Beyond Infrastructure: Broadband for Development in Remote and Indigenous Regions

Recent telecommunications stimulus projects in the U.S. and Canada were intended to increase availability of broadband through funding infrastructure investments, largely in rural and remote regions. However, true access involves more than availability; it also includes affordability and adoption. This paper presents a framework for analyzing broadband adoption that takes into consideration geographical, economic and cultural environments in indigenous communities. It includes an overview of potential social and economic impacts of broadband in remote areas, using examples from the Alaska study and the Canadian North. It then reports on results of an evaluation of Internet use and potential adoption of broadband in remote indigenous communities of southwest Alaska. Finally, the paper provides a comparative analysis of U.S. and Canadian policies intended to achieve affordable access to broadband for rural users and sustainable business models for rural broadband providers.Ye

Access to internet in rural and remote Canada

Canada is the second largest landmass country in the world, but has one of the lowest population densities. As of 2011, approximately 19% of the Canadian population lives in rural, or remote communities. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in rural and urban access to the Internet and device use in Canada, and to explore differences in access to broadband between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities in Canada. In general rural-dwellers had lower levels of Internet access and despite efforts to increase access to high speed Internet, Aboriginal communities in some regions have limited access. Future research should explore computer and health literacy in the context of rural and remote communities in Canada. © 2014 The authors and IOS Press

Internet Connectivity Among Indigenous and Tribal Communities in North America - A Focus on Social and Educational Outcomes

Broadband access is an important part of enhancing rural community development, improving the general quality of life. Recent telecommunications stimulus projects in the U.S. and Canada were intended to increase availability of broadband through funding infrastructure investments, largely in rural and remote regions. However, there are various small, remote, and rural communities, who remain unconnected. Connectivity is especially important for indigenous and tribal communities to access opportunities for various public services as they are generally located in remote areas. In 2016, the FCC reported that 41% of U.S. citizens living on tribal lands, and 68% of those in the rural areas of tribal lands, lacked access to broadband, and that the lack of service hindered tribal nations from building their internal structures for self-governance, economic opportunity, education, public safety, and cultural preservation. It is significant to study the indigenous and tribal communities to bridge the digital divide and bring transformative change to these communities. Our findings show some geographic, economic, technological, and generational challenges for connectivity, some unique uses of connectivity for cultural practices, and its impact on educational outcomes in these communities. Since the inception of Southern California Tribal Network, high school graduation has become radically more attainable in these communities due to additional resources made available via the Internet. Connected North promoted interactive Internet learning for students in remote regions to combat endemic local social issues such as a low graduation rate of approximately 20%, and the highest global per capita suicide rate among youth. The contribution of this study is three-fold. First, we identify the geographic, economic, technological, and political challenges for reliable connectivity among indigenous and tribal communities. Second, we show how some tribes and advocacy groups are handling the connectivity themselves, such as operating community networks and remote educational services. Third, we provide an overview of potential impacts of broadband, primarily at the social and educational levels among indigenous and tribal communities. This study suggests approaches for more sustainable connectivity facilities to remote Indigenous communities and reinforces the need for community-driven initiatives to ensure connectivity is conducted in a culturally and technically appropriate manner

Toward Universal Broadband in Rural Alaska

The TERRA-Southwest project is extending broadband service to 65 communities in the Bristol Bay, Bethel and Yukon-Kuskokwim regions. A stimulus project funded by a combination of grants and loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), TERRA-Southwest has installed a middle-mile network using optical fiber and terrestrial microwave. Last-mile service will be through fixed wireless or interconnection with local telephone networks. The State of Alaska, through its designee Connect Alaska, also received federal stimulus funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for tasks that include support for an Alaska Broadband Task Force “to both formalize a strategic broadband plan for the state of Alaska and coordinate broadband activities across relevant agencies and organizations.” Thus, a study of the impact of the TERRA project in southwest Alaska is both relevant and timely. This first phase provides baseline data on current access to and use of ICTs and Internet connectivity in rural Alaska, and some insights about perceived benefits and potential barriers to adoption of broadband. It is also intended to provide guidance to the State Broadband Task Force in determining how the extension of broadband throughout the state could contribute to education, social services, and economic activities that would enhance Alaska’s future. Results of the research could also be used proactively to develop strategies to encourage broadband adoption, and to identify applications and support needed by users with limited ICT skills.Connect Alaska. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration. General Communications Incorporated.Part 1: An Analysis of Internet Use in Southwest Alaska / Introduction / Previous Studies / Current Connectivity / Analytical Framework and Research Methodology / Demographics / Mobile Phones: Access and Use / Access to the Internet / Internet Useage / Considerations about Internet Service / Interest in Broadband / Sources of News / Comparison with National Data / Internet Use by Businesses and Organizations / What Difference may Broadband make in the Region? / Conclusiongs / Part 2 Literature Review / Reference

Broadband: a solution to rural e-learning?

Rural and remote learners are disadvantaged even with online provision due to poor connections. Broadband offers a potential solution. This paper looks at the initial results of a project to install broadband services in the Western Isles of Scotland. It focuses on the educational potential of broadband and the design implications for online courses. It also considers more informal kinds of learning that broadband facilitates in rural areas

'Two-speed' Scotland : patterns and implications of the digital divide in contemporary Scotland

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Breaking Barriers to Renewable Energy Production in the North American Arctic

As climate change continues to affect our lives, the communities at the northern extremes of our world have witnessed the changes most profoundly. In the Arctic, where climate change is melting permafrost and causing major shoreline erosion, remote communities in Alaska and northern Canada are particularly vulnerable. Furthermore, these communities have limited access to electrical grids and bear oppressive energy costs relying on diesel generators. While some communities have started to incorporate renewable energy into their hamlets and villages, progress has generally been limited with the notable exception of Canada’s Northwest Territories and some coastal communities in western Alaska. During its latest stint as chair of the Arctic Council, the United States outlined community renewable energy in the Arctic as one of its primary goals. This Note focuses on regulatory and practical policy solutions to make that goal possible. It draws on examples from industrialized countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as examples from developing countries, such as India and Peru, to examine solutions for the technical, economic, regulatory, and community engagement problems that Arctic communities in Alaska face when setting up new energy projects. Additionally, this Note describes the current political structure of Alaskan villages under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and argues that Alaska Native Corporations should play a role in developing clean, cheap energy sources for their shareholders. Finally, this Note argues that public-private partnerships, like the non-profit Arctic Energy Alliance in the Northwest Territories, shows that clean, renewable energy projects for rural Arctic villages are possible throughout the Arctic. This Note draws lessons from other communities throughout the world and attempts to apply them to the unique situations that remote northern Alaska communities face regarding access to clean, renewable energy

General practitioner (family physician) workforce in Australia: comparing geographic data from surveys, a mailing list and medicare

BACKGROUND Good quality spatial data on Family Physicians or General Practitioners (GPs) are key to accurately measuring geographic access to primary health care. The validity of computed associations between health outcomes and measures of GP access such as GP density is contingent on geographical data quality. This is especially true in rural and remote areas, where GPs are often small in number and geographically dispersed. However, there has been limited effort in assessing the quality of nationally comprehensive, geographically explicit, GP datasets in Australia or elsewhere.Our objective is to assess the extent of association or agreement between different spatially explicit nationwide GP workforce datasets in Australia. This is important since disagreement would imply differential relationships with primary healthcare relevant outcomes with different datasets. We also seek to enumerate these associations across categories of rurality or remoteness. METHOD We compute correlations of GP headcounts and workload contributions between four different datasets at two different geographical scales, across varying levels of rurality and remoteness. RESULTS The datasets are in general agreement with each other at two different scales. Small numbers of absolute headcounts, with relatively larger fractions of locum GPs in rural areas cause unstable statistical estimates and divergences between datasets. CONCLUSION In the Australian context, many of the available geographic GP workforce datasets may be used for evaluating valid associations with health outcomes. However, caution must be exercised in interpreting associations between GP headcounts or workloads and outcomes in rural and remote areas. The methods used in these analyses may be replicated in other locales with multiple GP or physician datasets

Actividades latinoamericanas en el espacio ultraterrestre en el siglo XXI: una actualización

En el siglo XXI, los países latinoamericanos han hecho esfuerzos significativos para avanzar en sus programas espaciales. Estos esfuerzos han abarcado desde una indagatoria sobre la instalación de un sistema de satélites, como es el caso en Colombia, hasta el lanzamiento de satélites con la ayuda de gobiernos extranjeros, en el caso de Brasil, Argentina y Bolivia. En todos estos casos, la falta de un marco jurídico coherente que apoye un programa espacial sólido que proporcione comunicaciones por satélite a las poblaciones más vulnerables es uno de los desafíos más apremiantes. El Consejo Asesor de Generación Espacial (SGAC) podría resolver este problema mediante un proyecto unificador que pondrá todas las mentes y desarrolladores en el objetivo común de alcanzar la autonomía espacial para América Latina.In the twenty-first century, Latin American countries have made significant efforts to advance their space programs. These efforts have ranged from inquiring about setup of a satellite system, as is the case in Colombia, to launching satellites with the aid of foreign governments, in the case of Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia. In all these cases, the lack of a coherent legal framework that supports a solid space program that provides satellite communications to the most vulnerable populations is one of the most pressing challenges. The Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) could solve this problem in the form of a unifying project that will put all minds and developers to work towards the common goal of achieving space autonomy for Latin America