On Fri, 2002-07-12 at 20:19, R. James Knowles wrote: > >2. Rural Workforce Enablement > > >I'd love to see a project that encourages and enables > >those living in rural > >locations to become computer professionals. I'm > >envisioning a large rural > >computer resource network. This body of computer > >professionals would allow > >organizations and specifically the Canadian > government > >to provide employment > >to rural areas in which there would otherwise be > limited > >employment > >opportunities. There are many, many other aspects to > >this idea that could > >be explored. > > Hi.... > > I've been lurking for the last few days. Time now to > jump in with a comment or two about the above subject > which doesn't seem to be getting a lot of attention.
I agree, but I expected that when I posted it as most LUG members reside in metropolitan areas of Canada. > > To start with, a lot of Rural Canada doesn't seem to > know about Linux ... period. Never a truer statement have I heard. In fact, when I return home (Elliot Lake, Ontario) and discuss technology or computers with anyone who's interested, not only do most of them not know what Linux is, but most have never heard of Unix either. Perhaps this has just been my experience, but it is a little scarey nonetherless. > > I've lived in Greater Metropolitan Miramichi > for a number of years. The schools and the much > touted computer dept of NBCC Miramichi campus use > "that other OS". The local hospital network was on > Sun workstations, etc. I actually know a former Sun salesman who told me that one of the largest wins for Sun in Canada has been he hospitals. > > This story repeats itself for countless other > communities, including my present location at > Bowmanville, Ont (the extreme Eastern part of the GTA, > not rural by any means). > > Any suggestions as to how I (we) can conduct a rural > outreach program? Can we show them there is a way to > get useful software without travelling hundreds of > miles? People in Sachigo, Metapetagiaq, Madawaska, > Port Hastings, etc. could stand to gain from the use > of OSS and GNU/Linux *IF* they only knew about it. Jim, it is my opinion that this is an idea which could potentially take Canada by storm (which is why I posted it :)). What better market for Linux infiltration than rural Canada. Most small towns are online in one way or another and given the success of the Linux rollout in Largo, Florida why wouldn't they use a free/OSS system such as Linux to run their towns computer systems? Largo did it with 3 servers (to start) if I remember correctly. Not to mention the First Nations communities. I've seen job postings for First Nations Network Admins recently and what's the first requirement.....MCSE! To sell/implement such a beast, we'll need a few business cases to start. Largo, Florida is good and perhaps a sample Canadian town, which we may have to propose and implement for free in order to get. Then a road show of sorts and marketing through municipal government channels. Anyway, this is an idea i'll be championing for sure. Bill > > -jim > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Sign up for SBC Yahoo! Dial - First Month Free > http://sbc.yahoo.com > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
