Destination downtown - University of Calgary

PLUG MAY BE PULLED
ON CANADIAN TV
by Greg Harris
TELEVISION IS A MAINSTAY in most Canadian
homes, but a top academic warns that Canadian programming
may fade to black in the next decade, unless
legislators respond to changing industry realities.
“Canadian television is at a crossroads unlike anything
it has faced since the early 1950s,” says Bart
Beaty, a professor in the University of Calgary’s
Faculty of Communication and Culture and co-author
of a recent book chapter on the status of Canadian TV.
“Given the way things are going now, it wouldn’t
surprise me if we started to see the bankruptcy of the
networks and the bankruptcy of Canadian programming
within the next decade.”
Several technological and regulatory factors threaten
the long-term viability of Canadian television:
• More and more Canadians are turning to so-called
‘grey market’ satellites for the diversity of programming
choices, and yet regulators and programmers
aren’t responding to the market demand;
• The convergence of television and the Internet
will create even more choices and make the existence
of the networks irrelevant;
• New digital recording devices like Tivo will allow
viewers to edit out the commercials, which are the
lifeblood of network television;
• And existing regulatory policies allow the networks
to easily purchase popular American shows
instead of producing homegrown Canadian content.
“I foresee a time 10 years down the road when
there’s almost no Canadian programming produced,
except maybe news and sports, and people are simply
no longer watching CTV and Global – they’re downloading
ER off the Internet,” Beaty says.
Earlier this year, Beaty travelled to Ottawa to discuss
with legislators the issue of grey market satellites.
Together with U of C colleague Rebecca Sullivan, he
co-authored a chapter on the status of Canadian TV in
a new book called, “How Canadians Communicate” (U
of C press, 2003). The two are planning to contribute a
follow-up article on the subject for the second volume.
Bart Beaty predicts Canadian programs will die.
Photo by Ken Bendiktsen
WATER, WATER
EVERYWHERE
Research program reveals
whether it’s safe to drink
by Barry Potyondi
WATER. IT REPLENISHES US, nourishes us, feeds
our crops.
In a world of limited freshwater resources, clean
water is far more precious than we know. And when
proper safety measures are not observed, as was the
case at Walkerton, Ontario in 2000, the bacterial nasties
in drinking water may make people very sick.
University of Calgary students are doing their part
to help avert another Walkerton.
Since 1999, Environmental Science students from
the U of C have been conducting field studies that
monitor drinking water quality and make Albertans
aware of their potential exposure to disaster.
About 40 senior students take ENSC 502 (Special
Problems in Environmental Science) annually. This
core course gives them the unusual opportunity to
apply their knowledge and skills to everyday issues in
an ordinary community. The students and their professors
are drawn from the fields of biology, chemistry,
physics, geography, geology and geophysics and
civil engineering. The course is collaborative, handson
and, above all, practical.
“Our applied research projects are designed to be
directly relevant to the needs of a community,” says
Cathy Ryan, a professor in the Department of Geology
and Geophysics.
Studying the Elbow is particularly relevant, as it
supplies water to one-sixth of all Albertans, including
400,000 Calgarians.
IN THE AUTUMN OF 1999, the special problem under
examination in ENSC 502 was the relationship between
septic tanks in the 500-resident hamlet of Bragg Creek
and the downstream quality of the Elbow River.
The study findings, presented to a well-attended
public open house in April 2000, showed that only
60 per cent of the wells at Bragg Creek had safe drinking
water.
Seepage from septic tanks into local groundwater
meant that four out of 10 residents were potentially
using contaminated water for drinking and cooking.
Gordon McIlwain was one of those who attended
the open house.
McIlwain subsequently served on the Citizens’
Advisory Committee on water issues to the MD of
Rockyview and as chair of the 30-year old Elkana
Residents’ Water Co-operative.
“Like most people, I had assumed our drinking
water was safe,” McIlwain says. “Wrong. I had also
assumed that septic systems were a perfectly safe way
to dispose of human waste. Wrong again. The work of
Cathy Ryan’s students made people aware of the risks
that septic services pose to human health. Having
them in town was like having an army of consultants
at our disposal. That’s a significant contribution in
itself. But Cathy’s quiet, academic presentation of
unassailable, science-based data also made it impossible
for our community to ignore the problem.”
Environmental science students are doing their
best to ensure Alberta’s water is clean.
As a result of the ENSC 502 project, all levels of government
became involved in the search for a solution.
Ultimately, engineers recommended construction of a
water treatment plant, although the cost was prohibitive.
A PROJECT like this has the potential to change more
than the community. Without exception, it also
changes the perceptions of the students who take part.
Katherine Sheriff, who just graduated with a BSc
in Environmental Science, participated in the
microbiological assessment.
“Some things cannot be learned from textbooks
and simulated exercises,” she says. “ENSC 502 provided
me with an important link between the academic
aspect of my education and the kinds of issues I’ll
encounter in the workforce.”
Christopher Arko, a senior ENSC student who took
part in the GIS (geographic information systems) component
that linked study findings to specific locations
with sophisticated mapping techniques, believes studies
like this help remove the perception that academics
are aloof from their communities.
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OnCampus / University of Calgary