Where Eagles Dare: Spectrum Policy

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Where Eagles DareSpectrum Policy Wireless
Technology in Indian Country

• Cultural Issues
• Steve Dupuis
• Salish Kootenai College
• Pablo, Montana

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My Background

• Salish, Kootenai and Nez Perce
• Live on the Flathead Indian Reservation
• Located in Northwestern Montana
• BS in Business, MS in Technology Management
• Coordinating wireless effort through the AN-MSI
  Project

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Indian Reservation Statistics

• 76.4 average telephone penetration rate,
  national average 94.1
• 26.8 households have access to computers,
  national average 42.1
• 18.9 have Internet access, national average
  26.2
• 33 Tribally controlled Colleges American Indian
  Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)

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Shaping the Destiny of Native American People

• An article in the Jan/Feb 2001 EDUCAUSE Review
• Talks about why ending the Digital Divide is so
  crucial
• AIHECs strategy for ending the Digital Divide in
  Indian Country
• Summary no more handouts, we have our own
  solutions

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Barriers in Indian Country

• Distrust of specific new technologies
• Geographic remoteness
• Weak economic bases in tribal communities
• Lack of private investment on tribal lands
• Poor targeting of specific government policies
  for improving technology infrastructures in
  Native American communities
• Lack of protection of Native American
  intellectual property rights over the Internet.

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Advanced Networking With Minority Serving
Institutions(AN-MSI)

• Funded through a 6M 4 year grant from NSF to
  EDUCAUSE
• EDUCAUSE is an international non-profit
  association whose mission is to help shape
  enable transformational change in higher
  education through the introduction, use
  management of information resources and
  technology in teaching, learning, scholarship,
  research institutional management

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Advanced Networking With Minority Serving
Institutions(AN-MSI)

• Executive Awareness assisting campus
  decision-makers in visualizing and planning for
  effective integration of the Internet in their
  institutions
• Resource Development locating additional
  funding to make possible the improvements
  developed by AN-MSI
• Networking Technology addressing the networking
  technical, operational, and support issues facing
  minority-serving institutions

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Advanced Networking With Minority Serving
Institutions(AN-MSI)

• Internet Connectivity developing
  wireless/satellite pilot projects, innovative
  wired technology, and cooperative connectivity
  projects
• Applications encouraging and implementing
  high-performance applications and assisting other
  applications making use of the improved networks
• Evaluation assessing the projects
  effectiveness and modifying the project as
  appropriate

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Advanced Networking With Minority Serving
Institutions(AN-MSI)

• For more information see
• www.anmsi.org
• www.educause.edu

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AN-MSI

• Under the Internet Connectivity committee is what
  has become known as the Wireless Project
• Collaborating with the High Performance Wireless
  Research Education Network
• A solicitation was developed and sent to all 33
  AIHEC Tribal Colleges last summer
• Received eight responses, made four awards

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AN-MSI

• These four institutions are
• Fort Berthold Community College, New Town, ND
• Turtle Mountain Community College, Belcourt, ND
• Fort Peck Community College, Poplar, MT
• Sitting Bull College, Fort Yates, ND

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AN-MSI

• The other four institutions include
• Fort Belknap Community College, Harlem, MT
• Fond du Lac Tribal Community College, Cloquet,
  MN
• Leech Lake Tribal College, Cass Lake, MN
• Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute,
  Albuquerque, NM

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Cultural Issues

• Involve conflict between the old and the new
• Some elders want to go back to the way it was
• Younger generation wants the best of both worlds
• Involve traditions, ceremonies and religious
  beliefs
• Most mountain tops hold some cultural
  significance or is used in some ceremony
• Some ceremonies cannot be recorded by any means
  and their is great fear in any new technology

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Cultural Issues

• More specifically to this presentation is the
  issue of Tribal Sovereignty
• Through the various and numerous treaties with
  Tribes, certain rights to the land, air and water
  have been guaranteed. This also includes the
  Spectrum
• Tribes are very interested in asserting their
  rights, as history has shown if they dont, they
  will loose these rights

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Cultural Issues

• I am by no means attempting to represent all the
  different tribes and tribal cultures that are
  represented in this country, but only provide a
  general overview of the issues related to the
  cultural aspects of the Wireless Project