FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Tech rel)
Tempe, Arizona January 13, 1995 - Native Americans establish the Native
American Communications Council (NACC). The Native American Communications
Council, Inc. ("NACC") was established for the purpose of developing a Native
owned and operated electronic network hub. The development of a Native
internet service will ensure that Native people will have full and easy
access to computer based telecommunications, relevant to their specific
needs.
While there are a few Native American operated bulletin board systems and
user groups offering on-line services, basic telecommunications
infrastructure remains severely lacking in Native America. There are
currently 550 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaskan Native
villages in the United States; only two, however have any significant
connection to or presence on the Internet. As of December 1994, only a few of
the twenty-eight Native controlled colleges were connected to the Internet.
The NACC intends to fill this void by providing its own interactive network
service to offer real-time discussions, plus information and programs on
legal, health, business development, employment, entertainment and
educational issues of particular concern to Native Americans and Alaskan
Natives. In this way, the NACC will open the electronic door to greater
communications between the numerous Native communities. It will also provide
access for non-Native people to learn about Native American issues directly
from the Native communities; which in turn will support and facilitate
dialogue between Native and non-native peoples.
Because there is not currently a unified Native American presence on the
Internet nor the online services such as Delphi, Genie, or America Online,
there is a lot of room for Native Americans to be misrepresented. The
founding members came together in their shared concern for the potential and
actual abuse that can and is occurring in these mediums. "The anonymity of
on-line services allow for unscrupulous individuals to present disinformation
on Native cultures and beliefs to serve their own personal agenda," said Dawn
Jackson, NACC spokesperson. Through computers the founding members began the
groundwork for the NACC. "We realized if we did not take a position on the
Information Superhighway, someone else would," said Jackson. "After a great
deal of research, we realized there was a real need for this type of native
organization. It is also one of the goals of the NACC to seek cooperation
with existing Native efforts in the telecommunications arena so that its
efforts will complement, not conflict, with one another.
The specific goals of the NACC are to:
1.) develop a Native owned and operated telecommunications network to provide
Native people with full and easy access to information stored on the NACC
server. It will offer most Internet functions such as gopher, ftp, telnet,
and an NACC World Wide Web (WWW) site. The NACC WWW home page will allow
users to submit, hunt for, retrieve, and display data such as text, graphics,
sound, and video. The html that instructs the computer to hyperlink
information from the primary NACC server to another computer is hidden by a
WWW browser.
The primary NACC server would be tied into local servers that are located on
reservations, Alaskan villages, urban centers, museums, and other non-NACC
computers. NACC Local system administrators are responsible for maintaining
their respective nodes and also will determine what is to be placed onto the
NACC network.
2.) provide Native Americans with easy access to the resources of Internet
via the free distribution of Netscape, which is a free World Wide Web browser
that was developed by the software authors of NSCA Mosaic. Users, when
launching Netscape, would see the NACC home page. The user is then able to
browse through the NACC WWW site to link to local servers. Netscape also
allows the user to exit out of the NACC WWW site to browse other WWW and
gopher sites.
3.) educate Native Americans about the possibilities and resources of the
Information Superhighway and encourage Native Americans to take advantage of
these resources. Training would include navigating the Internet, creating WWW
home pages, searching/retrieving information, submitting information, and
intellectual property concerns, as well as managing local NACC nodes.
4.) develop and establish an interactive Internet network of services and
programs to provide access to information resources, distances learning,
grant opportunities, legal issues, health issues and services, educational,
professional and job opportunities and native entertainment in film, TV,
music and dance .
The information would be contained in various locations, depending on
security. Information that can be freely released to the public could be
retrieved by WWW or anonymous ftp, while others can be controlled via
passwords via ftp, telnet, and WWW. Other files can be encrypted by PGP or
other encryption programs.
Since 1993, the founding members of the NACC have met with various Native
American groups to obtain funding and support for the NACC. In February/March
1994, the board of directors first introduced the goals and objectives of the
NACC to the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and the
National Science Foundation. Orna Weinroth of the National Indian Policy
Center in Washington D.C. has been advising the NACC since it's inception. In
September 1994, the Phoenix law firm of Snell & Wilmer offered to assist the
NACC with the incorporation process on a pro bono basis. Fred Steiner, Jr., a
partner at Snell & Wilmer, who leads an extensive Indian Law Practice, has
since assisted the NACC to incorporate in Arizona and will be helping it
protect its name and logo, as well as secure tax exempt status. "The need for
a reliable, responsive and responsible voice for Native Americans on the
Information Superhighway is self-evident. We are pleased to be able to
provide something tangible and useful to the NACC toward achieving that
goal," said Fred Steiner. Brigitte Finley and Charles Hauff, Jr. , attorneys
at Snell & Wilmer in the areas of tax and intellectual property, are also
assisting the NACC.
Through facilitating programs of service and support for Native American
communities, this council will serve as a resource for cultural preservation
efforts and for education about the cultural legacy and contemporary culture
of Native Americans.
The NACC is a not-for-profit corporation, based in Arizona, with offices
situated nationally. The founding members of the Native American
Communications Council reside in all parts of the United States and bring to
the board of the NACC a wide variety of professional and volunteer expertise,
in addition to diverse educational backgrounds. All five founding members are
of Native American descent. Below are brief biographies of each Executive
Board member.
Dawn Jackson (Saginaw Chippewa) is a Creative Services Coordinator with The
Walt Disney Company. In addition to her managerial duties she is currently
consulting on cultural accuracy in product designs for the upcoming feature
film Pocahontas. Jackson was recently elected to serve a 4-year term as a Los
Angles City/County American Indian Commissioner, and is a member of the
National American Indian Policy Network, working with the White House to
develop policy for urban dwelling Natives. Originally from Michigan, she is
an award winning fine artist and a member of Women In Film. She is a
co-founder and Board of Trustee member of First Americans in the Arts, a
non-profit trust dedicated to recognizing the achievements and encouraging
the full participation of Native Americans in the entertainment industry
through annual awards and scholarship presentations. Jackson lives in the Los
Angeles, California area.
Tracy R'Dane Miller (Eastern Band Cherokee) is currently employed by the
Valley Advocate, a regional Massachusett news journal and is active in
sponsoring and supporting Native American education, Native American
languages and cultures preservation. Miller attended Hampshire College,
specializing in Native American Affairs and Creative Writing, where she
served several terms as a student representative in the school of Humanities
and Arts and was an active member of the American Indian Student Association.
Miller currently resides with her daughter in Goshen, Mass.
Tamera Crites Shanker (Arapaho) a children's rights legal advocate, received
her B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern
California in 1984 and her Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law
Center, Washington, D.C., in 1994, where she was a Senior Editor on the
journal for Law & Policy in International Business. Crites Shanker's interest
in and commitment to children's rights led her to work as a volunteer writer
for the Children's Action Alliance Juvenile Justice Project. She was also
appointed by the Arizona juvenile court to sit on the state's Foster Care
Review Board. Crites Shanker is admitted to practice in Arizona and is a
member of the State Bar of Arizona's Indian Law, Family Law, and Juvenile Law
sections. She lives in Tempe, Arizona with her husband and two children.
Victoria Bracewell Short (Creek) is a Creative Director and Senior Art
Director at Design Central, a creative marketing design studio in the
Washington D.C area. Bracewell Short has more than 14 years of experience in
marketing, design and development of telecommunications, resort/tourism,
healthcare and nonprofit enterprises. She is co-founder of Artworks, an
advertising and design cooperative that actively promotes careers in the arts
for Native Americans. She also serves as Advisor and Adjunct Professor at
Columbia Union College, Department of Arts and Communication, in Takoma Park,
Maryland. Originally from Alabama, Bracewell Short received her BS/BA in
Public Administration and Visual Communications from George Mason University
in Fairfax, Virginia and currently resides with her husband in Harpers Ferry,
West Virginia.
Marc Towersap (Shoshone-Bannock) is currently employed by Lockheed Idaho
Technologies as an Associate Engineer. Prior to that, Towersap was employed
by Westinghouse Idaho Nuclear Company as an associate engineer and safety
analyst. He is currently a member of the Minority Affairs Board for
the Idaho Falls Post Register, a member of Lockheed Idaho Technologies Co's
Native American Mentoring Program, which assists the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes
in setting up small businesses, and a professional member of the American
Indian Science and Engineering Society. Towersap received
a Bachelor's in Science in Physics from Colorado College in Colorado Springs,
Colorado. Towersap currently resides in Pocatello, Idaho.