Digital Revolution Rolls Into Cathedral Square

Digital Revolution Roadshow Rolls Into Cathedral Square

A travelling roadshow rolls off the information superhighway and into Christchurch's Cathedral Square this week.

The Telecom Information Technology Roadshow is a mobile classroom that tours the country bringing communities the latest in the information and communications technology that is changing their lives.

The Roadshow is staffed by expert tutors and visits over 40 communities a year – over past weeks it has been parked in Bishopdale, Hornby and Linwood

The Roadshow trailer morphs into different forms for different groups of people.

For the public – it unfolds into a roomful of interactive exhibits from the front lines of the digital revolution – with everything from mobile phones, satellites and digital cameras to fibre optics and of course the Internet.

"The Internet is a whole new world for around half our visitors, but no matter how knowledgeable people are they always seem to take something new away with them,” says the Roadshow’s Steve Winter.

The Roadshow also converts into a hi-tech classroom where each year over 40,000 school students learn by taking on challenges such as solving a crime using the information and communications tools in the room.

For teachers and volunteer community groups the Roadshow becomes an Internet café with rows of PCs where they can learn to do anything from sending their first email to setting up a website.

“The information revolution is moving so fast that some people may be left behind, but Telecom believes our industry has a responsibility to help communities keep pace,” says Mr Winter.

Telecom is the country’s second biggest education funder after the Government, investing $12 million a year in education programmes including the Roadshow that prepare people for life and work in the digital age.

The Roadshow will be open to the public in Cathedral Square from Monday 2 October to Saturday 7 October between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

For further information, visit the Telecom Education Foundation’s website at

www.tef.telecom.co.nz/itroadshow

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