The Granite Newsletter

published September 4, 1997

Introduction

Welcome to the first issue of the Granite Newsletter. Here at the Granite offices we've found it necessary from time to time to get information and interesting internet news out to our clients. A monthly newsletter seemed like a great way to publish this information. If you would like this newsletter e-mailed to you every month, send mail to webmistress@granite.mb.ca with newsletter as the subject line and we'll put you on the list. You don't have to be a Granite subscriber to get this newsletter. There will be lots of local information available here, as well as contributors from our local internet junkies, so subscribe today, or just check it out on the 'net at http://www.granite.mb.ca/newsletter.

Back to School!

Okay, I'm a Mom, so the first day of school has special meaning to me. Here in Pinawa we have a first day of school tradition. To help us overcome our great sense of loss as the happy little yard apes traipse off down the street with their new notebooks and pencils and new clothes ...., we get together for a morning of coffee and Irish Cream in the front yard. Any Mom or Dad walking down the street experiencing the same sense of loss is invited to join us. It helps get us over that hurdle. I know there's a lot of you out there that can identify with this.

At Granite that first day of school has another meaning. Welome back to the Whiteshell and Agassiz School Divisions for another year of surfing the net with us. The network is up and running for you in Pinawa, Lac du Bonnet, Whitemouth and Beausejour. Those schools that aren't yet in the network can dial into the modem pool for access. We're expecting another successful year for the schools and they're internet and are looking forward to expanding the network throughout the year.

So what's out there for those kids just starting to experience the internet from their classrooms? Granite has prepared a site for kids in elementary school called Just For Kids! One part of the site is a Write Your Own Adventure project we're trying to get going. You've heard of those Read Your Own Adventure books out there - this is a creative twist on that theme. At the Write Your Own Adventure site you can publish the first chapter of a book, follow threads of other stories and add you chapter, or just read the stories created by other kids. We're excited to see what you come up with!

Back to school was, in the olden days, a kids thing. Not anymore! With technologies changing so often, everyone needs to keep on top of it. Granite will be giving some two hour internet training sessions in the near future in your community. Some of the topics to be covered include:

An overview of the internet - get the big picture and see how your PC fits into it.
Getting started - how to set up your own computer to connect to the internet, send and recieve e-mail, transfer files and trouble-shoot some common problems.
Searches - how to conduct a search on the internet, wade through the information and find what your looking for quickly and easily.
Web pages - how to set up a simple web page, load it onto a server and keep it updated.

Whew - all that in two hours! Dates and locations have yet to be confirmed, but if you want to get on the list, send an e-mail to granite@granite.mb.ca with Internet Training as the subject. The cost will be $25.00 for each session. Enrollment will be limited to 10 people and will be hands on training.

Granite Members are Publishing Outstanding Homepages!

All Granite regular account holders get a free personal homepage. There's a list of all members homepages on-line. The homepage we create for you isn't actually all that personal, in fact it's created with a computer program. It's what you do with it after that's really cool. Some Granite members have really been busy on their sites. Visit http://www.granite.mb.ca/~7sisters for a good collection of animations, some news and a great set of local links to follow. The Racetime Software site offers a great software program for timing races on a great webpage. Find out more about the Community Access Program (CAP), get some translating done or check out the Eastern Region Development Corporation (ERDC). Looking for a good business - check out Wayne Dunford's page. Why not do some early Christmas shopping at Tim's T-shirts and Labels. These are a few of the Granite members who have discovered the pleasure of participating in the WWW. If you're still wondering where to start, check out our HTML Help page.

Granite Business News

This section of the Granite Newsletter will be dedicated to Granite business clients, of which we have quite a few now. If you'd like to post some news here for the next newsletter about your business, send mail to webmistress@granite.mb.ca with Business News as the subject.

Granite has been busy promoting many local businesses on the internet over the last few months. A project commissioned by the Winnipeg River Brokenhead CFDC features an on-line database of all the businesses in the Eastman Region. Check it out and make sure your listed there! The Granite Business Directory is a listing of all the businesses Granite has produced web sites for.

In the way of Granite business, we would like to welcome all the new members dialing into our new Whitemouth location. The Whitemouth expansion was a rocky one, made rockier by our very good friends, MTS. Once we finally got the all important telephone lines installed the service has been smooth. We're expecting to serve many residents in the Whiteshell Park as well as the outlying towns that have, up to now, had to dial long distance to access the internet.

Granite has been following the progress of some other business developments in our region including the new resort plans in Pinawa and CNPL at the Whiteshell Labs site. We feel the region is about to undergo some pretty major and positive economic development. It's about time! These developments should impact the entire region positively. Alas - the waiting game isn't quite over yet.

Granite is aware that there are people out there waiting for an opportunity to dial into the Granite Network through Beausejour. We're investigating all the opportunities available to us to set up a POP (Point of Presence or dial-up location) in that community. Currently, of course, Beausejour residents can dial into our Lac du Bonnet location toll-free. It's Anola, Oakbank, Selkirk and other surrounding towns that need to see Beausejour on-line. The problem there isn't the inability to set up, but rather so many different options that we want to make the right choice. Stay tuned for updated information on this.

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