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Resources
_____________________________________________________________________________
Islands on the Internet
MICHAEL R OGDEN
The Contemporary Pacific, Volume 11, Number 2, Fall 1999, 451–465 © 1999 by University of Hawai‘i Press
Islands on the Internet
For many Pacific Islanders, outsideHawai'i and perhaps Guam, theInternet remains a remote concept. Asthe rest of the world connects to theInternet at a ferocious pace-almost20 million host computers on theInternet as of January 1999 (figure I)and growing at a rate of nearly 50percent per year-the Pacific Islandsare not likely to remain very farbehind.! At the end of 1996, the bestestimate is that there were approximately 45 million people worldwideusing the Internet, with roughly 30million of those in North America, 9million in Europe, and 6 million inAsia-Pacific (NUA 1997); of these,perhaps fewer than 70,000 are in thePacific Islands. Still, such phenomenalgrowth has captured the interest ofPacific Island governments, businesses, and residents alike and reports of
the Internet's growing usefulness andpopularity elsewhere has opened updemand for Internet service providersin the Pacific Islands in a big way.However, despite the fact that mostPacific Island countries have primarilydigital international and domestictelecommunication infrastructures,telephone densities remain among thelowest in the world (approximately2.1 percent for the region overall;Cutler 1994). Even if one already hasa reasonably reliable power supply, agood computer, software, and amodem, a telephone line is still needed to connect to the Internet (Ogdenand Layton 1999). Therefore, the relatively low telephone densities (tableI) reported for even the more "modernized" Pacific Island countries represent a substantial barrier to accessing the Internet (assuming one can
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4
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1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997
FIGURE I. Global Internet host computers. (Source: Internet Domain Survey,Host Count Graph, January 1997. <http://www.nw.comlzone/WWW/top.htmb)
452
RESOURCES· OGDEN 453
Table 1. Pacific Islands telephones, 1996-1997
Total Total Telephones per TelephoneCountry Telephones Populations 100 Population Wait List
(estimated)
Cook Islands 5,100 20,000 25.5 245
Federated Statesof Micronesia 8,300 130,000 6.3 700
Fiji 71,793 775,000 9.3 11,500"
Kiribati 2,000 80,000 2.5 133
Marshall Islands 3,300 60,000 5.5 1,500
Nauru 2,200 11,000 20.0 160
Niue 1,000 2,267 44.2
Palau 5,400 18,000 30.0 50
Papua NewGuinea 73,068 3,600,000 2.0 1,491
Solomon Islands 6,500 376,000 1.7 130
Tonga 8,000 100,000 8.0 680
Tuvalu 500 10,000 5.0 60
Vanuatu 6,480 159,830 4.1 88
Western Samoa 9,100 170,000 5.4 2,600
Sources: SPF 1991; Budde 1998; various country reports. "1991.
afford the connection fees)-especiallyif the average wait for a telephone inthe capital city is six months to ayear, or even longer.
WEAVING AN ISLAND
NET(WORK)
In early 1996 a consortium consistingof Telecom Fiji Limited (formerly, FijiPosts & Telecom Limited), Fiji
International TelecommunicationsLimited (FINTEL), Telecom NewZealand Limited, the University of theSouth Pacific, and the Telecommunications Program of the South PacificForum initiated a six-month trialInternet service accessing the University of Waikato's Internet gateway inNew Zealand (Sullivan and Morris1996). FINTEL and Telecom NewZealand provided a 64 kbps (kilobits
454 THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1999
per second) circuit for the duration ofthe trial period, and Telecom Fiji provided the router. Within just a fewmonths of operation, the trial had143 modem users and 6 leased-lineusers, while traffic reached over 900Mbps (megabits per sect'md) permonth-piquing the interest of otherPacific Island telecommunication service providers studying the feasibilityof offering their own Internet accessservice (Sullivan and Morris 1996).
Most Pacific Island countries didnot introduce Internet services until1996 or later, and Nauru and Kiribatiprovided access in late 1998; however,Tuvalu and many other small stateshave yet to offer full Internet dial-upservices (Kami 1998). Even so,Internet services are fast becoming anintegral part of the communicationsenvironment in an increasing numberof Pacific Island countries (table 2).By November 1996, Fiji had over 400dial-up modem users and 10 leasedline users, with several dozen webpages online (PIM, 1996). At present,Fiji (mostly in Suva, the capital)boasts 1,800 dial-up account holders,with 20 corporate accounts (mostlyleased-line), hundreds of web pages,and an international bandwidth of5 I 2 kbps via the Cable & WirelessInternet Exchange in Hong Kong.This service is also available to threeother Pacific Island nations in whichCable & Wireless is active (SolomonIslands, Vanuatu, and Tonga). Bysharing the cost between them, accessto the Cable & Wireless InternetExchange has been provided at a relatively reasonable price. Thus, theSolomon Islands reported over 80
dial-up users by the end of 1996,while Vanuatu reported over 50 dialup users and was experiencing a
Table 2. Pacific Islands InternetUsers, 1997
Country Internet Users
American Samoa 600
Fiji 1,800
French Polynesia 700
Guam 5,000
Hawai'i':' 90,000
Marshall Islands 300
Palau 500
Papua New Guinea 2,000
Solomon Islands 1,000
Tonga 10
Vanuatu 100
Sources: BuddIe 1998; various countryreports. "1996 estimate.
downturn in fax traffic as customersbegan using electronic mail (email) fortheir communication needs (Sullivanand Morris 1996). Likewise, Internetservices were initiated in Palau as partof Palau's LightNet 2000 Plan to meetdemand for Internet services primarilyin the capital city of Koror (Tia Belau,1997). The Internet service has beenso popular (soo-plus customers) thatthe Palau National CommunicationsCorporation recently expanded froma dedicated 64 kbps connection to a192 kbps link (Miller 1998).
As an offshoot of global Internetdevelopments, Tuvalu stands to reapsubstantial revenue (Raskin 1998).On advice from a consultant assignedby the International Telecommunications Union, Tuvalu established a TopLevel Domain Task Force and a care-
RESOURCES· OGDEN
fully laid-out bidding process for theeventual selection of a marketing partner for its much-coveted two-lettertop-level Internet domain suffix, .tv(as in "BroadcascCompany.tv"desired by almost every major television broadcasting corporation in theworld). On 6 August 1998, in exchange for US$50 million up front(five times the nation's 1997 grossdomestic product), Tuvalu grantedInformation.cA of Toronto exclusivemarketing rights to Tuvalu's domainuntil 2048 (.tv Land 1998, 104).Tuvalu anticipates collecting betweenus$60 million and US$IOO million peryear in a projected revenue split withtheir Toronto-based partners (Waqa1998, 16). As part of the deal,Information.cA will help Tuvalu buildits first local Internet service provider,allowing Tuvalu to connect to theInternet for the first time. The imminent windfall from Canada, withpromised delivery by the end ofDecember 1998, started everyone inTuvalu talking about how they wouldlike to see the money spent. Unfortunately, "[f]or the moment, Tuvalu'sfantasy of a better life is on hold; thedream has begun to sour. Almost twomonths after the deadline . . .Tuvalu is still waiting for the $50million up front money. What theyhave received, . . . is a new deal fora lot less money-from the original$50 million promised last summer,down to $12 million" (Chew 1999).The Canadian company's new webpage states that in their "efforts tomake the .TV domain as fair and equitable as possible, the .TV Corporationhas delayed the launch of the .TV
domain until the second quarter of1999. Foremost among our concernsis the incorporation of trademark and
455
intellectual property protections intothe .TV domain registration process"(.TV Corporation 1999). Despite thedelay, the Canadian company is stillaccepting .TV domain name registrations. Tuvalu has granted the company their requested extension on payment while keeping a wary eye onthem. However, this time theCanadian prime minister has statedthat the company must honor theirpromises to Tuvalu (Chew 1999).
Several other Pacific Island nationsand territories could also stand tobenefit from this potential bonanza incyberspace. The Kingdom of Tongahas contracted with Tonic DomainsCorporation, based in San Francisco,to sell Tonga's highly sought-after .tosuffix-for about US$IOO per registrant every two years (Wired WorldAtlas 1998, 165). This contract haspropelled Tonga into the top ranks inthe world for Internet hosts per capita-although most of the hosts do not
. reside in Tonga-. Similady, AmericanSamoa's .as has garnered some attention as a potential source of revenue(valued in Scandinavia as a parallel tothe A.S. that denotes an incorporatedentity), while the Federated States ofMicronesia have collected nearlyUS$150,000 from 750 FM radio stations that paid $200 each for a twoyear (renewable) agreement to use the.fm domain. Even Niue has sold morethan fifteen thousand names at US$25per year through an offshore company formed to market the .nu domain(Raskin 1998, IIo).
Despite such lucrative windfalls forsome, most Pacific Island countries donot have Internet access; typically,those that do have only a singleInternet service provider offering limited dial-up access. This service is usu-
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL I999
ally owned by the national telecommunications company or whichevercompany provides international service. Dial-up rates range from US$2 toUS$IO per hour across the Pacific,with a relatively high initial connection fee, and in some cases even anadditional per-minute charge for localtelephone calls (Kami I998). Thus, asin most developing countries, the proportion of the population with Internet access has yet to exceed I or2 percent-the high cost of connectivity being the single biggest hindrance-with use typically limited tolarger resort operators, expatriateowned businesses, and upper-incomeearners.
BUILDING AN INTERNET
PRESENCE
Still, many recognize that the Internetholds the potential for providing ameans of rapidly disseminating information on and a.bout the PacificIslands. In the early years of theWorld Wide Web (www or web), academics interested in the region begancollecting large lists of hypertext2 dataabout the Pacific Islands. Theseresources were being amassed throughthe collective efforts of the WorldWide Web Virtual Library's "PacificStudies" list, or collected and categorized on the Pacific Islands InternetResources page <http://www2.hawaii.edu/-ogden/piir/> (figure 2). Eachprovides connection to a wealth ofinformation on Pacific islands, including weather, ocean temperatures, business opportunities, tourist information, and "chat rooms" where manypeople swap stories of their PacificIsland homes or adventures (North
I996). However, these and otherinformative websites were almostexclusively maintained on host computers affiliated with universities inwestern metropolitan countries.
First among the Pacific Islands togo online was the government ofWestern Samoa with its Cradle ofPolynesia website <http://www.intergroup.com/interweb/samoa/>, developed and maintained by a companyin the United States. Additional countries and regional organizations, likethe Republic of the Marshall Islandswebsite RMI Online, and the TourismCouncil of the South Pacific, sawadvantages to prompt adoption, goingonline in early I996 with their respective websites maintained on host computers in the United States andAustralia (Hussein I996).
In August I996, the Fiji VisitorsBureau was the first in the Pacificwith its own home page<http://www.fijifvb.gov.fj/>. providinginformation on everything from asimple listing of hotels and the usualtourist information, to more adventurous activities off the beaten track.Many businesses in the Pacific arealso starting to come online, seeingpotential benefit in marketing theirproducts to people around the world(rIM, I996). How successful this willbe as a mechanism for generatingadditional trade and investment in thePacific Islands has yet to be seen, andmuch will depend on the success ofintroducing "electronic commerce" onthe Internet in general. However, apossible harbinger of things to comemay be the development of offshoreinterests gaining permission to establish "Internet casinos" for onlinegambling in the Pacific Islands, where
RESOURCES· OGDEN 457
Aloha! Bula! Eh Wantok! Kaselehlia! Talofa! Yokwe!
Welcome! As we accelerate toward a world that will become even more dependent upon information, thereare whole segments of society - both from a national as well as an international perspective - that may not beable to partake of this information bonanza. Nowhere, perhaps, is this of more pressing concern than in thefar-flung island states ofthe Pacific.
As a service to the Pacific Islands community (and those interested in Pacific Islands), this site attempts to bringtogether in one location a catalog (as complete as possible) of the resources available via the World Wide Webfocusing on the Pacific Islands. Ifyou know of other resources which should, could or must be linked here,please let me know.
::;fi>~'
~~.Conferences Seminars & Workshops (updated semi-regularly!)
FIGURE 2. Pacific Islands Internet Resources website (clickable image mapomitted). <http://www2.hawaii.edu/-ogden/piir/>
secrecy laws protect such companiesfrom close scrutiny (Williams 1996).
ISLAND NEWS ONLINE
Getting up-to-date reliable news andinformation from the Pacific regionhas always been difficult. The combination of orally based societies, limit
.ed technology, and unreliable tele-phone lines has meant that news(other than natural disasters or military coups) from places like PapuaNew Guinea, Fiji, the SolomonIslands, Vanuatu, and Western Samoamakes its way fleetingly to the outsideworld, if at all. However, 1996 was ayear of rapid development for Pacific
news sources on the web, most ofthem-not surprisingly-hosted onservers in Australia and the UnitedStates. Two daily newspapers inPapua New Guinea, seven news services, five magazines, and a numberof occasional publications joined thefirst news sites set up in 1995. TheCOCONET Wireless (figure 3), a Pacificnews and information resource site,was established on 5 September 1995as a clearinghouse for Pacific Islandsnews. It was followed almost immediately by the Internet issue of theUniversity of Papua New Guinea'sjournalism student newspaper, UniTavur, making it the first Pacific periodical on the web. Unfortunately, this
,9, ( ,i',".<'.' . .' ,.
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1999
example of online journalism fromthe Pacific Islands has ceased publication due to the program's recent termination at the university. In October1996, the first continually publishedperiodicals, Tahiti-Pacifique Magazineand the Tonga Chronicle, appearedonline. These are exceptions to thenorm, however, for many of the periodicals that emerged later in 1996do not publish regularly-their sitesexist primarily to generate subscriptions to the hard-copy versions, andalmost all exist on machines outsidethe region.
Initiated in 1996 as an educationaland training site at the AustralianCentre for Independent Journalism,University of Technology, Sydney,David Robie's Cafe Pacific provideslinks to news stories (many written bythe website's author) and independentinformation sources on Pacific Islandprogressive movements, environmental groups, and research sites in theregion. Likewise,offering both adiploma and a bachelor's degree injournalism, the University of theSouth Pacific has introduced studentsto online journalism through its program's websites, Pacific JournalismOnline, Pasifik Nius-a website covering mainly political, social, cultural,environmental, and media news-and the simultaneous paper and webpublishing of the student newspaper,Wansolwara. Recognizing theimportance of this effort by buddingPacific Island journalists, UNESCO hasassisted the efforts of the university'sjournalism program with a 1998development grant from its PacificRegional CommunicationProgramme.
Pacific Island media began experi-
menting with Internet technologiessuch as email in the early 1990S.However, as the examples demonstrate, it was not until 1996, whenservice providers were established inthe Cook Islands, Fiji, the SolomonIslands, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa,that media organizations in thosecountries were afforded reliable accessto the Internet.
As was reported in an earlierResources article, an Internet-basednews site, the Pacific Islands Report<http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.eduIPIReport>,hosted by the East-West Center'sPacific Islands Development Program,was initiated in July 1997 to providepreviously unavailable coverage ofdaily regional news stories and indepth reports about Pacific Islandsissues and ideas (Hulsen 1999,241-247). Al Hulsen, managingeditor of the Pacific Islands Report,stated that "[s]ince the inaugurationof the service, Pacific Islanders themselves have provided the majorityof the reports. Initially, eight newitems were offered daily; now twelveto fifteen are provided" (1999,245).Along with providing on-the-jobtraining in online journalism formid-career and junior Pacific Islandjournalists, the Pacific Islands Reportprovides news reports pertaining tothe Pacific Islands for Hawai'inewspapers and US public radiostations. Such online journalisminitiatives serve to illustrate howembracing a new technology cangreatly improve news and information flow and, in a modest way,break the benign neglect by majornews agencies of events and issuesreported by journalists in the PacificIslands.
FIGURE 3. COCONET Wireless website. <http://www.uq.edu.auljrn/coco.htmb
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1999
GETTING EDUCATION "WIRED"
Higher education has traditionallybeen among the first institutions toget on the Internet. The University ofthe South Pacific established its official Internet home page for generaluniversity and course information in1997. In August 1998, the universityupgraded its Internet bandwidth from19.2 kbps to 64 kbps and in littlemore than six weeks doubled itsbandwidth again to 128 kbps andagain, just months later, to 256 kbps.These improvements in bandwidthrepresent a major development at theuniversity, a pioneer in South Pacifictelecommunications in education formany years. However, whereas itsinstructional staff have fairly wideaccess to the Internet, students donot-apart from those in specializedstudy areas such as the master's inbusiness administration and journalism. This has caused some departments and programs, and especiallythe students, to call for greater andfaster access to the Internet. Even so,many academics at the University ofthe South Pacific still have majordoubts regarding its ability to copewith the demand or to develop policies in keeping with global Internettrends, pointing out that its draftstrategic plan barely mentions information technology and gives littleindication of the future direction ofcommunications at the university(Angiki 1998). In a recent edition ofthe newsletter Centrepoint, from theuniversity's Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, JayHandel called for the University ofthe South Pacific to "get up to speed"on its information policy. He further
commented that "[m]ore and more,the Web is where research and publication are happening. Academics whobelieve that electronic publication'doesn't count' are living in the past"(reported in Angiki 1998). Continuinga trend that started more than adecade ago, tertiary institutions areupgrading and integrating theirlibrary and information services totake advantage of information databases and online publications.
Libraries at regional institutions ofhigher education have been amongthe early adopters of Internet-basedinformation distribution. Generallibrary holdings have long beensearchable by computer at such institutions as the University of Hawai'i,the University of Guam, theUniversity of Auckland, and theAustralian National University.However, only within the past decadehave special collections and generalcatalogs been widely available to
.Internet users outside these inStitutions. For an example, see <http://www2.hawaii.edul-speccoll!pacific.html> (figure 4). Some libraries, suchas the Micronesian Area ResearchCenter at the University of Guam, theindependent Micronesian Seminar,and the Australian National University-affiliated Pacific ManuscriptsBureau, are also making certain wholemanuscripts available online or generally available to those wishing topurchase documents.
Parallel to improvements to educational computing in the islands,indigenous expertise in Internet publishing is developing to keep pacewith advancing Internet infrastructures. A number of indigenous website managers have discussed the need
RESOURCES • OGDEN
for an improved Pacific news serviceon the web, and for a regional newsand current affairs web "magazine."Likewise, the vitality and diversity ofmigrant Pacific Island communitiesaround the world, as evidenced by thevarious discussion forums of TaholoKami (Kava Bowl, Wantok Forum,Bula Forum, Melanesia Forum), AlAiono (Polynesian Cafe), and AlopiLatukefu (SPIN Forum), as well as theefforts of Alan Howard and Jan Rensel(Rotuma Website) among manyothers, serve to illustrate that projectssuch as these have come to play animportant role in keeping widely dispersed Islanders in touch with eachother and their home communities.Indeed, as Alan Howard discussed inan earlier Dialogue essay, the "concept of 'community,' always somewhatproblematic, has increasingly beencalled into question, in large measureas a result of computer-mediated communication" (1999, 160). In recounting his own experience in building theRotuma Website, Howard observedthat a "community" website-in contrast to a strictly academic or commercial website-is a matter of providing a service to a widely scatteredcommunity whose members come todepend on the site to provide themwith connectedness to each other andto their island home. Still, as TaholoKami has cautioned, "the PacificIslands are in danger of becomingobservers of technology ... [Pacific]island countries need to developcapacity in the information field toremain competitive in [the] future"(1998,4). According to him, thisrequires a clear vision of each respective nation's "market niche" in theinformation age and a comprehensive
strategy to ensure that adequateinvestment and coordination are inplace to facilitate active participationin the Internet by all Islanders.
CONCLUSIONS AND CONCERNS
As computer-based communicationtechnologies diffuse throughout thePacific, some fundamental questionsmust be addressed. At issue is the perceived value of such communicationtechnologies and whether or not their"value" matches or exceeds their"cost" for Islanders to connect.Among Pacific Island states, issues ofequitable and open access to information, as well as the more basic issuesof computer-based resource awarenessand relevance as necessary public service priorities, are not being adequately discussed. Furthermore, will elementary and high schools in PacificIsland nations-or other less-developed countries for that matter-integrate computer literacy-ihtothe curriculum to prepare students for jobsin the next millennium? How manyPacific Islanders will be able to affordcomputers, modems, software, andthe online connections without somesort of subsidy? While technology hasthe potential to promote economicgrowth, job creation, and other socialbenefits, without a guiding social contract the information revolution willonly aggravate underlying inequalitiesand may further bifurcate PacificIsland societies as well as widen thegap between developed metropolitancountries and their less-developedneighbors (Ogden 1995). Likewise, itis important for Islanders and theirrespective governments to remain vigilant in order to ensure that commu-
THE CONTEMPORARY PACIFIC· FALL 1999
FIGURE 4. Website of Pacific Collection, University of Hawai'i at Manoa Library.<http://www2.hawaii.edu/-speccolllpacific.html>
nication and information technologiesdo not playa corrosive role in islandsocieties but, instead, empower themto preserve their cultures. These powerful new communication technologies offer as many opportunities toerode indigenous language, traditions,and history as they do opportunitiesto preserve and strengthen. As Pacific
Island nations begin to overhaul existing telecommunication and information systems and networks to meetthe demands of the information age,it becomes even more imperative thatinequalities do not become codifiedfor the next generation.
MICHAEL R OGDEN
RESOURCES· OGDEN
Notes
I Additional data became availabletoo late for inclusion in figure I.
According to an Internet Domain Surveyin January I999, the numbers of hostswere: July I997, I9,540,000; JanuaryI99 8, 29,670,000; July I998, 36,739,000;January I999, 43,230,000 (NetworkWizards: <http://www.nw.com/>).
2 Hypertext is a term used to describea nonsequential, random-access arrangement of text-based documents (thoughimages may be incorporated as well). TheWorld Wide Web, developed in I99I,merges the techniques of networked information and hypertext to make an easybut powerful global information systemaccessible to anyone with a computer,appropriate software, and a modem.
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Budde, Paul. I998. Analysis of SouthPacific Islands TelecommunicationsMarkets. Summary report given at thePTC-PITA Telecommunications Conference& Exhibition: New Perspectives on IslandTelecoms: Global Networks, LocalRequirements, 2I-23 October. RafflesTradewinds Hotel & Convention Centre,Suva, Fiji. Mimeo.
Chew, Patricia. I999. ".tv." NationalMagazine. I 6 February. TV documentarytranscript, Internet document.<http://www.tv.cbc.ca/nationaVpgminfo/tuvalulinxed.htmb
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Internet Resources
Whereas every attempt has been made toinsure that the resources cited are current,
readers should be aware that Internet documents are transitory and prone to frequent and capricious universal resourcelocator (URL) changes. Therefore the linkslisted here are not guaranteed to alwayswork.
Australian National University. 1999.Pacific Manuscripts Bureau. <http://sunsite.anu.edu.aulspinlRSRC/PMB/>
COCONET Wireless. 1996.<http://www.uq.edu.auljrn/coco.htmb
Cradle of Polynesia. 1996.<http://www.interwebinc.com/samoa/>
David Robie's Cafe Pacific. 1999.<http://www.asiapac.org.fj/cafepacific/>
The European Centre on Pacific Issues.1999. <http://antenna.nlJecsiep>
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---. 1999b. Pasifik Nius.<http://www.usp.ac.fj/journ/nius/>
--_._ .. 1999C. Wansolwara.<http://www.usp.ac.fj/journ/docs/wansol.htmb
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Pacific Islands Internet Resources. 1998.<http://www2.hawaii.edul-ogden/piir/>
Pacific Islands Report. 1999.<http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/PIReport/>
RMI Online. 1996.<http://www.clark.net/pub/rmiemb/>
Rotuma Website. 1999.<http://www2.hawaii.edu/oceanic/rotuma/os/hanua.htmb
RESOURCES· OGDEN
South Pacific Online. 1996.<http;//www.infocentre.comlspt/>
University of Auckland. 1999a. MaoriStudies Library. <http://www.auckland.ac.nz/lbr/maori.lgmaori.htm>
---. 1999b. New Zealand and PacificCollection <http://www.auckland.ac.nz/nzp/nzphome.htm>
University of Guam. 1999a. MicronesianArea Research Center: Special Collections.<http://www.uog.edu/marc/collect.htmb
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