	Internet Town Hall Meeting October 26, 2009	For those who did not make it out to the Internet Town Hall Meeting on October 26th, below is the first link to Andrew Wright’s presentation on the digital divide which aired on CBC’s Maritime Noon broadcast today: The CBC podcast is listed here: http://www.cbc.ca/maritimenoon/audio-archive.html and the direct link to the podcast is here: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/maritimenoon_20091103_22459.mp3 Andrew’s audio recording of his presentation from Oct. 26th starts at the 8:15 mark on the mp3. CBC Maritime Noon will be broadcasting further excerpts from the meeting tomorrow on Privacy and will also be hosting a call-in session based on “Who is Shaping Your Digital Future” during the Friday session. Also, this weekend coming, the Chronicle Herald is doing a weekend piece on Chebucto Community Net to be written by Pat Lee. Great work and congratulations Andrew! Cheers, Terry

	Valley Community Fibre Network Launched! April 3rd, 2006	Students, businesses, municipalities and others in the Annapolis Valley region will soon reap the benefits of increased online networking opportunities and high-speed global connections. Premier Rodney MacDonald and the board of the Valley Community Fibre Network launched the $3.2-million network today, April 3, at the Kingstec campus of the Nova Scotia Community College. Provincial and federal agencies are partnering with two educational institutions and six municipalities along a 171-kilometre stretch from Halifax to Middleton to complete this community-owned and operated project. It will connect with FundyWeb, an existing community-owned network that extends from Middleton to Meteghan. The new network is expected to be operational by late fall. "This is a key piece of infrastructure that will help attract new businesses, retain and grow current businesses, and enhance the world-class research and educational facilities in the Valley region," said Premier MacDonald. In keeping with the provincial innovation policy to build critical linkages and infrastructure province wide, the province has contributed $250,000 toward the Valley Community Fibre Network. "The Valley Community Fibre Network will provide advanced connectivity that will enable the Annapolis Valley Region to develop closer community ties as well as enhance global outreach," said Madonna Spinazola, chair of the network board. "It is an opportunity for municipalities to connect and attract businesses; enable exciting health and education projects; and to partner with carriers to offer broadband connectivity in under-serviced areas of our communities." Specifically, the project will help the Valley region attract and develop hi-tech and information sectors and will foster the growth and diversification of traditional industries. To demonstrate a practical application of such a network, guitar students from St. Mary's Bay Academy in Weymouth, Digby Co., performed during today's announcement. In the spring of 2005 the students participated in remote guitar lessons from Acadia University using interactive videoconferencing. Using the FundyWeb community-owned broadband network, they were connected with their teacher within minutes rather than spending four hours in a round-trip commute. The Valley Community Fibre Network will allow such innovative initiatives to reach broader audiences with increased capacity in the region. All users will be connected to CAnet4, Canada's National Research and Education broadband network. "The advantage of CAnet4 is that it connects people, institutions and businesses within your region across Canada and around the world to bring the best in research, industry, education and health care to you, and from you to them," said Andrew Bjerring, president and CEO of CANARIE. The success of this initiative is the result of a collaborative effort. Along with support from the province, funding has also been provided by CANARIE, Canada's advanced Internet organization, through Atlantic Canada Organization of Research Networks - Nova Scotia ($1,183,000); the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency ($863,040); the Municipality of the County of Kings ($227,349); Acadia University ($200,000); the Nova Scotia Community College ($200,000); the Municipality of the District of West Hants ($59,899); the Town of Wolfville ($21,257); the Town of Windsor ($16,826); the Town of Berwick ($10,907); and the Town of Hantsport ($6,440). ----------------------------------------------------------------- FOR BROADCAST USE: A new three-point-two-million-dollar community-owned broadband network will benefit businesses and individuals from Halifax to Middleton. Premier Rodney MacDonald and the board of the Valley Community Fibre Network launched the network today (April 3rd) at the Kingstec community college campus. The new network will help the Annapolis Valley region attract and develop hi-tech businesses, as well as enhance world-class research and education facilities. Provincial and federal agencies are partnering with Acadia University, the Nova Scotia Community College, and six municipalities to have the network operational by this fall. Media Contacts: Mary Jane Fumerton Office of Economic Development 902-424-1728 E-mail: fumertmj@gov.ns.ca Erin Beaudin Valley Community Fibre Network 902-678-2298 E-mail: 902-678-2298 Mats Lindeberg CANARIE 613-943-5377 Email: mats.lindeberg@canarie.ca

	MusicPath January, 2006	A research partnership project originally funded through CANARIE’s e-content program continues to attract attention. Developed at Acadia, the MusicPath software supports the interconnection of digital pianos over networks. Since the fall of 2003, a student in rural Wolfville has been taking piano lessons from Toronto using the ACORN-NS CA*net4 network interconnection and the MusicPath software coupled with videoconferencing. The connection differs from some music connections in that a local pianist actually causes the remote pianos keys and pedals to play, thus faithfully reproducing the full acoustic production. Now incorporated and exploring marketing partnerships, MusicPath Inc. is a direct result of advanced connectivity networks. For more information, see: http://musicpath.acadiau.ca/

	MusicPath January, 2006	In the spring of 2005 Acadia University and the Western Valley Development Authority with seed funding from the provincial Office of Economic Development started a pilot project (called “KWIK") to link high school learners with the University using videoconferencing over high speed networks. Bridgetown Regional High School and Saint Mary’s Bay Academy principals were excited about a new method of bringing expertise to their schools. With the newly commissioned Fundyweb Broadband community fibre network connected to the ACORN-NS gigaPOP at Dalhousie University, high school students received guitar and drum lessons, watched Biology and Chemistry labs, and had general discussions with Acadia staff using videoconferencing during a six week pilot project in May & June 2005. With the enthusiastic approval of the principals, teachers and students the interaction continues. In January 2006 the BRHS high school students took a virtual tour of the Acadia Art Gallery using videoconferencing over the ACORN-NS network. For a video of the KWIK pilot project, see: http://ace.acadiau.ca/mediadownloads/FundyWeb_KWIK.mov