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"McMahon, Rob"
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Expanding the Boundaries of Digital Inclusion: Perspectives From Network Peripheries and Non‐Adopters
In this thematic issue, we present research from authors who seek to contest, challenge, and reimagine what digital inclusion is and what it might be. Authors present work from understudied vantage points and “hard to reach” terrains, such as communities that remain geographically, technically, socially, economically, and metaphorically “disconnected”—sometimes by choice. Through their attention to the role of intangible factors like relationality, social capital, emotion, sovereignty, and liminality, the articles collectively push against and expand the boundaries of digital inclusion research and practice.
Journal Article
Digital Inclusion Across the Americas and Caribbean
This research brings together digital inequality scholars from across the Americas and Caribbean to examine efforts to tackle digital inequality in Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, the United States, and Canada. As the case studies show, governmental policy has an important role to play in reducing digital disparities, particularly for potential users in rural or remote areas, as well as populations with great economic disparities. We find that public policy can effectively reduce access gaps when it combines the trifecta of network, device, and skill provision, especially through educational institutions. We also note, that urban populations have benefitted from digital inclusion strategies to a greater degree. This underscores that, no matter the national context, rural-urban digital inequality (and often associated economic inequality) is resistant to change. Even when access is provided, potential users may not find it affordable, lack skills, and/or see no benefit in adoption. We see the greatest potential for future digital inclusion in two related approaches: 1) initiatives that connect with hard-to-reach, remote, and rural communities outside urban cores and 2) initiatives that learn from communities about how best to provide digital resources while respecting their diversely situated contexts, while meeting social, economic and political needs.
Journal Article
Indigenous Community Networking in Hawai’i: The Pu‘uhonua o Waimānalo Community Network
Shaping digital inclusion policy and practice to meet community-defined goals requires more than access to digital devices and connectivity; it must also enable their effective design and use in situated local settings. For the Nation of Hawai’i, a Kānaka Maoli (Hawai’ian) sovereignty organization with a land base in Pu‘uhonua o Waimānalo on the island of Oahu, these activities are closely associated with broader goals of Nation-building and sovereignty. Recognizing there are many different approaches to sovereignty among diverse Kānaka Maoli, in this paper we document how the Nation of Hawai’i is conceptualizing the ongoing evolution of their community networking project. We suggest that the Pu‘uhonua o Waimānalo initiative reflects one Indigenous organization’s efforts to frame community networks as a means to generate a “sovereignty mindset” among members of the Nation, as well as share resources and experience among local community members and with other communities in Hawai’i and beyond.
Journal Article
Digital Data Management as Indigenous Resurgence in Kahnawà:ke
Indigenous peoples are addressing the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism through a variety of expressions of community resurgence. Among these initiatives are those leveraging digital technologies. In the emergent network society, digital infrastructures, and information and communication technologies are powerful tools that can support self-government. In this context, we document the development of digital data management in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke. Data is the digital information generated by a community, encompassing areas like research, education, finance, health, membership, housing, lands, and resources. As self-determining political entities, each First Nation determines how this data is interpreted and used, supported by tools like data management platforms and information-sharing protocols. In this article, we show how local practices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of digital data in Kahnawà:ke provides a clear example of Indigenous resurgence.
Journal Article
Digital Divides and the 'First Mile': Framing First Nations Broadband Development in Canada
Across Canada, rural and remote First Nations face a significant 'digital divide'. As self-determining autonomous nations in Canada, these communities are building broadband systems to deliver public services to their members and residents. To address this challenge, First Nations are working towards a variety of innovative, locally driven broadband development initiatives. This paper contributes a theoretical discussion that frames our understanding of these initiatives by drawing on the paradigm of the 'First Mile' (Paisley & Richardson, 1998). We argue that broadband development policy in Canada must be re-framed to address the specific needs of First Nations. The First Mile position foregrounds community-based involvement, control, and ownership: a consideration we suggest has particular resonance for First Nations. This is because it holds potential to move beyond the historical context of paternalistic, colonial-derived development policies, in the context of broadband systems development. We argue First Nations broadband projects offer on-the-ground examples of a First Mile approach, and call for more research in this area.
Journal Article
Beyond Funding: Barriers to Extending Broadband in the Indigenous North
Background: Policies for developing broadband in rural and remote regions typically focus on infrastructure funding. This article postulates that funding may be necessary but is often not sufficient to install and operate sustainable broadband services in these areas.
Analysis: This article analyzes issues raised in recent Canadian regulatory proceedings concerning broadband deployment and evidence submitted by Indigenous and community broadband providers that serve rural and remote regions in the Canadian North.
Conclusions and implications: Several suggestions are provided to improve policies designed to extend reliable and affordable broadband and to facilitate the provision of services by small and Indigenous providers. These include reconsideration of northern jurisdictions to harmonize regulations, a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission office dedicated to Indigenous issues, requirements for Indigenous consultation and training and hiring of residents, and procedures to expedite installation and procurement for Indigenous networks.
Journal Article
Shaping “Digital Futures” in Alberta: Community Engagement for Rural Broadband Development
Background Despite rich literature on rural and remote broadband and community networking initiatives in Canada, limited research is available on the sequencing, mechanisms, and processes of community engagement for this purpose.
Analysis The authors use a case study of the Digital Futures initiative in Alberta, Canada—a biannual symposium that engages a range of public, private, and community stakeholders to discuss rural broadband—to illustrate the iterative formation and application of such mechanisms.
Conclusion and implications The authors demonstrate how an engaged approach to communications research situated in the unique context of the involved community of practice—in this case, stakeholders involved in addressing broadband deployment and sustainability in Alberta—can help generate a cycle of research and praxis that reflects the normative goals of the scholarship of engagement.
Journal Article
The Institutional Development of Indigenous Broadband Infrastructure in Canada and the United States: Two Paths to “Digital Self-Determination”
For years, indigenous groups in Canada and the United States have argued for public policies to support the coordinated development of community-driven broadband infrastructure. Despite different national contexts and opportunities for policy implementation, case studies from Canada and the United States reflect similarities in the strategic approaches of two indigenous groups to argue for increased “digital self-determination.” However, the opportunities to express these arguments and the specific forms they take are shaped by the institutional contexts in each state. This article illustrates how efforts to articulate a strategy of “digital self-determination” are contingent on national contexts.
Journal Article