Archives for February 24, 2018

India and Canada are linking up to promote the technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Canadian government-backed researchers are joining forces with India’s vast tech industry to explore the use of blockchain in government and academic institutions, as well as businesses.

India’s tech industry association Nasscom and Canada’s Blockchain Research Institute (BRI) said they would also create a center of excellence in India to provide “high-end technology capabilities.”

The announcement coincided with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India this week.

Blockchain, an internet-based ledger that keeps a public record of online transactions, is being touted as the future of the digital economy for its wide range of potential applications. India plans to use it to digitize everything from land records to healthcare, the head of a government-run think-tank said on Twitter earlier this month.

But blockchain is still best known for providing the platform for virtual currencies such as bitcoin and ethereum.

The Indian government has repeatedly warned that virtual currencies have no official backing, even likening them to “Ponzi schemes” earlier this year. Experts believe India could be preparing tough regulations, following recent moves in this direction by China and South Korea.

But India is also gung-ho about the underlying technology. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said recently that the country would “explore use of blockchain technology proactively,” even as he was denouncing cryptocurrencies in his annual budget speech.

Canada’s BRI, whose stated goal is to “build blockchain-based economies around the world,” also touted India as the next big frontier for the technology.

“We see our coalition with Nasscom as a delightful opportunity to nurture the blockchain community in India,” Don Tapscott, the institute’s founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.

“We strongly believe that India has the potential to lead the blockchain revolution,” he added.

Canada has become an attractive destination for bitcoin “miners,” who use computer algorithms to unearth the virtual currency by solving math problems, as big markets like China crack down on the activity.

Switch to open source software will reduce fees, staff time and pay for itself, says project lead

Yukon’s recent visual rebranding that cost taxpayers $493,000 has attracted its share of ridicule, but a government director says the new website will eventually pay for itself.

Mark Burns, director of e-services for citizens with Yukon’s Highways and Public Works Department, says there’s one thing being overlooked: the new website, included in the cost of the rebranding, is expected to save the government about $75,000 a year.

Gov’t opts for free software

There are two reasons for the savings, according to Burns.

First, because the new system is reportedly easier to use, there will be less money spent on staff and outside contractors to maintain the aging website, said Burns.

The old website was created in 1997 and Burns said it was getting tougher to find people who understood the old HTML code.

“A lot of the money was being spent on reactive maintenance. When things stopped functioning properly or needed a tune-up, we’d have to react right away and bring in contractors,” he said.

Second, the territorial government ditched its old web service for a new one.

The new website is built on a free system called Drupal — an open source, content management software that anyone can use to create, download and share codes to make websites and digital applications. It has no licensing fees. (It’s comparable to something like Wikipedia, where a crowd of people work collaboratively without payment.)

The Yukon government used to pay for a proprietary web service called OpenText, and paid membership and licensing fees.

It’s unclear how much the government paid in exact fees, but costs are included in the government’s annual expense of $150,000 for website maintenance.

Burns said he expects these annual costs will be cut by half.

Similar moves in Ontario, B.C and federal sites

Yukon is not alone in making the switch.

In 2012, the Ontario government switched over to Drupal to save costs. The Nunavut government also uses the free software as the foundation for several sites, as do various levels of government in B.C., Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Many federal sites are starting to switch over as well.

Burns said the new arrangement will prevent the government from being locked into a maintenance contract.

“It’s not built with the same kind of commercial perspective that proprietary software is built on. The mission here isn’t to sell us more software,” he said.

The territorial government has enlisted a firm called Acquia to help with security and maintenance of the site.

Mathieu Weber is vice-president of Acquia, which bills itself as Canada’s largest support company for Drupal projects.

He insists the software is secure.

“Most of the U.S. government is running on Drupal. Australia’s government has decided to standardize on Drupal. A lot of our top Canadian universities are running it,” Weber said.

“I could even venture to say Drupal is becoming a standard in Canada for government projects.”

Similar switch seen in Education Department
The switch to Drupal isn’t the first time the Yukon government has embraced an open source software.

In recent years rural Yukon schools have begun using Moodle — a series of classroom materials shared freely between educators around the world.

If someone needs help, they’ll know what resources are available

Over the years Raymond Guimond has had several encounters where people have come to him for help when they were homeless, or close to it, and he hasn’t always known what he could do.

“Sometimes I had to offer my couch to some people,” Guimond said.

“You just don’t know what to do.”

Guimond is one of more than 20 members of the Native Council of P.E.I. learning about what resources are available in the province to prevent and reduce homelessness, in the hopes of helping others.

NCPEI has compiled a manual, called Hope for Homes, which outlines the various housing programs and community resources available in P.E.I.

The 26-page document lists emergency shelters and various housing programs, as well as information about other resources, such as employment services, addictions and mental health services, food banks and soup kitchens.

Olivia Maynard, NCPEI’s homelessness reduction coordinator, said people experiencing homelessness, or at risk of becoming homeless, often face a number of challenges beyond looking for a roof over their heads. She hopes having the information compiled in one place will make it easier for people to access the information they need.

“Having it all on paper in a manual, is something that can be distributed to people,” said Maynard.

“Often the audience you’re trying to reach, whenever it comes to homelessness, might not have access to a telephone or Internet to look up these resources on their own.”

Maynard also hopes volunteers throughout the province will help spread information about what services are available.

“It’s really important that people feel comfortable asking for help. So sometimes that may be easier to do whenever you’re reaching out to a family member, or friend or a neighbour,” said Maynard.

‘At your fingertips’

Twenty-one volunteers have signed up so far, and NCPEI has held training sessions in Kings, Queens, and Prince counties.

Bryan Hutchings said he doesn’t know much about the realities of homelessness in P.E.I., or the services available, and wanted to learn more.

Hutchings recently spoke with a young woman he saw panhandling in Charlottetown and wanted to help her, other than the women’s shelter in Lennox Island he didn’t know of any other services to direct her to.

“Just knowing the different shelters that are available, and whether they’re for men, women, and under what conditions you can refer somebody to, and having the contact names of people in these various agencies pretty much at your fingertips [will be helpful],” Hutchings said.

He plans to keep the Hope for Homes manual in his car, in case it ever comes in handy.

Focus on Indigenous, rural

While Maynard hopes anyone who needs information will benefit from the Hope for Homes manual, it was specifically developed with Indigenous people and rural communities in mind.

In 2016, a point in time count conducted by the P.E.I. Community Advisory Board on Homelessness showed that Indigenous people made up 14 per cent of Islanders experiencing homelessness. By comparison, Indigenous people make up less than two per cent of the province’s total population, according to Statistics Canada.

While the manual does include information on services in urban centres, Maynard said she particularly hopes it can help people living in rural communities, where she said it can be especially difficult to find and access services.

It’s almost time for Kaetlyn Osmond’s final performance at the 2018 Winter Olympics and she’s in podium position.

With the time change from Pyeongchang, South Korea, Osmond will strike her opening pose in Thursday night’s Olympic long program skate at 1:10 a.m. Newfoundland time, according to a post on her Facebook page.

She’s skating 23rd out of 24 skaters after finishing third in the short program on Tuesday night with a season’s-best score of 78.87 points.

Russian skater Evgenia Medvedeva is in second and her teammate, 15-year-old Alina Zagitova, is in first.

Zagitova earned 82.92 points with her skate on Tuesday, setting a new world record. Medvedeva temporarily held the same record with her own short program, which earned a score of 81.61.

Up late for the big skate

Fans in Marystown are once again ready to stay up late to watch their hometown hero skate on the Olympic ice.

A viewing party is happening at 11 p.m. at the Kaetlyn Osmond Arena, and 12-year-old figure skater Reagan Strang hopes her mother will let her stay up to watch the event.

“I just had a big science unit test today actually and I studied really hard for that so I hope she’ll pay me back and I’ll be able to watch it,” said Strang.

“It’s really cool because someone from this community, it’s kind of a small town, just to see someone skating at such a big event is really cool.”

Osmond will return to Marystown to skate at the Ice Crystals annual skating event on April 14.

If she wins, it will be her third career Olympic medal.