Local tech work · Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Colin Duggan
Baile Fios is a one-person local tech practice based in Antigonish. I work with small businesses and independent projects, helping them get a clearer picture of the technology they depend on and making sure it is actually working for them.
I studied Psychology and Political Science at StFX and graduated in 2007, and I have spent most of my adult life in and around this community. I also run Tidal Salt, a small-batch sea salt operation I have been harvesting from the Northumberland Strait for nearly ten years. The same care I bring to that work is what I bring here.
Baile Fios is the public framework I built for doing this tech work clearly and under my own name. The name is Irish Gaelic — it means roughly "home of knowledge" or "town of information." I picked it because it says what I want the work to be: nearby, answerable, and built for the people who actually live here.
Why this work exists
There is no shortage of tech support in the world. What is harder to find in a smaller community is someone you can actually reach — who will give you a straight answer, tell you when something is not worth your money, and still be around when you have a follow-up question. That is the gap this is meant to fill.
Doing this under a public name is a deliberate choice. My name and reputation are directly tied to the work. There is no one else to deflect to if something goes wrong, and no particular incentive to oversell. Being one person is not a limitation — it means you always know who made the recommendation and who is responsible for the outcome.
Why local tech matters now
A lot of small operators are running their businesses on platforms they do not fully understand, paying more every year, and finding that support has gotten harder to reach. Most of what is on offer comes from very large companies built for very different customers. The tools still work. Something about the deal has shifted.
What I try to offer is someone you can actually reach — who will give you a straight answer and tell you when something is not worth your money. Part of that means helping people understand what they actually depend on, keep the important pieces within reach, and make sensible choices about where their data lives and who has access to it. Not a political project. A practical one.
The Antigonish Reel
The Reel is the flagship project under Baile Fios. A locally governed, privacy-respecting place for community information, starting in Antigonish. It is the clearest example of what this work looks like when it is done for a community rather than a single business.
Get in touch
I would rather have a short honest conversation than oversell anything. If you are trying to figure out whether I can help, send a note.
Contact form