Using IT to Link Indigenous Peoples

By Joe Sullivan

Mon, April 01, 2002CIO An ancient Maya prophecy says a day will come when Earth will be covered by a giant spiderweb and a group of 13 will bring all the people together.

Mark Lewis, a member of the Pajaspuypayem tribe, learned about the prophecy only after his 13-member committee set out to develop the No Boundaries project. Through the project, the committee aims to use information technology to link indigenous peoples all over the world. The committee, which is made up of American Indians representing 10 tribes from Mexico, the United States and Canada, was formed in March 1999. In November 1999, the group began working on a Web portal, which offers a communication platform to schools and culture preservation committees, as well as a means for indigenous peoples to sell goods and services. Members pay a monthly access fee.

The next step was to create a mobile indigenous network through WAP technology to cater to a more widespread audience. Lewis says there are cell phone and PDA users in unexpected places. For example, the Khoisan of South Africa already use CyberTracker, which employs GPS technology to locate animals for tour companies. Software engineers from Israel, Taiwan and Malaysia built the WAP interface for the No Boundaries project, which was ready for rollout in early October. The accompanying website was finished in June. Lewis says there has already been an intense response to his committee’s work from indigenous groups all over the world. The Enka, Oroqen and Nanai in the area of Northern Asia, native Tasmanians and Hopi Indians are just a few examples of groups who have taken a strong interest. More than 1,800 communities representing 4 million people and 444 languages have signed on to participate in the network.


Loading...
Applications MarketSpace
Service Level Reporting and Communication
Service level reporting is the most visible output and often the most time-consuming activity in SLM. Learn more »
Lower IT Costs with Oracle Database 11g Release 2
Learn how upgrading to Oracle Database 11g Release 2 can transform your business, budgets, and service levels Learn more »
Managing Your SAP System
Learn how to more effectively manage your SAP system. Learn more »
 
SPONSORED LINKS
 

White Paper: 4 Customer Service Myths

White Paper: Improve Agility with Operational Responsiveness

Removing the Barriers to IT Governance: How On-Demand Software Changes the Game

Cloud Computing--Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future?

A Balanced Approach to an Application Development Platform

Adobe® LiveCycle®solutions for intuitive user experience

10 Ways Excel Drives More Value from Your SAP Investment

What's New in SOA Suite 11g?

Unleash the Power of Java with Oracle JRockit Real Time

SOA Best Practices and Design Patterns

Application Grid: Ideal Platform for IT Consolidation

Ready to virtualize tier one applications? Check your virtualization maturity.

Learn how to provide complete Business Service Management.

Increase ROI of Your Application Portfolio

See how AT&T can help protect your network.

Top Five CIO Challenges

Streamline IT Costs. Boost Performance with WAN Optimization.

Want to know how you can maximize employee productivity?

Build your 1st app FREE with Force.com

TDWI checklist helps define data readiness for analytics. Download report.

A new fleet of PCs with a total ROI in 10 months. Find your ROI.

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

Reduce risk, gain agility. See how Progress can help your business.

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

eZine: A Roadmap to Reducing IT Complexity

White Paper: Managed Security for a Not-So-Secure World

SharePoint - Unchecked growth of content is unsustainable.

Focus Under Pressure: Why IT Governance Becomes Mission-Critical in a Down Economy

Should Your Email Live In The Cloud? A Comparative Cost Analysis

Adobe® LiveCycle® solutions for business process automation

Architecting Business Intelligence Applications for Change: The Open Solution

Increase UPS efficiency without sacrificing protection.

Unlocking the Mainframe: Modernizing Legacy System to SOA

State of the Data Integration Market

Enhance Customer Loyalty through Higher Responsiveness

Achieving Business Agility with Application Grid

Seven Ways ITIL Can Help You in an Economic Downturn

Four steps to populate your CMDB.

"Enterprise-Proven" is the Prerequisite for Enterprise SaaS Portal Solutions

Join us at the US-Brazil IT-BPO Summit, on November 10th in New York.

Unified Communications: Thoughts, Strategies and Predictions. Join the discussion

Read the RSA report: Security for Business Innovation

Webcast: Looking to the Cloud for Email and Collaboration Services

64-page prescriptive guide to security, compliance, and IT operations.

Keep your IT expertise up to date. Join the Intel Premier IT Professionals.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Virtualization Technology as a Business Solution

The rules of infrastructure management just changed.

A Clear View Toward Virtualization

Interactive Q&A helps you discover key ways to maximize IT assets.

 
 
RESOURCE CENTER