Going digital is “kind of a life-or-death situation for small businesses”
A group of students led out of the University of Alberta School of Business is helping small businesses get ahead of the pandemic-induced warp-speed retail overhaul that is pushing customers online in droves. The students are at the heart of the new Digital Economy Program (DEP), a free initiative that sees a team of U of…
The government needs to rethink its heavy-handed approach to internet regulation
Rarely, in the history of Confederation, have so many, from so many points on the political spectrum, been so unified in opposition to one specific policy. Before the last election, the Trudeau government’s proposed internet regulations provoked opposition from journalists, academics, civil liberties groups, women’s advocacy organizations, librarians, privacy experts, research think tanks, concerned citizens…
A threat to Canadians' Charter rights
The Trudeau government recently held a public consultation – during an election campaign, no less – regarding its proposal to address what it describes as “Internet harms.” The Liberal Party’s election platform promised to introduce legislation to deal with said harms within its first 100 days in office. The government’s proposal lays out – very…
Coalition they helped create will advocate, share ideas and shape policy aimed at improving access to broadband
Two University of Alberta professors are working to improve internet services for Albertans living in rural and remote communities as members of a new coalition. The Alberta Rural Connectivity Coalition (ARCC), which U of A digital technology experts Rob McMahon and Michael McNally helped found last fall, is working with steering committee members to bring together Alberta communities to explore ways…
And lead to a reshaping of communities
Stay-at-home orders related to COVID-19 have changed working habits. The mandatory work-at-home advice for office jobs has created a debate about work after the health crisis. Will we continue to work at home or will we return to the office? Some have stated that people who work from home must have lower pay. The research team…
Increasing the diversity of voices and having a few people making small and steady changes can lead to a big movement
Last fall, students in a Native Studies course worked to improve representations of Indigenous peoples on one of the most popular websites in the world. The course, Colonialism and the Criminal Justice System, saw students create Wikipedia articles on issues that dealt with Indigenous peoples and Canada’s criminal legal system, filling some of the site’s…
One day, you’re an unshakable fan of a company; the next day, you’re warning complete strangers to stay away
The relationship between customer and company is a delicate thing. One day, you’re an unshakable fan of a company; the next day, you’re warning complete strangers to stay away. Here are three examples of customer service and how it can go so right – or so wrong. Many years ago, my Telus internet went out.…
Manitoba’s Opposition New Democratic Party proposes the creation of a new Crown corporation to provide high-speed internet service to rural and remote communities, particularly First Nations communities, in that province. This is a bad idea for several reasons. A host of private-sector and government organizations are launching enormous flotillas of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to…
Will help researchers build next-gen, ultra-secure networks for quantum computers
On Oct. 29, 1969, researchers at UCLA, with help from a computer the size of a cement truck, sent what would become the first message over the first incarnation of the “internet” to Stanford. The first two letters of the one-word message, LOGIN, made the cross-California trip before the fledgling system crashed. “Fifty years ago…
Indigenous communities are setting up their own satellite, fibre optics and even cellular phone networks
When Bruce Buffalo returned to Maskwacis after years away in the big city, he was appalled to discover parts of his community still had no internet service. Just an hour’s drive from Edmonton, some neighbourhoods in the Indigenous community remained cut off from the rest of the world as recently as 2016, apart from a few…