Media.Knet.Ca

Members of the Keewaytinook Okimakanak team met today with the Federal government's Broadband Interdepartmental Working Group (BBIWG). KO staff shared stories and priorities identified in our region and through our work as the Ontario Regional Management Organization for Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program.

The BBIWG is chaired by Ross MacLeod, Director General, IHAB Programs and brings together department leads in connectivity issues for all federal government departments. Click here to see picture of Ross and the SchoolNet's team to the Sioux Lookout area.

Suzanne Robert, Manager of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program, and her team worked with KO's Lars Dixon to bring the folks located in Ottawa with three RMO sites (Sask/Alberta,  Manitoba and Ontario). Lars rans the system tests with the folks at the Ottawa site before the meeting and then managed the video bridge from Balmertown throughout the session. The Ottawa site dialed into the Kuh-ke-nah Broadband Network through the K-Net gateway and was able to join the three RMO sites that are connected over their broadband IP connections on K-Net (see the picture of the five sites below).

Handouts for the meeting participants included the series of K-Net Case Studies (click here to go to the multi-media flash presentation that also contains the PDF files of each of these case studies) as well as an updated presentation about the Kuh-ke-nah Broadband Network (click here to see a copy of the network description).

A computer virus spread via e-mail has been described by security experts as the "largest virus outbreak in months".

The malicious worm, called Mydoom or Novarg, has clogged networks and may allow unauthorised access to computers.

Mydoom, the latest e-mail virus, is faster and bigger than 2003's
speedy record-breaker, Sobig.F

Click here to read the full story

Click here for more information and fixes from Symantec (Norton) for infected computers

Geordi Kakepetum, Executive Director of Keewaytinook Okimakanak, brought members of his management team together in Dryden to discuss strategic plans and directions for the organization. Presentations are being prepared for the next KO Chiefs' meeting to obtain the chiefs' input and direction for developing the organization and its community support services.

Twenty-eight on-line games are now available at http://games.knet.ca for those people who want to relax and enjoy an innocent game of trying to better the scores of their friends and fellow Knetters (or is it Knerds, as some people refer to themselves). Jesse always threatened to create this site for everyone and it took one restless night to pull it all together.

After one day, it looks like this on-line arcade might get some people off the chat lines and into the games room. On its first day of operation it looks like this particular set of games were played 2860 times!

Have fun everyone ... BUT be sure to get your work done, eh ...

Write to Jesse Fiddler or sign the guestbook on the Games site with your suggestions if you find any other Public Domain games that you think people would enjoy.

The January 15 issue of Wawatay News contains three more news stories about the work being completed within the Kuh-ke-nah Network of Smart First Nations demonstration project.

This week's issue of the Kuh-ke-nah page in Wawatay News include the following articles:

• KO Chiefs speak about ICTs in their communities: Chiefs John McKay (Keewaywin First Nation), Jimmy Rae (North Spirit Lake First Nation) and Roy Gray (Fort Severn First Nation) take a moment from their busy schedules to reflect upon the impact and changes that ICTs and broadband connectivity have brought to their communities. As well, each leader shares their wishes and hopes for further developments that these communication tools can bring to the people and communities they serve. Read the story ...
• Great "Waboose" hunt leads to healthier relationships: Karen Kakepetum, the Healthy Babies, Healthy Children Program Coordinator in Keewaywin First Nation organized a rabbit snaring session with several mothers in her community. Click here to view the pictures that can be found on the Keewaywin First Nation web site. The session /workshop is creating some healthy spin offs for several families in the community. Read the story ...
• K-Net Showcase - contains photos from the Personal Homepage photo galleries at http://myknet.org. This week's issue is profiling the homepages of Angie Morris, Carol Terry, Blue Mason, Jeremy Sawanas and Angus Miles.

Rick Garrick is researching additional stories for future articles. If you have a story that you want to share about this project and the work that is happening in your community to get connected, please send us an e-mail.

Various newspaper articles are being scanned and stored for reference purposes in this photo gallery.

First Nation students from one end of the province to the other will be starting an eight week on-line Math supplementary course starting Monday, January 19.

Eighteen First Nation schools have registered their grade 8 classes for the on-line math supplementary course material (click here to view the map and list of First Nations signing up for this support service). Fernando Oliveira is the course / program coordinator (click here to find out more about Fernando who use to work in Fort Severn and Poplar Hill as a KiHS teacher).

Click here to see a PDF document providing an overview of this innovative on-line project detailing:

• the program background information,
• school and student requirements,
• program schedule (2003/2004 School Year),
• how the program works,
• personalizing the program,
• student participation,
• lesson marking strategy,
• teacher preparation tasks.

This initiative is being facilitated by Keewaytinook Okimakanak as part of Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet Regional Management Organization initiative. This program is offering a number of innovative support services for First Nation schools across Ontario including school and community web site development training workshops, video conferencing pilot projects, hardware and software acquisition support, broadband and high speed connectivity solutions and toll-free helpdesk support.

Click here to learn more about Industry Canada's SchoolNet services and program and about the 7,000 on-line learning resources available to support schools, students and teachers in using these communication tools.

Click here to visit the First Nations SchoolNet web site.

Click here to visit the Grassroots program that provides classrooms with funding for developing on-line activities and resources.

Personal homepages on myKnet.org are the centre of attention for many K-Net users from across Northern Ontario. Yesterday, January 16, 2004, marked a significant milestone with this collection of personal homepages receiving over one million hits in a SINGLE DAY!!

The actual number of hits yesterday made by nearly 12,000 visitors was 1,040,926! Click here to view these traffic statistics on-line.

These personal homepages are primarily an on-line gathering place for First Nation youth from across Northern Ontario. Some of the material contained on these pages are a wonderful presentation of some of the great things happening in people's lives across the region. Other material is disturbing and controversial. In both cases, it is another means for sharing and supporting each other.

Keewaytinook Okimakanak staff hosted another Post Nuke training session for First Nation school webmasters in Thunder Bay on January 15 and 16. Brian Walmark, KO's SchoolNet Special Projects Coordinator arranged for participants and workshop facilitators to come together to begin the production of another set of portals for the First Nation schools that sent a staff member to learn about setting up and managing their school's web site. Click here to see some pictures from the workshop.

Check out the http://firstnationschools.ca portal to find the links to the First Nation schools that are creating and maintaining their local web sites. News stories about different services and developments from Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet Ontario Regional Management Organization can be found at this site.

Industry Canada officials who were visiting K-Net in Sioux Lookout and the KO management team from Balmertown dropped in via video to meet the workshop participants.

Later this afternoon a group of people from Industry Canada in Ottawa and Thunder Bay will be arriving in Sioux Lookout to visit K-Net and to learn about the work we are doing in this region.

They include:

• Ross Macleod - Director General of the Information Highway Applications Branch who is charge of all the different programs we are using including Smart, BRAND, SchoolNet, CAP, etc
• Pierre Gendron - Director of SchoolNet who is in charge of the First Nations SchoolNet program
• Suzanne Robert - Manager of the First Nations SchoolNet program
• Valerie Ladouceur - Project Officer for the First Nations SchoolNet program
• Kathy Fisher -  Senior Advisor with the BRAND program
• Carl Seibel - Telecom Projects Officer - FedNor Program

The two days of meetings and tours will involve demonstrations and discussions about the importance of connectivity, broadband applications and adequate telecom infrastructure in the First Nations across the province. The tenative agenda for these next few days follows.

Industry Canada visit to Sioux Lookout
January 14 - 16, 2004

Wednesday, January 14

• Arrival on Bearskin flight 349 at 4:40 pm
• Pick up at airport and check in at hotel
• Supper with K-Net team at Forest Inn Dining Room scheduled for 6:30 pm
• Informal discussions and preparations for next day (tour of office)

Thursday, January 15

8:00 am to 12:00 pm -

• Group 1: Ross, Carl, Cathy, Dan, John, Ernie - flight to Slate Falls First Nation - satellite served community with single Bell Canada pay phone, C-Band earth station, IP video and telephony service, meetings with Slate Falls community leaders and members.
  
• Group 2: Pierre, Suzanne, Valerie, Brian, Barb - drive to Lac Seul First Nation to visit two First Nation schools (Kejick Bay and Whitefish Bay) originally connected via DirecPC, now using two way satellite service with migration plans to broadband wireless solution - meeting with Education Director, school personnel, community leadership, Keewaytinook Internet High School staff and students

12:30 pm Lunch at Keewaytinook Okimakanak - discussions about the highlights from morning visits and tours - video connections with other community sites

1:30 pm Video session with Web Site Development workshop taking place with group in Thunder Bay

2:00 pm Tour of local facilities and resources including:

• local fibre loop connecting all the different Aboriginal agencies and services
• C-Band satellite site
• wireless loop
• server facilities (public library, office)
• local partners and applications (education, health, etc)

2:30 pm Review of various broadband applications (education, health, administration, etc) via video conference session with First Nations and organizations

3:30 pm Ricardo Ramirez, University of Guelph - program evaluation work

4:00 pm Broadband connectivity needs and issues (National Satellite Initiative, applications, etc)

4:30 pm SchoolNet initiatives and applications (Internet High School, grade 8 supplementary program, video conferencing, connectivity, etc)

5:00 pm Supper Break - Sunset Inn - Dick and Nellie’s at 6:30 pm

Friday, January 16

9:00 am Pelican Falls First Nations Secondary School - NIS participant - tour, meeting with principal and teacher involved with the school

10:30 am Community-based, regional, national and international initiatives, issues and directions (connections with the KO First Nations)

11:30 am Future Issues and Requirements

12:30 pm Lunch at Forest Inn

2:00 pm Airport and flight back to Ottawa

Keewaytinook Okimakanak is Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program Regional Management Organization for Ontario. One initiative undertaken by this program is  to promote and increase the amount and quality of Aboriginal learning resources for First Nation schools. Keewaytinook Okimakanak is working with a number of other First Nation organizations to support the production and access to new on-line resources.

Partnerships have been established with five organizations. The sixth initiative involves the development and delivery of the Grade 8 Supplementary Science, Math and English courses (see http://g8.firstnationschools.ca). The five other projects and their lead organizations are:

1. Virtual Career Fair and Opportunities (with an emphasis on Engineering and Science) lead by the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (Toronto and Thunder Bay offices). Click here for more information about this project.
   
2. First Nations On-line News and Information Project lead by Wawatay Native Communications Society with offices in Sioux  Lookout and Moose Factory. Click here for more information about this project.
   
3. Aboriginal e-Learning Child and Youth Health Portal Project lead by Noojmowin-Teg Health Centre on Manitoulin Island. Click here for more information about this project.
   
4. First Nations Language and Academic Curriculum materials lead by the Seven Generations Education Institute in Fort Frances.
   
5. Youth Suicide Prevention On-line Project lead by Nishnawbe-Aski Nation and the NAN Decade for Youth team.

Everyone is invited to visit http://firstnationschools.ca to learn more about some of the other work being undertaken by the team working with the First  Nation schools across Ontario.