Media.Knet.Ca

Heather Hudson's new book includes a case study about the work of K-Net ... 

From Rural Village to Global Village
Telecommunications for Development in the Information Age
by Heather E. Hudson
University of San Francisco
January, 2006

From the book's description on the promotional brochure ...

This book examines the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in development on the macro level (societal, socio-economic, and governmental), emphasizing rural and developing regions. Communication technology’s role in influencing and aiding development is a hot topic in policy circles, yet there has been little analysis on the potential impact of ICTs and related policy issues. From Rural Village to Global Village addresses this lack by reviewing the existing research on the impact of communication technologies and adding other findings. It also provides analysis of the policy issues that must be addressed to facilitate affordable ICT access in rural and developing regions. The volume concludes with case studies demonstrating the role of ICTs in situ. The discussion relates to the bigger “digital divide” issue, the repercussions communication technology —or the lack of— it has on communities and societies.

From Rural Village to Global Village will appeal to scholars and researchers in telecommunications, especially in the law and policy areas, and in media economics, international communication, and communication and development areas. It can be used as a graduate level text or supplemental text in advanced undergraduate courses.

• 0-8058-5667-6 [Cloth] / 2006  / 176pp.  / $65.00
• 0-8058-6016-9 [Paper] / 2006 / 176pp. / $24.50

There is a 20% discount available at www.erlbaum.com by entering Coupon Code Code SPCL during on-line check-out.

This book is also available from http://amazon.ca

The ICT work being done by Keewaytinook Okimakanak's Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) is included in a new publication prepared by the United Nations ICT Task Force.

Members of the K-Net team (Dan Pellerin and Jeannie Carpenter) were linked into the United Nations' committee meeting in New York for a video conference presentation about the Kuhkenah Network in June, 2005. Dianne Davis, founding president of the International Council for Caring Communities (ICCC), who coordinated this UN session wrote about the K-Net presentation for this publication (see page 247 on the PDF document or page 231 in the actual book).

UN ICT Task Force Series 9: Harnessing the Potential of ICT for Education – A Multistakeholder Approach - 354 page book available online

The resolutions (number 58 through 76) adopted by the Chiefs and their representatives at the December AFN gathering in Ottawa are now available online starting at http://afn.ca/article.asp?id=2078.

Four of these resolutions were presented to the chiefs by the team from Keewaytinook Okimakanak who worked with chiefs from across the country to move and second these resolutions. The four KO resolutions include:

• Resolution no. 70C/2005: Support For Keewaytinook Okimakanak’s Telehealth Services In First Nations was moved by Proxy Alvin Fiddler, Fort Severn First Nation, and seconded by: Chief R. Paul Nadjiwan, Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, ON
• Resolution no. 70D/2005: Support For Equitable Access To Broadband Applications In Satellite Served First Nations was moved by: Chief Jacob Strang, Poplar Hill First Nation, ON and seconded by: Chief Shane Gottfriedson, Kamloops Indian Band, BC
• Resolution no. 70E/2005: Support For The Development Of The Keewaytinook Okimakanak Public Digital Library was moved by: Chief David General, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, ON and seconded by: Chief Stewart Phillip, Penticton Indian Band, BC
• Resolution no. 72/2005: Support For First Nation Schools Telecom Connectivity, Technologies And Broadband Infrastructure Requirements was moved by Chief David General, Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, ON and seconded by Chief Joseph Hall, Tzeachten First Nation, BC

Resolution 73 directs AFN to begin "Webcasting All Assembly Of First Nations (AFN) Assemblies", something that Keewaytinook Okimakanak has been facilitating for several years now at the KO Chiefs meetings and other special events. This will allow everyone with a broadband connection to watch and even participate in these gatherings.

On Wednesday after a brief network shut down to upgrade the electrical system feeding the server farm in Sioux Lookout, a critical KO server  failed to restart properly resulting in several online services being offline for a day and half. The KO Network team were able to keep the e-mail and IP phone service operating throughout this period.

Nearly all services are now returned to normal. Due to the massive size of the MyKnet.Org service is still in the process of being returned to its original state before the system failure. We hope this service will be back online over the weekend.

The team at K-Net is pleased that our back-up systems and processes have proven to be successful at maintaining a secure network service for our partners. We do apologize to everyone for any inconvenience that this system failure caused.

With the new back up generator now in place we anticipate that the Kuhkenah Network is now able to provide continuous online services even throughout any lengthy power outages. Funding for these network services have been obtained from our partners at Industry Canada's FedNor program.

On-line workshops popular with teachers working in remote and isolated First Nations schools...

The Chiefs of Keewaytinook Okimakanak are pleased with the on-line workshops on special education, literacy and early childhood development hosted by KORI and K-Net Services, the regional management organization for Industry Canada’s First Nation SchoolNet program.

"These workshops are exactly what our teachers need," Chief Roy Gray of Fort Severn said. He says it's important to support the teachers in Fort Severn right now who are struggling to educate the children without the benefits of a school building. The Fort Severn School was closed by Chief and Council last June after three engineering reports found levels of mould harmful to human health.

Chief Eli James of McDowell Lake also supports the initiative. "This can only help," he said. He added it's important to ensure than parents and other interested community members are involved. "Parents," he said, "need more information about what goes on within the walls of the school. We are preparing our children for the future and we need the entire community working together if we are going to produce future leaders," he said.

Chief Raymond Mason says the workshops promote awareness for the need to support classroom teachers working in the communities. "We don’t have many specialists in special ed and literacy. These workshops help with professional development," he said. He believes that some teachers might choose to remain in the north if they have better professional development opportunities and more support for their work in the classroom.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak, K-Net Services (Industry Canada First Nations SchoolNet - Regional Management Organization), and KORI are presenting a series of on-line workshops in Special Education, Literacy and Early Childhood Development by experts throughout the region. The workshops are designed to assist and support classroom teachers working in First Nations schools, however, education directors, principals, teaching assistants and parents are welcomed to participate. The on-line workshops are available live via IP video-conference every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 12 noon Central Time (Sioux Lookout time) commencing January 16^th, 2006. Workshops will be archived and available through the following K-Net website: http://www.knet.ca/PD/SpecEd.html

To register, email your contact information including name, telephone number, email address and IP videoconferencing address (if you know it) to wesleymckay@knet.ca For more information, go to the Keewaytinook Okimakanak Research Institute at http://research.knet.ca

During the first week of workshops, teachers, teachers’ assistants and tutor escorts from First Nations Schools in Fort William, Kejick Bay, Keewaywin, Sachigo, Muskrat Dam, Bearskin, and Sandy Lake participated in the first three on-line workshops on special education, literacy and early childhood development.

The team at Keewaytinook Okimakanak is offering a series of workshops for teachers of Native children starting today. The first set of sessions will provide workshops about Special Education, Literacy and Early Child Development.

Check out the web site at http://knet.ca/PD/SpecEd.html for more information about:

• the list of workshop sessions
• registering for these sessions
• accessing the archived sessions

These workshops are being made available to First Nation teachers and education people through Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program and their Ontario Regional Management Organization (http://firstnationschools.ca)

Jamie Ray, K-Net's Network Technician, flew into Koocheching on Saturday to install a KA-band satellite dish so the local school can once again get back online. This new satellite service is replacing the more expensive providing less capacity KU-band, two way system that was being used for the past three years. Poor weather conditions forced the cancellation of the charter throughout this past week.

The original plan was to fly in early in the morning and return that afternoon on the charter. But once there, Jamie decided that he would stay overnight and get all the units up and operating, as well as provide some training for Thomas Harper on using the system. This decision means an hour and a half snowmobile ride from Koocheching to Sandy Lake for Jamie to catch the only flight out on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday evening, after getting the dish operational, Jamie got the IP phone connected and started making calls to different people over the KA satellite system. Before this system was installed there was only one radio phone serving the entire community. The K-Net team will use this site as a test site to see how IP phones and web-based phone services (such as Skype at http://skype.com work on this new system).

Jamie and Thomas are also working together to expand the local service via a wireless system to reach several of the other homes in the community.

As the Ontario Regional Management Organization (RMO), Keewaytinook Okimakanak is working with First Nation schools across Ontario to provide connectivity and ICT resources using funding for this work from Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program. In addition to getting the KA-Band unit installed, the Koocheching school will be receiving three new computers, a printer and scanner under this program.

The wireless equipment and IP telephone equipment is being provided to Koocheching under Industry Canada FedNor's E-Community project that Keewaytinook Okimakanak is delivering.

Click here to see the pictures of the KA-Band earthstation and local wireless loop set up and operation of this new service in Koocheching First Nation.

During the November, 2005 ICT training workshop at the Fort William First Nation community learning centre (click here to read the KNews story), six youth shared their stories about their community, their work and their experiences on camera. Cal Kenny, K-Net's Multi-media Coordinator, has now posted these online for others to watch and learn how these youth are making a difference in their communities.

Click on the person's name to watch the video clip (in Windows Media format - broadband connection recommended):

• Denise McKay from Deer Lake First Nation - 8 min
   
• Ashley Kowtiash from Rocky Bay First Nation - 8 min
   
• Jeff Mayers from Walpole Island First Nation - 7 min
   
• Ben Sabourin from Pic Mobert First Nation - 7 min
   
• Darren Nadjiwon-Elliott from Cape Croker First Nation - 7 min
   
• Duane Moonias from Neskantaga First Nation - 12:40 min

Angie Fiddler, who lives in the remote First Nation of Sandy Lake, is working with Keewaytinook Okimakanak is a the Coordinator of this youth employment and training project. This project is funded by Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program. Twenty-four youth, each located in their home First Nation across Ontario, are participating in this employment and training project.

As part of the training project, the ITE1 course from the Cisco Academy of Learning Training is being taught online by Angus Miles who lives in the remote First Nation of Sachigo Lake, with assistance from Aaaron Hardy, Fort William First Nation. Jesse Fiddler, who lives in Sandy Lake First Nation, is teaching the web site development portion of the training program with assistance from Cal Kenny (Lac Seul First Nation).

Geordi Kakepetum, KO Executive Director, met with other members of his management team to review 2006 work plans, budgets and organization requirements. The January 11 meeting took place at the Best Western in Dryden.

In attendance at this meeting were:

• Cheryl Bechard, Executive Assistant, Balmertown
• Peter Campbell, Public Works Manager, Balmertown
• Brian Walmark, KORI Manager, Thunder Bay office
• Kevin Houghton, Acting Finance Manager and KOTH Manager, Balmertown
• Darrin Potter, KIHS Principal, Balmertown
• Jeannie Carpenter, K-Net Operations Manager, Sioux Lookout
• Brian Beaton, K-Net Coordinator, Sioux Lookout

Chief Raymond Mason from Keewaywin First Nation joined the meeting later in the afternoon.

WELCOME to 2006!!

The team at Keewaytinook Okimakanak would like extend BEST WISHES to everyone for his new year.

May the coming months bring good health, happiness and prosperity to one and all.

It is through everyone's efforts to work together, to help each other and to care about our neighbours that we each are able to contribute to a safe and growing environment.

Our children and future generations depend upon us!

We look forward to working with everyone once again in this new year.

As Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean said during her New Year's message ... the Canadians she has met on her travels all "dared to dream big, determined to act for the greater good against violence, against indifference, against exclusion, to respect others, to encourage dialogue, to demand equal opportunity."

See http://www.gg.ca/gg/index_e.asp for more information about the Governor General of Canada