Some proposed experiments with the Communications Technology Satellite
A. J. Porter · Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A Mathematical and Physical Sciences · 1975
Abstract The satellite (CTS), a system jointly sponsored and financed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U. S. A.) and the Department of Communications (Canada), is tentatively scheduled to be launched in January 1976. It will be available for educational and societal experimentation early in 1977. This paper will outline some of the educational experiments involving the CTS, to be undertaken under the sponsorship of the Ontario Educational Communications Authority. The major object of the experiments is to assess the communications and educational implications of the CTS in northern Ontario; the existing communications facilities for this region of approximately 725000 km2 (inhabited largely by native people) are extremely limited. It is expected to assess the extent to which: (а) a satellite communications system might resolve the communications deficiency, (b) the native people will use the experimental facility, (c) health and general educational programmes, especially utilizing the interactive mode, will be viable. Since the design of the experiments is in a comparatively early stage the paper is speculative insofar as such central (for political and cultural reasons) questions as the active participation of the native peoples and the relative weights given to the educational, health and recreational programmes are concerned.