Internet Educational BBS Pioneers of Alberta – Part 4

The SciTech BBS was a central focus for environmental students to communicate digitally at a distance with instructors and learners that proved to be stable and accessible for any computer of any age with a modem or network connection. However, in 1996 several tragic events directly impacted the operation and software supporting open distance and blended education for the SciTech BBS.

On August 6, 1996 Tim Stryker (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Stryker), died suddenly leaving the Galacticomm company without succession and a greatly diminished capacity to leverage BBS technology in a rapidly evolving Internet environ. Since the SciTech BBS existed on Worldgroup software, there was growing uncertainty in future software and hardware support and development.

On December 31, 1996, Ray Sloan died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. Ray was a formidable advocate, beta tester, and educational practitioner with the SciTech BBS. The loss of Ray as a key founding stakeholder foreshadowed the future of the SciTech BBS. Indeed, a directive meeting between the Director of Information Technology, myself, and administrators was the staging for a hostile takeover and decommissioning of the SciTech BBS. During the aforementioned meeting the Director of Information Technology stated that the SciTech BBS was hindering the ability to justify a million dollar budget when the SciTech BBS was operating with less than a few thousand dollars per year for digital communications. In particular, the email functionality of SciTech BBS was perceived to compete with a commercial agenda requiring a million dollar budget. The fallout from the aforementioned administrator’s meeting was the eventual compulsory order by the Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology to permanently shutdown the SciTech BBS. The remaining founding stakeholders reluctantly complied.

The termination of the SciTech BBS was announced online via email and website to assist students with their digital learning needs. In example, students with e-portfolios were advised on alternative off-campus hosting options.

Final homepage before permanent shutdown:

In addition to the extensive integrated functionality of the system, the SciTech BBS also hosted student e-portfolios, a free Java Applet library mirror site for Fu-Kwun Hwang at NTNU Virtual Physics Laboratory, and hosted the Goose cam website. The Goose cam website was a real-time webcam at the second floor window of the department of Interior Design focused on a Canada Goose that chose a planter for nesting and producing goslings, returning annually to the same location. The Goose cam equipment and website were confiscated by the Information Technology and redemployed as their own site, ignoring plagiarism and attribution. A noteworthy observation to the closure of the SciTech BBS was the few reactions to the event, as students did not protest their right to have the SciTech BBS on campus, rather the innovation and services to students were quickly forgotten by most, but remembered fondly by the few. There were a few email responses of support such as,

SciTech Hosted Disciplines

The Scitech BBS/ISP hosted courses from:

• Environmental Science
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Nursing
• Economics/Political Science
• Business
• Earth Sciences