Driving Digitization Forward in Rural Communities

Summary

Olds Institute for Community & Regional Development appreciates the opportunity to participate in this national discussion, because we have identified a community, provincial and national need to create adequate digital infrastructure. The Olds Institute is concerned because Canada is falling so far behind in this regard, which is compromising our position in the future global market. The United States is aiming to have 88% of residences connected to fibre optic technology by 2020 and we need to move quickly and strategically in that direction. Olds is moving ahead with building fibre connectivity to every home and residence in our Central Alberta community, and we are happy to share this information as part of our government submission because we believe digitization is at the core of rural development. Through partnerships involving the private sector, public sector and government, Olds Institute is creating a digital infrastructure in our quest to achieve new academic, social, political, entrepreneurial and community development opportunities.

Submitted by Olds Institute:
Stirling McLeod (Chair)
Joe Gustafson (Chair of Technology Committee)
Dr. H. J. (Tom) Thompson (Director)

Submission

1) Innovation Using Digital Technologies:

The Olds Institute is proud to include our account of how we are driving digitization forward in Olds as our submission to the Government of Canada's Digital Economy Consultation. After years of meetings and public consultations, research and efforts to advance connectivity, Olds Institute has determined one top priority: keeping Olds vibrant socially, politically and economically requires being hooked into the SuperNet. To that end, Olds Institute has launched a Fibre to the Premises initiative to bring broadband connectivity to every home and business in Olds.

The government of Alberta began building the SuperNet in the late 1990s to connect public institutions across the province to a broadband network for high–speed Internet access, videoconferencing and other services. Olds Institute has studied the need for, and the cost and implications of, building and operating a connected community network where fibre optic broadband technology is available to everyone in town. We are convinced that business and governments at every level can benefit from participating in this project, as Olds creates a model of how rural economic development through digitization can transform a community and lead a new approach to the sustainability of rural Canada. We are pleased that now is the time to put information about this project into the hands of decision–makers.

Political driving force:

Stirling McLeod, Chair of Olds Institute: "When Bell chose Olds as its technology centre in Alberta, the groups and individuals all started talking about what might happen if they worked together. This cooperation led to a $2.5 million grant from the Rural Alberta Development Fund to support extending access to this new technology to smaller surrounding communities through Community Engagement Sites and to help fund the Fibre to the Premises project."

The Honourable Luke Ouellette, current Minister of Transportation for the Government of Alberta:

"Today everybody is worried about rural areas becoming de–populated as big cities become more populated. If you don't have connectivity no one will locate there, so that's the place to begin. While Bell was laying the SuperNet through Alberta, they were looking for a place to put a technology centre in the province and I encouraged them to look at Olds. Olds was trying to show that if you have fibre optic connectivity in an entire community, it would bring all kinds of economic development activity. Once Bell came into Olds, it all fell hand in hand.

"I don't feel that government should be present where private industry can do the job. But private industry isn't doing that job in rural Alberta right now, so someone had to step up to the plate. I believed Olds was doing the right thing then, and I believe they still are. The federal government should look at what they are doing in Olds, because it could be a model for something that could work well for rural communities across Canada."

Through the support of Bell Canada and the Government of Alberta, an information technology infrastructure was consolidated. Bell Canada and Olds College announced the partnership to create The Bell e–Learning Centre, a state–of–the–art distributed learning centre, as part of the new Community Learning Campus which was under construction on the Olds College campus.

Premier Ed Stelmach praised the collaborative work being done on the Bell e–Learning Centre. "Bell Canada and Olds College should be commended for working together in partnership on the new e–Learning Centre and for using Alberta's SuperNet to make tremendous learning and research opportunities available not only for students but for the entire Olds community, as well as people throughout Alberta and across Canada."

The Bell e–Learning Centre provides new connectivity and e–Learning opportunities to students, community members and businesses, including improved rural access to broadband technologies such as videoconferencing, webcasts, technology courses, video editing and new business applications through the SuperNet. However, the full potential of this powerful centre will not be realized until access to these technologies is right in the businesses and residences.

Community Engagement Sites

Twelve Community Engagement Sites are subsequently being established in communities throughout Central Alberta, each being linked to the technology, resources and programming of the Bell e–Learning Centre. The Sites provide a close–to–home location for people of all ages to experience SuperNet technology and access learning and business tools. Olds Institute was pivotal in the vision and creation of the Community Engagement Site project.

When the community of Delburne, a village of 800 people southeast of Red Deer, opened its Community Engagement Site in July 2008, Mayor Bob Manning became an immediate champion of the initiative. He had been part of a provincial committee that was instrumental in launching Health Net (now referred to as Health Link) in the mid 1990s and sees the advantages this level of technology brings to residents.

Mayor Bob Manning, Village of Delburne: "Back then the technology involved a big, cumbersome device — a large portable computer–type device with a camera. It would be stored in closets out of the way and there was certainly no dedicated space for it. We went through the telephone lines, not the SuperNet, so it was quite costly. But it proved to be a great facility for many things and I understand the priority of extending this type of initiative further through fibre. This is becoming a vital issue to resolve in order to continue expanding opportunities for our businesses and residents. The need is great."

Stirling McLeod: "Community Engagement Sites have begun to create the culture of use and they have raised awareness as to what opportunities are enabled through connectivity, but to really connect with the whole community you need a fibre network. Rural Canadian communities need a commitment from the provincial and federal levels to support initiatives to enable building access to global connectivity.

"Six million homes in the United States are connected to fibre optics and the U.S. President has committed to connect another 100 million homes by 2020. That represents 88% of the country's residences, and Canada doesn't even have a strategy at all. The Alberta government did the right thing by supporting the SuperNet, but they thought taking it to the community would be enough and that the independent service providers (ISPs) or incumbent telecoms would take it to the homes. That is where the disconnect exists, because the former lacks the necessary capital and the latter has an existing infrastructure (copper or cable) that is very profitable as long as no one provides an option with a higher level of service. Therefore, the SuperNet terminates at government service offices, and community and residents are no closer to achieving that promised level of global communications."

Entrepreneurial driving force: There are many examples of the business initiatives which would be enhanced through connectivity to fibre optics. One is Olds Iron Works, a SME in Olds which has a branch that creates 3D modeling for architectural and mechanical planning, often for hospitals, schools and other massive projects. But they can't send digital files online to the base project site in Calgary or Vancouver with the limited technology infrastructure currently available, so they have a courier come into the office everyday to pick up their flash drives. Fibre optics can resolve that connectivity shortfall.

Stirling McLeod: "It's not just technology businesses that require this level of connectivity, but any business that uses technology. These operations usually offer higher paying positions that will attract young families, which balances the community's demographics, benefits from their spending patterns and produces increased recreational opportunities. Young families desire the quality of life found in rural communities, while needing good paying jobs and/or viable businesses to support the many activities of their children."

Community development driving force: Olds Institute is pursuing the Fibre to the Premise project because of its enormous influence as an economic driver. Establishing a network of fibre to each premise would create a more robust and symmetrical service, providing the ability to upload and download at the same time. Today even basic computers have a 160 mg hard drive, which means people are creating large files and are expecting to be able to share large files. The business and social applications of new technology simply cannot function with the existing infrastructure.

Joe Gustafson, business owner and Chair of the Olds Institute Technology Committee: "We thought if we created the fibre network in the ground, one of the telecoms would come in, light it up and offer the service. But telecoms weren't interested in offering any kind of service over our community fibre infrastructure. We thought 'okay, we'll just have to light the network up ourselves'. This is a utility in the purest sense and it is becoming an issue of not being able to function properly without it. We're hoping to make this a SuperNet station that can be used as a base from which other towns could benefit. We could offer our services to other communities if they install the fibre network. Building this content piece of our service offering has been a huge struggle and we could provide it to them immediately. No other rural community in Canada has fibre to the premise, but we in Olds believe that in order for us to move forward with all of our rural development strategies, we have no option but to create the total network ourselves."

Innovation Using Digital Technologies:

• Should Canada focus on increasing innovation in some key sectors or focus on providing the foundation for innovation across the economy?
  
  Joe Gustafson: Coming from a small business background, I feel we have a tendency to fund large, established corporations when predominantly the jobs are created in the small and medium–sized business sector. Add to this the lack of infrastructure in small towns, and we see rural Canada moving into the urban centres simply because government continues to focus on big corporations — which only exist in urban centres. Until we start to fund infrastructure that supports small and medium–sized business, I don't think we will have a robust rural economy. But funding should occur in such a way that the projects that are funded are completed to ensure they actually work. Partially–funded projects don't always reach the end goals. We need the infrastructure foundation before we can look at any innovative digital structure across the nation.
• Which conditions best incent and promote adoption of ICT by Canadian businesses and public sectors?
  
  Joe Gustafson: The conditions that provide effective incentive are tax structures that allow people to claim electronic devices much more readily. The best conditions would be if government was involved in building true fibre broadband networks and they provided a tax incentive, such as tax credits to have a website or such that if a business makes money using e–commerce they would be taxed at two percent less than if they conducted traditional business through the door. With incentives, business would become involved in the culture of technology and begin to embrace all the benefits and efficiencies it provides.
• What would a successful digital strategy look like for your firm or sector? What are the barriers to implementation?
  
  Stirling McLeod: A successful digital strategy would see the replacement of most of the copper and cable infrastructure with their limitations on broadband access. Joe Gustafson: I plugged into the Internet world for my business, when we began selling camera equipment online. The problem was to find qualified companies to build a proper website. Creating an affordable interactive site was a challenge, and the gap then became keeping the website updated and increasing our own knowledge of how to manage and monitor it. There was also a huge learning curve about protecting ourselves against fraud and other online infractions. So we found one of the barriers to implementation was a knowledge problem — we lacked the understanding of the opportunities and also of the hazards to be aware of. But the fundamental barrier to implementation is capital.
• Once anti–spam legislation, and privacy and copyright amendments are in place, are there new legislative or policy changes needed to deal with emerging technologies and new threats to the online marketplace?
  
  Joe Gustafson: I feel strongly that a large amount of money needs to be invested to prevent fraud in the online marketplace. We need legislation that clearly outlines that if anyone conducts fraudulent activity on the Internet there are strong laws and penalties in place to deal effectively with them.
  
  Stirling McLeod: Another aspect of network security also involves accountability. Large telecoms are advertising high speed connectivity fibre, but they are not delivering the levels that are being advertised.
• How can Canada use its regulatory and policy regime to promote Canada as a favourable environment for e–commerce?
  
  Stirling McLeod: The environment isn't attractive until access is improved! There are no incentive investments in Canada's legislative framework. Other countries are investing huge amounts. Even on a percentage basis, Australia has 15.92 Mb/s at a cost of $7.96 (Canadian dollars) per Mb/s per month. Canada provides just 6.24 Mb/s, but it costs $28.30 per Mb/s per month.

2) Building a World–Class Digital Infrastructure:

Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) is considered the pivotal infrastructure necessary to set the stage for the dramatic economic advancements the world will experience in the next century.

Community Development implications:

Communications infrastructure plays a vital role in whether the community can attract new business and residents. The benefits of FTTP are shared by every member of the community regardless of age, gender, economic standing, religion or race. The population of 24–54 year olds in Olds is critical to the economic development of the community. Though they represent only approximately 15% of the population, the people in this age group are busy raising families, buying real estate, building careers and establishing businesses. The taxes they contribute provide a substantial revenue base for the government, and they are typically a healthy and thriving age group. A healthy community would have a large percentage of 24–54 year olds, yet this is the smallest population group present in Olds.

John Negropontes, Hollywood film producer: Olds has a perfect example of this in 25 year old John Negropontes. John grew up in Olds and attained all his primary schooling through the local public system. He shot his first video when he was in grade eight and was hooked. He plotted his course to achieve an education that would align him with his career goal of becoming an internationally recognized film producer. John received an undergraduate degree from the University of Alberta in Edmonton and recently graduated from the American Film Institute, where he also studied under the George Lucas apprenticeship program. He is considered an influential up and coming Hollywood film producer, and he wants to return to Olds.

"I have to be realistic. Hollywood is where the film is made, so as the producer I will need to be here. My goal is to film here in LA and go home to Olds and finish the project there. A more important consideration as it applies to the Olds Institute project is the support services to the film industry. Many of the visual affects specialists with the green screen technology, for example, are leaving LA because it is so expensive here. They don't need to be present with the actors to do their specialty — they just need access to their specialized equipment and the ability to send large files through the Internet so they can piece everything together.

"If Olds had broadband fibre optics capability, it would make that community an attractive place for this type of high tech industry support. The computer generated imaging that is such a big part of today's visual affects is already being sent online anyway. A site could be set up in Olds, where the cost of living is reasonable and the quality of life is better. It just requires the technology to be capable of providing this service."

• What speeds and other service characteristics are needed by users (consumers, businesses, public sector bodies and communities) and how should Canada set goals for next generation networks?
  
  Stirling McLeod: "Only fibre optics can future–proof a network so it is capable of meeting the growing consumer demand for new applications. Data–intensive applications require a lot of bandwidth to deliver services without latency or interruption. My current maximum broadband over copper is 2.5 Mbps of downstream traffic and 0.7 Mbps of upstream traffic. Basic Triple Play (Video Voice & Data) require at least 20 to 25 Mbps of two–way communications traffic. Interactive two–way communications requires symmetrical bandwidth for both upstream and downstream traffic. Speeds of 100 megabytes have been identified as the new standard to strive for. As an example of the streams necessary to support everyday communications tasks, the average High Definition Television stream is 17 Mbps versus a standard definition television stream of 3.75 Mbps.
• What steps must be taken to meet these goals? Are the current regulatory and legislative frameworks conducive to incenting investment and competition? What are the appropriate roles of stakeholders in the public and private sectors?
  
  Stirling McLeod: I am convinced we have to find a way to encourage a community to use their own investment capital which is resident in the community to invest in the community. The culture of rural people investing in their own community, and the ownership they feel when they invest this way, creates a passion for the project and a commitment to the community. Most people turn to traditional investments in banks that, in turn, use that capital to fund mega projects in urban centres. Think of the opportunities that could be created if you could give a retired farmer incentive to invest his money in a bond that is guaranteed by government. Present him the option to invest in a sustainable and feasible business plan and tell that community member that their money will be staying in the community to help build the community, and then give him proper interest in his investment. This form of local opportunity bonds becomes its own culture.
  
  We have pioneers living in our community. They will look seriously at investing here if there is an investment structure that provides a reasonable level of security for their invested capital. We need to create an investment vehicle that allows some of these projects to move forward. Canada cannot set goals that are below the standards established in other OECD countries. Goals have to be compatible with what our trading partners are doing and the speed has to meet or exceed what those countries are currently doing or planning. Fibre gives you the option.
• How best can we ensure that rural and remote communities are not left behind in terms of access to advanced networks and what are the priority areas for attention in these regions?
  
  Stirling McLeod: We need to design and support fibre linked towers, so that we could get better wireless access to a lot of remote areas. Extend fibre to as many rural communities as possible, as far as feasibly possible, and then work with the best wireless. This level of technology is so new and you're always reaching out. But a 'good enough' philosophy is doomed when you're dealing with something changing so rapidly, so the only solution is to be cutting–edge. One of our big challenges from day one was that there really was not (nor is in Canada) a model for a fibre–based connected community. The telecoms currently provide these services over vastly antiquated mediums, with copper and cable. But at this point they have shown no inclination to work with community initiatives to put in fibre. This in itself has cost us years in delay in our project. Since they own and control the main trunks across the country, we will still have to deal with them for transit, and our model for a total community project will probably make a big difference in how accessible these transits will be.

3) Growing the Information and Communications Technology Industry:

• Do our current investments in R&D effectively lead to innovation, and the creation of new businesses, products and services? Would changes to existing programs better expand our innovative capacity?
  
  Joe Gustafson: We need more community investment in research and development. We need to see what we can do to build more Research In Motion business success stories in this country. The only part of the industry that I can see needing to be built is providing more options for private business to be able to fully function and thrive. They need to have a connected network available to them.
• What is needed to innovate and grow the size of the ICT industry including the number of large ICT firms headquartered in Canada?
  
  Joe Gustafson: No matter how many subsidies are put in place to protect jobs, without a plan to move forward economic development stalls, jobs become scarce and people are forced to relocate. This decay can be prevented if leaders use foresight and embrace change, and proactively position the community to participate in the new economy.
• What efforts are needed to address the talent needs in the coming years?
  
  Gord Gilchrist, Olds College technology instructor: All people have to continue learning, so they are able to access that continually–changing piece of information which is needed to solve that moment's particular problem. That is the skill set we have to set our students up with. We need an accessible product that solves problems, right at people's fingertips at all times. They need to have the skills to know where the resources are online to solve problems. Show them how the software can create the things they need and that computers make it easy. Make the technology relevant to what they're learning.

4) Creating Canada's Digital Content Advantage:

• What does creating Canada's digital content advantage mean to you?
  
  Tom Thompson, President of Olds College and Olds Institute Director: "Creating digital advantage means delivering what people have asked for. It was initially a group of determined parents from the Olds High School parent council who inadvertently got the first ball rolling on the Community Learning Campus. They were provided $6 million by the provincial government to renovate and upgrade their 50 year old school, but they indicated it was time to think of a new approach. It was the gumption of people that set the project in motion and the resolve of people to achieve what we have today.
  
  "If the school division had chosen to accept the modernization funding, they would have been placed on the traditional and outdated process of listing funding of facilities according to certain priorities. Instead of leading the charge, they would have to wait years and years for a lackluster facility. Instead, they joined the college, community, university, business and government partnership, and helped create new policy that hadn't even been written."
• How do you see digital content contributing to Canada's prosperity in the digital economy?
  
  Olds is quickly growing in population, expanding in businesses and services, and becoming a cultural influencer for the region, particularly since the development of the Fine Arts & Multi Media Centre — one of the Community Learning Campus structures. The Fine Arts Centre has the capacity to host high–end concert performances and to videoconference the events from the stage directly to Community Engagement Sites so that residents in surrounding communities can enjoy an enriching experience. The Minister of Culture chose Olds as one of six sites in the province for the inaugural Alberta Arts Days, which was a government initiative to celebrate Alberta artists in their home communities. The evening concert was streamed live through the Internet and made available to the world.
  
  Soon after, when Calgary's EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts began thinking about sharing their exclusive Young Songwriter's Intensive workshop in a rural community, Olds sprang immediately to mind. This annual event provides young musicians from across Central Alberta with the opportunities more readily present in larger centres, and it wouldn't be possible without the technology of the CLC. Olds has countless examples of highly charged cultural initiatives, but it does not have its own television station to capture and share its unique identity. These expanding partnerships and this thriving social force cannot be sustained and allowed to fully flourish without a sufficient technology infrastructure.
• How can we ensure that all Canadians, including those with disabilities (learning, visual, auditory) will benefit from and participate in the Canadian digital economy?
  
  Tom Thompson: "Our federal Minister of Industry seems to have recognized the need, the high–end needs, for ICT that cannot be served by traditional high speed Internet connection. There certainly has been a whole lot of government investment to bring our capabilities up to a level where they could host the G8 Summit. But 80% of the country, particularly rural, remote and northern communities sit underserved and no one can conduct proper business. You have to have fibre. It is a reliable and sustainable network that you can build from."

5) Building Digital Skills for Tomorrow:

Gord Gilchrist is currently on leave from his job as technology instructor at Olds College for one year, so that he can focus on his volunteer work in overseas development and relief efforts. During his second trip to Haiti, where he was contributing to relief efforts following the earthquake, Gord was caught up in the drama of several strong aftershocks. As they began, he fled the house along with everyone else who was staying there. Fearing the questionable stability of the structure, they all set up camp outside on the driveway. The juxtaposition is that, while he sat on the ground surrounded by devastation in an impoverished country, he was able to connect by wireless computer to people back in Central Alberta who were feeding him reports on the size of the earthquake and other news updates on the area he was sitting in the midst of.

"One of the factors for this is that they have inter–operability there. They don't have territorialism like we do here. They just want the technology to work because it solves problems for them — they don't care which mega corp is going to benefit from it. The reality is that Canada is lagging behind the connectivity ability of many, many other countries. We still use connectivity as a proprietary thing — a way to make money. The cost for my cell phone is three times more expensive in Canada than anywhere else I've been in the world."

• What do you see as the most critical challenges in skills development for a digital economy?
  
  Stirling McLeod: Connectivity. Also, once you have connectivity it is like a moving target to try and keep pace with the advancements.
• What is the best way to address these challenges?
  
  Gord Gilchrist: You can't possibly know everything you need to know to stay on top of the job — the information is too complex and diverse. But the benefits go to individuals who can learn what they need today, because it will be different from what they will need tomorrow. Facts and information from school is of little value for the most part, but knowing how to find facts and information themselves is vital.
• What is the best way to ensure the current workforce gets the continuous up–skilling required to remain competitive in the digital economy?
  
  Stirling McLeod: Build in skilled credit courses over ICT and provide cost incentives for employees. If you're going to drive people to adapt to technology, you want them to learn through modules, so that their ongoing learning can be accessed at a time and place that is suitable for them and least disruptive to the business. They can go online on their own, learn the module and write the test.
  
  Gord Gilchrist: "All people have to continue learning, so they are able to access that continually–changing piece of information which is needed to solve that moment's particular problem. That is the skill set we have to set our students up with. We need an accessible product that solves problems, right at people's fingertips at all times. They need the skills to know where the resources are online to solve problems."
• How will the digital economy impact the learning system in Canada? How we teach? How we learn?
  
  Tom Thompson: "My best analogy from an education and training perspective would be what occurred at Olds College in the late 1990s in the agricultural mechanics and equipment sector. That sector was moving from family factory farming operations to a point where it was characterized as almost insurmountable in size. The economy responded by continuing to build bigger and more complex technologies, to the point where you have essential equipment such as a combine which had such complexity that private industry knew they had to invest in education and training to keep pace with their own models. For the distribution of this sophisticated equipment in Western Canada, they suggested a partnership with Olds College to centralize opportunities for education and training. They provided the necessary hardware, and the John Deer Training Centre has since gone beyond the reach of most training situations. Students of all ages benefit, because they have a place to learn on the latest technology. The college benefits, because we can deliver education to our own faculty with upgrading based upon current research development. Private sector wins because they have a centralized location to send people for cost–effective training.
  
  The same principles apply for technology training. We can create private/public sector partnerships where each does what they do best to benefit SMEs and other people, so that everyone has access to the technology skills necessary in a digital age. Big telecoms do research, sales, distribution of products and services. Public education trains and educates people, but don't have the wherewithal to purchase and build high tech architecture. Much like they couldn't keep up with changes in agriculture in the late 20^th Century, they can't keep pace with digitization unless you link private and public sectors to share skills, knowledge and passion to support high tech advancements. Access to and training on digitization isn't the function of just one sector.

Conclusion:

Olds, Alberta and the surrounding region is thriving. We're not even sure how big the impact will be when we light the fibre to each premise in Olds, but we are convinced that business and governments at every level need to become a part of this. We are positioned to confidently walk the last mile with our community, business and government partners to offer a world of academic, social, political, entrepreneurial, and community development opportunities to Olds through broadband fibre.

Tom Thompson: "The Olds Institute structure, which is unique to Canada, involves a group of people who are charged with the responsibility of economic development and sustainability which most people would think is a function of the municipal government. In this community, which strives to speak with one voice, you have all the stakeholders together in one conglomerate which speaks to Town Council. What this has done is create expediency, as they have built new architecture of how to look after the needs of the global information age for the people.

"This model could be applied to any community initiative that people believe in and want to make happen. Policy is set by sectors of people, not necessarily by government. Much of Canada is waiting for the federal government to set policy, but Olds didn't wait for them to do it — we established our own."

Visit Old Institute for Community & Regional Development Website or email Olds Institute for more information.