information and communication technologies and the mobilization of inuit cultural heritage

Overview

Connectivity Capacity of NunavutPresented by Erin Yunes

Igloolik Isuma Productions

Presented by Gabriela Gamez

Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage: a multi-media / multi-platform re-engagement

of voice in visual art and performance

Presented by Anna Hudson and Angela Norwood

Credit: Ilisaqsivik/ilisaqsivik.ca

Credit: Ilisaqsivik/ilisaqsivik.ca

Connectivity Capacity of Nunavut

Credit: Angela Norwood

Population of Inuit in Canada

Inuit in Canada: 59,445

Nunavut Population: 35,591

Annual growth rate: 2.2%

Currently Inuit is one of the fastest growing populations in

Canada.

10 Largest Nunavut Communities

Source: Calculations based on July 2013 Population Estimates published by the Government of Nunavut

Total Populations with % of Age Groups between 5-64

Broadband Availability by Speed and Province/TerritoryPercentage of Households, 2011

Source: CRTC Data Collection/Backbone Magazine

Cost of Internet: Qiniq

Average Cost basic internet Nunavut: $80.00

Average Cost basic internet in southern Canada: $39.00

Milestones in Nunavut Connectivity

Nunavut Broadband Development Corporation

Credit: NBDC/www.nunavut-broadband.ca

Connectivity Accomplishments

Improved training

Increased employment opportunities

$9.9 million in direct and spin-off wages and salaries

Opened doors for corporate competition

Government Spending to Improve Connectivity

Knowledge Infrastructure Program (KIP)

Connectivity: Moving Forward

Community Voice:

Just today I was communicating with my older children about how in February our internet bill was $700 and how I cannot afford to pay that monthly. We have the 'best' package from NorthWesTel that provides 30 gigs but when we go over then it costs a lot of money.

“

”

Current Technology Limitations: Retirement

New Satellite System Via-Sat 1 (2012)

Proposed Satellite System: Via Sat II (2016)

Planned launch in 2016

Double the bandwidth economics of ViaSat-1

Provide seven times the coverage area

Current Global Fiber Optic Cabling, March 2014

Proposed: Arctic Fibre Route

Fiber Optic Concerns

Credit: Nunavut Fibre Optic Feasibility Study – March 2012

Global Fiber Optic Outage Map

44%

21%

15%

20%

Causes of Fiber Breaks Worldwide

FishingUnknownAnchorErrosion/Drilling

The Bottom Line: Connecting with the World

Artists Bill Nasogaluak (Tuktoyaktuk) and Kuzy Curley (Cape Dorset) were commissioned to design, build, and install an Inukshuk

in New Delhi as a sign of harmony between Canada and India.

Conclusion

The Now

• Current connectivity is creating pockets of exclusion for Inuit

• Highlights social inequalities

• Actions are structured by communication limitations

Call to Action

• Provide Inuit a space to challenge the dominant cultural framework

• Build a community of interaction

• Fostering broader participation with greater sovereignty

Igloolik Isuma Productions 1990

First Inuit owned independent production company, producing Inuktitut-language video documenting Inuit

culture and recreating past history from an Inuit point of view.

Atanarjuat The Fast Runner2001

Atanarjuat The Fast Runner, the first Inuktitut-language feature-length film wins Caméra d’Or at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and 2002 Genie Award

for Canada’s Best Picture. Isuma’s second feature, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, is the Opening Night selection of the 2006 Toronto

International Film Festival.

Indigenous Film Network (IFN)2006

An initiative to expand feature film distribution by bringing aboriginal films through high-definition video projections to over 200 remote Inuit, First Nations, and other

indigenous communities across Canada and internationally.

IsumaTV2007

After 20 years and 35 films, Isuma Distribution International launches IsumaTV, the first media website devoted to films and videos by and for

Inuit and indigenous people worldwide.

Indigenous media networks on IsumaTV

ImagineNATIVE Canada

WapikoniQuebec &

abroad

CLACPILatin America

By 2012, IsumaTV carries over 5000 films and videos in 56 languages, its

network includes channels from the National Film Board, ImagineNATIVE, CLACPI, Wapikoni, NCSNWT, NITV, IBC, Maori TV, KNR.

Customized websites for indigenous media makers

By having their website integrated on IsumaTV, indigenous media makers are able to make their channel look the way they want, are

linked to other indigenous media makers and audiences, and distributed to remote communities.

Challenges

High satellite bandwidth rates for Northern Inuit and Aboriginal Canadians:

• Slow download speeds• Expensive monthly bandwidth caps

$80-$90 / monthNunavut

1 Mb/s download

$80-$90 / monthToronto, Vancouver,

Toronto

100 Mb/s download

Download Speed Comparisonin 2014

• New government subsidies promise to increase northern internet to only 5Mb/s download by 2020, when faster southern speeds will exceed 300 Mb/s download for the same price.

•As Canada moves into the digital age at full speed in coming decades, state-of-the-art services in health care, education, mental health, economic development, job training, cultural preservation and minority language rights all will depend on very high speed internet for the streaming and download of large media files.

Media Players2009

The ‘Media Player’ technology bypasses the bandwidth speed and cap problems faced by remote communities. Upload and download of media files are faster as they are only transferred to and from the world wide web once,

after which they are stored on the media player. This means streaming media is not only faster but takes up little of the user's bandwidth.

IsumaTV in Schools2010

Through media players and mobile technologies, IsumaTV allows students and teachers to learn from 5000 Inuit and Aboriginal films and

videos in 56 languages from around the world.

IsumaTV in the Community2011

IsumaTV broadcasts online programming 24/7 to home TVs through local cable channels; streams community radio stations live online; and allows

high-speed download and upload of local videos.

Artisans of Today’s Communities (ARTCO)2011

Engaging Inuit and Cree children and youth across cultural divisions by using digital media and mobile devices to share experiences, resolve common problems and find new ways to communicate across old barriers towards a better future.

Installing a media player in a community to broadcast 24/7 Inuit films and local media productions is a long process of negotiations, obtaining permits and organizing resources.

Briefly, the process consists of:

- Negotiating with the local Coop and the Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL).

- Identifying a physical space and local human resources.

- Identifying the funding to pay for salaries and internet connection.

- Flying-in the media player and installing.

Challenges in Nunavut

Digital Indigenous Democracy2013

internet + television + radio + live broadcast used to ‘Decide Together’

DID adapts modern new media to the urgent needs of Nunavut communities facing an upsurge in global warming and transnational mining development.

In 2013 IsumaTV opened TV channels in Igloolik, Pangnirtung, Arviat, Cambridge Bay and Taloyoak, with a channel planned soon for Iqaluit. This service is offered to the remaining 20 Nunavut communities by the end of 2015.

Using state-of-the-art local serversIsumaTV provides 24/7 viewing of 1000 Inuit films

Multimedia Human Rights Impact Assessment2013

This project influenced the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) recommendations to the Baffinland company. They indicated that there

should be a multimedia website to inform and monitor all activities during the entire process.

Tools that allow stakeholders of a proposed business operation and investment to understand the potential positive and negative impacts in

terms of human rights.

IsumaTV 2014

• Creates models to bridge the digital divide for Indigenous communities.

• Gives Inuit a say in developer’s arctic ambitions.

• IsumaTV participates formally (i.e. Public Hearings of NIRB and CRTC inquiries).

• We share our model with other indigenous communities worldwide.

Sharing the IsumaTV model worldwide

INFORM

Videos uploaded to IsumaTV’s local servers by science researchers, government agencies, mining companies or Inuit organizations inform Inuit at high-speed for free when the same videos on Youtube are too slow and costly to download in Nunavut’s bandwidth-capped communities.

Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage (MICH)

Inuit leadership working together with southern universities and government funding agencies can deliver 24/7 Inuktitut TV, high-speed internet download and online radio to every Nunavut community by the end of 2015.

Creating and mobilizing content

24/7 Inuktitut Media in schools, community television, radio, home computers and personal devices, strengthens Inuit

Qaujimajatuqangit, Inuit language, cultural education, public health, economic development, job training, and opportunities

for Inuit youth to join the global digital age.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Partnership Grant

“The only way to be on par [with Qallunaat] is to tell stories in your own language.” Dr. Zacharias Kunuk, O.C., Filmmaker

“We need to begin using the internet as a tool, not a toy”Susan Enuaraq, Nunavut Arctic College, Inuit Studies Program

Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage: a multi-media / multi-platform re-engagement of voice in

visual art and performance

Fig. 1. Venn diagram representing Information and Communication Technologies as the engine for mobilizing Inuit cultural heritage

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit as a basis for business

Guiding Principles of Inuit QaujimajatuqangitGovernment of Nunavut’s version

1. Respecting others, relationships and caring for people

2. Fostering good spirit by being open, welcoming and inclusive

3. Serving and providing for family and/or community

4. Decision making through discussion and consensus

5. Development of skills through practice, effort and action

6. Working together for a common cause

7. Being innovative and resourceful in seeking solutions

8. Respect and care for the land, animals and the environment

Research Goal and Objectives:

ACCESS to the advanced information and communication technologies

CONNECTION of Inuit voice to objects of Inuit cultural heritage

CREATION of Inuit cultural capacity

ACCESS:

CONNECTION:

Who are you as a modern Inuk? What can we together do to make change?

“Art is part of every thing” Peesee Pitsiulak-Stephens

CREATION:

Katujjiqatigiingniq: the relationship of partners and participants using Information and Communication Technologies

AUDIENCES:

Web 2.0 social media, live-streaming, and internet TV are powerful mechanisms for linking Inuit orality and materiality and, therefore, of imaging an Inuit worldview aesthetic first and foremost for Inuit.

Cross-sector co-creation of knowledge and understanding

Inuit art produced for a southern market is “one of the ‘interventions’ that has fostered and safeguarded Inuit culture in the face of numerous affronts to our sovereignty”

Inuit radio, film and video

Language preservation is an increasingly pressing concern

Small business and connectivity

The role of connectivity in community development

Small business and connectivity

“The students will realize they are not only able to play, but also participate in the creation of everything that surrounds them. . . It will show a career path possibility that may seem otherwise unattainable.”

~ Ryan Oliver, founder of Pinnguaq

Department of Education

Behance.com as a model for artist collaboration and distribution

Economics

Cultural health is the core element of I.Q