SCC: PuebloConnect: Expanding Internet Access and Content Relevance in Tribal Communities

我们的研究解决了改善经济边缘化社区互联网接入的双重目标，同时也建立了定期数字内容创作的当地能力。我们关注的是美国土著保留地社区，那里的互联网使用率是全国最低的。我们的工作将开发新的网络技术，使保留地居民能够有意义地参与互联网，既是互联网内容的消费者，也是互联网内容的生产者，从而为经济发展创造新的机会。为了确保我们的技术工作取得成功，我们将让社区成员参与我们研究的规划、实施和传播。我们的团队与非营利性、本地服务和社区组织合作，积极致力于解决数字不平等问题。为了创造一个更有用的互联网，我们全面重新思考中间和最后一英里的网络技术，以提供自适应的智能连接。我们的基本贡献包括：控制和数据平面的分解，以及一个新的内容上传和下载平台，通过智能中间里程弥合了网络核心和终端系统设备之间的差距；电视（TV）频谱白色空间试点链路部署和网络管理解决方案，并研究农村地区的可用性；通过参与性行动研究协议与社区伙伴合作，确定数字信息需求，并制定网页设计培训框架，以增加土著组织在互联网上的存在。由于美国原住民保留区与其他农村地区有许多相同的地理和人口密度特征，我们工作的许多方面将适用于将互联网的覆盖范围和可用性扩展到美国境内的其他非原住民社区。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Our research addresses the dual goals of improving Internet access in economically marginalized communities while also building local capacity towards regular digital content creation. We focus on Native American reservation communities, which have among the lowest Internet availability rates in the nation. Our work will develop new network technologies to enable reservation residents to meaningfully participate in the Internet, as both consumers and producers of Internet content, in order to create new opportunities for economic development. To ensure the success of our technical work, we will engage community members in the planning, implementation, and dissemination of our research. Our team is partnered with non-profit, Native-serving, and community organizations that are actively working to solve digital inequities.To create a more usable Internet, we comprehensively rethink middle- and last-mile network technologies to offer adaptive, smart connectivity. Our fundamental contributions include: the disaggregation of control and data planes and a new content upload and download platform that bridges the gap between the network core and end system devices via a smart middle mile; Television (TV) spectrum white space pilot link deployments and network management solution and to study usability in rural regions; and collaboration with community partners through a participatory action research protocol to identify digital information needs and develop a framework for Web-design training to increase the Internet presence of Native-owned organizations. Because Native American reservations share many geographical and population density characteristics with other rural regions, many aspects of our work will be applicable to extending the reach and usability of the Internet to other, non-Native communities within the U.S.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.