Community Technology Supports the Economy

Enderby, B.C.:
Our CAP site supports four user groups in our community.

First, tourism, a key economic driver for Enderby. Tourists are regular users of the CAP site, which is used for everything from roadmaps to booking accommodations. By hosting a CAP site in a building that attracts tourists, we can not only assist tourists in their travels but also help to showcase what makes Enderby a tourist destination.

Second, local residents who are part of the digital divide. We are the only place in town with free Internet access which is open to the public with such regular hours. The main groups of locals who use the CAP site are: at-risk youth, women, First Nations, and those seeking employment or further skills development. Related to this is the fact that many rural residents live beyond the reach of broadband Internet service, and thus our CAP site provides one of the only sources for broadband access.

Third, local business and entrepreneurship. Our CAP computers are available for prospective entrepreneurs to work on their respective business plans. Our CAP computers are also used to provide training to local businesses. Right now, we are designing curriculum for a course on social media for small and medium-sized businesses. Technology adoption in our area is relatively slow and our CAP site serves as a catalyst for technology use. Moreover, our community technology resources are often used by small businesses for presentations; these cost savings allow more local businesses to get in front of more customers. Next year, a new source portal for the Okanagan Valley will be launched which will offer some important opportunities for businesses; this should be a stimulus for businesses to capitalize upon existing geographic clustering (the potential of this is not being maximized at a regional level) and it is vital that a source of public access and community technology be provided to help with sourcing opportunities delivered via digital technology.

Fourth, local non-profit/charitable social service and environmental stewardship groups who use our community technology resources for presentations. Most recently, our community technology has been used by two different stewardship groups focused on the Shuswap River. These groups were able to deliver PowerPoint presentations that detailed the nature of the problem with a mixture of sound, video, and text that they would otherwise not have at their disposal. The costs of ownership for technology is very high, especially for non-profit/charitable organizations in small communities without a large funding base for the purchase of capital assets. By creating a central cache of community technology, the benefits of technology can be distributed across a much broader array of service organizations.