Most residents wouldn’t peg Sidney as a hot spot, but with the addition of WiFi in the downtown core things are certainly heating up.
New wireless internet service and web cameras that are online this week are all part of a large conference that is coming to town Tuesday.
“It’s quite impressive for Sidney,” said mayor Larry Cross. “It’s quite a large conference and we’re looking forward to their arrival and welcoming them to the town. They are using the Mary Winspear Centre and area hotels and motels are booked up … It’s quite good for the town, I suspect it will be humming while the conference is on.”
The Municipal Information Systems Association (MISA) BC is a non-profit corporation made up of all information technology managers from BC municipalities. This year its annual conference is being hosted by Sidney.
“The association is an important one, really,” said Cross. “Our folk in high tech keep the town operating. They keep hackers out. Information technology is really important to the community.”
“The organization provides users with a forum to make bulk purchases and software agreements on behalf of all municipalities,” said Peter Payerl, Sidney’s manager of information services and the main organizer of the conference.
“They have a small spring conference and a large fall conference with a trade show that will have up to 350 delegates,” Payerl added.
Those 350 people will take part in a three-day forum that includes keynote speakers Stephen Jagger and Shane Gibson, coauthors of the book Sociable! for this social networking and social media-themed conference. Jagger is the co-founder of three successful businesses, including a company focused on social media training and Gibson has been presenting on the international stage for more than a decade.
“The rise in social networking and its impact is an excellent and timely theme,” said Payerl.
The schedule includes evening social events at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre and the BC Aviation Museum along with a Butchart Gardens tour and golf tournament prior to the event.
Municipalities will have a chance to showcase their own information technology achievements and sponsored presentations by technology businesses, including BELL, Oracle and Kaseya will round out the three-day program. Social networking and social media training sessions will provide an introduction to those who are just beginning to use the technology and the operating tools and strategies for those who are prepared to branch out further.
The tradeshow which includes more than 50 industry related businesses, will present the latest technology products and services to conference attendees.
“The Friday morning session will have a panel discussing the impact of social media on the (recent) Vancouver riot,” said Payerl.
The potential for a negative backlash regarding the addition of WiFi to the downtown core is not lost on Cross. “(Wireless) is restricted to the downtown core,” he said. “Hopefully we’ve got a good portion of Beacon Avenue covered.” The wireless technology, although installed for the conference, will remain. “I’d like to keep it certainly. We got a deal to install it, if it’s working we’ll look at maintaining it,” said Cross. He added that the addition of WiFi is part of the town’s Vision 20/20 plan.
“One of the features I like is we’ve created a wireless marine hot spot. We’ve tested it out and it goes out almost a mile … people can come in with their boats and check their email,” Payerl said.
The wireless signal extends from the water to Highway 17 and down Beacon Avenue. The four webcams are in fixed locations showing views of Beacon Avenue at Highway 17, Fifth Street, Second Street and Beacon Park and pier. The wireless access is available outdoors, but generally won’t penetrate buildings said Payerl.
“Store vendors that have internet should keep their own, it won’t really go inside a building,” he said.
Opponents of WiFi are sure to voice concerns with the town’s plan. “We’re concerned of course,” said Cross. “If medical information could be confirmed the town would take action, but the jury’s out on this. If we had different medical information that said ‘it’s a high risk’, we’d definitely address it. It is in the downtown area though where most people are only temporarily in.
“(The webcams) are the type of thing you see on the highway,” said Cross. “They show the conditions in the town, they won’t identify people. Many places people can go online and look at a community. My son lives in Dublin and I look on the webcams there all the time. The cameras are fixed, so people can see how busy it is on the main street, what the weather is. If it becomes a bother for people they can be removed. But we’ll give it a try.”
The streaming webcams are not recorded but are on 24/7. “I believe they will give people a good feeling knowing they are there.”
The $40,000 cost of the Sidney wireless project was funded through the town’s budget, but the cost was reduced by almost half because it was installed for the conference. “The incredible thing about it is for $40,000 what we’re getting for the money is quite remarkable. If we were doing this without this MISA conference taking place, our costs would have been quite significant,” said Cross.
“We got together with a company we’ve done business with before and put together what we refer to as the ‘Olympic model’,” said Payerl. “They come in and build the infrastructure and use it, and showcase it during the convention to IT decision-makers and leave it. By doing that we saved almost half cost.”
“It’s showcasing Sidney in a very positive way,” Payerl said.
Find links to the Sidney web cams at www.sidney.ca.