First Mile Meeting (1.5 hours) Monday, August 19, 2011 - 9am Pacific / 11am Central / 12 noon Eastern / 1pm Atlantic

Participants: 1. K-Net/KOTM (Sioux Lookout) - Brian Beaton, Lyle Johnson 2. KORI (Thunder Bay) - Brian Walmark 4. CEPN-FNEC (Kitigan Zibi) - Tim Whiteduck 5. BCN (Winnipeg) – Steven Ramchandar, Ashmede Asgarli 5. NRC-IIT (Fredericton) - Susan O'Donnell, Emily Lockhart, Gene Kondusky, Doreen Saulis 6. Atlantic Help Desk (Membertou) - Kevin Burton 7. Simon Fraser University (Vancouver) - Richard Smith, Rob McMahon, Pat Truman, John Pantherbone, Renee Cheung 8. archives on Polycom server

Agenda

1) Review of good practices for this multi-site videoconference

2) Introductions (everyone)

3) First Mile Website and General Updates (www.firstmile.ca) - First Mile 2.0 update / feedback / questions - First Mile Outreach and Dissemination o Announcement to launch ‘First Mile 2.0’ o Press releases / ‘news briefs’ summarizing First Mile projects (1-2 paragraphs) o Social media sites Twitter / Facebook o NationTalk.ca – Rob meeting with NationTalk in Toronto next week - Discussion – what is the technical working definition for a ‘First Mile’ project? – to do. - Meeting with AFN ICT group – requested, waiting on confirmation.

New website should be up in 1-2 weeks. Includes Moodle ‘database’ plug-in, which allows for easy user uploads of videos and other content, and also publishing out via RSS feeds

Press releases – Rob to find out cost to distribute via NationTalk. Kevin used a similar service for Project 60 (CNW – newswire.ca ) . Another one is TurtleIsland.org. Brian raised concerns about costs – is it cost- effective to pay to use a newswire service to distribute press releases (‘push’ outreach), versus submitting them (for free) to the various newswire websites (‘pull’ outreach)?

Kevin suggested a videoconference contest showcasing completed videos. Use an online poll, like ModPoll.com. Talk about content of videos, purpose of First Mile project. Hold once / month, with audiences voting on favourites (prize like a Canon Rebel). Ideally national focus.

AFN staff are very busy, and so there’s a challenge in meeting with the ICT Working Group. Brian suggested directly approaching the ICT Working Group and regional chiefs, though we want to make sure we do so in collaboration with Judy/Karen.

4) First Mile Papers - Digital Divides and the First Mile o Accepted by International Indigenous Policy Journal (with substantial revisions). Rob working on revisions

5) Regional updates

Advice for community visits: what makes for a successful community visit?

Kevin is working with summer students, and an A/V instructor that worked with First Nations schools or another community resource person.

In KZ, Emily and Susan are working with the technology teacher, who is asking students to make videos for credit as part of their course. Videos will be done in either December or March. a) Ontario (SFU)

- Tyendinaga – Rob visiting Sept 22 – 23 to plan videos with First Nations Technical Institute. One will tell the story of the MBQ (Mohawks of Quinte Bay) Network, which is owned/operated by the community.

- Deer Lake – Rob hoping to visit Oct. 9-11. b) BC (SFU)

- Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council – interested in partnering with us. Rob discussing proposal Tuesday Sept. 20

- Doig River – want to partner to make videos showcasing local training (in digital literacy and digital media production). They are building a community portal website to showcase local cultural materials that have been digitized, and hope to create an online TV show. This is a focus on First Mile training and application: the network itself is not owned or managed by the community.

Some concerns around Doig River. The focus is not on infrastructure, with Brian noting that the First Mile focus is on community-owned/managed infrastructure; without that, the stories will not support project goals.

Rob wondered if stories might note challenges – that is, note the infrastructure is not owned by the community and explore the impacts in the community’s work. Also, Doig River offers examples of Digital Literacy and Digital Production training for youth, which tells a capacity building story.

Doreen proposed focusing stories on capacity building/digital literacy. Also, in becoming involved in the First Mile project, the community might learn what kinds of possibilities exist when the community owns/manages the infrastructure – it might empower communities to build up their own infrastructure.

Kevin noted that the RMO network has little interaction with B.C. in the past, and so this may be a way to connect with communities in that province. It might demonstrate options they may not otherwise know about. Another focus might be on challenges of not being connected / owning local infrastructure. The First Mile focus continues to be on lessons learned, experiences of community-owned and operated infrastructure. c) Alberta (SFU)

- John was profiled in the community newsletter, and mentioned the First Mile in the interview. - We are following up with contacts on the Kanai/Blood Tribe community network d) Manitoba (UNB) e) Quebec (UNB)

- Emily’s second visit to Kitigan Zibi

Emily did 5 interviews and will be presenting research findings to the community in early October. The local technology teacher and his students are working with the First Mile team to produce videos. The First Mile project will provide funding for a field trip, which will be the location for the videos.

Susan and Gene will visit Obedjiwan on Oct 28. f) Atlantic (UNB)

Kevin is working to roll out fibre in the Atlantic communities by March 31, 2012. They are facing challenges due to 28(2) Band Council resolutions, and wrote to INAC and the local MP, though there was not a supportive response. g) NWT, Yukon

- K'atl'odeeche First Nation near Hay River contacted us and are interested in partnering. They own/manage a local community network which they are starting construction on soon. Also, the IT champion is the land claims manager, and is exploring the potential links between land claims negotiations and connectivity development, including potential implications for building a backbone network that links to the Alberta SuperNet

Brian had met with Lyle Fabian from K’atl’odeeche 4/5 years ago, and the community faced the same situation (and had similar plans) then. A teleco has a strong presence in the region, and when the community looked at building its own infrastructure years ago, the teleco developed their network.

6) Looking Forward

What are people’s thoughts about the longer term sustainability of the First Mile project and website?

What are the plans for keeping this going and how will this happen after March 2012?

The current strategic plan for the First Mile project (as outlined in the project grant application) is to: 1) build an interactive website showcasing media content about First Mile projects, 2) generate videos showcasing First Mile projects from as many regions/communities as possible, and 3) disseminate this content to policy makers, First Nations communities, and the general public via website, listservs, presentations, etc.

There does need to be a hand-off of the website/network infrastructure for the First Mile project to a First Nations organization, so we should be thinking about that. The AFN is one potential organization, although Doreen noted there are challenges of human resources and funding to support it.

The First Mile project is not strongly supported by some people at INAC, which makes it a challenge for its contributions to national discussions, for policy suggestions, and for potential funding from INAC.

We should think about funding ideas for future sustainability of the project. This discuss can start via email before the next meeting in October. Brian suggested shifting the focus towards research (for example, SSHRC). This would change the current focus on Public Outreach and Dissemination. It would clarify the role of the educational institutions as focused on research.

Is there a research focus that might build on the First Mile work?

7) Next meeting dates – all at 9am Pacific / 11am Central / 12 noon Eastern / 1pm Atlantic

Monday, October 17, 2011 Monday, November 21, 2011