Are you ready to conquer the divide? Geeks on Ice is answering the call to eliminate the digital divide in an aggressive campaign to eradicate the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital and information technology, and those without this access.
The Moncton Technology Partners Group have recently enlisted the services of the ICT institute from the University of Austin, Texas to help develop a strategy on creating a sustainable knowledge sector in the region. The recommendations in the report would fuel future growth for Atlantic Canada’s ICT sector.
The Opportunity
Atlantic Canada is an emerging center for ICT (Information and communication technology). While this region does face significant challenges in becoming the next Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas or Oulu, Finland; the area is showing great momentum towards transitioning from a natural resources economy to a knowledge focused economy.
One of the biggest challenges identified by the study is our region’s branding. When people think of Atlantic Canada, they think farms, fisherman, cottage country and retirement homes. While this is true and we are proud of this image, it’s a problem for recruitment and retention. There exists an opportunity for Geeks on Ice to act as an ambassador for the area on the international stage to redefine how we are perceived outside of our geographical area. Our goal is to create the perception that Atlantic Canada is now and will soon have a larger knowledge based economy.
How so, you may ponder? In order to find opportunity, we must examine the region’s core values and reputation. These values and reputation include:
- A deep passion for sports
- A world class reputation for hosting large scale events
- Compassion for our neighbors
- An entrepreneurial “can do” and “Why Not?” attitude
Each of these community pillars reflects the true nature of all stakeholders across the region. The opportunity exist for Atlantic Canadians to leverage these pillars and export our brand of community to the world. We will capitalize on this reputation by hosting the Geeks on Ice World Championships.
The tournament will keep the existing format of 16 teams, however; Geeks on Ice would be an invitational event rather then a first come first serve format which currently exist. In this new format, teams would need to vie for the right to come to Moncton and challenge for the United Way Cup.
The qualification process would take place at regional Geeks on Ice leagues that span across the globe. Qualitative measurements of sportsmanship, community involvement and playoff record will all be factored as part of an invitation.
To encourage fundraising, we would open a celebrity player draft for the top 4 teams that raise the most money for United Way member agencies during the yearly Geeks on Ice campaign. These celebrities would include former NHLers, icons in the ICT sector, media personalities and musicians. Imagine the opportunity to play alongside people like Wendell Clark, Mark Messier, George Stroumboulopoulos from CBC’s The Hour, Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy or the lead singer of Nickelback Chad Krogger.
Geeks on Ice would target traditional key markets like Silicon Valley, New England, Ottawa, Waterloo, Redmond, Texas, Asia and Europe in an effort to export our brand of networking to the elite of the ICT world. Selected teams from these regions would then be invited to Moncton to play or observe the biggest hockey geeks from across the world.
In addition to sports, we envision bringing together the brightest minds from around the world to Moncton to take part in a series of “Geek Week” conference events. Topics like eliminating the digital divide, web 3.0, economic development, venture capitalism, and leadership would be moderated by industry giants. Participation would be open to all players and industry professionals across the globe to network, generate opportunity and promote professional development. This would serve as a prime opportunity for community and government groups to showcase the region to a captive audience.
We already have interest from big name individuals like Sun Microsystems Chairman Scott McNealy and; best selling author and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki who are both avid hockey players.
For the public, a consumer electronics show would be held to include all Atlantic Canadians and bring awareness of new technologies that are changing the way we live. Monies collected as part of the registration fee by vendors and admittance would go towards our campaign to eliminate the digital divide as well as cover administration expenses.
To make this vision a reality, worldwide Geeks on Ice members would collaborate through an online site which would post updates on each league, players and the progress in our quest to eliminate the digital divide.
The objective is to plug our region into the larger ICT network in an effort to eliminate the geographical barriers that currently exist between Atlantic Canada and other ICT markets across the globe.
If Atlantic Canada is the catalyst for this new social networking phenomena, it would serve to elevate the image of our region as an emerging market, tear down walls to accessing capital, increase our odds at recruitment and place Atlantic Canada on the international ICT radar.
In the future, people will think of hockey playing geeks that are shaping the world in relation to our beautiful landscapes and welcoming people.
Since stepping down as CEO of Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealy has been traveling across the globe meeting with key government officials and community leaders in his quest to eliminate the “digital divide”.
This evolution of purpose requires an updated mission for Geeks on Ice which will set the tone of operation for the organization, stakeholders, its members and the public.
The mission: To eliminate digital and geographical divides through the goodwill of sports, community and knowledge transfer.
The mantra: Skating to eliminate the digital divide.
Stakeholders
To take Geeks on Ice international, key stakeholders will need to participate on various levels to reap the benefits of cross-checking the digital divide, per Appendix A. This vision will require capital to fund the promotion, co-ordination and logistics of the the events leading up to and during the execution of Geeks on Ice. The success of this venture relies heavily on the roles taken on by each stakeholder to help our volunteer team coordinate a world class event of this magnitude. Our team will need the expertise of each stakeholder identified in Appendix A. (see pdf version for the appendix - download from left column of this page)
The End Goal
The objective of this operation is to have a open source collaboration between all markets in an online community. Through a social networking site, which will be constructed to sign up members to startup their own leagues founded on the Geeks on Ice principles and ethics, our region will be front and center of the entire ICT community.
The site would post updates on games, tournaments and fundraising activities so that everyone can see how Geeks on Ice is working to eliminate the digital divide. The long term game plan would be to branch out to other sports, however; we will begin with hockey as our template and grow from there.
As a result of raising awareness of the digital divide, a sub-committee will be responsible for working with non-profit partners in order to define technology requirements and provide workshops on how technology can help organizations bridge gaps caused by the divide. This sub-committee would be strictly volunteer and would operate on a revenue stream from profits of the online community, consumer electronics show, workshops and the world championships.
Next Steps…
This is a brief introduction of our vision for Geeks on Ice. Each person who has seen this document as received it because they can have a special part to play in the development of our region and the evolution of open source hockey.
Our next step is to assemble individuals and groups that have a vested interest in seeing this lofty goal accomplished. From there, we will form an official committee and board of directors working towards building an infrastructure required to make this dream a reality.
"If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done."
~Vince Lombardi
Are you ready to eliminate the digital divide?
