About The Project

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ITS Group

Welcome to the UNB History of Information Technology (1958-2008) project web site.

This site tells the story of how group of visionary believers in the transformative power of information technology at UNB (a small Eastern Canadian University deep in the great North Woods of Outer Canada) led their university, city (Fredericton), province (New Brunswick), region (the Maritimes and Atlantic Provinces) and occasionally even Canada and the whole world into the information age.

The project is almost complete. Our focus has been two-fold: firstly collecting and archiving as much relevant and uniquely UNB material as possible and secondly interviewing as many of the pioneers who led UNB down the information highway as we could. The site now contains 32 video interviews and a timeline. In the near future we will also make our newsletters (Compilation), our user guides (CLs) and a photo archive available.

Please feel free to explore our site. Questions and comments should be directed to Greg Sprague (gls@unb.ca) or any of the other members of the HIT Team.

Greg Sprague
HIT Team Chair
December, 2019

A team comprised of current and retired information technology professionals at UNB has started work on a project to document the history of information technology at the university (all campuses). The team is concentrating on a fifty-year period from the time the first computer arrived on the Fredericton campus n 1958 to 2008. UNB proundly boasts many IT firsts in Canada including the first Faculty of Computer Science and being the first university in the country to offer free e-mail accounts to all students.

The project team will create an archive (both physical and online) documenting the impact of information technology on all aspects of campus life including research, teaching and learning, administration, libraries and the student experience. In addition, the social and economic impact of computing at UNB on life in New Brunswick will also be documented.

While this project is still in the early scope-setting phase, several goals have already been identified:

  1. Write a history of the UNB Computing Centre including not just the technology changes (hardware, software, networks) but also the people who made it happen as well as the challenges that had to be overcome. Be forthcoming as to the successes and failures.
  2. Identify the early adopters of technology and interview them to capture their stories.
  3. Collect and catalog material (artifacts, articles, photos, video, etc.) related to the history of information technology at UNB before it is too late.
  4. Populate a web site that will be a resource for those who want to further analyse the material collected. Also a blog for those who want to submit stories and anecdotes.
  5. Document the social and economic impact of computing at UNB on life in NB.
  6. Capture the impact of technology on all aspects of campus life – research, teaching and learning, administration, libraries, administration, and the student experience.
  7. Document the partnerships that were established with industry, government and educational institutions in the region.
  8. Publicize the many provincial, regional, national and international awards and accomplishments that resulted from the strategic use of IT at UNB.
  9. Identify the entrepreneurs and spin-offs companies that had their roots in computing at UNB. Also identify leaders in many segments of society whose knowledge of technology had its roots at UNB.
  10. Extract some lessons learned over the years that can be applied as rapid technology and disruptive change continues unabated into the foreseeable future.
  11. Encourage other units at UNB to undertake similar projects.

Team Members

The HIT Team would like to acknowledge the following individuals for their valuable contributions to the project:

  • UNB President Eddie Campbell
  • Melissa Dawe, Director and Senior Advisor, UNB President's Office
  • Heather Marmura and her team at UNB Media Services
  • Patti Auld, Christine Lovelace and their team at UNB Archives and Special Collections
  • Rashid Minhaz, UNB Work Study Student

Planning Committee

June 2014.

Planning Committee (June 2014)
Planning Committee (June 2014)
Planning Committee (June 2014)
Planning Committee (June 2014)

Digitization

Rashed Minhaz (UNB work study student), Christine Lovelace (UNB Archives & Special Collections), Brian Cassidy Sr. (UNB HIT Team), Greg Sprague (UNB HIT Team) working on plan to digitize HIT materials including newsletters, CLs, and photos. [March 2018]

Digitization (March 2018)
Digitization (March 2018)