Exploring The Benefits and Challenges of Community-Powered Connectivity In The New Arctic
Abstract
Arctic telecommunications has emerged as a key tool in responding to the unprecedented changes being experienced in the region, from environmental shifts to globalization. Unfortunately, small rural and Indigenous communities are seldom included in discussions of telecommunications, leaving them underserved and incapable of leveraging technology advances to ensure their own resilience. This project is developing a model that small Arctic communities can use to design and implement community technology infrastructure to support their unique needs. Findings advance understanding of how technology can be developed and used to support rural and Indigenous communities as they manage a changing Arctic environment; collaborate with environmental scientists; seek out education and sustainable economic opportunities; and preserve their culture. This research is empowering small Arctic communities and contribute to scientific understandings of how to design more equitable and accessible forms of technology.
Significant gaps remain in understanding how digital infrastructures and services can be best designed to support the unique needs of Arctic communities. In response to these gaps, this project asks: (1) How can telecommunications infrastructure be codesigned and architected for the rugged and isolated conditions and communities in the Arctic? (2) How can telecommunications infrastructure and digital services best support Arctic communities in responding to rapidly changing environmental and social conditions? (3) What are the social, cultural, and economic implications of increased connectivity for Arctic communities and peoples? The project answers these questions by studying the deployment of a community network in an Inuvialuit community. Researchers, in collaboration with the Internet Society and the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, are holding a series of workshops that involve the community in the development of the network, evaluate the long-term operation of the network, and explore the socio-cultural and economic impacts of connectivity for the community. Major outcomes of these activities include the installation of the network in the community, measurement and evaluation of the network's performance, and increased social scientific understanding of how Arctic Indigenous communities adapt technology to their own needs.
Logistics Summary
This project identifies a substantial infrastructural gap contributing to the Digital Divide among indigenous, rural communities and dominant groups. Specifically, the researchers will focus on a community-generated telecommunication system to support indigenous communities. Over the course of 2 years researchers will conduct 3 workshops in the Canada Northwest Territories, specifically Ulukhaktok. In collaboration with the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC) and Co-PI Sevilla, selected Ulukhaktok for the deployment of a community-based telecommunications network, which would dramatically increase access to Internet for community residents. This project is underway and expected to launch in late 2020.
Season Field Sites:
2020 Canada - Ulukhatok
Project Outcomes
Our NSF project “Exploring the Benefits and Challenges of Community-Powered Connectivity In The New Arctic” had substantial positive impact and positive outcomes that took many forms across many different stakeholders. In terms of intellectual merit, our project generated key insights towards the relationship that high Arctic communities have with the Internet. These insights include the quality of service provided (in terms of bandwidth, latency, and reliability), how much the service costs, and what community members use the Internet for. The project conducted interviews with residents of the Canadian community of Ulukhaktok, both when they had access to only low-quality Internet and then again when they had gained access to high-quality Internet. This allowed us to better understand the social and economic impacts of providing Arctic Indigenous communities with better access to the Internet. The community experienced a number of benefits, including provision of enhanced search and rescue capabilities, access to educational materials at the school, access to digital marketplaces and entertainment, and more stable access to financial resources. However, communities also faced emerging risks, including impacts on how community members socialized with one another. Some community members expressed apprehension about possible long-term cultural impacts. Taken together, the project provided new insights into how Arctic communities adapt to the new social and economic conditions provided by the Internet. Finally, the community provided a wide range of ideas about future projects that could help them to take better advantage of many of the benefits brought by the Internet.
In terms of broader impacts, we were able to successfully build and launch a community cellular network; this network currently serves over 10% of the community on a given daily basis and provides speeds much (over 10x) faster than the incumbent telecom provider. Additionally, due to the launch of Starlink’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite coverage approximately ⅔ of the way through the grant period, we were able to study the impact and adoption of what essentially represents a radically new form of connectivity for remote communities. We observed tremendously high adoption rates in a very short period of time and measured a quality of service that outperformed advertised metrics. These results were largely positive and generated a fair amount of community excitement over LEO-based solutions. However, we also observed important drawbacks caused by complete reliance on these solutions. These drawbacks include substantial issues of affordability, as well as substantial gaps in connectivity across the community. These gaps are due to the use of WiFi to deliver service to end user devices, as well as the “home Internet” model of coverage, wherein most Starlink terminals were password-protected and used only by the residents of the served building, with few exceptions (e.g. for business employees).
Project PI(s)
Funded Institutions
University of Washington
Other Research Location(s)
Ulukhaktok, Canada
Project Start Date
Sep 2020
Award Year
FY20
Award Number(s)
Funding Track