The whole movement towards technology can be daunting and scary, yet vitally necessary. I know myself, as someone who professes to be hip on what is technology and how it can change our lives, still find myself baffled, confused and intimidated by the ever-changing world that we live in. For me, some of those examples rest with social networking sites.

I find Twitter to be one that can be informative, but also somewhat useless when finding out that people are just having an ice cream cone or dropping their children off at the arena. Is that really information that I need instantly, 140 characters at a time?

I look at things such as Facebook and find it relevant and useful when trying to keep in touch with friends and family members. But do I have time to be on it each and every day telling people my likes and dislikes?

LinkedIn is a great business networking tool, but if I had as much time to contact people on LinkedIn, wouldn’t it be better spent talking directly to people?

These are just three examples of the technology we see in everyday use.

Now what do I really believe technology is?

For me technology is the ability to gain information that I deem important anywhere, anytime and in any format I deem to be appropriate. Hence, my examples of Facebook Twitter and LinkedIn have relevance to various people depending on what they value. As Mayor, I believe the City of Stratford is working diligently at trying to enable technology to play a role in our community in various forms. Whether it be:

- our citywide wi-fi network
- all-digital, paperless, online voting during the last municipal election
- connecting our doctors through a fibre network
- a technology-driven hospital with state of the art equipment
- enticing investment in our community, such as the University of Waterloo digital media campus or the RBC national data centre.

All are relevant, important and welcome.

The world around us continues to adopt and adapt to technology and the City of Stratford has chosen to be a leader in doing this. Our recognition as a Top 7 Intelligent Community for 2011 validates this vision but it’s important  for all of us to work together to make it a reality - hence our quest to make Stratford the ICF Intelligent Community of the year.

So grab your laptop, your smartphone, your iPad or tablet. Figure out what’s important for you and enjoy. You’re part of the revolution as Stratford reinvents itself once again.