DIGITAL FUTURES WORKSHOP: Ruth Shillair, Michigan State University & Quello Center and William Dutton, Oxford University
Via Zoom | RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
Governments and international organizations are focusing increasing attention on building the capacity of nations to withstand threats to the security of the Internet and related digital resources on which nearly all actors within their country increasingly depend. However, there are major questions surrounding such initiatives, such as the return on the investment in capacity building and any unintended consequences on such central issues as privacy and freedom of expression. The Oxford Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre (GCSCC) and their partners have sent teams of researchers into 80 countries to meet with stakeholders to assess cybersecurity capacity building efforts. This research takes the findings from these initiatives supplemented with publicly available national data to empirically examine the impacts of cybersecurity capacity on economic and public good indicators. This seminar will introduce a discussion of key methodological and substantive issues tied to cybersecurity capacity building and this cross-national comparative research.
Ruth Shillair is an assistant professor and director of the Master’s Program in the Media & Information Department at Michigan State University. She has been working on research with the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the University of Oxford and also the Quello Center. She also has published research on the impacts of the digital divide, especially on marginalized communities.
William H. Dutton is an Emeritus Professor, University of Southern California, an Oxford Martin Fellow, supporting the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre at the University of Oxford, Senior Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), and Visiting Professor, Media and Communication, University of Leeds. Bill was OII’s Founding Director and first Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford before his appointment as the James H. Quello Professor of Media and Information Policy at Michigan State University, where he directed the Quello Center.