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<td height="177" bgcolor="#F0DBA1"><font size="2">One of the activities
NAPT participates in in an effort to help keep Indian Country connected
to the pulse of policy-making is our role as a Census Information
Center. Read more at <a href="www.nativetelecom.org/census">www.nativetelecom.org/census</a>.
And most of all, when the Census comes calling in April, stand up
and be counted. Checking "native" on your form can help address the
Native American population undercount that was the worst of any group
in the 1990 census. You can help Native America get its fair share
of tax dollars and all the services they bring-roads, schools, yes,
even the telecommunications infrastructure.</font></td>
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<p align="left"><b><font size="4">Editor's Note</font></b> </p>
<p align="left"><font size="3"><b>Musings on the print newsletter as an
anachronism in the telecommunications industry</b></font><font size="2"><b></b></font></p>
<p align="left"><font size="2"><i><font size="3">by Jennifer Bauman, NAPT
Communications Director</font></i> </font></p>
<p><font size="2">This is an exciting time in telecommunications. Things
are changing and no one really knows where they're going to go. At our
most optimistic moments we see almost unlimited possibilities for connecting
and communicating. But then we're brought up short when we remember the
realities of the digital divide. </font></p>
<p><font size="2">NAPT is struggling with this very discrepancy. Potential
funders and all the agencies we answer to urge us to think outside the
box-we're limited only by the boundaries of our imagination. And if we're
to remain a viable component of the public television and radio scene,
we have to embrace this potential for growth and change. But we also know
the reality of telecommunications in Indian Country, where basic services
like phone connections are among the worst in the country. When you add
the urban Native population to reservations communities, we're trying
to reach a very scattered, disparate group of people with clumsy tools
like printed newsletters and websites, media that never get in front of
all the readers we'd like. </font></p>
<p><font size="2">Having said all that, what NAPT is trying to do with <i>The
Vision Maker</i> is to walk a line between responsible use of our planet's
resources (ie, not using paper and ink as if supplies were unlimited)
and being sensitive to the fact that the country-especially Native America-is
not nearly as electronically interconnected as many policy makers would
have the public believe. </font></p>
<p><font size="2">So what you'll see in the print issue of <i>the Vision
Maker</i> newsletter is abbreviated versions of articles on a variety
of the activities <b>NAPT</b> (and its services like <b>AIROS </b>and<i>
Native America Calling</i>) have been engaged in. Online here you'll find
fuller versions of all these reports, as well as additional photographs.
If you are receiving the print version of the newsletter, perhaps you'll
share your copy with a friend or colleague. If you like reading our materials
online and wish to discontinue receiving print copies, send an email to
<a href="mailto:native@unl.edu">native@unl.edu</a> with "no print" in
the subject line and we'll adjust our database accordingly. </font></p>
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