Welcome! The following success story is currently under Lone Eagle review but looks to be one of the best indigenous self-empowerment success stories in the world. Many links follow for your review. A summary of the best Knet innovations is planned. Refer additional resources to Frank Odasz frank@lone-eagles.com
The K-Net Story: Community ICT
Development Work
Brian Beaton
Keewaytinook Okimakanak (K-Net)
brian.beaton@knet.ca
The Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) provides information and communication technologies (ICTs), telecommunication infrastructure and application support in First Nation communities across a vast, remote region of north-western Ontario as well as in other remote regions in Canada. This private telecommunications network supports the development of online applications that combine video, voice and data services requiring broadband and high-speed connectivity solutions. K-Net is a program of Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO), a First Nations tribal council established by the leaderships of Deer Lake, Fort Severn, Keewaywin, McDowell Lake, North Spirit Lake and Poplar Hill bands to provide a variety of second level support services for their communities. Kuhkenah is an Oji-Cree term for everyone, everywhere.
The KO First Nation communities
are part of Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), located in northern
The accompanying video provides a brief overview of some of the work that
has gone into building and sustaining the regional network that supports local
community based networks (CBNs). The video was produced by members of the K-Net
team working in partnership with George Ferreira, a PhD candidate at the
University of Guelph who is completing his thesis work using video material as a
medium to present evaluation documentation as well as influence policy and
program development (Ferreira, 2004).
This video was created as part of
a larger collection of video material that is being used for a variety of
applications. On a Saturday morning in December, we went for a drive around my
community of Sioux Lookout and spent time to talk about our work, our partners
and our understanding about how these networks can develop and why they are
important in remote and rural communities. In the video there is a scene where
the base of the new 7.3 metre satellite earth station is being built. Today that
satellite dish is operational and the pictures and the video story documenting
the construction of this infrastructure are now on-line at
http://tech.knet.ca/photos/satellite.
The production of these videos
resulted in several other significant multi-media presentations being produced
and shared on-line. The resulting work and presentations are helping others
around the world understand the potential and the possibilities for these types
of local ICT developments in their own communities. One important product of
this work was a multi-media presentation that was produced with the Institute
for Connectivity of Americas (http://icamericas.net)
and other partners and presented at the World Summit of the Information Society
(WSIS) in
Community vision
and need have been the driving forces behind K-Net’s development. The results
impact local communities and the entire region’s health, education and economic
opportunities. These video productions provide an explanation of the network’s
history, some of the key players, partners and accomplishments to date. The
videos and accompanying print material demonstrate how First Nations people are
finding ways to harness these new technologies to strengthen and support the
entire community, including their traditions, language and cultural heritage.
The KO First Nation communities
have experienced an impressive amount of development in a relatively short time
period. Two of the communities have gone from having one phone for 400 people
four years ago, to accessing broadband services from individual homes today.
This rapid development of K-Net’s technical infrastructure and services, and its
impact on local health, education, and economic development is introduced in
these videos. The K-Net experience and the stories from the communities and the
people involved in this work demonstrate how local needs and demands can drive
technology and network infrastructure development.
References Cited
Beaton, B. &
Fiddler, J. (1999, 13-16 October).
Living Smart in Two Worlds: Maintaining and Protecting First nation Culture for
Future Generations.
Local Knowledge/Global Challenge: Smart Community Development.
Ferreira, G., Ramirez, R., Walmark,
B. (2004, 18 September). Connectivity in Canada’s Far North: Participatory
Evaluation in Ontario’s Aboriginal Communities. Measuring the Information
Society: What, How, for Whom and What? Workshop.
Keewaytinook Okimakanak - Northern
Chief Council. (1999) The Kuh-Ke-Nah
Network of Smart First Nations. Sioux lookout,
Here is a web tour with annotations for those who would like to appreciate the full range of innovations of the K-net project team.
Infrastructure
The K-net project infrastructure is based on broadband satellite technology and
details are available at their many web sites.
Info-Structure
This web tour will focus on their community software innovations. Many of their
innovations are based on an open source content management system (CMS) called 'postnuke.'
The term "open source" means the software is free and that anyone can change the
software in any way they want. As a result programmers worldwide are
simultaneously innovating and improving the software. The purpose of a CMS is to
make it as easy as possible for many people without technical skills to
contribute content in many formats to benefits others. The K-net project has
created simple tutorials, offers both community and personal CMSs along with
well-developed tutorials. The key innovation is that many tribal communities
have embraced the potential and are using these systems to demonstrate
innovative personal and community applications. CMS site are based on modules
for posting articles, photogalleries, online discussions, etc. There are
literally hundreds of modules available - including modules for Internet TV and
Internet Radio.
K-Net Case Studies and Project
Overview http://smart.knet.ca/kuhkenah_flash.html
Here are video overviews of the main
componsents of the Knet project including
a collection of case studies that include an Introduction to K-Net and
four specialized case studies covering Network Development, Education, Health
and Economic Development, along with accompanying video material for each
chapter of the production.
Main K-Net Sites
K-Net Home Page
http://knet.ca
Knet News
http://knews.knet.ca
Application Sites
The Telehealth on-line environment http://telehealth.knet.ca -
The Internet high school environment http://kihs.knet.ca
The on-line space for Canadian First Nation schools http://firstnationschools.ca
A Sample School Site http://acec.firstnationschools.ca/
A Sample School Site http://johncyesno.firstnationschools.ca/
Special Events
An Online International Conference
http://smart.knet.ca/international
An online international conference involving online presenters from other global
indigenous ICT projects. Video and audio presentations have been archived and
are available.
Preserving and Teaching Indigenous Language
http://language.firstnationschools.ca
Examples of using modern technology
Community Sites offered free to First Nation communities, but are also offered to other communities for $300 for installation and a small monthly maintenance free. Custom graphics, additional modules and other technical enhancements are also available. Inquire at http://knet-ca/services/ (These community sites use the firstnation.ca domain which we purchase and renew each year)
http://bigtroutlake.firstnation.ca
http://eabametoong.firstnation.ca
http://rainyriver.firstnation.ca
http://fortsevern.firstnation.ca
http://keewaywin.firstnation.ca
http://poplarhill.firstnation.ca
Individual Sites MyKnet offers free CMS
sites to individuals. There are probably 40 or 50 of these using the free
http://myknet.org environment) 60 million hits a month demonstrate
that individuals are using these sites!
www.richardogima.myknet.org
http://oliverdixon.myknet.org A 13 yr old from Sandy Lake. Great example of what kids are capable of these days.
Then there is Craig Hardy, the internet high school teacher, from Fort
thereis a great video clip of him sharing his thoughts at
Macromedia Breeze Multimedia Presentations
This tool is offered to all K-Net participants so they can host their own
instructional presentations with video, audio, powerpoint, and more. A sample
presentation is at
http://breeze.knet.ca/p49035793 (you might
Brian Beaton Writes: Not too sure about time to write a one pager trying to capture 11 years of work [smiles] ... but I would once again suggest the on-line video clips do tell the story better than any one pager could. I have given a number of presentations over the years about our work and the one that I think had a big impact was to a group of university librarians at an event called Access 2002 [smiles] ... the presentation can be seen at http://knet.ca/documents/access2002.pdf
Tutorials on Learning to Build Content at Your Personal or Community
CMS Site
Jesse produced a number
of training resources that are available on-line at
http://firstnationschools.ca
...
Click on GET HELP FOR YOUR WEBSITE! (in the upper left box under
Free Online Services). The online help desk is an on-line Breeze
service that Jesse and Cal use to support users to develop their CMS
web sites as required.
Select first Flash Tutorial and also see the Dummies Guide to Postnuke. Both are excellent.
More soon and I learn more from my own exploring!