Pierre Garigue says Corner Brook needs to create on online white pages directory of people and their skills.
He said it could include both commercial and volunteer skills and would enable people to connect with others when in need of expertise or advice on something.
For example, he said a person may want to build their own GPS (global positioning system), but not know where to start.
They could go to the directory to find someone with a background in electronics and geography to help.
“So that if you are looking for either commercially or purely to work on something together, looking for people with that set of skills, you could contact them and say, would you like to work on this with us.”
Garigue, a member of a local Do It Yourself Society, offered his white pages idea at a brainstorming session hosted by the city at the Corner Brook Museum and Archives on Wednesday afternoon.
The purpose of the session was to generate ideas for the Smart Cities Challenge the city is planning to enter.
An initiative of Infrastructure Canada, the Smart Cities Challenge looks to address the most pressing issues in a community by using smart technology.
The competition will award one prize of up to $50 million that is open to all communities, regardless of population, two prizes of up to $10 million for communities with populations of fewer than 500,000 and one prize of up to $5 million for communities with populations of fewer than 30,000 people.
The money will be used by the communities to carry out their winning ideas.
“And it has to be ideas that are almost radical. It has to be really out there and to try to find ideas that are outside the box,” said Annette George, the city’s manager of community services.
The ideas have to be technology-based, and George said that could include something like a sensor on a riverbed that would set off an alert when waters rise or something like Garigue’s white pages idea.
“The sky’s the limit when it comes to what the ideas are and how we can use technology to address these ideas.”
George said there are some things around infrastructure, but it’s more about how residents can help participate in the process or make infrastructure better.
One suggestion was to have an app that residents can use to report potholes as soon as they see them. Another was to use geographic information systems (GIS) to track problem areas with roads.
“If you have the GIS system that could track these issues then you can address them better and help allocate moneys better,” said George.
The city has until April 24 to submit a proposal to the challenge, and the brainstorming the session is just one way it will engage people.
In addition, the city has an online survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/53JXDT9 and George will also hold a brainstorming session with students at Corner Brook Regional High on Friday.
