The Sámi Network Connectivity Project
Overview
Starting in March 2002, the Sámi Network Connectivity Project (SNC) was run as an informal project operating under the auspices of Radiosphere in Sweden. In January of 2004 the SNC project received its initial funding from Vinnova.
Project Description
To establish Internet communications for the Sámi population of Reindeer Herders, who live in remote areas, and relocate their base in accordance with a yearly cycle dictated by the natural behavior of reindeer. This population currently does not have reliable wired, wireless or satellite communication capabilities in major areas within which they work and live (or would prefer to stay if possible). A radical solution is therefore required.
Technical Solution
The SNC architecture builds on the Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) technology currently being developed by the Internet Research Task Force – DTN Research Group (IRTF-DTNRG). It also builds upon the work being done in the Stockholm Open Net project. The basic premise is that in a hybrid solution with current Internet technologies it should be provide basic access to remote and nomadic communities.
The initial goal is to provide email, cached web
access,
reindeer herd tracking telemetry and basic file and data transfer
services. The basic design involves using the DTN bundle protocol to
relay data between gateways using opportunistic routing through fixed
and mobile relays. The mobile relay bundle caches would periodically
travel between the residential communities, meeting at points where
data bundles can be exchanged and at locations where gateways to the
Internet are available. New Routing algorithms and protocols
are being developed to take advantage of the forwarding opportunities
presented by periodic chance encounters.
Social Environment
A factor of concern is the aboriginal amalgamation of
nomadic
life and preservation of nature represented by the area's reindeer
herders in the Laponia region. Another component is taking into account
the impact of enabling families to better keep together during the
nomadic year cycle via arrangements such as distance learning
(contemporary re-establishment of nomadism, i.e. "post-modern
nomadism").
Venue for Innovation
Although Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is understood as enabling a certain type of freedom, which eliminates the boundaries in time and space that were historically brought upon society by peasant and industrialized society. As constructed today, however, it does not serve for the genuinely nomadic life that reindeer herders, and other nomadic populations, both endure and strive to develop and to pass on to future generations. Because ICT was built up by and for people who are rooted in industrialized society, it carries structures and presumptions which compel a life adjusted to mechanical time and to a closed room that is bound to a limited set of places created through industrial forces.
A co-operation with reindeer herders, building up a system from the roots of their lives and culture, thus offers an excellent venue for ICT innovation. There are immediate practical and policy implications in the SNC project, which relate to specific reindeer herder and Sámi matters, as well as those that relate to wider settings such as "remote areas" in general. These are considerations that are very relevant to commercial and political concerns. For example, one quarter of the earth's surface is reindeer herding area. Specifically, in Sweden there is a considerable political expectation placed upon ICT providers to create and implement systems, which provide the technology to all populations: including people in non-urban areas. Nevertheless, in the long run, the culture and identity factors are perhaps the most valuable qualities of the SNC project, as they challenge the inbuilt contradictions - and shortcomings - of ICT itself.
Document Archives
- Project Documentation and Specifications
- Proposed Masters Projects
- Project Organization and Status
- Assorted
References and Background Material
For Further Information Please contact:
| Susanne Spik | Project Manager |
| Karin Kuoljok | Field Manager |
| Kommunikationsplattform Sirges Köpmang. 19, S-96232 Jokkmokk |
|
| Maria Udén | Project Manager |
| Luleå Tekniska Universitet S-97187 Luleå, Sweden |
|
| Avri Doria | Project Architect |