CI & Indigenous Communities in Canada - The K-Net (Keewaytinook Okimakanak's Kuhkenah Network) Experience

This issue of the Journal of Community Informatics focuses on the theme of K-Net, the Kuhkenah Network, the telecommunications division of the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. ("Keewaytinook Okimakanak" means "Northern Chiefs" in the Oji-Cree language.) According to the introduction to the issue: "The K-Net office is located in Sioux Lookout, a small town on the edge of a vast area of boreal forest and sub-arctic zones that exceeds the size of France. Many of the First Nation / Indigenous communities on K-Net’s broadband networks are very remote, with fly-in access year round; during the coldest months, some also have limited vehicle access by barren winter roads ploughed through the snow on the frozen rivers, lakes and bogs. These communities are home to populations that range from several hundred to several thousand First Nations peoples of mostly Cree, Oji-Cree and Ojibway cultural traditions." These small remote communities can access a variety of communication tools such as wireless internet services, a Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone service, and video conferencing - sometimes using a solar power.

The Table of Contents includes the following:

Editorial

• The K-Net Experience: Thematic Introduction to the Special Issue - Brian Beaton, Susan O'Donnell, Adam Fiser, Brian Walmark
  
• K-Net, Community Informatics and Service Delivery: An Evolving Paradigm - Michael Gurstein 

Articles

• MyKnet.org: How Northern Ontario's First Nation Communities Made Themselves At Home On The World Wide Web - Philipp Budka, Brandi Bell, Adam Fiser
  
• How K-Net and Atlantic Canada's First Nation Help Desk are Using Videoconferencing for Community Development - Mary Milliken, Susan O'Donnell, Elizabeth Gorman
  
• Out from the Edges: Multi-site Videoconferencing as a Public Sphere in First Nations - Fenwick McKelvey, Susan O'Donnell
  
• Representation and Participation of First Nations Women in Online Videos - Sonja Perley
  
• Implementation of Information and Communication Technology in Aboriginal Communities: A Social Capital Perspective - Javier Mignone, Heather Henley 

Case Studies

• Managing Changes in First Nations’ Health Care Needs: Is Telehealth the Answer? - Josée Gabrielle Lavoie, Donna Williams 

Notes from the Field

• In Search of Community Champions: Researching the Outcomes of K-Net’s Youth Information and Communications Technology Training Initiative - Kristy Tomkinson
  
• A Community Informatics Model for e-Services in First Nations Communities: The K-Net Approach to Water Treatment in Northern Ontario- - Michael Gurstein, Brian Beaton, Kevin Sherlock 

Reports

• Enabling and Accelerating First Nations Telehealth Development in Canada - Valerie Gideon, Eugene Nicholas, John Rowlandson, Florence Woolner 

Online Resources about Keewaytinook Okimakanak, the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) and Associated Broadband Applications - Brian Beaton