“Even if we are homeless we should make every effort to keep up with the rest of society. We already have a stigma against us being homeless, so we do not need to be looked down upon as being dumb, also.”
Those words, from a former street person who now teaches others about computers, illustrates one reason why Calgary was the co-winner of the 2002 World’s Top Intelligent Community award from the World Teleport Association.
This city has gone out of its way, in a real and sincere fashion, to bring the benefits of technology to people who would usually be on the wrong side of the “digital divide.”
Living proof showed up last week on a panel at the Smart Communities Conference, held at the Calgary Public Library. The three speakers on “Computer Usage in Homeless Shelters” had all seen rough times. But now, they could probably teach the rest of us a few computer tricks.
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| Photo courtesy Diana Schwenk |
| Mustard Seed clients are finding computer access, provided by Connect Calgary, is priceless. |
“When I see an ad for part-time work,” said Karen, “I use the Internet to figure out what part of the city the company is located in. Then I know whether or not it’s worth my while spending shoe leather and bus fare to get there.” That’s important information when the bus costs $2 and minimum wage is $5.90 an hour.
Another speaker, who used to live on the street, explained how simple tools such as Microsoft Word had changed his life. “I have a disorder that affects my memory,” said Cory, obviously enjoying telling his story to a very interested audience.
“If I don’t go home and use the computer to write up what I did today, I won’t remember it. To me, Microsoft Word isn’t just a word, it’s a paragraph!”
Terry, the third panelist, added that her self-confidence soared when she started using computers – because they have an Undo button. “If only life had one of those,” she joked.
These folks owe at least some of their techno-savvy to a remarkable project called Connect Calgary. Funded under the Smart Communities initiative of the federal government, and with lots additional contributions and sweat equity, this project has brought computers to the places they’re needed the most – shelters such as The Calgary Drop In Centre, The Mustard Seed Street Ministry and the Salvation Army.
Ken Myhre, the former Southern Alberta Institute of Technology VP who has been directing the Connect Calgary initiative, was quick to point out that it’s about more than dropping computers in shelters.
“What really makes this work,” he said, “is the range and quality of information people can access from the connectcalgary.ca website.” Online links cover everything from where to find a bed and a hot meal to medical and social services. The Informcalgary.ca database, now subsumed into InformAlberta, is the nucleus for a lot of the information. Type in “measles,” select Calgary, and 21 places to get your kid immunized pop up.
One of the big collateral benefits of this project was to get organizations that help the poor communicating with each other, and even working together. To the client, there is now a seamless interface to a wide variety of services. The web design is clean, straightforward and easy to use.
There was one fairly heated argument among the panelists, who were asked what they would change about the computer access facilities. One of the women suggested that men who use their allocated computer time to play games should get off and make room for those with serious work to do. Cory rose to the defence of his gender, saying that perhaps that was all they were ready to do at this point, and “it is their time.”
His closing remarks struck a chord with everyone in the room. He noted that “three years ago I was a homeless alcoholic, on the street, looking for pity from people. Now I’m enrolled in education (at Mount Royal College) and I have a decent place to live and a future.”
The three-year Industry Canada funding is coming to an end soon, but organizers are confident that the momentum of Connect Calgary will carry it forward. It makes too much sense to let it die, and agencies are now allocating funds for technology projects out of their own stretched budgets.
Of course, you don’t have to be homeless to use a public computer in downtown Calgary, as access points, both wired and wireless, are popping up all over.
The Chamber of Commerce’s new business centre provides a place to check your e-mail, as do a number of hotel business centres and, of course, the Calgary Public Library.
Then there’s Wireless City, one of the world’s longest contiguous hotspots, stretching from the library through the Municipal Building and along the Stephen Avenue Mall, marked by a distinctive logo. It’s free for the first hour of use each day and features state-of-the-art technology.
So if you’re out there in your suit and tie and a slightly scruffy person ambles over, don’t panic.
He or she might be looking not for a handout, but to offer you some advice on Google search strategies or macros in Microsoft Word.
Web watch:
(Tom Keenan is a professor at the University of Calgary and an expert on technology and its social implications. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca)
