Victoria – Page 3

Astronaut Julie Payette to speak at UVic

August 16, 2012 by richardd

There’s an interesting event coming up at the University of Victoria – Canadian astronaut Julie Payette will be giving an illustrated presentation on Monday August 27 at 7 p.m. in the Farquhar Auditorium.

Payette’s presentation will feature photos and video from her space flights and there will also be a Q&A . It’s free and suitable for all ages.

An astronaut and a professional electrical and computing engineer, Payette has twice left the Earth and logged more than 611 hours in space. During her mission on the space shuttle Discovery in 1993, she orbited the Earth 153 times and was the first Canadian to board the International Space Station. Payette served as mission specialist, operating the robotic Canadarm and supervising the spacewalk. In 2009, Payette served as flight engineer on the crew of the shuttle Endeavour during a mission to the space station.

Payette was chief astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency from 2000 to 2007. That’s quite the resume and it should be a fascinating evening.

Tickets must be reserved in advance. Call 250-721-8480 or go online.

What does a school technologist in Victoria do?

August 1, 2012 by richardd

A quick browse through the VIATEC job board reveals there is no shortage of open positions for folks in the technology industry in Victoria. One job caught my eye – school technologist. When I was at primary school, technology didn’t exist outside of the black and white television that was kept in the gym. The Internet was an impossible dream.

Even during my college years (1986-1989), there was a single Apple Mac available to the entire department of several hundred students and teachers where I studied. My children are growing up in a much different world here in Victoria and they expect technology to be everywhere, and that includes schools.

What does a school technologist do? According to the job description from the Greater Victoria School District….

The School Technologist’s (ST) primary responsibility is the administration and maintenance of school educational networks including servers, workstations, and supporting school staff. This position is required to install computer software, configure hardware systems, maintain current network configurations and troubleshoot network and software problems on a variety of different platforms that may include Windows and Macintosh. The ST works with the Help Desk in implementing and maintaining the service delivery of technology to the school. Duties may include providing advice related to technology purchases, installation and support of client access devices and printers, and software evaluation. The successful applicant will work in an environment of numerous and varied applications running on a wide range of computers and operating systems and supports both current and legacy technology.

So there you go.

(Image courtesy of the Greater Victoria School District)

Welcome to the Tectoria blog… day one

July 19, 2012 by Tectoria

Welcome to the Tectoria blog. We’re going to be showcasing the technology industry of Greater Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, through news, features, videos and lots more. You are going to learn about the companies, organisations and personalities that make this sector tick.

Companies will be profiled. Best practices will be shared. Innovation will be acclaimed. Opportunities will be outlined. We’ll talk about the international technology powerhouses found in Victoria and the newest start-ups just opening for business.

All areas of technology will be featured from software to hardware, from biotechnology to telecommunications and artificial intelligence. Heck, if someone is doing rocket science, we’ll write about it.

Stay tuned – you might be surprised, probably informed and perhaps entertained.