Board: June 2010 Archives

Click to download the PDF.

The Re-Connect Discussion Paper is the most comprehensive study of the challenges and successes of the public internet access network ever undertaken in Halifax.

This 48 page report is the preamble of a documentary film we are currently producing.

RE‐CONNECT – Where the project came from.

This project came about as a way of re‐establishing relationships built over the past fifteen years through the C@P program in Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia.

In late 2009 I had conversations with both HRCA Executive Director Dan Robichaud and Karen Parusel, NS Co‐ordinator for the Community Access Program with the Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development . I asked what was going on at some of the other C@P Sites in HRM and no one was really sure. As a result of those conversations it became clear that we needed to RECONNECT, it also became clear that the story of C@P is not very well known, yet it is riddled with quiet successes, makes a huge difference in some peoples’ lives on many levels and is a story worth telling.

The intention of this project is to capture and tell the story of C@P in HRM. This report reflects some of the rich and diverse experiences that C@P has engendered in its loyal and extensive volunteer base. We want to tell the Halifax Region C@P story, capture it on video, to honour a program that has quietly and proactively worked to increase community capacity and connect Canadians and communities.

We wanted to ask if the Community Access Program has fulfilled its original intention. What have been the successes and the challenges? What are the key ingredients that have kept C@P alive and well in many of the communities served? Who do the C@P sites serve? How have the services that C@P sites offer changed over time? How can HRCA better serve the member C@P Sites? Where should focus for the future of HRCA be moving forward? Is it on the technology? Or, the people? Or, both?

In this, the fifteenth year of the C@P program, we wanted to RE‐CONNECT with other C@P Sites in HRM to find out if there is still a need for C@P services and public access in their community. If there is, what kind of support is needed to maximize the benefits? This report reflects what I heard when I touched base with many of the members, past and present, of HRCA.

We hope the report and the accompanying video documentary will serve as the starting point for discussions and planning for the future and can be used to reignite interest and recognize the enormous contribution of volunteers to C@P in HRM over the past fifteen years.

This report is a companion piece to the RE‐CONNECT video documentary being made by Ariella Pahlke, a filmmaker from Terence Bay, and a longstanding Director of the ROC.

The Video Documentary

The video is meant to be a history of C@P as well as a discussion starter – a vehicle for sites to share ideas and stories, and to discuss the role of technology and public access. Viewers of the video will be left with a better sense of what the C@P program means to people. They’ll also come away with ideas about site sustainability, programming, and infrastructure, as well as with questions relating to the role of technology and community development in all of our lives
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We have finished five days of filming for the video, and have one further filming day, which will take place in June. Following that, the editing and other post‐production work will take approximately six weeks. We estimate the video will be about 15‐20 minutes long. If anyone has any great ideas for the title, let us know!