CAP Success Stories - February   Prepared by Jo Mrozewski, Industry Canada Vancouver

Tidal Ecosystems and Quilting Patterns - Electronic Research as a Community Resource

Bamfield Community School - Bamfield

A lot of research goes on in Bamfield and the CAP site, in the local community school, has become an essential tool to support it. School co-ordinator Linda Myres says the community of about 300 people is home to writers, artists and scientists drawn to Bamfield by its relatively remote, scenic location on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It's also home to the Bamfield Marine Station, and the School for Field Studies, both of which are field research facilities for various universities. They had Internet service before the CAP site was established, but they've outgrown their computer labs. As a result students and scientists are regulars at the CAP site. Other CAP regulars include local freelance writers, forestry workers, and the school itself. Myres says the community faces many social and health issues, and before the CAP site, local resources needed to deal with them were almost non-existent. As in many resource-dependent communities, job loss and economic diversification are big issues in Bamfield. That means the CAP site is a tool for job and training searches. It's also a big part of tourism infrastructure and will likely play a role in the local economic development plan to be released soon. Still, it's not all hard work at the site. Myres says she sees people now who swore they'd never touch a computer. One woman who resisted initially was drawn in when she saw how many quilting patterns were available on the Internet. A local teen, hired through CAP Youth, has helped promote Internet use, distributed Y2K information, trained people, and created a unique and engaging community Web site.
http://bamfield.sd70.bc.ca/

Centennial Celebrations with Electronic Connections

Revelstoke - Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce

The railroad and resource industries put Revelstoke on the map a hundred years ago. These days tourism and the Internet are part of the mix. In 1999 attention in Revelstoke turns to the city's centennial celebrations. The Chamber of Commerce has created a centennial website to promote them. The site includes a chat room where former residents can plan for the summer Homecoming, an on-line historical tour to entice visitors, and The On-Line Souvenir Shop where guidebooks, CDs and t-shirts are among the e-commerce offerings. The city website does a good job promoting the area's mountain landscape as a winter and summer tourist destination. The centennial and city websites are only part of the Chamber's Internet initiatives in Revelstoke. Through the CAP program, it helped set up three CAP sites in 1996. Chamber manager Adelheid Bender estimates that users at the Skills Centre, Career Centre and the Chamber itself are divided almost equally among tourism, transportation and forestry sectors. Downturns in forestry and mining over the past few years have brought people in to look for work, training opportunities, and information on developing a business idea. Tourists have come to consider Internet access an essential service, and at times have to line up to wait their turn at the CAP sites. CAP use has grown steadily since the sites opened, even though they've been promoted largely through word-of-mouth. Given the economic straits facing many of the area's businesses, the CAP sites aren't expecting many contributions from local employers. Instead CAP sponsors are conserving the resources they have to ensure they can extend the service that more and more people come to rely on.
http://www.revelstokecc.bc.ca/

Electronic On-ramps for People with Disabilities

Independent Living Resources Centre - Vernon

The Vernon CAP site may be the only one in Canada designed primarily for people with disabilities. When the local Community Futures office decided to apply for CAP funding, officials felt the area was well-served with public Internet access. However, they felt people with disabilities couldn't take advantage of it. The resulting CAP site is in the local Independent Living Resources Centre. It has many devices and aids to make browsing the Internet possible for people with various disabilities: special voice command software allows people to navigate the Internet and use other software programs using only verbal commands; speech synthesizer equipment conveys the contents of Web pages or documents using verbal descriptions; a very large tracker ball helps people with motor disabilities; keyboards and monitors are all adjustable; text can be enhanced; staff at the site are always available to help people who need further support. The executive director of the Centre, Brenda Bryan, says if she had the time to collect testimonials, people would be amazed at the impact the site has had on the several hundred regular users. It allows people with disabilities and barriers to investigate personal interests, use e-mail and hone job skills. Some become so skilled that they volunteer to help others at the site, and from there some go on to paid employment. Bryan says despite the heavy use at the centre, the CAP site only scratches the surface of what can be done to improve public Internet access. The site is open to people without disabilities as well; it's particularly well used by regulars and seniors. The CAP site has become a model for at least one other centre. The Kamloops Rotary Club has helped equip a similar facility in the nearby Independent Living Resource Centre Outreach office in Kamloops.
http://www.nocdc.bc.ca/cap/vcap.htm