Herb Mathisen
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, June 18, 2008

YELLOWKNIFE - The Great Hall of the legislative assembly could soon be full of iPod wearing tourists, and that would not bother the Speaker one bit.

The legislative assembly has launched a new self-guided tour system, whereby narrated information is provided to visitors on one of 17 iPods, as they walk through different areas of the building.

"The majority of people that came to tour the building wanted to do it on their own time," said Speaker Paul Delorey. "They didn't want to have to come in at a scheduled time."

Frequently, tourists would come in to view the building and would have to read the displayed information on the walls, Delorey said. The problem was they were not getting as much detailed information as they would through the guided tours, which were offered daily by staff.

"Now they'll get the same information all the time," said Delorey.

Patricia Russell, a clerk at the legislative assembly, narrates the 14-step tour of the building. Accompanying the ipod is a map, which tells the visitor where to go for the corresponding narration.

The most exciting feature of the tour, said Delorey, is the translation in all 11 official languages of the NWT. Also, with the large number of Japanese tourists visiting Yellowknife each year, the tour has been translated into Japanese.

Staff at the legislative assembly will continue to offer guided tours.

The i-tours, as they've been called, have been tested out with tourists.

"They seem to really enjoy it," said Delorey.

He added that he does not want visitors to enjoy the i-tours too much. "We're hoping they'll return the iPods, but they can keep the maps."