Bridging the Divide: Exploring Native Approaches to Science Through Analysis of Implementation of a Complex Information Technology in Alaska Native Communities

该奖项资助了一个研究项目的规划和初步开发，该项目研究在阿拉斯加西南部托吉亚克的一个阿拉斯加原住民村庄实施尖端信息技术的FAB实验室。布里斯托尔湾校区、阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯分校(UAF BBC)和阿拉斯加原住民联合会(AFN)将与香槟厄巴纳社区FAB实验室和伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校(UIUC)人文、艺术和社会科学研究所(I-CHASS)合作，在阿拉斯加托吉亚克实施FAB实验室。该项目是与阿拉斯加土著联合会和Togiak村合作开发的，此前在2010年于阿拉斯加费尔班克斯举行的年度阿拉斯加土著联合会大会上，由NSF ASSP资助的非常成功的示范项目引入了Fab Lab概念。AFN公约Fab Lab成功地表明，可以在阿拉斯加建立一个可运作的Fab Lab，一旦人们了解了这项技术，就会看到它的潜力，并希望成为该州Fab Lab发展的一部分。在大会期间，来自全州17个不同社区的40人签署了如何将FAB实验室带到他们社区的信息。非科学家与会者还能够观察到如何利用万维网交流想法和共同开展项目工作，并在这样做的过程中建立全球联系，并利用技术在最偏远的地方发展能力。该项目对人口的长期经济发展具有很大潜力，由于该州这些非常偏远的地区缺乏机会，人口的官方失业率在全国名列前茅。

This award funds the planning and preliminary development of a research project to study implementation of cutting edge information technology, a Fab Lab, in a rural Alaska Native village in southwest Alaska, Togiak. The Bristol Bay Campus, University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF BBC) and Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) will partner with the Champaign Urbana Community Fab Lab and the Institute for Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (I-CHASS) of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to implement a Fab Lab in Togiak, Alaska. This project was developed in collaboration with the Alaska Federation of Natives and the village of Togiak following the very successful demonstration project, funded by NSF ASSP, that introduced the Fab Lab concept at the annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention in Fairbanks, Alaska 2010. The AFN Convention Fab Lab was successful in demonstrating that an operational Fab Lab could be set up in Alaska and that people, once introduced to the technology in action, would see its potential and would want to be a part of Fab Lab development in the state. During the convention, forty individuals from seventeen different communities around the state signed up for information on how to bring a Fab Lab to their community. Non-scientist participants were also able to observe how the world-wide-web can be used to share ideas and work on projects together and, in doing so, build global connections and use technology to develop capacity in even the most remote location. This project has strong potential for long term economic development among a population that has some of the highest official unemployment rates in the country due to lack of opportunity in these very remote regions of the state.