The Quello Center was honored with the Merit 2019 Innovation Award for original contributions to the Michigan Moonshot project. The Quello Team, led by Co-PIs Johannes Bauer, Laleah Fernandez, and Keith Hampton, developed a multi faceted approach to increase our understanding of the quality of broadband connectivity and its effects on school performance. This is the first study to combine crowd-sourced network data with survey data, administered initially in 202 classrooms in three intermediate school districts across Michigan. Based on the lessons from the pilot phase, the team, working with Merit Network and MLab, plans to scale the project across […]
Dr. Laura DeNardis studies the invisible. In her new book, The Internet in Everything: Freedom and Governance in the Age of Smart Devices, DeNardis lifts the veil of the Internet to make visible the arrangements of embedded power across cyber-physical systems. At a recent talk hosted by the MSU Quello Center in the Department of Media & Information in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences, DeNardis outlined the importance of Internet governance, and the misperceptions surrounding the term. “The term Internet governance is actually an oxymoron,” she said, adding “it’s not just about governments …. with the Internet, almost […]
Digital transformation and the digital economy are high on the agenda of policy-makers worldwide. Seeking to secure global leadership in future growth industries, such as 5G wireless communications, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT), an increasing number of countries are reassessing prevailing communications laws and policies. The urgency of the discussion is amplified by recent experiences in the digital economy that reveal some of its fundamental flaws and shortcomings. Increasing concerns about fake news, data security, privacy, winner-takes all effects, and the tilting of markets in an algorithm-driven economy in favor of large technology companies all invite intense […]
A new experimental broadcast license for WKAR-TV opens the door for broadcast innovation and research at the MSU College of Communication Arts & Sciences. Michael O’Rielly, commissioner of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), recently visited Comm Arts and WKAR studios to show support for the deployment of ATSC 3.0 technology and announce the new license. The FCC issued license for WKAR studios allows for the creation of a Next Gen Media Innovation Lab. As part of this announcement, Quello Center Director Bill Dutton highlighted some unique opportunities for research and innovation using ATSC 3.0. Dutton’s presentation followed an overview […]
True to news in the digital age, we’ve been scooped by the Internet and Twitter, specifically. But if you have not seen the news yet, we are most pleased to report that Johannes M. Bauer has accepted an offer from the College of Communication Arts & Sciences to serve as the next Director of the Quello Center, and the new Quello Chair in the Department of Media and Information. His appointment is effective August 16, 2018. Professor Bauer has been affiliated with the Quello Center since its inception in 1998, and during his tenure as Chair of the Department of […]
Between 24-28 May, thousands of communication scholars from all over the world gathered for the 68th International Communication Association Conference in Prague, Czech Republic. The College of Communication Arts & Sciences had a particularly strong presence at the conference with more than 80 faculty and students presenting their research. The Quello Center’s Assistant Director Bibi Reisdorf and Research Fellow Laleah Fernandez were among those presentations with some of the results from the Quello Search Project. As part of the large program, the team working on the Quello Search Project, Grant Blank (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Elizabeth Dubois (Department […]
Discussion of so-called fake news is gradually – maybe rapidly – shifting to the concept of ‘junk news’, and I fear this could be a dangerous move. I agree that the concept of fake news has many downsides, not the least of which is the degree it has been politicized. However, the shift to junk news might have even worse implications. My main concern is that it provides more of a rationale for blocking or filtering news, as if it were spam, for example. This evening, the science reporter at PBS, Miles O’Brien, delivered an informative story about ‘Junk News‘. […]
