Media.Knet.Ca

Robert Semple and Terra Anderson from Kasabonika First Nation are working together to support the development of broadband applications in their community. On Friday, Oct 24, they met with K-Net staff to discuss ongoing K-Net support for our partner First Nations utilizing the public benefit C-Band resource for broadband connectivity.

Discussions included:

• challenges and issues concerning the present level of service;
• overview of the existing network and the various components;
• introduction of available support services, staff and resources;
• tour of facilities, systems and components;
• review of network costs and pricing formula;
• introduction of the on-line video conferencing booking and network management systems;
• future developments including the construction of the big dish, additional bandwidth resources, scheduling system and partnerships;
• demonstrations of network applications.

Jesse Fiddler, K-Net Multi-Media Manager, has accepted an invitation from the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) to attend the World Summit on the Information Society gathering in Geneva the week of December 8.

From their web site, "the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) emerged from the 2001 Summit of the Americas. It is the forum for hemispheric innovation in the application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to strengthen democracy, create prosperity, and realize human potential.... The ICA is currently being incubated at Industry Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa and Montevideo."

K-Net staff are working with our network partners to determine if we can connect into the WSIS gathering over the Kuh-ke-nah Network. The Chiefs of Keewaytinook Okimakanak are meeting in Winnipeg the week of December 8 and are inviting other First Nation leaders to a "Smart Fair" on December 10 where we are planning to schedule a video connection with the Canadian Pavilion in Geneva to showcase First Nation innovation in the use of ICTs to the world.

In the words of UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society offers

• a unique opportunity to shape the future of the information society’ so that all people can enjoy its benefits ; and
• a platform for developing a shared vision of ways to create a truly inclusive information society that serves and empowers all people.

For more information about WSIS check out these web sites:

• The official United Nations (ITU) WSIS web site
• The Canadian government WSIS web site
• The Community Networking WSIS web site (civil society)

Representatives from Eabamatoong and Webequie spent the day meeting with K-Net staff and Carl Seibel, FedNor Telecom Projects Officer. Nanajean Waswa is the Eabamatoong Cable TV Manager. Lorraine Shewaybick, Employment Counsellor and Lisa Shewaybick, Distance Education Coordinator travelled from Webequie to attend the one day workshop. The workshop was hosted by K-Net to provide ongoing support for partner First Nations utilizing the public benefit C-Band resource for broadband connectivity.

Discussions included:

• challenges and issues concerning the present level of service;
• overview of the existing network and the various components;
• introduction of available support services, staff and resources;
• tour of facilities, systems and components;
• review of network costs and pricing formula;
• introduction of the on-line video conferencing booking and network management systems;
• future developments including the construction of the big dish, additional bandwidth resources, scheduling system and partnerships;
• demonstrations of network applications.

The partnership with Bell Canada is being strengthened today with meetings with the K-Net team and Industry Canada. Four members of the Bell team arrived in Sioux Lookout yesterday afternoon with an initial meeting happening at the airport over a coffee as some people arrived and another was leaving.

Nathalie Micucci and Steve Burton travelled from Ottawa and met Tricia Hartley and Gary Martin in Sudbury to complete the flight to Sioux Lookout. At the airport, they met with Geordi Kakepetum (KO Executive Director) and Brian Beaton (K-Net Coordinator). Today, they will be meeting with Dan Pellerin, K-Net Network Manager and Carl Seibel, FedNor Telecom Project Officer.

The K-Net team is working with the Smart Manitoba team in Brandon to deliver a live video conferencing demonstration highlighting the importance of broadband. The presentation is taking place at Brandon's annual Tech2003 conference today, Oct 22.

Over the past few weeks, Adi Linden and Dan Pellerin worked together with other members of the K-Net technical team to install and implement the DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) feature on the K-Net Satellite Network Management System (NMS). The DVB is the return transport path for the data traffic going to each of the satellite served First Nations.

Local technicians are completing the installations using the directions Adi developed using the photo gallery located in the Network web site. Lyle Johnson did the first DVB conversion in his home community of Weagamow working with Adi. Then Madeleine Stoney completed the installation of the DVB unit in Fort Severn. Angus Miles made the trip over to Sachigo. Yesterday, Jamie Ray was in Webequie successfully getting that site up after travelling from Fort Hope where he got that site up. Bob Popovic travelled to Kasabonika. Ernie Buswa travelled to Cat Lake to complete the installation. Slate Falls will be the last site transferred over to DVB possibly by the end of this week. WHAT A TEAM effort ... Congratulations to everyone and GREAT work!!

Brian Walmark, KO's SchoolNet Special Projects Facilitator, is setting up an extension office for Keewaytinook Okimakanak on the fourth floor of the Kings Stereo building at 135 N. Syndicate Avenue in Thunder Bay. Jesse Fiddler, KO's Multi-media Coordinator, travelled to Thunder Bay to work with Brian is getting the office networked and set up the video conferencing facilities.

This office space will also strengthen our partnership with Conduit Technologies and Northwest Information Systems Inc and our partnerships with other First Nation organizations in Thunder Bay to deliver broadband connectivity across the region.

The project leaders from the twelve Smart Communities Demonstration projects were linked together via video conference for a four and a half hour meeting. Discussion areas included:

• project sustainability with presenatations from K-Net, Manitoba, Alberta and BC.
• project impacts with presentations from PEI, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

People are invited to watch and listen to this meeting on-line at:

http://streaming.knet.ca/SC-Oct20-meeting.wmv (requires Windows Media Player, 4.5 hours in length, 499MB)

Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet program teams from across Canada are meeting today and tomorrow near Sydney, Nova Scotia. The meeting is being streamed and archived for everyone to watch and learn about the plans and tools that are being developed and implemented across the country.

Click here to watch the archived version of the Saturday portion of the meeting. (requires Windows Media, 426MB, 3.5 hours)

Darlene Rae, North Spirit Lake's e-Centre Manager, along with Jesse Fiddler, K-Net Multi-media Coordinator and Dan Pellerin, K-Net's Network Manager travelled over to Nova Scotia to attend this meeting. Others participants from across the country joined the meeting via video conferencing.

The October 16 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:

• Organizations and groups @ myknet.org: Different First Nation groups and local organizations are now using myknet.org to establish their own web sites and post information about their work and services. In this article, Lenny Rizzo from the Outsiders band talks about his band's web site. Other groups and organizations from different First Nations are now producing and maintaining their own web sites.
• More First Nation organizations apply to develop broadband connections and applications: Developing the business cases and raising the funds required to build broadband infrastructure requires many different partners. In this article, Ernie Buswa from Windigo, Carl Seibel from FedNor and Ed Hoshizaki discuss the work it takes to prepare these funding proposals to bring broadband connectivity to remote First Nations.
• K-Net Showcase - contains photos from the K-Net photo gallery at http://photos.knet.ca with images of the some of the Chiefs of Keewaytinook Okimakanak meeting to review and direct the work and staff of their organization.

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.