Codesigning community networking literacies with rural/
remote Northern Indigenous communities in Northwest
Territories, Canada

Codesigning community networking literacies with rural/
remote Northern Indigenous communities in Northwest
Territories, Canada

digital inclusion, digital literacy, digital divide, community networks, Northern Canada, Indigenous Peoples.

Digital literacy research and practice typically presume certain conditions, such as an urban orientation and adequate, affordable access to
connectivity and devices. But these conditions are not universal; for example, people in small, rural/remote Indigenous communities may seek to
balance connectivity challenges and digital innovations with land-based living specific to place and community. Drawing on efforts to broaden
critical digital literacies to support Indigenous sovereignty, we consider how overlapping contexts of places, communities, and infrastructures
intersect in the cocreation of appropriate digital literacy. Specifically, we discuss a series of virtually facilitated, participatory workshops that utilize
“hacker literacies” and “infrastructure literacy” to reimagine connectivity infrastructure and demonstrate the potential of community networking
in, with, and by rural/remote Indigenous communities. We also reflect on limitations of this work and identify lessons for future projects.

Rob McMahon 1,*, Michael B. McNally1

, Eric Nitschke2

, Kyle Napier1

, Marıa Alvarez Malvido3
,

Murat Akc ̧ayir1

https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmad042

Oxford University Press on behalf of International Communication Association.

21 September 2023

PERI IRAWAN

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