EVENTS...

Rankin Inlet Students Open High-Tech Window

by LaReine Passey, TG Magazine youth journalist

Among the opening line-up for Global Knowledge '97 Conference was the Film and Video Showcase Premiere which was held on Sunday, June 22/1997, at the downtown Toronto Colony Hotel Video Resource Centre.

Of special interest was the film "Igalaaq" which means window in Inuktitut. This film highlighted the grassroots project initiated in the North West Territory Community of Rankin Inlet, by the Leo Ussak Elementary School which developed into the Rankin Inlet Community Access Centre with multi-media and internet facilities for this remote, Inuit community in Canada's North West Territories.

The audience received a special treat following the video screenings. Four, grade six students from the Leo Ussak Elementary School in Rankin Inlet, were on-hand with their teacher Bill Belsey to answer questions from the audience regarding the Rankin Inlet Community Access Centre Project.

For more information on the Rankin Inlet Project you can visit the Leo Ussak Elementary School web-site at www.arctic.ca/LUS.

Two other films were also featured at the opening event. "Nature's Pharmacy", a Global Links/World Bank production, dealt with the issues affecting traditional, natural medicine practices in Nigeria and India, including the implications of environmental degradation. "Building Africa's Information Highway", also by the World Bank, addressed connectivity and access to information and communication technologies issues in Africa.

These films were presented as an eye-opener for the four-day Conference dealing with the role of knowledge, technology and information in sustainable economic and social development. They provided the audience with a glimpse of the types of issues which will be highlighted and discussed during the course of the Conference.

Although these films dealt with an array of issues, they all had one thing in common. Each film demonstrated that there are different methods of disseminating and sharing information and knowledge, from the use of oral traditions to the use of sophisticated information and communication technologies.

 

© TG Magazine / le magazine TG