BUILDING AN INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ONTARIO In its report to the province in August 1992, the Advisory Committee on a Telecommunications Strategy for Ontario addressed the importance of telecommunications to Ontario. The committee adopted a compelling vision of Ontario's future: Through the enabling effect of telecommunications, Ontario - and in turn Canada - will be the best place in the world to live, work, learn and do business. The committee called for an adequate infrastructure to realize this vision. This infrastructure would include a vast array of services and information in multiple media - voice, data, image and video - delivered through high- capacity, interacting networks to every home, school, library, office, factory and laboratory in the province. These services would be used by Ontarians who know how to obtain information and put it to work. The net result would be a completely computer-literate society. This advanced information infrastructure would harness the power of technology to transform Ontario. The following sections suggest what this vision could mean for living, working, learning and doing business in Ontario. Best Place to Live ------------------ Telecommunications connects us to the global village. Through satellite hook-ups, we are instant witnesses to history whether it's the Earth Summit in Rio, the fighting in the Balkans or the constitutional referendum across Canada. News is what is happening now, rather than what has already happened. Today's networks also join us to more immediate circles our families, friends, co-workers and business associates. All these human connections will be further enhanced as technology evolves. An advanced information infrastructure will foster social equity. It will overcome the barrier of distance, which has kept residents of northern Ontario and other remote areas from full participation in society. It will also serve as a liberating technology for people with mobility problems, such as senior citizens and persons with disabilities. New Lifestyles -------------- Continued progress in telecommunications will increase convenience in our fast-paced lifestyle and open up new leisure options. Videotex, for example, is a two-way system that displays graphic information on a computer terminal linked to a telephone line. This makes possible teleshopping, electronic messaging, chat lines and other services in the home. North American videotex is still in its infancy compared with the French system, Minitel, which provides 12,000 services, such as an electronic phone book, restaurant menus and news updates. In the future, Canadians may enjoy a similar range of alternatives. Already, many banks and financial institutions offer bank by phone services - which enable the customer to pay bills and complete other transactions by pressing the telephone key pad. The cashless society is coming, in which consumers pay for purchases by directly debiting their bank accounts through online systems. Multimedia networks on the horizon will allow us to transmit and manipulate information of any kind as easily as we use the phone today. Multimedia terminals are expected to combine all the elements of the telephone, computer and television into a single device, which has been dubbed the telecomputer. This new technology will make interactive or two-way television a reality. Users will be able to go beyond the passive viewing mode to relate to others. For example, interactive commercials could allow consumers to plan a vacation by watching videos of the destination they intend to visit. These multimedia networks will also enable users to access video databases holding thousands of movies and other programs. Today's mobile cellular phones help people keep in touch while on the move. The next step beyond the cellular phone will be personal communications services or PCS. In the PCS concept, customers use pocket-sized cordless phones to place and receive calls almost anywhere. Each customer has a personal phone number rather than a number tied to the workplace or home address. Electronic Government --------------------- Telecommunications can also enable better government. The provincial government is using technology to reinvent the way it functions, creating an administration that is more open and accessible, provides better customer service and delivers programs more efficiently. In the long run, the Ontario government may well put all its public information and services online. Using technology similar to automated banking machines, the government could reach people in many more locations across the province 24 hours a day. Health Care ----------- "Telehealth" refers to the application of communications technology to the health care system to improve the quality of care and increase productivity. A recent trial at Ottawa Civic Hospital tested an electronic patient file. This system reduced to a matter of minutes the time between the processing of X-rays in the radiology department and the delivery of information - including both X-ray images and a diagnostic report - to physicians in the wards. This project foreshadows the day when an emergency room doctor about to perform surgery on an accident victim from out of the province could electronically access medical records from the patient's own physician. The surgeon could also consult with other specialists across town or across the country while sharing three-dimensional images of the victim's injuries on screen. Drug care can be improved through telecommunications applications. In the future computerized systems will record all a patient's prescriptions in order to alert physicians and pharmacists to the danger of drug interactions. Modern communications can make a life-or-death difference. Ontario's air ambulance system uses satellite technology so paramedics in flight from remote locations can communicate with doctors on the ground. A number of municipalities have adopted the 911 phone number for summoning emergency assistance, and this system should eventually be extended province-wide. Information systems will also strengthen management of the health care system in various ways - from more efficient processing of medical claims to tracking service delivery patterns for planning purposes. Best Place to Work ------------------ Almost all workers depend on telecommunications to help with their jobs. Changes in technology are leading to changes in the workplace. Video conferencing, based on the transmission of video signals over telephone lines, is one of the fastest growing areas in the telecommunications field. More and more organizations are finding video conferences a viable alternative to business travel, thereby reducing costs, saving time and in many cases reducing personal stress. Some day, desktop video conferencing (dialed through a phone) may become as commonplace as the fax machine is today. The underlying technology here, digital signal processing, is also a key element in developing electronic voice recognition and response systems. These breakthroughs could eventually provide simultaneous translation between two people speaking different languages over the phone anywhere in the world. Such a system would be an invaluable tool in the global economy. Telework is gaining momentum as more and more workers operate out of their own homes with links to the employer's premises by voice and data phone lines and fax machines. In the future video links will allow even more tasks to be performed at home. Teleworkers don't have to commute, saving time and reducing air pollution. People with physical disabilities could be one group to benefit substantially from the new options opened up by telework. New levels of productivity will be reached with the electronic secretary, likely to evolve with the application of intelligence to the telecom network and customer equipment. A personal electronic manager could direct calls to the home, the workplace or the car, block unwanted calls, reroute other calls to colleagues, and perhaps even take dictation and send correspondence to a printer. Best Place to Learn ------------------- In a knowledge-based economy it will be essential for workers to upgrade skills continually. We'll have to learn a living. Telecommunications will help us do this. A distance education system known as Contact North is enabling more residents of northern Ontario to obtain a university degree or college diploma. Under the program, teachers in a central location are linked to students in classrooms, community centres or their own homes. Students and teachers connect through speaker phones, electronic blackboards on which both student and teacher can write, video cassettes and fax machines. It is clear we have embarked on the path toward the electronic university or the university without a campus. The next step could be to reach the estimated 12,000 students who take correspondence courses each term from Ontario universities, and the additional 12,000 students who take high school correspondence courses developed by the Ministry of Education. By providing access to an interactive network plus course software, we could improve both the quality and the timeliness of the learning experience. Perhaps the most advanced application of telecommunications to learning is the National Technological University in the United States. This is a consortium of U.S. universities offering programs to help technical professionals stay current in their fields and broaden their management skills. Credit and non credit courses are beamed via satellite to remote classrooms in participating companies and government agencies. A Canadian version of this concept is under development in Ontario. One Place to Look ----------------- Access to information is the key to participation in the learning society. Ontario's public libraries are using telecommunications and computer systems to boost efficiency and customer service. Today's library technology is not merely storage, as in the past, but retrieval and communications to help customers find what they want in other libraries as well. Through interlibrary loan systems and telephone and computer networks, a local librarian can usually obtain a requested item within a week. Tomorrow, customers will be able to find what they want themselves and have it in hand when they leave the library, or as they search from home or office. Empowered by technology, the library of the future will package information of all kinds in all formats and deliver it on time, wherever the customer needs it. Best Place to Do Business ------------------------- Telecommunications gives all organizations, large and small, a crucial competitive edge. Companies require the latest communications services to operate efficiently and stay close to their customers. For many firms, applications such as electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer are much more cost-effective than paper-based systems. Just-in-time inventory is a key practice in today's manufacturing industries: through communications networks, inputs are ordered directly and automatically from suppliers to arrive when needed during the manufacturing process. In the future multimedia links will provide easy access to information of many kinds voice, data, image and video. Over the next few years we expect a growing use of telecommunications to share visual information between employees of the same company, suppliers and ultimately customers. Electronic marketplaces will enable manufacturers and retailers to exchange information instantaneously, dramatically cutting operating costs. Thousands of companies are now doing business electronically. Eventually, it will become the norm to eliminate paper and rely entirely on electronic records. A provincial high-speed network will facilitate research and development in Ontario in the 21st century. Scientists in different locations will be able to collaborate, and designers will be able to work simultaneously on the same product. Small Business -------------- Telecommunications can help level the playing field for small business in relation to big business create new opportunities for small communities. Through telecommunications, small firms will have a global reach. The tourism industry is an example of how telecommunications can increase the competitiveness of small business. Since spring 1991 the Ministry of Tourism and Recreation and industry representatives have been developing a central reservation and information system for Ontario tourism. This will lead to higher occupancy rates and better customer service. The Challenge Ahead ------------------- The quality of life we enjoy in the next century will depend directly on the action we take now to exploit the benefits and opportunities flowing from modern telecommunications. Supported by a strong telecommunications sector, we need to develop a host of specialized information networks or pathways in Ontario for researchers, students, libraries, businesses, consumers and other communities of interest and knit these pathways together into a "network of networks". These interlocking systems will bring all the people of Ontario into the information age.