First Nations Innovation and Decolonization using ICT, Rob McMahon

Rob McMahon | Rob received his PhD in 2013 from the School of Communication at SFU, where his dissertation received the Dean of Graduate Studies Convocation Medal. He is now working as a postdoctoral fellow with the First Nations Innovation Project at the University of New Brunswick. This project is a partnership with three regional non-profit First Nations technology organizations: K-Net Services in Ontario; the First Nations Education Council in Quebec; and Atlantic Canada’s First Nations Help Desk. Through this work Rob is engaged in community-based research projects with the Algonquin communities of Timiskaming First Nation and Long Point First Nation in Quebec, as well as the Kahnawake Education Centre. These projects are examining some of the diverse ways that people in these communities are developing and using ICTs to support economic and community development.In Summer 2015, Rob will join the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta. As an Assistant Professor in Community Informatics he will continue to partner with First Nations and Inuit communities to research the development and appropriation of digital networks and ICT. He is also engaged in the First Mile Connectivity Consortium (FMCC), a national association of non-profit First Nations and Inuit broadband service providers. The FMCC aims to reform digital policy to support community-driven broadband development.Susan O’Donnell | Susan has been researching the social, community and political aspects of digital technologies and communications since 1995. Her work with First Nation partners and rural and remote First Nation communities in Canada began in 2005. She is the lead investigator of the First Nations Innovation project and co-investigator on the First Mile project. Prior to her research career, Susan was a senior editorial consultant in Ottawa specializing in Aboriginal issues, including work with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and Assembly of First Nations. Since 2004 Susan has been a Researcher and Adjunct Professor at the University of New Brunswick and Senior Researcher at the National Research Council Institute for Information Technology in Fredericton, New Brunswick.Brian Beaton | Brian has been developing and working on ICT projects with First Nations since 1983. In 1994 he became Coordinator of K-NET with the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (Northern Chiefs) Tribal Council based in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Working with collaborating First Nations, he supported the development of local First Nation broadband infrastructure, regional backbone networks, a First Nations social media service and email service, the Northern Indigenous Community Satellite Network, and the Keewaytinook Mobile cellular service. Since 2004, Brian has partnered on several national research initiatives, including the First Nations Innovation and First Mile projects. He is presently in graduate studies (Critical Studies in Education) at the University of New Brunswick.Ashley Julian | Ashley is from the Indian Brook First Nation, a Mi’kmaq community located in Hants East, Nova Scotia, and part of the Shubenacadie Band. She is a researcher with the First Nations Innovation project and a graduate student (Critical Studies in Education) at the University of New Brunswick. Ashley has experience as the youth coordinator at the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs and the Mi’kmaq Maliseet Atlantic Youth Council. She was also elected as the female Nova Scotia and Newfoundland representative for the Assembly of First Nations National Youth Council. Ashley is very involved with the Mi’kmaq culture, traditions and beliefs in various ways. In February 2010, she had the opportunity to dance at the 2010 Winter Olympics at the Indigenous Youth Gathering. Aside from dancing and following the powwow trail, Ashley is involved in sports year round including ice hockey, soft-ball and ball hockey.