Post by Okwes on Sept 27, 2006 13:31:22 GMT -5
Tribe's tech plan a model program
Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 19, 2006 12:00 AM
www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0919biz-navajo19.html
TONALEA - While much of rural Arizona lags in an Internet void, the
Navajo Nation is a leader among the nation's tribes in speedy
connections.
Renda Fowler, community services director for the remote Tonalea chapter
east of Tuba City, says it never ceases to amaze her.
[http://www.azcentral.com/imgs/clear.gif]
[http://www.azcentral.com/imgs/clear.gif]
As cattle graze outside her window and the sun drops behind one of the
area's red mesas, Fowler looks at the four modern computers moving
streaming video in an adjoining room as teenagers pay rapt attention to
a hip-hop video.
Just five years ago, the traditional shepherds in these parts were as
far off the communications grid as could be imagined with what was
regarded as the worst phone service in the country. Fowler said she had
to start planning meetings of the local Navajo governing unit months
before just to make sure everyone was invited.
But thanks to a $15 million Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation grant, all
of the Navajos' 110 chapter houses in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have
satellite dishes and Wi-Fi high-speed connections to the Internet to
serve the more than 100,000 people living on the reservation.
Many times, pickups park in front of the chapter houses at night and
tribal members use laptops in their cabs to connect to the Internet.
Occasionally, high winds or a rainstorm will knock the computer system
off line. But Fowler says she is more than willing to put up with those
kinds of inconveniences.
"We're a long ways from the nearest good public library and this gives
us access to information," Fowler said. "The older people also are
picking it up more and more because they've seen how you can use pages
like eBay to buy and sell things."
The Navajo Nation also has been pushing the rural chapters, some of
which use solar electricity to power their computers, to post their
information and meeting minutes online so they can be shared with other
chapters and improve the quality of local government.
"When we started planning this six years ago, only 5 percent of people
living out here had e-mail addresses, and now more than 90 percent do,"
said Dave Stephens, CEO of OnSat Co. in Salt Lake City, which did the
installation of the Wi-Fi network at Navajo.
Patrick Sandoval, chief aide to Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., also
said that the Navajo government - after soliciting the Gates Foundation
grant - wants to be the leader among indigenous people worldwide in
Internet access.
Shirley attended a United Nations conference in Tunis, Tunisia, last
October to speak on the subject, and Sandoval attended a Western
Hemisphere gathering of Native Americans in Mexico City in November to
talk about using the Internet in the most rural locales.
"We see this as being one of our best chances of economic development
while at the same time providing education in areas where there have
been huge restrictions on learning," Sandoval said.
Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 19, 2006 12:00 AM
www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0919biz-navajo19.html
TONALEA - While much of rural Arizona lags in an Internet void, the
Navajo Nation is a leader among the nation's tribes in speedy
connections.
Renda Fowler, community services director for the remote Tonalea chapter
east of Tuba City, says it never ceases to amaze her.
[http://www.azcentral.com/imgs/clear.gif]
[http://www.azcentral.com/imgs/clear.gif]
As cattle graze outside her window and the sun drops behind one of the
area's red mesas, Fowler looks at the four modern computers moving
streaming video in an adjoining room as teenagers pay rapt attention to
a hip-hop video.
Just five years ago, the traditional shepherds in these parts were as
far off the communications grid as could be imagined with what was
regarded as the worst phone service in the country. Fowler said she had
to start planning meetings of the local Navajo governing unit months
before just to make sure everyone was invited.
But thanks to a $15 million Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation grant, all
of the Navajos' 110 chapter houses in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah have
satellite dishes and Wi-Fi high-speed connections to the Internet to
serve the more than 100,000 people living on the reservation.
Many times, pickups park in front of the chapter houses at night and
tribal members use laptops in their cabs to connect to the Internet.
Occasionally, high winds or a rainstorm will knock the computer system
off line. But Fowler says she is more than willing to put up with those
kinds of inconveniences.
"We're a long ways from the nearest good public library and this gives
us access to information," Fowler said. "The older people also are
picking it up more and more because they've seen how you can use pages
like eBay to buy and sell things."
The Navajo Nation also has been pushing the rural chapters, some of
which use solar electricity to power their computers, to post their
information and meeting minutes online so they can be shared with other
chapters and improve the quality of local government.
"When we started planning this six years ago, only 5 percent of people
living out here had e-mail addresses, and now more than 90 percent do,"
said Dave Stephens, CEO of OnSat Co. in Salt Lake City, which did the
installation of the Wi-Fi network at Navajo.
Patrick Sandoval, chief aide to Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., also
said that the Navajo government - after soliciting the Gates Foundation
grant - wants to be the leader among indigenous people worldwide in
Internet access.
Shirley attended a United Nations conference in Tunis, Tunisia, last
October to speak on the subject, and Sandoval attended a Western
Hemisphere gathering of Native Americans in Mexico City in November to
talk about using the Internet in the most rural locales.
"We see this as being one of our best chances of economic development
while at the same time providing education in areas where there have
been huge restrictions on learning," Sandoval said.