Media.Knet.Ca

A new site has been added to the K-Net platform featuring extensive online e-commerce training resources http://lone-eagles.knet.ca

Most rural indigenous communities worldwide are still struggling to develop strategies to access broadband connectivity solutions. Community networks partnering with K-Net are now ready to begin focussing on those broadband applications which can create true cultural sovereignty.

The potential exists to grow the capacity to use communication tools like Macromedia Breeze and other on-line resources to work with other indigenous communities worldwide. Teaching and demonstrating how they too, can protect and preserve their cultures by making a living, in a culturally appropriate manner, via e-commerce and telework initiatives are required. Creating successful on-line businesses and learning environments could also be the key to sustaining the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net).

 Lone Eagle's best rural Innovation resources, including extensive Alaskan Native resources are available on-line at http://lone-eagles.com/future-proofing.htm

Two examples of potential clients for interested e-commerce mentors include:

1. The Coeur d'Alene tribe just built a million dollar community technology  center. They are now busy installing wireless interest across the reservation. As well they are beginning to plan for a tribal entrepreneurship program. Their casino brings in $20 million in profit per year, but their goal is economic diversification to prepare for the days when casinos are no longer as profitable. What might an on-line entrepeneur have to offer regarding lessons learned? Skills to transfer? The Coeur d'Alene site is at  http://www.cdatribe-nsn.gov/
2. Another project involves the Blackfeet nation which hopes to soon access funding for wireless access in Browning, Montana with a population 1000. What fast-track training might an on-line entrepeneur provide to bring this community up and online in just months instead of years?

I'm talking with a company seeking to create call centers in indigenous communities. They seek a single community with which to create a first success story; www.cfoadvisors.com

Just last week I had a conference call with Industry Canada. They are now trying to figure out what type of community-based programs can be rolled out in rural communities - to begin focussing on the adoption and applications that bring real benefits to real people instead of simply internet access.

The challenge is motivating citizens to get involved and to sustain their motivation by producing measurable outcomes in the short term. One such model community learning program is "Sustainable Ecommerce Education Development Strategies (SEEDS)" that is available on-line at http://lone-eagles.com/seeds.htm

Where will the first successful community learning program be demonstrated that showcases the will and vision of a community determined to prove itself sustainable? 

Here are two reports on Native Entrepreneurship for everyone to review:

• http://www.cfed.org/imageManager/_documents/Native_Entrepreneurship.pdf  
•  http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/pubs/contents/185.htm

Lastly, the Microsoft Telecentre Support Network will be unveiled in November. www.telecentre.org

Lone Eagle's online lessons providing an easy introduction to your opportunities with entry-level ecommerce and telework are accessible to everyone at http://lone-eagles.com/ecom.htm

What tribes will lead the world in Ecommerce Innovation in order to protect indigenous cultures worldwide? 

We're limited only by our imaginations!

All the best,

Frank Odasz
Lone Eagle Consulting
http://lone-eagles.knet.ca

A number of press releases from this year's United Nations's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues highlight conditions similar to those experienced by First Nations across northern Ontario. Many of the recommendations are the same as those expressed by First Nation leaders across the region.

"the importance of quality education in pulling indigenous people out of poverty and preserving their cultures and knowledge systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005

"Priority should be placed on providing more and better education for indigenous peoples, with emphasis on implementing bilingual education programmes and providing nutritional head start programmes for children.  Data collection methods should be improved to locate and identify indigenous peoples, and clear performance goals should be established to hold providers accountable."

"Indigenous children were more likely to attend school if their communities participated in all decisions about the content and management of their educational systems" - i-newswire, May 21, 2005

"indigenous children would feel comfortable in schools if they harmonized with their culture and traditions in a language they understood.  Studies had shown that education conducted in their mother tongue allowed children to learn more quickly and transfer skills to another language.

She added that education for indigenous children meant learning about their own community’s ancestral traditions and reading and counting in their mother tongues, as well as their country’s history and dominant language.  Emphasizing that non-indigenous children should also receive intercultural education, she said they could then learn about indigenous cultures and languages and positive inputs indigenous peoples made to overall society."

"The linkage of issues related to forests and indigenous peoples ...  with a focus on good practices and barriers to implementing actions combating poverty." - i-newswire, May 18, 2005

"... concerned with the deterioration of the ecosystem.  Governments that recognized ancestral rights and forestry rights were creating new opportunities to improve indigenous livelihoods and reduce poverty."

"United Nations hosts an expected 1,500 indigenous leaders, activists and representatives who will participate in the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues from 16 to 27 May. At this, its fourth session, the Forum will examine situations faced by indigenous peoples as countries and organizations strive to meet the Millennium Development Goal targets, with special focus on the first two Goals -- to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to achieve universal primary education." - i-newswire, May 17, 2005