Success Stories

The Natural History of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia fossils on the Web

An extroverted theatre student and a shy computer wizard are using the latest technologies to whisk the world back 325 million years for a close encounter with some of Canada's oldest life forms.

The cast may seem unconventional but the ambitious scope of the performance is typical of the exciting projects being developed under Industry Canada's SchoolNet Digital Collections. The Digital Collections program, funded by the federal Youth Employment Strategy, has enabled over 1400 young Canadians (ages 15-30) to gain valuable work experience in the multimedia sector. By converting significant Canadian content for display on the Information Highway, Canadian youth have not only gained skills for knowledge-based employment but have provided greater access to Canadian holdings located in archives, libraries, museums, associations and other sources.

In Halifax, Erin Frith, 24, and Mike Graham, 27, are part of a team that created an elaborate Internet web site to display some of Nova Scotia's dazzling fossil collections to the world.

Graham, a self-taught computer expert and the project leader, began by teaching himself macro- photography: the use of special lenses and lighting to capture the minute details of the ancient fossils housed at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. He also used the museum's high-speed Internet connection to explore some cutting-edge web sites and techniques such as video streaming. "Not a week goes by that I haven't learned something," Graham says.

Graham used his astounding technical know-how to design a web site to display the fossil collection -- a site that would appeal to both amateur fossil fanciers and international scientific community. The look he chose was "toned-down elegance," a choice that resonated with Frith, who was hired to pen the words.

An Alberta native who majored in theatre and German at a New Brunswick university, the eclectic Frith knew something of fossils, but little about technology. "It was an incredible new experience for me," Frith says of the 19-week collaboration. "I learned a lot about computers and what you can and cannot do. About their limitations and capabilities."

For Frith, there was also the challenge of transforming technical concepts into lay terms: plain enough for a Grade 10 reader; accurate and captivating enough for a professional geologist.

Both Frith and Graham said working as a team with museum staff and others was an experience in its own right. "We had to learn how not to press each other's buttons," Frith recalls. "how to compromise."

Graham had the additional challenges of management. "I'm generally a very shy person, but as the project went along, I found I became more assertive. I had to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the people I was working with, see who could do what most efficiently, delegate tasks and set deadlines."

For museum director Debra Burleson, the enthusiasm of this Digital Collections team was infectious and invigorating. "These young people just blow me away, how fast they can move. It's such an upper working with them."

The Natural History of Nova Scotia highlights the fossil records of creatures that lived in what is now Maritime Canada more than 200 million years ago. They include examples of early dinosaurs, early mammals and the first animals that lived exclusively on the land.

Visit the SchoolNet Digital Collections World Wide Web Site at http://collections.ic.gc.ca