Fort Severn First Nation’s broadband leadership gains recognition with 2 new published papers
Videocom press release
Fort Severn First Nation’s Broadband Leadership Gains Recognition
Two research papers from Fort Severn First Nation are published this month. The story of the community’s leadership with broadband technologies is being shared with many Canadian and international researchers and policy-makers.
The first paper is: A History of Communication by Fort Severn First Nation Community Members: From Hand Deliveries to Virtual Pokes. This story about the community’s leadership with information and communication technologies is published in the Proceedings of the iConference 2012, an international gathering hosted this year by the University of Toronto. The second paper: A New Remote Community-Owned Wireless Communication Service: Fort Severn First Nation Builds Their Local Cellular System with Keewaytinook Mobile is in the latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Communication. These publications are online: http://videocom.firstnation.ca.
Both publications discuss the first mile of broadband connectivity, the local networks in communities. Fort Severn hosted the launch of the First Mile report in November 2010. Chief Matthew Kakekaspan gave the opening remarks by videoconference to a large audience of people at sites across Canada. A video of the Chief’s remarks can be viewed on Fort Severn’s Technology Showcase: http://fortsevern.firstnation.ca/tech_showcase.
In his remarks at the First Mile launch, Chief Kakekaspan said: “We are owners and partners of a private, managed network. Because these communication tools are being used more and by more people, we now require additional bandwidth to continue meeting the demands for all the different uses and users of our network.”
The paper co-authors are: Matthew Kakekaspan and George Kakekakspan of Fort Severn First Nation and Brian Walmark, Brian Beaton and Raymond Mason from Keewaytinook Okimakanak. The people of Fort Severn are also co-authors. Research partners are Dr. Susan O’Donnell and Kerri Gibson from the University of New Brunswick along with Michael Mak from McMaster University.
Contact: For further information or to schedule an interview with Chief Kakekaspan, contact Brian Walmark at the KO Research Institute: brian.walmark@knet.ca or phone: (807) 766-8442 X 1261.
Fort Severn First Nation: http://fortsevern.firstnation.ca
Keewaytinook Okimakinak: www.knet.ca
VideoCom project: http://videocom.firstnation.ca
First Mile project: http://firstmile.ca