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

8
TOPIC 8: Building capacity: Operations and management
In this topic we explore the operations and management of First Mile broadband systems. Specifically, we look at the ways that Indigenous peoples and communities are taking on the ownership and management of broadband networks and digital technologies. Case studies from Northern Ontario and the Northwest Territories demonstrate how remote and rural First Nations are developing their own cellular phone, voice-over-IP telephone, and fibre optic systems. Importantly, these projects require a degree of local capacity to ensure that they can be operated and maintained by community members. Community champions play a key role in sustaining this work. We consider the benefits of these projects, as well as some of the challenges their operators face.
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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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