Full Description
After broadband access, what next? What role do metrics play in understanding "information societies"? And, more important, in shaping their policies? Beyond counting people with broadband access, how can economic and social metrics inform broadband policies, help evaluate their outcomes, and create useful models for achieving national goals? This timely volume not only examines the traditional questions about broadband, like availability and access, but also explores and evaluates new metrics more applicable to the evolving technologies of information access.
Beyond Broadband Access brings together a stellar array of media policy scholars from a wide range of disciplines—economics, law, policy studies, computer science, information science, and communications studies. Importantly, it provides a well-rounded, international perspective on theoretical approaches to databased communications policymaking in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Showcasing a diversity of approaches, this invaluable collection helps to meet myriad challenges to improving the foundations for communications policy development.
Contents
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Numbers That Matter Richard D. Taylor and Amit M Schejter PART I: Theory 1. Beyond Broadband Access: What Do We Need to Measure and How Do We Measure It Catherine Middleton 2. Understanding Digital Gaps: A Quartet of Empirical Methodologies Bin Zhang and Richard D. Taylor 3. Broadband Nicrofoundations: The Need for Traffic Data Steven Bauer, David Clark, and William Lehr 4. Ubiquitous Broadband Deployment: Examination of Adoption Factors, Network Competition, and Network Effects Sangwon Lee and Justin S. Brown 5. Approaches to Overcoming Data Challenges in International Comparisons Johannes Bauer and Sungjoong Kim 6. Data, Policy, and Democracy Jorge Reina Schement 7. "Rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens": Does Democracy Count? Amit M. Schejter PART II: The Use and Abuse of Data in Information Policymaking 8. Ph.D. Heal Thyself: In Search of Evidence Based Research for Evidence Based Policy Eli Noam 9. Case Studies in Abandoned Empiricism and Peer Review at the Federal Communication Commission Rob Frieden 10. The Determinants of Disconnectedness: Understanding US Broadband Unavailability Kenneth Flamm 11. Is European Broadband Spending a Sensible Project? The Opportunity Cost Concept and Implications of Input-Output Analysis Ibrahim Kholilul Rohman and Erik Bohlin 12. Using Data for Policy Development: Designing a Universal Service Fund for Tanzania Heather Hudson Notes Bibliography List of Contributors Index
