>-----Original Message----- >From: Matt Cahill [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] >Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 10:07 AM >To: bill traynor >Subject: Re: Aboriginal Canadian IT Effforts off base? > > > >Wednesday, November 20, 2002, 9:53:56 AM, you wrote: > ><snip> > >bt> In the Studio2 interview, Mr. Bernard proclaims that one of his >bt> longterm goals is to ween the Aboriginal people of Canada >off of the >bt> social welfare addiction that has been created through years of >bt> Federal Government subsidies and make them self sufficient, >bt> entrepreneurial and succesful members of the global >economy. Well, >bt> doesn't the reliance of corporate software giants such as >Microsoft, >bt> Adobe, Macromedia and others sort of defeat that purpose? > >bt> Perhaps I'm being a wee bit idealistic, but if Aboriginal >people are >bt>learning anything about I.T. with the expectation that they will be >bt>able to empower their own people, communities, etc., don't open >bt>source initiatives fit more appropriately with that goal? > > I don't think you're off the mark, but the reality is that - at > least for now - it's the Microsoft/Adobe/Macromedia skillz that > employers are currently capable of recognizing on a CV. It's a > question of a balanced education, leveraged against what will help > them get IT jobs, and this is where an "open source initiative" > would be interesting to add to the mix...whatever that would be.
Yes, the educational programs currently offered do seem unbalanced. Here's a quote from the Teknowave website: "We want graduates to achieve industry certifications such as Microsoft MCSE, Oracle OCP and others that require hard work and dedication on the part of the student and of course superior instruction, support and mentoring which will be supplied by TeKnoWave." In my mind this type of education is analagous to the biblical adage "give a man a fish, feed him once; teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime". Why not educate rural and aboriginal residents to build the infrastructure locally to become a part of the world internet community. <soapbox> Future independence relies upon the proliferation of ideas; ideas are spawned by conversations; conversations are inherent in communities. Aboriginal and rural people NEED to be a part of the global community that is currently taking shape online; they have a voice that should be heard. Can you imagine if someone in a rural community were blogging the daily events and activities of that community and that blog became an active part of online conversations via links from blogs like boingboing.net! Instead of the odd Canadian knowing that a whole community's teenagers were spending their days sniffing nail polish because it happened to warrant 5 minutes on the 6 o'clock news, thousands and thousands of people around the world would know. Knowledge begets activism; activism spurns change. </soapbox> Holy shit that rant sounded stupid; but there's a grain of truth in there somewhere, I'm sure of it! Bill > ></snip> > >bt> Bill > >bt> P.S. For those wondering, CLUE is not dead, it's merely in it's >bt> chrysalis stage of development. > > Good to hear! > >-- > >Matt Cahill >mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
