CD ROM looks at science with a Native perspective

Page 27

A tour of Canada's newest territory is now just the click of a mouse away, thanks to the recent release of a CD-ROM entitled Nunavut Territory, Canada.

The CD-ROM, produced in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, uses text, photos and illustrations, along with audio and video clips, to teach about the history of the land now known as Nunavut. The focus of the CD-ROM, however, is on life in present-day Nunavut.

The CD-ROM project is the brainchild of Charlie and Robert Cahill, two brothers who have lived and worked in Nunavut for more than 10 years. Although now living in Edmonton, Charlie Cahill stills spends four or five months of the year in Gjoa Haven.

The CD-ROM project grew out of the many presentations Cahill and his brother have been doing for the past few years, sharing information about Nunavut with school children across Western Canada. Cahill estimates they've done more than 1,000 presentations so far, reaching more than 100,000 students.

The C- ROM was produced, Cahill explained, because there's not a lot of information available about Nunavut, especially about life today in the new territory.

"I think the CD-ROM is a great educational resource," Cahill said.

The CD-ROM is relatively user friendly. Both the text and photos are easily printed, and the main menu makes the information easy to navigate.

The CD-ROM contains a lot of information, providing a broad overview of the history, culture, environment, and people of Nunavut. A profile of each of Nunavut's communities is included, along with a more in-depth examination of one community, Gjoa Haven, designed to give the user a better idea of what life is like in Nunavut today.

The CD-ROM also provides statistical information on such things as population, employment, education and demographics, as well as contact information for communities and organizations across the territory.

The CD-ROM is designed to run through Netscape or Internet Explorer, and includes links to related websites throughout.

Thirty-five video clips and a 500-picture photo gallery are also included, highlighting the territory's people and their lifestyles, as well as the landscape, its plants and its animals.

One of the shortcomings of the CD-ROM is the lack of captions for pictures in the photo gallery. Although the pictures used elsewhere on the CD ROM are usually identified, the photos in the photo gallery have no identifying information included with them.

The CD-ROM also includes audio and video clips of people speaking words and phrases in Inuktitut. But it was disappointing that no audio clips accompanied the Inuktitut alphabet, to show how each letter is pronounced. Audio clips would also have added to the glossary, which lists selected Inuktitut words and their English translations.

Overall, however, the CD-ROM does do what it sets out to do, which is to provide information about life in Nunavut in the past and present.

For more information about Nunavut Territory, Canada, visit the project website at www.huskydog.com, or call 1-888-223-3449.