Book Description

'Telecommunications Technology and Native Americans: Opportunities and Challenges' examines the potential of telecommunications to improve the socioeconomic conditions of Native Americans - American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians - living in rural, remote areas, and to help them maintain their cultures and exercise control over their lives and destinies. The report discusses the opportunities for Native Americans to use telecommunications (including computer networking, videoconferencing, multimedia, digital and wireless technologies, and the like) in the realms of culture, education, health care, economic development, and governance. It also explores the challenges and barriers to realizing these opportunities, notably the need to improve the technology infrastructure (and access to it), technical training, leadership, strategic partnerships, and telecommunications planning on Indian reservations and in Alaska Native villages and Native Hawaiian communities. Prepared at the request of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, this is the first federal government report on Native American telecommunications. It provides a framework for technology planning and policy actions by Congress and relevant federal agencies, as well as by Native leaders and governments. Native Americans were involved throughout the study. OTA made site visits to six states and consulted with Native leaders and technology experts in about two dozen other states. Computer networking was used extensively for research and outreach, and OTA developed the Native American Resource Page for this study, a World Wide Web home page accessible via OTA Online (http://www.ota.gov/nativea.html).