{"id":124,"date":"2020-11-21T13:01:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T18:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/on-linelearning\/chapter\/internet-educational-bbs-pioneers-of-alberta-part-1\/"},"modified":"2021-04-10T12:03:10","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T16:03:10","slug":"internet-educational-bbs-pioneers-of-alberta-part-1","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/chapter\/internet-educational-bbs-pioneers-of-alberta-part-1\/","title":{"raw":"Internet Educational BBS Pioneers of Alberta - Part 1","rendered":"Internet Educational BBS Pioneers of Alberta – Part 1"},"content":{"raw":"

Introduction<\/h2>\r\nThis micro memoir of the SciTech BBS is organized into five parts. The front matter is followed by a four part chronological narrative of Internet Educational BBS Pioneers of Alberta with some content originally published from the Athabasca University Landing<\/a> personal blog of Steve Swettenham between June 28, 2019<\/a> and February 13, 2020<\/a>.\u00a0 Additional evidence has been reproduced from digital archives found by Dennis Leask.\u00a0 The third part is backstory which has been reconstituted from a 1998 Webolution<\/em> CD-ROM<\/a> to an open e-book format. The forth part is the news reports about the SciTech BBS in education, followed by the back matter.\r\n\r\nAlthough this open e-book may appear to be digital archaeological exercise, my compilation of recollections and evidence on the existence of the SciTech BBS was motivated by a comment from a distance education professor that Canada did not have online distance education in the early 1990's. Such a fallacy that may have permeated Canadian history of distance education, is what this open e-book will remedy with chronological evidence for online learning beginning in 1993 at Mount Royal College.\r\n

The SciTech BBS<\/h2>\r\nOnce upon a time in Canada, leadership and innovation existed within a digital frontier for online distance education in Alberta called the SciTech BBS - circa 1993 (also known as the SciTech ISP - circa 1994 - 1999). \"BBS\" is the acronym for Bulletin Board System (further information can be found at http:\/\/www.bbscorner.com\/usersinfo\/bbsintro.htm<\/a> and https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bulletin_board_system<\/a>).\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[video width=\"304\" height=\"236\" m4v=\"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/on-linelearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/11\/1994-SciTechBBS.m4v\" poster=\"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/on-linelearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/11\/1994-SciTechBBS_poster.png\"][\/video]\r\n

Credit: Media Production Services, Mount Royal College, Spring 1994\r\nOriginally created for INTERFACE '94 (A Conference on Educational Technology: Tools and Solutions)\r\n(web format transcoded from source - 1994-SciTechBBS.avi<\/a> - video to digital conversion April 1998)<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n

Script for 1994 SciTech BBS Video<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

Science and Technology Students at Mount Royal College have a 24 hour a day 7 days a week electronic resource. The SciTech Bulletin Board System to assist them with their studies. Mount Royal College\u2019s SciTech BBS provides Science and Technology students with student to student and student to instructor electronic mail, course documents, and teleconferencing services. Students can access telnet and FTP Internet services to search International scientific information banks. Internet users can also connect to the SciTech BBS node on world wide web. Science students registered in a particular course can access course outlines, lecture notes, tutorial assignments, and be tested online through the bulletin board system. Mount Royal College\u2019s Faculty of Science and Technology is committed to using modern telecommunications technology to enhance the learning experience of our students.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nSteve Swettenham, Dennis Leask, Ray Sloan, and Bruce Horrey were the online distance and blended education pioneers of an academic PC based Internet BBS for learners and global community at a post-secondary institution in Alberta. This little known history brought together four unique individuals from various backgrounds to create an autonomous microcomputer communications system that would be freely available anytime, anywhere, to students, educators, and interested global community via a telephone modem, local area network, and Internet connection. The academic BBS was a mixture of social networking attributes and online courses.\r\n\r\nDennis and Steve are the remaining living founders to the story of an extraordinary achievement starting from no budget or institutional support, to a world class online educational system demonstrated at the 1994 National Educational Computing Conference in Boston (NECC '94 CD-ROM<\/a>). The NECC '94 CD-ROM was created in Mac Hypercard format and is non-readable in modern operating systems. However, the following image of the CD-ROM contents has been recovered:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_172\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"1024\"]\"1994 1994 NECC '94 Conference CD-ROM contents Screen Capture of Hypercard on Mac OS9 emulation. A lesson in why sustainable archival formats are important, as the Hypercard format is not accessible on modern operating systems without an emulator and an old Mac operating system ROM.[\/caption]","rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

This micro memoir of the SciTech BBS is organized into five parts. The front matter is followed by a four part chronological narrative of Internet Educational BBS Pioneers of Alberta with some content originally published from the Athabasca University Landing<\/a> personal blog of Steve Swettenham between June 28, 2019<\/a> and February 13, 2020<\/a>.\u00a0 Additional evidence has been reproduced from digital archives found by Dennis Leask.\u00a0 The third part is backstory which has been reconstituted from a 1998 Webolution<\/em> CD-ROM<\/a> to an open e-book format. The forth part is the news reports about the SciTech BBS in education, followed by the back matter.<\/p>\n

Although this open e-book may appear to be digital archaeological exercise, my compilation of recollections and evidence on the existence of the SciTech BBS was motivated by a comment from a distance education professor that Canada did not have online distance education in the early 1990’s. Such a fallacy that may have permeated Canadian history of distance education, is what this open e-book will remedy with chronological evidence for online learning beginning in 1993 at Mount Royal College.<\/p>\n

The SciTech BBS<\/h2>\n

Once upon a time in Canada, leadership and innovation existed within a digital frontier for online distance education in Alberta called the SciTech BBS – circa 1993 (also known as the SciTech ISP – circa 1994 – 1999). “BBS” is the acronym for Bulletin Board System (further information can be found at http:\/\/www.bbscorner.com\/usersinfo\/bbsintro.htm<\/a> and https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Bulletin_board_system<\/a>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/on-linelearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2020\/11\/1994-SciTechBBS.m4v<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Credit: Media Production Services, Mount Royal College, Spring 1994
\nOriginally created for INTERFACE ’94 (A Conference on Educational Technology: Tools and Solutions)
\n(web format transcoded from source – 1994-SciTechBBS.avi<\/a> – video to digital conversion April 1998)<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Script for 1994 SciTech BBS Video<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

Science and Technology Students at Mount Royal College have a 24 hour a day 7 days a week electronic resource. The SciTech Bulletin Board System to assist them with their studies. Mount Royal College\u2019s SciTech BBS provides Science and Technology students with student to student and student to instructor electronic mail, course documents, and teleconferencing services. Students can access telnet and FTP Internet services to search International scientific information banks. Internet users can also connect to the SciTech BBS node on world wide web. Science students registered in a particular course can access course outlines, lecture notes, tutorial assignments, and be tested online through the bulletin board system. Mount Royal College\u2019s Faculty of Science and Technology is committed to using modern telecommunications technology to enhance the learning experience of our students.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Steve Swettenham, Dennis Leask, Ray Sloan, and Bruce Horrey were the online distance and blended education pioneers of an academic PC based Internet BBS for learners and global community at a post-secondary institution in Alberta. This little known history brought together four unique individuals from various backgrounds to create an autonomous microcomputer communications system that would be freely available anytime, anywhere, to students, educators, and interested global community via a telephone modem, local area network, and Internet connection. The academic BBS was a mixture of social networking attributes and online courses.<\/p>\n

Dennis and Steve are the remaining living founders to the story of an extraordinary achievement starting from no budget or institutional support, to a world class online educational system demonstrated at the 1994 National Educational Computing Conference in Boston (NECC ’94 CD-ROM<\/a>). The NECC ’94 CD-ROM was created in Mac Hypercard format and is non-readable in modern operating systems. However, the following image of the CD-ROM contents has been recovered:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"1994
1994 NECC ’94 Conference CD-ROM contents Screen Capture of Hypercard on Mac OS9 emulation. A lesson in why sustainable archival formats are important, as the Hypercard format is not accessible on modern operating systems without an emulator and an old Mac operating system ROM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"chapter-type":[47],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-124","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-standard"],"part":120,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124\/revisions"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/120"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/124\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on-linelearning.ca\/imem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}