NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region

Tags: social services, internet, digital services

Objective(s): To better understand how telecommunications infrastructure, and associated digital services and training, can be designed and implemented to best support the social, cultural, and economic needs of Arctic communities.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5412. The objective of this research is to better understand how telecommunications infrastructure, and associated digital services and training, can be designed and implemented to best support the social, cultural, and economic needs of Arctic communities. This project will engage in research to understand the operation and impact of the pilot community network being deployed in Ulukhaktok by the Internet Society (ISOC). At the outset, the research team would like to emphasize that this application only covers activities related to research on the community network, and not activities related to the deployment of the network. ISOC is responsible for the actual deployment of the network, including acquisition of any necessary permits for that deployment. The research will consist of three separate field sessions, each of which will primarily focus on carrying out community workshops associated with the community network. The first field session will occur while ISOC is deploying the network. The researchers will carry out a one-day workshop in Ulukhaktok designed to gather baseline information on existing uses of and experience with technology in the community. The researchers will work with existing community contacts to recruit for the workshop, and will seek to include individual’s representative of the community in terms of age, gender, and occupation. The research team will only include individuals aged 13+. Workshop participants will be broken into small groups to discuss topics including the groups basic familiarity with technologies such as mobile phones, computers, and the Internet; perception of the benefits of increased internet access; and perception of any risks associated with increased internet access. Discussions will be audio recorded for analysis. If the research team finds follow-up questions after the workshop, or have underrepresented certain demographic groups, the research team will follow up with community members through semi-structured interviews. Interview questions will focus on the same general topics as the workshop discussions, and will similarly be audio recorded. In addition to the workshop, during this field session the research team will perform basic operational tests on the community network infrastructure, to determine how effectively it is operating post-deployment. A second field session will occur approximately six months after deployment of the network, to provide the community with some time to use the network. The researchers will once again perform tests on the network, to determine how well it is functioning after six months. The researchers will also carry out a second workshop. This workshop will follow the same general format as the first workshop, but will take place over two days to allow for more in-depth discussion. Day 1 of the workshop will focus on community members' experiences with the quality of the network. Discussions will be heavily driven by input from the community, including input on any problems they have encountered in using the network. The research team expect to discuss whether the network remained online consistently, how easy it was to operate the network, whether the network is overly congested, and whether the network service was affordable for community members. Day 2 will focus on the social and economic impact of the network. Topics include whether and how increased Internet access improved economic conditions within the community; whether and how access impacted the social and cultural dynamics of the community; whether and how access impacted environmental monitoring and management; and whether and how access impacted education. The research team are particularly interested in understanding ways in which future research projects might improve the positive impact of the network on the community. For example, through the implementation of educational programs that bridge local knowledge and technology. Once again, the research team may carry out targeted semi-structured interviews after the workshop if the team feel that the team have missed key demographics or knowledge from the community. A final field session will occur approximately six months later. The team will once again carry out network tests, and then implement a third, one-day workshop. During this workshop the team will once again check in on the ongoing performance and impact of the network. However, the primary focus of this workshop will be to present back to the community more developed ideas for possible future collaborations with the community. These possible projects will be based on ideas generated during the first two workshops. Working with community members, the team will outline in more detail the project ideas that appeal to the community members and discuss next steps for acquiring funding. The goal with this workshop is to set a strong foundation for future projects in the community, to ensure that this project is only the beginning of a much longer term relationship with Ulukhaktok. At the conclusion of the project, the team also plan to travel to Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk to present the results of the work with Ulukhaktok. While this will not involve new research, the hope is that it will help to build new connections within these communities for possible future work. This will help to support Inuvaluit Regional Corporation’s (IRC) larger goal of improving connectivity across all of the ISR. Since this research is part of a planning grant, a primary goal is to build deep relationships with community stakeholders for future collaborations. Communication with the community is therefore an integral part of each stage of the research. Each field session is centered on a community workshop, which will encourage broad interaction between the research team and community members. At the beginning of each workshop, the research team will present information on the current state of the project. At the first workshop, this means a presentation on the initial goals and methods of the project. At the second and third workshop, this will also include a presentation of a summary of the discussions and findings from the previous workshop(s). This will ensure that community members are kept constantly up-to-date on project findings and activities. The research team will also produce short reports after each workshop that can be shared back with the community and partnering organizations (including ISOC and IRC). In addition to these workshops, the research team will be performing various technical tests of the performance of the network. The research team see this as an opportunity to teach the community more about the functioning of their network, and will therefore invite community members to come along with the team to perform these tests. Finally, at the end of the project the research team plan to travel to other communities (Sachs Harbour and Paulatuk) to present the results of the work in Ulukhaktok. The research team hope that this produces an opportunity to build a relationship with these other communities, to build future opportunities for similar work with them. Finally, the research team would note that all project outputs, such as reports, publications, and presentations, will be made freely and openly available via a project website and various research archives, to ensure wide and long-term availability. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.