The Computerworld Honors Program
Honoring those who use Information Technology to benefit society
LOCATION:
Window Rock, AZ, US

YEAR:
2007

STATUS:
Laureate

CATEGORY:
Government

NOMINATING COMPANY:
Cisco

ORGANIZATION:
Department of Interior, Navajo Nation

PROJECT NAME:
Internet to the Hogan

Short Summary
Imagine driving three hours for basic social, health, educational and informational services. While that may sound outrageous with the advancements in technology in our society, for many residents of the Navajo Nation – a tribal sovereign nation with more than 250,000 citizens across 27,000 square miles, spanning New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah – that scenario had been a reality...at least until recently.

To stimulate economic development, ensure that government services were readily available to its citizens and enrich their quality of life, the central government of the Navajo Nation resolved to build an integrated network that would enable any government division, school or library to communicate seamlessly via voice, video and data. The objective was to connect the 110 Chapter Houses that serve as central community centers so citizens could access a Web portal for e-government, e-commerce, job searching, medical support, training, voting, distance learning and video broadcasts. It would provide connectivity to families in remote areas through networked Chapter Houses and traditional Navajo dwellings called the Hogan. In other words, this initiative is designed to bring the Navajo Nation into the modern world.

“We wanted to bring the network to Chapter Houses to enable our citizens to apply for government services using the Web and to conveniently access other services such as IP telephony, telemedicine and distance learning,” said Harold Skow, director of the Department of Information Technology for the Navajo Nation.


Introductory Overview
The Navajo Nation’s central government in Window Rock, Arizona strives to provide citizens with convenient government services, enrich quality of life, and stimulate economic development. But the sheer size and remote nature of the Navajo Nation presents daunting challenges for delivering government services. The simple task of acquiring telephone service required separate negotiations with each state, each hours away. Until recently, Centrex phone service, which cost $250,000 per month, was limited to certain schools, governmental entities and businesses. Individual government agencies had to independently arrange for point-to-point data connections with other agencies with whom they collaborated. Therefore, an entity such as the Division of Social Services that wanted to communicate with three other entities needed to pay for three T1 lines.

Established in 2003, the Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology (DIT) resolved to build an integrated network infrastructure that would enable any government division, school or library to communicate with all others—using voice, video and data. A major element of the strategy was to connect each of the Navajo Nation’s 110 Chapter Houses so that citizens could receive government services from a nearby location rather than drive up to six hours to the central government offices.

The DIT arranged for a local exchange carrier to provide very high speed access using existing radio towers, enabling the Chapter Houses, government divisions, schools and libraries access to the Internet and easy communication with one another. Once this connection was completed the Navajo Nation provided voice services over these communications networks (based on Internet Protocol) – otherwise known as VoIP – by using a suite of services located in each of the central government offices, allowing residents to speak with other Chapter Houses at no cost. In addition, the DIT installed videoconferencing systems to allow residents to receive telemedicine services through the Arizona Telemedicine Project.

Internet connectivity is enabling the Navajo Nation to achieve its clearly stated mission of stimulating economic development by delivering efficient government services to citizens; educational opportunities through distance learning; retention of the Navajo culture and language; communication with other residents and Chapter Houses; telemedicine capabilities; emergency preparedness information; and access to services that residents would otherwise be unable to use.

Specifically, the integrated, connected network is enabling:

- Distance learning via teleconference with classes from the major universities near the Navajo Nation, including Arizona State University, the University of Arizona, the University of New Mexico and the University of Utah.
- Telemedicine for citizens to receive superior health care via access to doctors in large medical facilities in urban areas.
- After-hours access to the Internet for school children who travel up to four hours daily on a bus to attend school to complete homework assignments, ensuring that they keep pace with students in more populous areas.
- Access to information on agriculture for the elderly in their native language, as many of them only speak the Navajo dialect.
- Central government services, such as housing, children’s health insurance, e-government, job listings and voting as close as the nearest chapter House, versus hours away or even unavailable for citizens with no access to vehicles.
- Expanded communications so residents can make free-of-charge phone calls to any other Chapter House in the entire three-state Navajo Nation because the calls travel over the IP network.


Benefits
Has your project helped those it was designed to help?   Yes

What new advantage or opportunity does your project provide to people?
The freedom the new network has given the citizens and government of the Navajo Nation cannot be understated. “E-government is one of the most important benefits of our IP network,” says Skow. “Imagine if someone drove six hours to the central government offices to apply for a service only to discover that the appropriate employee had not come to work that day. A Navajo Nation Web portal avoids that frustration while saving time and money.” The network also helps government organizations operate more efficiently, through better connection, communication and collaboration. The Division of Social Services, for example, sometimes conducts meetings with employees in its far-flung agencies using the Cisco Unity Videoconferencing system, avoiding long drives and the hazards of driving in bad weather. “We can add a new…IP phone whenever we want instead of waiting two to four weeks for the phone company to bring in a new line,” says Sam Nomoki, IT program supervisor for the Division of Social Services.

One of the biggest benefits of the new system is that it can provide information to the Navajo Nation citizens bilingually, in English and Navajo. Currently, a good percentage of the citizens are elderly and do not speak English. Programs offered via the network contain important information that is disseminated to the Chapter Houses, such as information on grazing and disaster recovery planning. Before, it could only be understood by a select group of individuals, who would have to take the time to translate it at each chapter house. Now, the information can be sent in English and Navajo at the same time, to the benefit of everyone.


Has your project fundamentally changed how tasks are performed?   Yes

How do you see your project's innovation benefiting other applications, organizations, or global communities?
Organizations that offer services to the Navajo people can offer them more efficiently. The Navajo Nation’s Veterinary and Grazing Departments use the network to more quickly publicize advice and warnings than they could by individually visiting each Chapter House. The Navajo Nation and other Pueblo tribes are working with the United Nations to set up a program for disseminating disaster information over the Internet. Citizens can also use the Web portal to access content and services offered by non-profit entities and schools, such as presentations on healthy eating and diabetes prevention. Publishing information on the Web in the Navajo language as well as English will increase the number of people who benefit from presentations.

In addition, the deployment of new technology supports economic growth and opportunities beyond the Navajo Nation. Citizens are now examining new means to generate revenue at the local Chapter Houses, as a way to make each a self-sustaining community. For example, there are a lot of craftsmen that make jewelry and a lot of people who still weave rugs and sell them. Previously, they would take their products to local cities near the reservation and sell them to people for about $200 for a rug. The purchaser would then turn around and sell the rugs for three or four times that amount. So to give the original artisan a good connectivity to where they can sell their products on the Internet provides a whole new level of opportunity and connection with the world – in addition to creating a direct link between cultures.


The Importance of Technology
How did the technology you used contribute to this project and why was it important?
The Navajo Nation Department of IT arranged for a local exchange carrier to provide a T1 connection to the Chapter Houses using pre-existing radio towers. Now the Chapter Houses, government divisions, schools and libraries have Internet access and can communicate with each other. The Department of IT is developing a Navajo Nation Web portal that residents can access from any Chapter House for convenient access to e-government, e-commerce, job search, training, voting, distance learning and video broadcasts.

In February 2006, the Navajo Nation began providing voice services over the IP network in the central government offices in Window Rock. Each Chapter House received six IP phones. Residents can make free-of-charge phone calls to any other Chapter House in the entire three-state Navajo Nation because the calls travel over the IP network.

Videoconferencing systems enable telemedicine services. Citizens visit the Indian Health Services office in Window Rock, which is part of the Arizona Telemedicine Project. A registered nurse determines the type of care needed and then uses the system to establish a videoconference with a doctor at one of more than 40 hospitals. The doctor and patient can converse while the doctor asks the nurse to direct the video camera as needed. The Department of IT plans to offer telemedicine services from other Chapter Houses, as well.

Furthermore, with sponsorship from New Mexico State Senator Leonard Tsosie, the Navajo Nation is planning to provide wireless connectivity from the Chapter Houses to nearby residences, called hogans (ho-GAHNs), many of which lack electricity. Internet access from home will help bridge the digital divide for Navajo students. “Given a wireless-enabled laptop and two extra batteries, Navajo students living in hogans will be able to access the same Internet resources as students living in urban areas,” says Senator Tsosie. The senator also envisions an Internet mentoring program that would connect schoolchildren with Navajo university students.

The Navajo Nation intends to take advantage of its network infrastructure to create new employment opportunities, such as call centers. Employees will be able to work either from their local Chapter House or, when the Internet to the Hogans project is complete, from home, using wireless IP phones. Similarly, the Navajo Nation Web portal will help stimulate the local economy by providing tourism information and enabling Navajo craftsmen to sell their items directly to consumers instead of through a trading post.

Further economic development is expected when the Department of IT creates a Navajo Nation technology complex, including a data center and point of presence (POP). By inviting large telecommunications companies to the POP, the Navajo Nation will create additional jobs for Navajo people who are trained in IT but until now had to leave the reservation to find jobs.

“IT must be viewed by all as a resource asset such as land, water and minerals,” Skow continues. “The Navajo Nation is capitalizing on the resource to increase our efficiency and effectiveness.”


Originality
What are the exceptional aspects of your project?
Harold Skow considers the impact of Internet connectivity to the Navajo Nation as momentous as the impact of the automobile. “When automobiles arrived in the Navajo Nation, we had to adapt,” he says. “Now that the Internet age has arrived, we have to learn how to use it to our best advantage. The network is improving quality of life by enhancing educational opportunities, enabling better health through telemedicine, and creating opportunities to stimulate the economy.”

The Web can also help retain the Navajo culture and language. “When Navajo people migrate off the reservation for work or educational opportunities, they often ask where they can obtain information on the Navajo language because they want to teach their children,” says Elrena Mitchell, project manager for the department of IT. “Providing referrals to schools and programs on our Web site will help to keep the language and culture alive.”

The Navajo Nation is in the process of offering distance-learning courses at Chapter Houses. Potential partners include local public universities as well as Dine College, which is run by the Navajo Nation, and Crown Point Institute of Technology. Distance learning will help students on the reservation overcome barriers to their success in school, including hours-long bus trips and inability to use the Internet to complete assignments.

“When our students move away to pursue their education, many have difficulty adjusting to city life and therefore return to the reservation,” says Skow. “Our network will help them complete their educations.” Teachers, too, can keep their skills current with distance-learning classes.


How is it original?
Prior to IP communication, the citizens of the Navajo Nation were stuck using LAN-based communications, which limited their communications capabilities. This form of communication limited the Navajo Nation and did not meet the goals of the DIT. By deploying an IP-based system, the DIT has created the first and most effective application of its kind for a sovereign nation within the United States, improving the quality of life for Navajo citizens and opening doors for longer term technological advancements. The system has since succeeded the expectations of both the DIT and citizens, while overcoming many unavoidable challenges unique to the Navajo Nation.

Is it the first, the only, the best or the most effective application of its kind?   All of the above

Success
Has your project achieved or exceeded its goals?   Exceeded

Is it fully operational?   Yes

How many people benefit from it?   250,000+

If possible, include an example of how the project has benefited a specific individual, enterprise or organization. Please include personal quotes from individuals who have directly benefited from your work.
The Navajo Nation will reduce telecommunications costs by $250,000 monthly – a 75 percent savings – since replacing its previous service with a new Unified Communications system, and it expects to achieve ROI within one year. “The money we saved by eliminating the Centrex service paid for the Cisco Unified Communications solution and Cisco Unified IP phones,” says Skow.

The success of the new technology has directly benefited the Navajo Nation in regards to education. Compared with other groups, New Mexico’s Native American student population has a greater drop out rate and a limited number college graduates. Disparities have been created, in part, due to high turn over in teaching staff, lack of professional development opportunities and limited science and technology resources available to rural and tribal schools throughout the state.

Students further have to travel for hours every day – at times, up to four hours a day to and from school. Once the students arrive home, much of their homework requires research from very limited resources. As a result, students would fall behind on a daily basis.

Of those students who do graduate and move off the reservation to different states to further their education, most find it difficult to return to a place where they do not have the resources or access to technology and communications systems – straining the maintenance of the Navajo heritage and traditions.

The new telecommunications system has changed all of that.

Now students can keep up by being able to study and research from home, as well as take online courses for continuing education. The communications system further allows individuals to stay in the Navajo Nation and still have access to the outside world.


How quickly has your targeted audience of users embraced your innovation? Or, how rapidly do you predict they will?
The Navajo Nation completed the first phase of the installation of IP phones to its major site at the White Rock Chapter Project in early 2005, and rolled-out an additional 660 VoIP phones by February 2007. Citizens were immediately trained on the technology and have since incorporated it into their daily lives. VoIP has increased citizen’s ability to communicate with the outside world – the most important example of which has been their ability to address medical needs quickly. No longer do the citizens of the Navajo Nation have to travel six hours to see a doctor. Being able to receive medical attention, or a medical assessment immediately online, has stimulated an overwhelming uptake in use of the system.

Difficulty
What were the most important obstacles that had to be overcome in order for your work to be successful? Technical problems? Resources? Expertise? Organizational problems?
A major part of the technology effort involved installing large structures throughout the dispersed landscape of the Navajo Nation. These large structures represented major change for the citizens of the Navajo Nation. The DIT worked continuously to communicate to Chapter Houses the benefits that these large satellite antennas would deliver to their citizens.

As a part of this effort, Senator Tsosie began convening Internet to the Hogan meetings with interested parties – Navajo and non-Navajo engineers, broadcasters, doctors, educators, information technology specialists and providers who represent Crownpoint Institute of Technology (CIT), Navajo Nation Department of Information Technology (NNDIT), Navajo Nation Division of Community Development (NNDCD), among more than 20 other organizations. By keeping these groups engaged, the technology providers were able to place the structures in appropriate locations within the lands of the Navajo Nation to create more opportunities via communication services for citizens.

During the series of Internet to the Hogan meetings, which were held from June to December in 2005, the participants worked together to identify shared resources and cost savings in order to construct a robust and reliable wireless telecommunication grid system for Northwestern New Mexico.

Another challenge that is not immediately recognizable is that the Navajo Nation is a land base of 27,000 square miles that covers three states: Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. Individuals from the Navajo Nation had to travel long distances and partake in countless meetings with each of these state governments – as well as individual county officials – to ensure the telecommunications systems were being constructed appropriately. Just to accomplish a minor task, officials from the Navajo Nations would have to drive numerous hours (three hours to New Mexico; eight hours to Utah, etc.) so that all of the laws and regulations – different for each state – were met.

Often the most innovative projects encounter the greatest resistance when they are originally proposed. If you had to fight for approval or funding, please provide a summary of the objections you faced and how you overcame them.
The biggest challenge faced by the Navajo Nation was identifying government entities that would be willing to allocate funds to support the program. Through collaborative initiatives with federal and state government entities, as well as the private sector, the Navajo Nation was able to pass important legislation that provided additional means of funding. The Navajo Nation coordinated its efforts with state officials from New Mexico under the premise of a common goal for expansion of telecommunications capabilities to remote areas.
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