Supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts Broadband Access Initiative, this report develops a framework for the assessment of the effects of the Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act of 2021 on high-speed Internet access, digital equity, and community development. With the funding authorized by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act 2021 (Infrastructure Act), the federal government, states, and communities will have a window of opportunity to close digital connectivity gaps improve digital equity, and to transform communities. The scale and diversity of current federal, state, and local policy initiatives creates a needs transparency and accountability to assure the responsible use of public funds.
Even though the Infrastructure Act and NTIA implementation guidelines supply an integrative framework, states and territories have developed varying models to meet their specific needs. Given the many challenges of such a large-scale effort, it is to be expected that some will be more effective than others. If properly monitored and evaluated, these variations can be translated into knowledge that can help improve all programs for the remaining duration of the program. The first report from the project, released today, develops principles to ease the burden on eligible entities of meeting their statutory reporting requirements and to guide data collection, program monitoring, and impact evaluation going forward.
For more information see quello.msu.edu/iija-assessment
From Left to Right- Johannes Bauer, MSU Professor
Charlotte Bewersdorff, VP Community Engagement, Merit Network
Roger Blake, CEO, Merit Network
Kevin Guskiewicz, MSU President
Keith Hampton, Director of Academic Research, Quello Center
𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: Tuesday, September 10, 2024
After two years, Project MOON-Light, a network-wide, significant upgrade of Michigan’s middle mile Internet infrastructure, was completed. MOON-Light is a collaboration between Michigan State University, Merit Network, and the Quello Center. It was supported in part by a grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s Broadband Infrastructure Program. The enhanced middle mile capabilities will enable local internet service providers to connect residents and businesses in unserved areas of the state and improve the quality of service to areas that are currently served by lower access speed and quality of service. Representatives from the Quello Center, Michigan State University, Merit Network, NTIA, Merit Network member organizations, and internet service providers, celebrated the completion of the project with an event at Michigan State University.
The recording of our live-streamed the event can be watched here: https://hubs.la/Q02PcqlQ0
New Quello Center Study: Broadband and Student Performance Gaps After the COVID-19 Pandemic
It builds on the findings of a study on Broadband and Student Performance Gaps released in the weeks before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (Hampton et al., 2020). That report highlighted the low levels of broadband access by rural Michigan students and the detrimental impact from a lack of access on their academic performance, educational aspirations, career choices, and general well-being. In 2022, we returned to the same schools that we first surveyed in 2019. We asked students about their experience with Internet technologies and with learning from home during the pandemic. Our findings paint a picture of how rural school districts and other stakeholders rapidly mobilized to address a national crisis. In a remarkably short period of time, schools accessed state and federal resources to close gaps in rural Internet access and computing devices.
Digital Opportunities Compass: Metrics to Monitor, Evaluate, and Guide Broadband and Digital Equity Policy
East Lansing, MI – February 24, 2023. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and the Digital Equity Act of 2021 (DEA) establish a broad framework and significant funding to advance broadband connectivity and digital equity. Both Acts recognize that closing the broadband access and device gaps are necessary first steps toward digital equity. To fully realize the full benefits of digital technology for individuals, communities, and society at large additional efforts are needed.
The Digital Opportunities Compass offers a framework to assist in the development of state plans that meet the reporting and assessment requirements of IIJA and DEA but go beyond access and affordability to fully harness the benefits of digital technology. As communities and states develop plans to improve digital equity, it is important to establish a shared framework to establish goals and priorities, to identify opportunities, and monitor progress toward these goals.
Major Federal Grant Awarded to MSU and Merit Network
Announcing MSU and Merit Network as joint recipients of a $10.5 million National Telecommunications and Information Administration Broadband Infrastructure Program Grant to build out “middle mile” networking supporting high-speed internet/broadband to underserved areas of Michigan. From left: NTIA Special Representative for Broadband Andy Berke, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist III, MSU Board of Trustees Member Renee Knake-Jefferson, MSU President Samuel L. Stanley, MSU Executive VP for Administration Melissa Woo, Quello Center Director Johannes M. Bauer, Merit President and CEO Joe Sawasky.
Full press release with more information.
Quello Center and Community Partners Recognized with 2022 MSU Distinguished Partnership Award
Featured Research Project:
The Role of Ethics in Information Policy
Research team: Johannes M. Bauer (Quello Center, MSU)
Recent working paper: Bauer, Johannes M., New Guardrails for the Information Society (September 12, 2021). Quello Center Working Paper No. 05-21, Available at SSRN and DOI.
Overcoming COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A United States-United Kingdom Comparison
Achieving a high overall vaccination rate is crucial for overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. To prevent widening inequalities, it is also important to increase vaccination rates among the diverse populations that are most gravely affected by the pandemic. Governmental, healthcare, and policy groups need data to guide their strategic vaccination campaigns. This policy brief presents insights from data collected shortly before vaccines were formally approved. Our analysis helps to understand the factors that influence the willingness to be vaccinated and informs strategies to reach vaccine hesitant populations.
Download Quello Center Policy Brief
Broadband and Student Performance Gaps: A Checklist for K12 Schools Considering Online Teaching in Response to COVID-19
School districts face difficult choices. Large scale shifts in public education to an online curriculum must consider inequalities in broadband access, devices and skills, as well as parental and caretaker involvement. However, these inequalities cannot be overcome immediately. Unless schools decide against online teaching altogether because of these concerns (a strategy that has disadvantages for connected students), they need to find responses that minimize potential disadvantages for vulnerable populations. Key considerations are (1) offering of measures to improve the capacity of teachers, parents and learners to adapt to online learning, (2) appropriate design and use of distance learning, and (3) short-term measures to improve access to broadband. Quello Center Policy Brief 01-20 lays out options for short-term and long-term responses to the crisis.
Four Things A School District Needs to Know Before Moving Education Online
Download Quello Center Policy Brief 01-20 | Download Broadband and Performance Gap Report
On Tuesday, Sept 10, MSU joined the Quello Center and Merit Network to celebrate the success of a partnership that took a critical step in closing
A new study from Michigan State University warns that gains made to address broadband and internet connectivity in Michigan rural communities are
Via Zoom RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu A Rural Computing Research Consortium/Quello Center joint event. Between June and September of 2024, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) accepted public comments on whether a statutory law should be established to allow an experimental use exception for products protected by utility patents. This problem has emerged because of conflicting court decisions over whether scientific research on patented products constitutes patent infringement. Agricultural crops were immune to these concerns until the 1980s, when utility patents began to be applied to living organisms. Prior to this, crops were protected by the Plant Variety Protection Act […]
Via Zoom – RSVP Here The Quello Center 2024-2025 speaking series is co-hosted by the Information Policy Workshop and presents works-in-progress on topics covered by the Information Policy Book Series of The MIT Press. The series is co-organized by Sandra Braman and Keith Hampton. Proposals for presentations (and for books!) are welcome; please contact Sandra at bramansa@msu.edu if you are interested. All talks will be recorded and will be available to those who have registered. For a copy of the recording, please reach out to Ashley Wilson at wils1620@msu.edu On a planet of waste, where whole populations and regions are written off as externalities, the notion […]
Join us in person in room CAS 233 or via Zoom (register here). Dr. Sandra Braman, Scholar and Professor of Media & Information. John Locke’s An Essay on Human Understanding (1690) introduced his concept of the fact and became the most important book of the 17th and 18th centuries after the Bible. As Tom Wolfe put it, the effects of the turn to reason in text were as powerful as “the introduction of electricity into machine technology.” Facticity is the social formation that resulted across Western societies — the social orientation around the fact, whether towards or away. This presentation will briefly […]