John Manley, federal Minister of Industry, and PEI Technology and Environment Minister Mitch Murphy today announced funding for 15 young Canadians to create multimedia collections on historical and cultural topics at Community Access Program (CAP) sites in four Island communities. The on-line creativity is being facilitated by Industry Canada's SchoolNet Digital Collections (SDC) program.
"Demand for skilled workers in information and communications technologies is rising," said Minister Manley. "As these 15 youths work to put PEI historical and cultural content on-line, they will gain the multimedia experience to compete for information technology opportunities today and tomorrow."
"It is my pleasure to congratulate the communities of Vernon River, Abram Village, Morell and Kensington," said Minister Murphy. "The SchoolNet Digital Collections projects will offer valuable employment opportunities to students in the information technology industry. Through the SchoolNet projects, communities can show the rest of Canada that cutting-edge projects are being created in rural PEI."
The on-line Canadian content creators will work for up to 16 weeks each, at a total cost approaching $78,000. The positions fulfil a web-site creation requirement of the Industry Canada-PEI Cooperative Action Framework, a federal-provincial agreement. Funding is provided by SDC, a component of the federal Youth Employment Strategy that sees youth acquire valuable multimedia skills by creating Canadian content for the information highway. The four public Internet access sites were established with the help of Industry Canada's Community Access Program (CAP).
The four selected projects depict pieces of PEI culture and history. The Abram Village project is being built around digitizing all statistical data and stories related to the Acadian Games. This site will assist the community in sharing the rich culture and tradition of the games with the rest of the world. The Morell project will create a unique website documenting shipwrecks that have occurred near PEI throughout the past century.
The Vernon River project will digitize sensitive 1841 census data in partnership with Provincial Archives. This project will help maintain print materials which have deteriorated to such an extent that they can no longer be publicly displayed. Finally, the Kensington project will examine the culturally distinct Island way of life in PEI. These four unique projects will comprise a key component in preserving and strengthening PEI cultures and traditions by using advanced technology.
For more information, contact: Guy Parent, Manager, Program Delivery, SchoolNet Digital Collections, (613) 952-9639; or Grant Sweet, Director of Community Initiatives, Department of Technology and Environment, Government of Prince Edward Island, (902) 368-6435.