NativeNet founder explains value of Internet

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Recently Windspeaker had the opportunity to have an interview via Internet e-mail with Gary Trujillo, the originator of NativeNet. NativeNet is considered one of the most innovate electronic mailing list areas on the Internet for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

I asked a few questions that hopefully will be of interest to our readers.

Q) What types of educational opportunities are there for Aboriginal administered schools on the Internet

A) All kinds of schools are discovering the Internet represents a vehicle for connecting students, teachers, and administrators with sources of information as well as with one another. I feel there is a very great potential represented by the Inernet for doing collaborative learning exercises, whereby Aboriginal students in all parts of the world can communicate with one another relative to subjects defined in curriclum developed commemoratively by their teachers in consultation with Elders and professional curriculum developers. I have been contacted by many teachers interested in this kind of project, and I would like to help co-ordinate such efforts.

I will be addressing two educational conferences next month sponsored by Aboriginal organizations, one in Duluth, Minn., and one in Albuquerque, New Mexico

on the potential of the World Web Site as an education resource. I hope as a result of these experiences to become better aware of more specifics of how much interest exists and/or can be reasonably forecast in using World Wide Web and other internet facilities for educational purposes.

Q) What opportunities are there for Aboriginal businesses on the Internet?

A) The World Web Site facility is becoming a very "hot topic" among all kinds of business interests, and I think one can reasonably expect that Aboriginal business will be growing increasingly interested in positioning themselves to take good advantage of the potential for advertising and direct-mail sales styles ordering that the Web makes easily available.

Q) Being more specific, there are many Aboriginal newspaper companies that are thinking to expand electronically via the Internet. What would be some of the possibilities and opportunities for Aboriginal newspaper companies on the Internet?

A) Many mainstream publications have begun developing Web "home pages" to serve their readers. There is no reason that Aboriginal newspaper businesses could not do the same. Newspapers are flourishing in the Internet. There are over 600 metropolitan, private and educational newspapers on the Internet in electronic format. Most of these newspapers and magazines are extensions of paper formats. For instance, a person can subscribe to USA Today Newspaper which can be delivered directly into a person's electronic mailbox.

USA Today has basically expanded their market to include text only newspaper information. But, there is a demand for USA Today and subscribers are paying for this information.

Native newspapers can also flourish on the Internet. Such newspapers can be "for profit": by sending examples of their newspaper's articles to certain usernet news groups and mailing lists. If there is an interest from individuals or organizations North America or the world such individuals might request subscript via e-mail or in paper format.

One example of a Native newspaper on the Internet is Wontanging Ikche - Native American Newspaper. There is one editor, some volunteers and freelance writes on and off the Internet. This Native newspaper has over three million reader world wide and freelance writers form around the world. Wontanging Ikche has been publishing once a week for the past five years!

Q) As you know there are many inner-city Aboriginal organizations throughout North America. How can these organizations benefit if they linked to the Internet?

A) The most obvious benefits that could be achieved include taking advantage of the information provided via libraries, government archives sand educationa institutions, as well as the resources being made available to various other information providers. They can also establish channels of communication with one another. The NativeNet mailing list, which I operate, provide one example of such channels for communication.

For example, the NAT-HLTH list, which has to do with the subject of health and health care, can be a valuable mechanism for both providing and obtaining information regarding a wide range of issues. Recently, for example, several bulletins were posted via NAT-HLTH concerning the need for Aboriginal people to volunteer to donate bone marrow, which is urgently needed to treat leukemia. The need is especially critical for Aboriginal people and other racial minorities; there is a smaller pool of potential donors.

For any kind of Aboriginal social service organization or agency, one can imagine variety of needs that can be served by the communications and data-access and retrieval capabilities of telecommunications.

Increasingly, various organizations are making information available via World Wide Web, "Home pages," which are hypertextual archives of information and "pointers" to sources of information located on a variety of servers rapidly springing up around the world.

Organizations which are connected to the Internet via any of the many "access providers" will sell services via dial-up modem connections can avail themselves of the NativeNet Web page and the many other Web pages referred to by means of that page.

Q) Finally, what are some of the opportunities for isolated Aboriginal communities to be linked to the Internet?

A) The best prospects I have seen thus far for such communities, which often lack even telephone service, is to exchange electronic mail by means of low earth-orbit satellites. I am aware of a company based in Calgary that provides link-ups through such a means. In this case, access to certain Internet services (telnet, ftp, WWW) would not be available directly, but e-mai based proxy services would provide access to the same functions. NativeNet hopes to ultimately facilitate such connections, as part of our commitment to serve Aboriginal populations.

Garry Truijillo can be reached on the Internet at gst@gnosys.svle.ja.us