91快色

It鈥檚 fairly well known that roughnecks working for Imperial Oil in 1947 hit it big at Leduc No. 1, forging Alberta鈥檚 oil and gas industry. But it鈥檚 not exactly common knowledge that many women 鈥� including the men鈥檚 English and European war brides 鈥� also worked at the rigs in the 1940s and 1950s. These families lived in skid hhacks, small wooden structures that would fit on the back of a truck or train and move from rig to rig around the world.

鈥淪kid shacks were family dwellings that were thrown about rig sites,鈥� says PhD, associate professor, in the and co-director of the Energy Stories Lab. 鈥淚n 1947, when the Leduc well was discovered, you would have had children running around everywhere and women hauling water and doing laundry and participating in this work.鈥�

These families鈥� stories have been brought to life with a collaboration between the lab, the in Devon, and  Canada鈥檚 Museums of Science and Innovation in Ottawa. The new  exhibit features an actual  loaded with QR codes as well as a free, 3D-augmented reality app 鈥�  鈥� that anyone, anywhere, can download to virtually tour the structure and hear first-hand what it was like in the early days of Alberta鈥檚 oil industry. 

鈥淲e really wanted to rejuvenate the existing exhibit and use different approaches and technologies that could enhance the user's experience of the exhibition,鈥� says associate professor in the  in the Faculty of Arts and co-director of the lab. 鈥淎nybody in the world can download this app and place a three-dimensional skid shack in front of them, walk inside and experience the stories through sound, animation and narrative.鈥� 

Energy Stories Lab graduate students Zahra Jafarzadeh and Gerry Straathof played a huge role in developing the app. 鈥�Zahra was the animator and Gerry was the developer,鈥� says Leblanc. 鈥淭he app is very cutting edge. It鈥檚 an interactive version of augmented reality that has rarely been used in applications like these.鈥�

The lab worked closely with Dr. Rebecca Dolgoy, the curator of Natural Resources and Industrial Technologies at Ingenium in Ottawa and Danielle Lane, the Canadian Energy Museum鈥檚 collections manager and keeper of its 鈥渞ich archive.鈥� The museum鈥檚 partnership with the Devon Historical Society was also invaluable in providing a series of 1940s-era oral histories and records from Imperial Oil.

The lab aims to 鈥渃ontribute first-hand narratives鈥� from people who work in our energy systems. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a voice we don鈥檛 hear,鈥� says Peri膰. 鈥淎 lot of people talk about Alberta oil and gas workers, but we don't hear a lot from energy workers themselves, and not just oil and gas, but solar, wind, coal, nuclear.鈥�

This new exhibit is part of a broader lab project called Rethinking Roughnecks that explores 鈥渁 bit of a mythology鈥� around the early days of the energy industry that centers on men. But in reality, Alberta鈥檚 early rigs included lots of well-travelled women and children. 

鈥淭hese families were very cosmopolitan,鈥� says Peri膰. 鈥淢any of them had been in Venezuela and Colombia. Some had been in the Middle East and in Iraq and Iran working for other companies like the British Iranian conglomerates.鈥�