The future is here.
At last week’s Rural Forum in Brandon, visitors had a chance to visit the community of the future. The model community had one prominent feature – computers.
Exhibits showed how computers are plugged into everything from health care and commerce through to education and home entertainment. The exhibits showed that computers have already infiltrated many aspects of our daily lives.
The home of the future, included in the exhibit, featured computers in the family room, a child’s bedroom and a home office. Rather than offering a glimpse of life years into the new millennium, the home reflected what is already the norm in many Canadian homes.
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A short stroll from the model home was an exhibit on labor market services. The display was centred on computers, electronic brains that can help people hunt for jobs, investigate careers and learn how to best apply their skills.
“The key is accessibility, accessibility to information,” said Philip Flamand, a service needs officer with Manitoba Education and Training.
“It’s made it easier for the job seeker to find job leads.”
Next door, the community learning centre showed how computers, videos and digital technology have opened a new frontier in education. The technology lets students learn from a teacher at another school or in another country.
That technology may be a saving grace for rural schools hit hard by declining enrolments. Through what is called instructional interactive television, students can attend their own school while getting instruction from a teacher elsewhere. Through a video link, the teacher sees the students, the students see the teacher and they can all interact.
The technology is already in use.
Pointing to a map of Manitoba, Ken Rodeck outlined the many rural schools now linked through digital microwave technology. And more of those links are planned, said Rodeck, who works with the Manitoba Education Research and Learning Information Network.
“The kids adopt right away,” he said, referring to the new age of education. “It’s not an issue for them.”
Mike Wasilka, a Grade 9 Brandon, Man., student, offered proof of that. He sauntered into the community learning centre and was soon on-line, surfing the internet with an enthusiasm once reserved for video arcades.
Meanwhile, for those wanting to relax in the community of the future, they had only to seek out the local internet cafe. Instead of ordering their favorite blend of Colombian coffee, they slid into a chair, booted up the computer and began their travels down the information highway.
Blair Anderson, a visitor from Ontario, could only wonder where that highway may lead. The 32-year-old construction worker considers himself road kill on the information highway, but noted: “I definitely plan to change that, especially after seeing this.”
