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December 17, 1996
(Education)


NewTel Cabot 500 Internet Heritage Project launched

The NewTel companies today announced the launch of an innovative project to involve the high school students of Newfoundland and Labrador in the history and heritage of their communities.

Even more important and exciting is that the students of Newfoundland and Labrador will be blazing a trail for students across Canada, A Heritage Trail, along our nation's Information Highway.

In brief, a project undertaken by NewTel Communications as part of NewTel's extensive support for the Cabot 500 celebrations has grown into a multifaceted program involving NewTel, the Heritage Canada Foundation, The CRB Foundation Heritage Project, the Smallwood Centre for Newfoundland Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, the federal Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Department of Education.

Under the project, NewTel has invited all high schools throughout Newfoundland and Labrador to place the history of their communities on the WorldWide Web. NewTel is supporting this effort by providing, free of charge, space on their Newcomm Web server.

Students are encouraged to research the history and heritage of their local communities, including contact with the many local historical societies in the province. When their research is complete, the students are encouraged to design a "Heritage Home Page" for their local community, which can address its history, culture, heritage points of interest, local folklore, perhaps even interviews with interesting figures in their community.

These Heritage Home Pages will then be submitted in a competition under which the schools can win one of five high speed multimedia computers from Paragon Information Systems, a NewTel company.

NewTel has also distributed brochures to all schools, and placed information on the project on the Cabot 500 Home Page, which has been designed and is maintained by Newcomm, a division of Paragon.

The homepage address is //www.newcomm.net/ntcabot/

In addition, because NewTel will place these "heritage home pages" on the WorldWide Web, through their Newcomm server, students will contribute additional sources of tourism and heritage information of interest to potential visitors.

At the same time that high school students are constructing these home pages on their own communities, a team of experts from Memorial University will be developing a major site on the World Wide Web describing the history, culture, and natural environment of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The plan for this site, to be known as the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web site, was developed initially under the joint initiative of the Smallwood Centre for Newfoundland Studies (MUN) and The CRB Foundation Heritage Project, producers of the renowned "Heritage Minutes" dramatizations about Canadian history.

In the first phase of site development, scholars from the university will contribute overviews of such broad topics as Exploration and Settlement and Arts and Culture. As the site is developed, more and more specific information will be added under these broad headings. And this is the point where the efforts of high school students working under the sponsorship of NewTel will converge with the work going on at the university.

Experts from the university will assist in adjudicating the home pages developed by students in the program launched by NewTel. The winning students from each of five regions - Labrador, West, Central, East, and Avalon - will not only be awarded the multimedia computers; they will also be invited to work with the university team to develop their entries for inclusion on the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Web site.

Eventually, a site will be accessible from all over the world which will give a clear, expert introduction into the history and culture of our province and also offer accounts of particular communities written by local students. Thousands of people will learn more about our unique way of life and about our beautiful environment. Newfoundland and Labrador students will learn about their own heritage and also develop the skills necessary for life in the information age.

But the results of this project will be extended beyond these shores, as our students will be blazing a trail for others to follow.

Under auspices of The CRB Foundation's Canada 2000 Heritage Project, the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage Home Pages will provide a community wide pilot project designed to help train young people in the use of new technology, while guiding them with examples from our local and national heritage.

The purpose of The CRB Foundation's Canada 2000 Heritage Project is to investigate the history and culture of 2,000 Canadian communities by using the "boundary" areas of each high school in Canada, thus covering approximately 2,000 neighbourhoods in Canada hence the name of the project.

Education Minister Roger Grimes welcomed the initiative. "I have always felt that we should be looking at practical ways to help students become familiar with these technologies. This program is focused on encouraging teams of students to become knowledgeable about the history and heritage sites of their local communities, and to present that information in an interesting way using these new technologies. "

Frank Fagan, Vice-President NewTel Communications, said: "This is a terrific way for our students and schools to directly participate in building the heritage of this province. In addition, because NewTel will place these student developed "heritage home pages" on the WorldWide Web, they will create additional sources of tourism and heritage information of interest to potential visitors."

Dr. Terry Murphy, Dean of Arts at Memorial University, said: "This project is important for `the creation of content'. We should be equally concerned with the content, the material, being placed on this Information Highway, as we are with the actual deployment of technology itself."

Shane O'Dea, Chair of the Board of Governors of the Heritage Canada Foundation said: "History and heritage are right in our local communities, and this project is a good way to help our youth to become engaged in their own heritage. They will be learning about these new technologies, and they will contribute to building the heritage of this province."

Contact: Harry Connors, Manager Communications, NewTel (709) 739- 2837, or Home Page: //www.newcomm.net/ntcabot/

1996 12 17   11:00 a.m.

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