Tuesday morning, the courier delivered ‘The Power of Where’ by Jack Dangermond, published by Esri Press. This was a complete surprise, out of the blue. Subsequently, through an email from Clint Brown, I learned the amazing statistic that approximately 160 COGS graduates had joined the company over the years. Not sure if that includes Esri Canada. Certainly, I do recall the day that Alex Miller came to Lawrencetown and hired Eric Melanson, David Roscoe and John Houweling.
Thinking about the Power of Where raised up the Power of Place. What was special about Lawrencetown in rural Nova Scotia ? Certainly the history of COGS (NSLSI) after the Second World War. Also the combination of a rural setting (agriculture, forestry, fisheries) and access to the latest geographic information technology.
Other factors include the people relationships: Roger Tomlinson and John Wightman; Michael Goodchild and Bob Maher; Jack Dangermond and Alex Miller.
In some small way, I hope that these blogs over the years, have led to an understanding of COGS, Lawrencetown and the Annapolis Valley. Perhaps the seed concept (ACORN): Annapolis County Opportunities Rural Network can provide sustenance for the next generation.
Monday, Heather and I were in Canning at the Merritt Gibson Memorial Library. In the sale bin, I found the book by Bill McKibbon ‘The Age of Missing Information’, the follow up to his earlier work ‘The End of Nature’.
Clearly, time to start reading again !
Ernest Blair Experiment 