

Concluding Comments

Organizations such as Knowledge Ontario are uniquely positioned to create innovative services focused on building digital literacy in ways that are inclusive, deep, and focused on the needs of end users and local communities. This is particularly important at a time when major changes are required in education and learning, when creative communities and the knowledge economy are recognized as critical to Canada's future success, and when both e–government and personal knowledge networks are emerging as important trends.

Knowledge Ontario continues to play a leading role in fostering digital citizens — through cross–sector collaboration, a culture of creativity and use of leading edge digital technology. We will continue to partner with other like–minded organizations to turn innovative ideas into leading edge solutions at a provincial scale. It is a provincially integrated network of practitioners and innovators, whose collective expertise crosses many sectors. We have the ability to ensure that e–resources and digital learning tools become broadly available to end user communities — students, parents, educators, researchers and community organizations — in contexts that are meaningful and useful to them.

Continued investment in innovative and forward–thinking organizations with the ability to forge partnerships and create digital services that can scale regionally, provincially and nationally are critical to creating sustainable, cost–effective solutions. We look forward to working together in helping to build a comprehensive, successful and responsive Canadian digital strategy.