This course explores the relationships between colonialism, the growth of digital networks and applications, and community development. It re-frames problems like the ‘digital divide’ by illustrating how people and communities are taking ownership and control of solving them.

It recognizes that this work faces significant challenges. Historic and ongoing inequalities restrict the abilities of individuals and communities to effectively use digital technologies. However, people are also undertaking many projects of self-determination, including in the area of technology development. This course explores these initiatives, focusing on how they represent expressions of Indigenous resurgence and innovation in the emerging network society.

The course was initially developed in 2013-2014 as SOCI 2804, a for-credit course in the Department of Sociology at the University of New Brunswick (UNB). It is part of the First Nations Innovation project, which is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The project is a partnership between UNB, Atlantic Canada's First Nations Help Desk, the First Nations Education Council in Quebec, and Keewaytinook Okimakanak K-Net Services in Ontario.
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Topic outline

7
TOPIC 7: Supporting First Mile initiatives: Community-based and indigenous research methods
In this unit we cover community-based research methods, with a focus on research with Indigenous communities. The goal of this approach is to consider how these research methods can support First Mile development initiatives. Conditions of settler colonialism and the historical role of social scientists and other researchers in supporting them informed reforms that resulted in unique approaches to research. Community-based Indigenous research projects stress collaboration: outcomes benefit communities as well as researchers and the institutions they work for. In Canada, this approach is captured in principles like Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) and reflected in partnerships between Indigenous and university-based researchers. These projects are documenting the work going on in communities, in order to share ideas, challenges and best practices.

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First Mile Connectivity Consortium
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Supported by the SSHRC-funded
First Nations Innovation Project
This course came about through discussions among the project partners, who wanted to generate freely available online resources to support community-based ICT development.

Please email the course developer Rob McMahon with any suggestions, or if you have additional material you'd like to see here.

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