Future of rez technology looking good

By John Christian Hopkins
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation Delegate Leonard Tsosie has high hopes for the future of technology on the reservation and in rural areas across the state.

"Just think if Navajo, Anglo and Hispanic children who live in rural areas of the state had wireless laptops, how much better they would do in school and in life," he says.

His vision is nothing new.

"When Leonard Tsosie first ran for a New Mexico State Senate seat in the early 1990s he had a plan, a vision and a determination to make a difference in New Mexico tribal communities," Jeanne Whitehorse, the New Mexico tribal librarian at Crownpoint, said.

Technology efforts
One of Tsosie's first technology efforts in the Senate was to support the tribal library programs, Whitehorse said. Today, New Mexico Tribal Libraries offer Internet and technology support in Native American communities across New Mexico, she added.

"He is a leader when it comes to technology initiatives. We can do so much more now. I think he saw that coming a long time ago," Whitehorse said.

After 15 years in the state senate, Tsosie now brings his interest in technology to the Nation. He envisions chapter houses, schools, homes and hogans (traditional Navajo dwellings) connected to the Internet with high speed capability through an effort known as the Internet to the Hogan Initiative. Navajo Technical College and the Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology are building a robust wireless system to bridge one of the largest digital divides in the country. The ITTH initiative also includes the development of digital television services, which are being planned and engineered by the Ramah Navajo School Board, KNME-TV and Navajo Nation Broadcast Services.

Tsosie accelerated these efforts by convening a series of community meetings throughout 2005 and 2006 with scientists, engineers, educators, phone company owners, television producers and Navajo language speakers who came together to share plans, resources and technical knowledge.

"We would not be where we are in the development of a Navajo Nation wireless grid without (his) ability to bring technology experts together. I give him credit for moving the effort forward," said Dr. Elmer Guy, the President of Navajo Technical College.

Guy sees Tsosie as "a leader who took the challenge" to move tribal technology forward. "This is one of the last digital divides in New Mexico," Guy said. It will require a cooperative effort to make sure no families are left behind, Guy added.

The families Guy thinks of are mostly Navajo, living in the mountainous terrain of Northwestern New Mexico. The rugged terrain has made it difficult for even phone connectivity, internet access and electrical lines.

Connections
Connecting hogans and other homes in Northwestern New Mexico with wireless technology has not been an easy task; phone companies can not make a return on their investment to the limited customer base. The job also presents additional challenges of state and tribal right of ways.

But, with technology advances, things that were not possible a few years ago are more than possible now, says Harold Skow, director of the Navajo Nation's Department of Information Technology. "We are building out the broadband infrastructure with fiber optic, communication towers, wireless Motorola canopy, microwave and wireless access points. The network will create a redundant path that will provide a fail-safe communication network," Skow said.

Navajo Technical College and the DIT recently secured national recognition for its technology planning at the Government Information Technology Executive Council conference in Orlando in March. Skow credits the initiative's recognition to Tsosie's vision.

End of the divide
The initiative creates the capability of delivering real time information to Navajo communities and ranching families living in remote areas of the Southwest, Skow says. The internet will provide seniors with health information and access to doctors, while school children will be able to access homework assignments so they do not fall behind in school, he added.

"It is the beginning of the end of the digital divide," Skow said.

The initiative has even more of an impact, according to Tsosie. "The process of what we have done here is a model for other tribes and rural communities," Tsosie said.

Continuity
To ensure continuity of the effort, as he transitioned to the tribal council, Tsosie met with his New Mexico Senate replacement, Lynda Lovejoy, and found that she supported the effort wholeheartedly by sponsoring both appropriation and capital outlay bills. During the recent state legislative session, Lovejoy won $550,000 in funding for the initiative.

"I am very grateful. She is quite knowledgeable about higher education, and I have no doubt that she will continue to support the effort," Guy noted.

The second phase of the initiative will focus on content in the Navajo language.

"It is about time that our Navajo grandmothers and grandfathers receive information in their home language," Tsosie says. "It is like a weaving; now that we have started, we are not going to stop until the rug is finished and the rug is intricately designed from all directions and in the Navajo language."

Tsosie said he had always envisioned a Navajo-like Big Bird a 'Sesame Street' character that could teach Navajo children their language, as well as English.

The next meeting of the initiative project is from 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m., May 18, at the Ramah Navajo School in Pinehill, N.M.

John Christian Hopkins can be reached at hopkins1960@hotmail.com or by calling 505-371-5443