The Tribal Digital Village, an initiative of the Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association, has proven to be a success in bridging the technology gap on several reservations.

The village consists of a high-speed network that links 18 reservations together via wireless technology. The tribes and residents now have access to the Internet, e-mail and other services.

"There are elders who a little while ago didn't know what a computer was," Michael Peralta, a network administrator, told The New York Times. "Now they bug me whenever they can't get to their e-mail."

Click on the Multimedia feature in the Times story to hear Matthew Rantenen, the director of technology for the tribes, discuss the network and how it got started. He explains how telecommunications companies refused to bring services to reservations, even those located near towns and cities.

Get the Story:
Switchboard in the Sky (The New York Times 5/3)
pwnyt

Relevant Links:
Tribal Digital Village - http://www.sctdv.net

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