PLUMMER, Idaho – The Coeur d’Alene Tribe recently launched Rezkast, a Web site that’s open to everyone in Indian country. No enrollment is necessary and everyone’s invited to jump on and enjoy.
Valerie Fast Horse, director of information technology for the tribe, headed efforts to initiate the site. She said the tribe applied for a broadband grant in 2002 and received it in 2005, but it wasn’t until late 2008 that everything was completed to have the Web site up and running.
“Technology was blurring the lines between medias,” she said. “Voice, video and data were going to all blur together and we knew that with broadband being so revolutionary we no longer had to subscribe to cable to get video, no longer had to have a phone company to do voice calls, and no longer had to do internet to do strictly data. All three of them were converging.
“With converging technology, one of the things absent in Indian country is Indian content. Specifically in preserving our language, culture and things like that. We talked about putting up a site where people could set up just exactly what this is; to share their music, their videos, and their ideas with other Indians across the nation.”
Before starting on the content side they had to create a way to get the content out. The infrastructure came first and a technology center was built. Many people weren’t in touch with technology so their own people needed to be educated. Now it’s operational and Fast Horse has two full-time staff dedicated to the site, both for maintenance and site content and to ensure the tribe’s goals involving culture and language are being met.
The site is still in its infancy; it first came online last July, but initially the site design wasn’t what they’d hoped for so it was redone and launched again in November. It’s similar in some respects to YouTube or Myspace, but directed at American Indians.
There are many categories to look through. You can browse through the “Member” category where people have set up profiles with photos, friends and blogs. Or go to “Videos” and view them or make your own and post them. The video area is divided into sections for such things as culture and language, Native art, sports, education and others. You can go to “Comedy” and view something like the “Frybread Messiah Drew Lacapa;” or visit “Activity and Politics” and view videos of the presidential inauguration and some of the Native people who attended. The possibilities are endless.
There is a section for adding audios if you’re into music, or to post an article if a story needs wider distribution. Yet another possibility is the “Community” section where a group of people with similar interests, or perhaps a particular tribe, wants to set up their own community group.
There is an acceptable use policy to prevent hate mail or sexually explicit material, and it has to be within a 200 mb limit, but most things are acceptable.
Fast Horse is hoping people will find it useful in protecting and preserving tribal culture. She has inserted bits and pieces of the Shitsu’umsh (Coeur d’Alene) language and has created buttons in the language so others can take and post them on their Web site or send them to someone else. It’s a way of helping preserve the language and she is hoping other nations will find similar uses.
She is also hoping it will help disseminate information rapidly. “A big problem in Indian country is that we don’t get news in a timely fashion, or the information comes at the midnight hour and we’re expected to make a decision within a few short hours. That’s not always worked to our benefit. I’m hoping this will help bridge that gap.”
Ideally an Indian person credentialed into the Washington, D.C. media could get news as it’s happening, and then communicate that via the internet to people throughout the country, or perhaps a TV channel on the Web site where content could be uploaded and sent out immediately. Those capabilities are goals she sees as possible in the future.
Take a look at the Web site and see how it might benefit you. The world of technology is changing rapidly and this is one way of keeping up with some of that change; visit www.rezkast.com.