Quello Center | Michigan State University

Toxic, Schmoxic? Societal Repercussions for the Normalization of Hate in Gaming Spaces
2022-10-13 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Detroit) | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Rachel Kowert, Ph.D Research Director of Take This

Keynote at Meaningful Play Conference | RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
In this talk, Dr. Kowert will explore the ways in which toxic behavior and toxic gamer cultures permeate beyond the virtual walls of our digital playgroups. This will include a discussion of the normalization of hate in gaming spaces and the games industry as well as overview who and how these actions are impacting. While toxic gamer culture is often downplayed or believed to live exclusively within online spaces, it has a radius of impact on mental health, workplace culture, and even extremism and radicalization. Because when we allow hate to spread without consequences, it normalizes hate in all spaces. This talk will end with suggestions for the future about how we can start to change the culture of games, reclaim these spaces for fun and connection, and “denormalize” hate in gaming spaces.
Rachel Kowert, Ph.D is a research psychologist and the Research Director of Take This. She is a world-renowned researcher on the uses and effects of digital games, including their impact on physical, social, and psychological well-being. An award-winning author, she has published a variety of books and scientific articles relating to the psychology of games and, more recently, the relationship between games and mental health specifically. Her published works include peer-reviewed books such as The Video Game Debate, The Video Game Debate 2, and Video Games and Well-being: Press Start, as well as community-focused books such as A Parent’s Guide to Video Games, and Pragmatic Princess. Recently, she founded her YouTube channel Psychgeist, which serves to bridge the gap between moral panic and scientific knowledge on a variety of psychology and game-related topics.

This talk will be recorded and shared on our Vimeo and YouTube channels.

Dealing with the (In)security of the Internet
2022-11-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
David Clark, Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

Via Zoom | RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
Much attention today is focused on security challenges faced by computers attached to the Internet: system penetration, malware, ransomware, and so on. The security of the Internet itself seems to get less attention, but most of the key systems that make up the packet carriage layer of the Internet suffer from serious vulnerabilities that are exploited today be malicious actors. The Internet service is the foundation on top of which all applications are build, and these vulnerabilities can have an impact for all users of the Internet. In this talk, David Clark will review the most significant of these vulnerabilities, why they persist, and discuss which actors are best positioned to implement mitigations.
David Clark is a Senior Research Scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Since the mid-70s, he has played a leading role in the development of the Internet; from 1981-1989 he acted as Chief Protocol Architect, and chaired the Internet Activities Board. His recent research has focused on the re-definition of the architectural underpinnings of the Internet and the relation of technology and architecture to economic, societal and policy considerations. Specific research areas include Internet security and Internet measurement.

New Perspectives on the Digital Economy: Sharing, Platforms & Regulation a Weizenbaum Institute online symposium
2022-12-02 04:00 - 12:00 | Online Event, https://plamadiso.weizenbaum-institut.de/symposium-digital-economy/
Johannes M. Bauer, will share research on the governance of the digital economy at the Weizenbaum Institute online symposium New Perspectives on the Digital Economy: Sharing, Platforms & Regulation, Friday, December 2, 2022, 10:15 AM-6:46 PM CET. Specifically, his presentation An Information-Economic Perspective on Platform Governance, scheduled for 1 PM CET, will suggest a new conceptual framework for the design of digital platform policy that avoids some of the shortcomings of prevailing approaches. The full program is available at https://plamadiso.weizenbaum-institut.de/symposium-digital-economy/ and registration is free.

Broadband Leaders Summit
2022-12-09
Johannes M. Bauer spoke at the national, invitation only, Broadband Leaders Summit in Miami, FL, on December 9, 2022. The presentation, titled “Broadband Opportunities Compass: Metrics to Monitor, Evaluate, and Guide State Broadband Policy”, was based on work done by a national task force, initiated and co-coordinated by the Quello Center, on a theoretical and methodological framework for the monitoring of the effectiveness of the massive federal and state broadband infrastructure and digital equity investments.

The Return of the State into the Digital Economy
2023-01-05 11:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Johannes M. Bauer will give an online seminar on Thursday, January 5, 11 AM-12 noon, on “The Return of the State into the Digital Economy”. The seminar is organized jointly by the Center for Tele-Information at Columbia University and the International Media Management Academic Association. Participation is free, but registration is required at https://citiimmaabauer2023.eventbrite.com.

Innovation and Competition in the Digital Economy Part I: Big Tech, Competition & Innovation in the Digital Economy
2023-02-02 10:00 - 12:00 | Online Event
Joint event with the Weizenbaum Institute, Berlin
Via WebEx |

The panel is part of the Symposium on Innovation and Competition in the Digital Economy jointly organized by Prof. Johannes M. Bauer, Quello Center at Michigan State University, and Dr. Volker Stocker, Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society.
The event will provide a stimulating venue for researchers from multiple fields, including economics/management and law, to discuss their work and perspectives on the roles of big tech for innovation and competition in the digital economy. Specifically, we would like to discuss the impact of big tech companies on competition and their effects on innovation in digital ecosystems, and we want to explore these issues from national and international perspectives.
To maximize time for discussion, all panelists will present an opening position. After these introductory remarks, we will move into a moderated panel discussion and then wrap up the discussion with a Q&A with the audience.

Program

10:00 AM – 10:15 AM- Welcome & Check-in
10:15 AM – 11:45 PM- Panel – Big Tech, Competition & Innovation in the Digital Economy
11:45 AM – 12.00 PM- Closing Remarks

Panelists

Annabelle Gawer is Chaired Professor in Digital Economy; Director, Surrey Centre of Digital Economy (CoDE). She is a thought-leader and expert advisor on the business of digital platforms and platform-based innovation ecosystems. Author of 30 articles and 4 books on platforms including The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power with M Cusumano (MIT) and D Yoffie (Harvard Business School) (2019,) and Platform Leadership with Michael Cusumano, her 2021 study Online Platforms: Economic and Societal Effects (with N. Srnicek) was published by the European Parliament.

Shane Greenstein is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration and co-chair of the HBS Digital Initiative. He teaches in the Technology, Operations, and Management Unit. Encompassing a wide array of questions about microelectronics, computing, communication, and internet markets, Professor Greenstein’s research extends from economic measurement and analysis to broader issues. His most recent book, How the Internet Became Commercial (2015, Princeton University Press), won the 2016 Schumpeter Prize for best book. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and his BA from the University of California at Berkeley, both in economics.

Herbert Hovenkamp is the James G. Dinan University Professor, University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School, where he teaches antitrust law, American legal and Constitutional history, torts, and intellectual property and antitrust policy. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2008 won the Justice Department’s John Sherman Award for his lifetime contributions to antitrust law.

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The Future is Multinetworked: Lessons for Broadband Networking from Rural Places, Morgan Vigil-Hayes, School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University.
2023-02-08 13:00 - 14:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Join us in person, Communication Arts & Sciences Room 191 (South entrance) or via Zoom (sign up here).
Event is Sponsored by the Rural Computing Research Consortium, Quello Center, American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program, and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Rural places have experienced pernicious digital inequities for decades. Recent Pew Survey data finds that 28% of rural households in the US do not have broadband Internet access. For years, solutions to this digital divide have involved trillions of dollars invested into infrastructure that never quite bridges the gap. Instead of playing a perpetual game of technology catch-up, rural communities might benefit from embracing multinetworked realities–heterogeneous connectivity options that exist unevenly across time and space.
In this talk, Dr. Vigil-Hayes will discuss the characteristics of a multinetworked reality and why it is likely to represent the future of rural broadband connectivity. She will then present findings from her work in New Mexico and Arizona that illuminate different ways to understand and leverage multinetworked realities to support increased access to networked services. This work weaves together threads from a number of methodologies that range from mobile network measurement, network architecture design, and ethnography and culminates in a vision for centering rurality in the design of new technologies for a multinetworked future. Importantly, Dr. Vigil-Hayes will highlight how rural places represent potential centers of innovation for reimagining network service delivery that can solve some of the digital inequities experienced in urban and suburban communities.
Morgan Vigil-Hayes is an assistant professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems at Northern Arizona University. Her research focuses on human-centered networking, drawing on methodologies from computer networking and human computer interaction to characterize and critique existing network infrastructure and design new ways to connect people to information and each other. In particular, Dr. Vigil-Hayes has focused her research on how tribal networks in the US can inform the design of networked services through the lens of network sovereignty. She received the NSF CAREER Award in 2022 and looks forward to working with her community in Flagstaff, AZ to investigate new approaches to Internet measurement.

Digitization and Social Control: Toward a Cybernetic Political Economy with Milton Mueller, Georgia Institute of Technology
2023-02-24 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom |

So many of the debates about public policy and the digital economy revolve around issues that are social-cybernetic in nature. That is, they deal with control and communication, but not “in the animal and the machine,” as Norbert Wiener’s foundational definition of cybernetics would have it, but control and communication in social systems. AI applications are accused of reinforcing societal biases by replicating patterns that reflect past discriminatory decisions. We want to know how much of our social life can be automated or turned over to robots, and whether this increases or decreases our sense of control and well-being. Social media platforms use algorithms to govern content display and accused of turning slight preferences into increasingly extreme content that polarizes the audience through deviation-amplifying feedback. Network effects – another form of deviation-enhancing feedback – are said to concentrate platforms organized around multi-sided markets, creating unassailable monopolies. At the same time, the digital economy – which consists of trade in devices, networks, software and data – becomes a larger part of the overall economy and “leadership” in or control of this technology are perceived by governments as strategic and vital to their security. As this happens, the relationship between digital technology on the one hand and politico-economic contestation over control becomes central to public policy discourse.
In this talk, Professor Mueller argues that we need to revive political economy as the underlying discipline supporting the theory and practice of public policy in the digital world. Social systems are very different from animals and machines, but a cybernetic framework focusing on feedback, sensors, effectors, and their role in the control of systems can improve our understanding. In particular, both politics and economics can be characterized as control systems in the cybernetic sense, but they are structurally very different types of control. One is based on private exchanges and the price system, the other is based on collective action and political institutions. Political institutions and market institutions must coexist – all attempts to get rid of one or the other have been disastrous – but ever since the 20th century Economics and Politics have gone their separate ways. Mueller proposes to move beyond the sterile debate over “all markets – get rid of government” and “all government, get rid of markets” by developing a cybernetic political economy.
Milton Mueller is Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, USA) in the School of Public Policy and and School of Cybersecurity and Privacy. He directs GT’s Master of Science program in Cybersecurity Policy. An internationally prominent scholar specializing in the political economy of information and communication, he is the author of seven books and many journal articles, including Will the Internet Fragment? Sovereignty, Globalization and Cyberspace (Polity, 2017), Networks and States: The global politics of Internet governance (MIT Press, 2010) and Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2002). His work informs public policy, science and technology studies, law, economics, communications, and international studies.

Privacy Protective Behavior and "The Biggest Lie on the Internet" with Dr. Jonathan Obar, York University
2023-04-21 13:00 - 14:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom | RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
When ignoring service terms and agreement implications, people contribute to an internet meme known as “the biggest lie on the internet” (said to be “I agree to the terms and conditions”). This talk will review research unpacking the meme. This includes survey research addressing policy ignoring behaviors, analyses of the length/complexity of service terms, and clickwrap user interface designs. Findings suggest deceptive designs like the clickwrap, and long/complicated policies contribute to ignoring behaviours. Findings also suggest privacy protective behaviors are viewed as tangential to service use goals. This is problematic as online consent processes are viewed internationally as fundamental to information protections.
The presentation will include a tour of www.biggestlieonline.com, a knowledge mobilization effort led by Dr. Obar, funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. The site includes resources for students and other stakeholders to support engagement with meaningful online consent research and advocacy.
Dr. Jonathan Obar, PhD is an Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at York University. He also serves as a Research Fellow with the Quello Center. He researches and teaches about information policy, with a focus on relationships between digital technologies, civil liberties, and the inclusiveness of public cultures. Recent academic publications address big data and privacy, corporate transparency, deceptive user-interface designs, and online consent processes.
Dr. Obar previously served as a Research Fellow with the public policy think tank the New America Foundation and the media reform organization Free Press, and as a Senior Advisor to the Wikimedia Foundation’s Wikipedia Education Program. He has an M.A. in Media Studies from Syracuse University and a PhD in Mass Communications from Penn State University.
A special thank you to MSU’s Valeta Wensloff for supporting the graphic and site design!

Reflections on Power Shifts and the Fifth Estate with William H. Dutton OII Senior Fellow and an Oxford Martin Fellow, Oxford University and Emeritus Professor at USC
2023-10-11 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom | RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
In the eighteenth century, the printing press enabled the rise of an independent press – the Fourth Estate – that helped check the power of governments, business, and industry. In similar ways, the internet and related digital media are enabling the empowerment of many ordinary individuals to form a more independent collectivity of networked individuals – a Fifth Estate. In my new book, The Fifth Estate, I argue that this network power shift is not only enabling greater democratic accountability in politics and governance but is also helping networked individuals to be empowered in their everyday life and work. My talk will put this power shift of the digital age into the context of my study of power shifts tied to the evolution of media, information, and communication technologies, from the early stages of data processing to recent innovations in AI and large language models.
William H. Dutton was founding Director of the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and Oxford University’s first Professor of Internet Studies before joining MSU to direct the Quello Center as Professor of Media and Information Policy from 2014-18. Presently, Bill is an OII Senior Fellow and an Oxford Martin Fellow, supporting research of the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) in Oxford University’s Department of Computer Science. He is also Director of the Portulans Institute, Visiting Professor at Leeds University and Emeritus Professor at the University of Southern California. Bill’s latest book is The Fifth Estate: The Power Shift of the Digital Age (OUP 2023).
You can find The Fifth Estate here.

The Emergent Logic of the Online Information Ecosystem with David Lazer, Northeastern University
2023-10-20 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom | Follow the link at the bottom to add to your calendar
The first part of this presentation examines the emergent and sometimes paradoxical logic of the internet news ecosystem, in particular: (1) collectively, news diets have become far more concentrated in a small number of outlets; (2) however, individuals have relatively diverse news diets– almost certainly far more diverse than was plausible pre-Internet (as measured by number of unique content producers); (3) the social-algorithmic curation system of the Internet tends to point people to content with their preferences, sometimes in unlikely places. The greater diversity of consumption of news measured by number of unique outlets may not actually result in diversity of content.|
The second part of the presentation will discuss the development of the National Internet Observatory, a large, NSF-supported effort to create a privacy-preserving data collection/data analytic system for the broader research community.
David Lazer is a University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, and Co-Director, NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks. Prior to coming to Northeastern University, he was on the faculty at the Harvard Kennedy School (1998-2009). In 2019, he was elected a fellow to the National Academy of Public Administration. His research has been published in such journals as Science, Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the American Political Science Review, Organization Science, and the Administrative Science Quarterly, and has received extensive coverage in the media, including the New York Times, NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and CBS Evening News.
He is among the leading scholars in the world on misinformation and computational social science and has served in multiple leadership and editorial positions, including as a board member for the International Network of Social Network Analysts (INSNA), reviewing editor for Science, associate editor of Social Networks and Network Science, numerous other editorial boards and program committees.
Join us on Zoom here: https://msu.zoom.us/j/97712599294
For more information email quello@msu.edu

DataCare for Digital Twins: Participatory Data Analytics and the Social Licence to Operate Smart Cities with Dr. Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology School of Design
2023-11-14 15:00 - 16:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
A Rural Computing Research Consortium/Quello Center joint event.
Data analytics through smart city technology deployments such as digital twins has the potential to create more liveable, sustainable, and equitable cities. However, internationally, there are many examples of smart city developments that have attracted criticism, concerns, and community backlash over issues such as data ethics, privacy, mass surveillance, commodification, and social control. In response, this talk by Professor Marcus Foth presents DataCare – a model for cities to practically implement a participatory data analytics approach as a way to renew and maintain the social licence to operate smart cities. Grounded in a critical review of the literature, the talk argues that data collection and automation in smart cities must be more citizen and community-oriented.
Informed by smart city developments in Toronto and Barcelona, Prof. Foth will introduce DataCare – a hybrid physical space and digital engagement program for cities to champion data leadership and empower consumers, communities and businesses to actively participate in city analytics. DataCare aims to increase data transparency and access, raise awareness of data ethics, offer data literacy training, engage people in participatory data analytics, and speculate about city data futures.
Marcus Foth is a Professor of Urban Informatics in the School of Design and a Chief Investigator in the QUT Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC), Faculty of Creative Industries, Education, and Social Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. He is a founding member of the More-than-Human Futures research group. Marcus’ research brings together people, place, and technology. His current research foci include: urban media and geoprivacy; data care in smart cities; digital inclusion and participation; blockchain and food supply chains; and sustainability and more-than-human futures.

Placing bets and avoiding debts: Where working-class parents see opportunities in a technologizing future with Dr. Vikki Katz, Chapman University
2024-01-10 12:00 - 13:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu

Evolving technologies are changing how young people learn and the kinds of work their parents do. These changes create uncertainty about how adults can ensure stability and mobility in the workforce today, and how to prepare for what they anticipate work will look like for their children in the future. How parents and children answer these questions is heavily influenced by their “technological timelines”: how they see their families and communities having been affected by technological changes past, present, and future.
This presentation presents an in-depth view on how working-class Black and White families in a shared Pittsburgh community make sense of technological change, drawing on intensive fieldwork and more than 100 in-depth interviews with 4th, 8th, and 11th grade students, their parents, teachers, and school leaders. Working-class or “blue-collar” values are integral to how young people and their parents size up their options and make decisions about post-secondary pathways, from vocational training and trade schools to the rare instances when they see college as being worth the time and money.
This study was supported by the Spencer Foundation and Grable Foundation.
Vikki Katz is a Professor in the School of Communication at Chapman University. She examines how children and parents learn about, and with, technology in lower-income, working-class, and immigrant families in the U.S. Her research on digital inequality has informed federal, state, and district-level policymakers to ensure that all families have the digital tools they need to thrive, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to her appointment at Chapman, she was a faculty member at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information, a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.
Katz serves as an Advisor to PBSKids.com and CPB-PBS’s Ready to Learn program, which supports development of PBS programming to promote early learning and school readiness. She also serves as Editor of Journal of Children and Media. You can find out more about her work at www.vikkikatz.com

Responsible innovation for climate-smart agriculture: Cases from the U.S. and remote mountain communities of Pakistan with Dr. Maaz Gardezi, Virginia Tech
2024-01-26 11:00 - 12:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
In Person in CAS Room 191 and Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
A Rural Computing Research Consortium/Quello Center joint event.

Responsible innovation can be helpful in the realm of developing climate-smart farming tools, where data-driven technologies, AI modeling, and localized farm data can enable climate adaptation and mitigation. However, to achieve benefits of these innovations for the public interest and for scaling up, it is imperative to cultivate trust among a range of actors and organizations across the food system value chain. This trust-building process necessitates the development of transparent pathways for converting raw data into actionable insights, a task that involves farmers, technology providers, and policymakers navigating complex and often competing policy landscapes. Moreover, innovators and policymakers need to collaborate across various scales, acknowledging that results at one level are influenced by processes at different levels. This presentation presents methods and ideas for co-designing innovative smart farming tools, including artificial intelligence-based decision support systems and sensor-driven.
Dr. Maaz Gardezi, an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Virginia Tech, is dedicated to exploring the intersection of climate change and the social and political implications of emerging digital technologies in food and agriculture systems. His interdisciplinary research and teaching focus on building sustainable and socially just regional, national, and international food and agricultural systems. Dr. Gardezi emphasizes the role of social science, computer science, and engineering in promoting innovation and democracy, from design to governance.

Evaluations of Telehealth During the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency with Dr. Jessica S. Ancker, Vanderbilt University
2024-02-21 12:00 - 13:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu

Early in 2020, the use of telehealth for primary care exploded because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by PCORI, their team launched an extensive set of quantitative and qualitative evaluations of this natural experiment and its impact on healthcare. Ancker will report on their findings about patient and provider experiences in three states on the basis of interviews and surveys, as well as a Medicare claims-based analysis of the effects of telehealth on preventable healthcare utilization.
Jessica S. Ancker, MPH, PhD, is a professor of biomedical informatics and health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She conducts research on optimal design of health information technologies and their impact on health outcomes, including electronic medical records, patient portals, and telehealth.

DigitalNWT: Codesigning community networking literacies with rural/remote Northern Indigenous communities in Northwest Territories, Canada with Dr. Rob McMahon, University of Alberta
2024-04-17 12:00 - 13:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu

Persistent digital divides exist between Northern and Southern Canada, and among communities in Northern Canada. Along with large-scale commercial telecommunications projects, locally designed and deployed networks offer potential solutions to improve connectivity. Community Networks involve residents in the deployment, ownership, and control of digital infrastructures – though such efforts also face many challenges. In this presentation Dr. McMahon will introduce DigitalNWT, a participatory action research initiative focused on these issues. After an overview of DigitalNWT’s research, education and policy engagement activities, he will discuss the process that was used to codesign community networking resources with residents of rural/remote NWT communities – an orientation that reflects their desires for more ownership and control over digital infrastructures. McMahon will then end by considering the limitations of this approach and suggest lessons learned for future projects.
Dr. Rob McMahon is an Associate Professor in the Media & Technology Studies Unit and the Department of Political Science in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. Dr. McMahon’s research focuses on the development, adoption, and use of broadband and internet technologies by rural, Northern, and Indigenous communities. His approach involves working with communities in all stages of research, and he and his partners are also involved in efforts to contribute to digital policy and regulation.

Digital Authoritarianism in the Making? with Françoise Daucé, Benjamin Loveluck, and Francesca Musiani
2024-09-11 12:00 - 13:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
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

In the wake of the end of the USSR, the Russian Internet initially developed freely, leaving the initiative to numerous actors inventing digital tools adapted to their uses. However, since the beginning of the 2010s, the authoritarian turn of the Russian state has led to the deployment of a network of controls and constraints which has tightened both on the actors and on the country’s digital infrastructures. While the network of networks has long carried hopes of democratization of the Russian public sphere, its framework was built up gradually, through controversies and trials. Despite criticism and circumvention by activists and citizens, digital oppression has contributed to political sovereignization and of a warmongering dynamic, the culmination of which was the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
This talk introduces our upcoming book “Digital Authoritarianism in the Making” (MIT Press, forthcoming 2025; first published in a French-language edition in 2023). The book draws an overview of coercive governance and emancipatory digital uses in Russia, from peace to war. It focuses on the multiple digital actors and objects at the heart of political controversies and usage tensions in the Russian digital space in the 2010s. It shows the processes of construction of digital oppression, as well as critiques, conflicts and circumventions which bring together public and private actors, both supporters of the internet order and defenders of its freedoms. Through the lens of the Russian case, this book questions contemporary digital reconfigurations, from surveillance to sovereignty.
Françoise Daucé is Professor at the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris), member and former director of the CERCEC laboratory (Center for Studies of the Russian, Caucasian and Central European Worlds).

Benjamin Loveluck is Junior Professor at the Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, member of the CERSA laboratory (Center for Studies and Research in Administrative and Political Sciences)

Francesca Musiani is Associate Research Professor at the French National Research Council (CNRS), member and deputy director of the CIS laboratory (Centre for Internet and Society).

Facticity: Its Rise, Fall, and Misplacement with Dr. Sandra Braman
2024-10-04 13:30 - 14:30 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
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 review the history of facticity, introduce current trends in the state of the fact, examine ways in which technological innovations have affected every facet of fact production with profound epistemological consequences, and map the manifestations of these epistemological developments in contemporary media and information research. The talk will conclude with an overview of current work on facts and their processing in US law.

Sandra Braman is Scholar and Professor of Media & Information and Senior Scholar, Quello Center for Media & Information Policy, Michigan State University. Her book Change of State: Information, Policy, and Power (The MIT Press, 2006) won the 2022 International Communication Association Fellows Book Award for a book of enduring value.

Medicine hacking: Surviving late stage capitalism with DIY-medicine a talk by Johan Söderberg, Göteborg University
2024-10-09 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
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 of a public universal health care system is as anachronistic as alchemy. The sick are left to invent their own cures and self-medicate with chemicals siphoned off from global supply chains. A band of medicine hackers are showing the way. The datafication of medical research and the outsourcing of pharmaceutical production create opportunities for those in-the-know. Under the name “Four Thieves Vinegar Collective”, the hackers apply the dictum “information wants to be free” to the field of medicine and health. A hint of the political explosiveness of this vision is the group’s work to circumvent restrictions on abortion rights, for instance, by spreading information on how to source the active ingredient, misoprostol, in states that have banned chemical abortion. Needless to say, there are issues with risk mitigation, validation of information, and quality control of the supply chain. Medicine hackers and single-issue grassroots organizations (on reproductive rights, harm reduction, etc.) are stepping in to establish “best practices” and trustworthy sources for self-medication. The risk profile is acceptable for that segment of the population that has been shut out from the health care system.
Johan Söderberg is professor in Theory of Science at the department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, Göteborg University, Sweden. He is an associate editor of Science Culture. Recently he published together with Maxigas Resistance to the Current: Dialectics of Hacking (MIT Press, 2022).

Reforming Intellectual-Property Policies to Promote Agricultural Innovation with Dr. Leland Glenna, Penn State
2024-11-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
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 (PVPA), which enabled plant breeders to derive income from new plant varieties, but it also allowed for research exceptions and for the breeding of new varieties from those varieties protected by the PVPA without having to pay a licensing fee. Neither of these practices is allowed when a variety is protected with a utility patent. The ostensible justification for utility patents on agricultural crops is that it promotes scientific innovation by providing the chance to benefit economically from investments in research and development of new crop varieties. However, scholars are increasingly questioning if utility patents are becoming so restrictive that they are limiting innovation.
This presentation will describe the research that Dr. Glenna has done that led to the submitting of a public comment to the USPTO advocating for a statute that provides a research exemption. Furthermore, he will outline some potential policy changes that could promote more agricultural innovation, including the possibility of ending the use of utility patents on agricultural crops
Leland Glenna is a Professor of Rural Sociology and Science, Technology & Society at The Pennsylvania State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 1997, an M.Div. from Harvard University in 1992, and a B.A. from Hamline University in 1989. His research focuses on the social and environmental impacts of agricultural sciences and technologies, especially the role of science and technology in agricultural and natural resource policymaking. Additionally, he examines the ethical implications of democratizing scientific research. Glenna has contributed to a report for the National Academies of Sciences on genetically engineered crops, and he has served as the president of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society.

Digital Sovereignty and the Open Internet: Can they Coexist?
2025-04-04 10:00 - 11:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Via Zoom
RSVP Here | or email quello@msu.edu
An Internet Governance Project (IGP)/Quello Center joint event.

On April 4, 2025, the Internet Governance Project (IGP) in collaboration with the Quello Center will gather scholars of differing views to debate what digital sovereignty means, how it is being used as a label, and whether the various interpretations of the term are compatible with the foundational values of the open internet.
Recently, new books and analyses have been published, including the book edited by Min Jiang and Luca Belli, Digital sovereignty in the BRICS countries (Cambridge, 2025), the volume by Johannes Thumfart, The liberal internet in the postliberal era (Springer, 2024), and a special issue of Policy & Internet on the topic, edited by Julia Pohle, Mauro Santantiello, and Riccardo Nanni.
IGP and the Quello Center welcome the renewed interest in digital sovereignty and vowed to engage in a rigorous discussion of the concept and the arguments. This webinar will be moderated by Johannes Bauer, the Quello Chair of Media and Information Policy, and will feature (alphabetically):

Anupam Chander, legal expert on global regulation of new technologies.
Julia Pohle, co-director of research group Politics of Digitalisation at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
Marília Maciel, Director of Digital Trade and Economic Security at DiploFoundation.
Milton Mueller, Director of the Internet Governance Project (IGP) at Georgia Tech.
Min Jiang, Professor of Communication Studies at UNC Charlotte.

Join us on April 4, 2025, from 10:00 – 11:00 am EDT for what is sure to be a riveting discussion! Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://bit.ly/4gXZY6b
The Panel:
Anupam Chander
Professor Chander is an expert on the global regulation of new technologies. A graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, he clerked for Chief Judge Jon O. Newman of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and Judge William A. Norris of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He practiced law in New York and Hong Kong with Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. He has been a visiting law professor at Yale, the University of Chicago, Stanford, Cornell, and Tsinghua. He previously served as the Director of the California International Law Center and Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis. A member of the American Law Institute, he has also served on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, where he co-founded the International Law and Technology Interest Group. The author of The Electronic Silk Road (Yale University Press), he serves as a judge of the Stanford Junior International Faculty Forum. A recipient of Google Research Awards and an Andrew Mellon grant on the topic of surveillance, he has served on ICTSD/World Economic Forum expert groups on the digital economy. He serves as an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Policy, a faculty advisor to Georgetown’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy, and as a faculty affiliate of Yale’s Information Society Project.
Min Jiang
Dr. Min Jiang is Professor of Communication Studies, an affiliate faculty member of International Studies at UNC Charlotte, and CyberBRICS Visiting Professor at FGV Law School (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). She is also a Secretariat member of the annual international Chinese Internet Research Conference (CIRC) as well as an Executive Steering Committee member and China director of the Global Media & Internet Concentration Project (GMCIP), a $2.5 million CAD grant to investigate media ownership and concentration issues in 30+ countries. Her work lies at the intersections of digital technology, geopolitics and policy with a focus on China and the Global South (especially BRICS countries). She has co-edited three journal special issues and published over 40 journal articles, book chapters, research reports and book reviews. A book she co-edited “Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries” was published in 2025 by Cambridge University Press. She received her Ph.D. in Communication from Purdue University in 2007.
Marília Maciel
Dr. Marília Maciel is Director of Digital Trade and Economic Security at DiploFoundation, leading the organisation’s research and capacity development in these areas. She is also involved in projects related to the economic impact of artificial intelligence, trade and AI, and Internet governance. She has served in international bodies and organizations, such as the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC), and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Prior to joining Diplo, Ms. Maciel was a researcher and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV) in Rio de Janeiro. She holds a PhD from the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, and her thesis focused on the securitization of information and communication technologies and services in the context of Sino-American relations.
Milton Mueller
Milton Mueller is an internationally prominent scholar specializing in the political economy of information and communication. The author of seven books and scores of journal articles, his work informs not only public policy but also science and technology studies, law, economics, communications, and international studies. His books Will the Internet Fragment? (Polity, 2017), Networks and States: The global politics of Internet governance (MIT Press, 2010) and Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2002) are acclaimed scholarly accounts of the global governance regime emerging around the Internet. Mueller’s research employs the theoretical tools of institutional economics, STS and political economy, as well as historical, qualitative and quantitative methods.
Dr. Mueller’s prominence in scholarship is matched by his prominence in policy practice. He is the co-founder and director of the Internet Governance Project (IGP), a policy analysis center for global Internet governance. Since its founding in 2004, IGP has played a prominent role in shaping global Internet policies and institutions such as ICANN and the Internet Governance Forum. He has participated in proceedings and policy development activities of ICANN, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and regulatory proceedings in the European Commission, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand. He has served as an expert witness in prominent legal cases related to domain names and telecommunication policy. He was elected to the Advisory Committee of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) from 2013-2016, and appointed in 2014 to the IANA Stewardship Coordination Group. Dr. Mueller has also been a practical institution-builder in the scholarly world, where he led the creation of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet), an international association of scholars.
Julia Pohle
Dr. Julia Pohle co-directs the research group Politics of Digitalisation at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. She is a Senior Associate Researcher at the Center for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation at the Brussels School of Governance and at the CNRS Center for Internet and Society in Paris. Her research and publications focus on global and national digital governance, digital sovereignty, digital geopolitics and the history of global communication policy. Julia holds a PhD in Communication Studies from Vrije Universiteit Brussel and an MA in Cultural Studies, Philosophy and Computer Science from Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Among other academic roles, Julia is currently co-chair of the Communication Policy &Technology Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and an academic editor of the Internet Policy Review (IPR). For the German Federal Ministry of Digitalisation and Transport, she is currently leading a task force to develop future scenarios for internet governance in the coming decade.
Our Moderator:
Johannes M. Bauer
Johannes M. Bauer is a researcher, writer, teacher, and academic entrepreneur. He is interested in the digital economy next-generation media. His position as Quello Chair for Media and Information Policy facilitates the pursuit of rigorous and actionable research. From September 2023 through December 2024, he was on leave from MSU to serve as the Chief Economist in the Office of Economics and Analytics (OEA) of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC.
Educated as an engineer and social scientist, he obtained advanced degrees in economics from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria. Michigan State University has been his home institution since 1990. He had the privilege to spend extended times affiliated with Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (2000-2001), the University of Constance, Germany (Summer 2010), and the University of Zurich, Switzerland (2012).
Appropriately designed, governed, and used, advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) create tremendous opportunities and benefits. They enable individuals to realize their capabilities, support sustainable communities, and support inclusive and livable societies. Harnessing these potential benefits will require public interest technology, good governance models, as well as competition and cooperation. Dr. Bauer’s research on these topics has greatly benefited from collaboration with students and practitioners in Michigan, across the United States and abroad.

Full Stack AI Governance
2025-04-14 12:00 - 13:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Robert Gorwa, WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Michael Veale, University College London
Via Zoom
To RSVP please email quello@msu.edu

Every time someone trains, deploys, or queries an ‘artificial intelligence’ system, whether they know it or not, they are implicating the practices and services of an enormous number of interlinked businesses in the AI ‘stack’. In this talk, Robert Gorwa and Michael Veale will present early findings from their ongoing book project on emerging public-private regulatory practices emerging across this stack, focusing on what does, could, and should be done to prevent very real emergent forms of AI misuse. As more obligations and responsibilities are foisted on or taken up by the various intermediaries that facilitate access to AI systems (e.g. cloud providers, model hosts, internet infrastructure providers), the talk will introduce some of the extremely tricky tensions relating to technological control, generativity, analytic capacity, and privacy that lay ahead.

Dr Robert Gorwa is a postdoctoral researcher at the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB), and a fellow at the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT, in Washington), and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI, in Waterloo). He conducts interdisciplinary empirical and conceptual research addressing the politics of technology policy, with a special interest in emerging socio-technical governance infrastructures and institutions in the platform economy.
Since Dr. Gorwa began his graduate work in media and communication/internet studies (MSc, 2017) and politics and international relations (DPhil, 2021) in Oxford, he has been publishing in leading interdisciplinary digital policy outlets, with work featured in venues like Big Data & Society, Information, Communication & Society, and ACM FAccT. His first book, The Politics of Platform Regulation: How Governments Shape Online Content Moderation, was published in 2024 by Oxford University Press.
Alongside this academic work, Dr. Gorwa writes for public and policy audiences, with pieces featured in a range of online and print publications like the LA Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, Wired Magazine, and Jacobin. He has presented his work for high-level policymakers in various jurisdictions, including at the US-EU Trade and Technology Council and the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy, and he has consulted for Human Rights Watch and other digital rights organizations.
Dr Michael Veale is Associate Professor and Vice-Dean (Education Innovation) in the Faculty of Laws, UCL. His expertise sits at the intersection of computer science and information law, considering issues of fundamental rights amidst advanced data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence, and encrypted computation.
Dr Veale is additionally IViR Fellow (Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam), a member of the Advisory Councils of the Open Rights Group and of Foxglove, the Technology Advisory Panel (TAP) of the Information Commissioner’s Office, and a research affiliate of the PILOT Lab at Penn State University. He previously has had advisory roles and written reports for the Ada Lovelace Institute, the Law Society of England and Wales, the Royal Society and the British Academy, the United Nations, Commonwealth Secretariat, BEUC, and the Open Society Foundations, amongst many others. He has previously worked at the Alan Turing Institute, the European Commission, and as adjunct professor at NYU. Dr Veale holds a PhD in the application of law and policy to the social challenges of machine learning from UCL (STEaPP and Computer Science), and degrees from Maastricht University and LSE.
His research on technology policy and his work bringing data rights issues to data protection regulators has been widely used by the media, governments, parliaments, regulators and international organisations, cited by over 250 non-academic bodies. He has been cited in the media over 200 times, in leading outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Nature, the Economist, the BBC, all UK broadsheets, and many top international sources including Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine Z, and De Volkskrant, as well as on national and international television and radio. Dr Veale’s work is cited academically over 5,000 times by work across a wide range of disciplines.
In 2024, Dr Veale is Program Chair for the ACM FAccT Conference on Fairness, Accountability and Transparency, and was General Chair of Hot Topics in Privacy Enhancing Technologies (HotPETS) from 2020-21. He sits on a wide range of programme committees
You can follow Michael Veale on Twitter (@mikarv) and on Mastodon in the Fediverse (@mikarv@someone.elses.computer).

(Re)Working AI: Designing Workplace Technologies with and for Labor
2025-04-18 10:00 - 11:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Sarah Fox, Carnegie Mellon University in the Human Computer Interaction Institute
In Person: Communication Arts and Sciences Room 191
Online: Via Zoom- RSVP Here or please email quello@msu.edu

Work is transforming rapidly. While some might suggest labor is in a perpetual state of change, the accelerated development and deployment of artificially intelligent (AI) systems within workplaces is set to reshape the livelihoods of millions of workers across industries for decades to come. Though proponents see potential in automation as a means to rid work of monotony and boost productivity, many workers and worker advocates view AI as an existential threat to “good jobs” or those that provide meaningful employment, adequate pay, and necessary health benefits. This disconnect is rooted in a fundamental distance between those whose interests are prioritized in the development process and those who end up using the technology. Although the fields of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) and human-computer interaction (HCI) have a legacy of exploring methods of promoting worker participation in the design of particular workplace systems, less is understood about how participatory research approaches could be applied across the technology lifecycle to increase value for those on the frontlines. In this talk, Fox will outline the concept of “worker-centered design,” an approach that emphasizes the well-being and input of employees, aiming to enhance not only productivity but also cooperation, autonomy, and fulfillment. Drawing on ongoing ethnographic and design research, she will discuss two distinct cases in sectors facing different forms of technological change: 1) public transportation, for which autonomous vehicle technologies are being developed; and 2) hospitality, which regularly employs algorithmic management. Across these sites, Fox describes labor-aligned efforts to evaluate the impacts of AI technologies on work practices and to develop methods and tools to ensure that working people have a voice in the creation, integration, and governance of technologies in their workplaces.
Sarah Fox is an Assistant Professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human Computer Interaction Institute, where she directs the Tech Solidarity Lab. Her work examines the impacts of AI and automation on essential work sectors, with a focus on developing systems that center workers’ needs and expertise. Her work has earned awards in leading computing venues including ACM CSCW, CHI, and DIS, and has been featured in Design Issues, the Journal of Peer Production, and New Media and Society. She holds a Ph.D. in Human Centered Design & Engineering from the University of Washington. Her research has been covered by news outlets such as Politico and the Associated Press and is supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Transportation, the Russell Sage Foundation, among others.

Borrowing Berlo: Singapore’s Evolving Approach to Online Harms with Han Ei Chew
2025-09-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Borrowing Berlo: Singapore’s Evolving Approach to Online Harms
a Brownbag lunch with
Dr Han-Ei CHEW, Visiting Fellow, Quello Center, Michigan State University.
Tuesday September 2, 2025, 12-1 PM EDT
In-Person CAS 405
Please Register HERE

Singapore has developed one of the most comprehensive legal frameworks in the Asia-Pacific region to address online harms, spanning issues such as misinformation, cyber harassment, and image-based sexual abuse. In recent years, legislative efforts have taken on a more consultative approach, incorporating more public consultations and expert roundtables in the policymaking process. This includes the forthcoming Online Safety (Relief and Accountability) Bill, which aims to provide civil remedies for victims of online harms.
This talk offers an overview of Singapore’s evolving regulatory landscape and introduces a working policy brief that adapts Berlo’s SMCR communication model as a taxonomy to classify online harm laws by their regulatory function. The session seeks to contribute to broader conversations on making digital safety policy more inclusive, and accessible.

Dr Han-Ei CHEW leads the Governance & Economy cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Singapore, where he oversees the Institute’s longest-standing research unit. His work centers on quantitative policy research, with a strong interest in online harms, digital trust, and the societal dimensions of technology adoption. He has led multiple national and international studies and works closely with public agencies to translate research into policy outcomes.
Outside of IPS, Han-Ei serves on the board of SG Her Empowerment (SHE), a non-profit dedicated to advancing gender equality and supporting those affected by online harms. He is also a pro bono Research Consultant to UNESCO, where he co-authored reports including Reading in the Mobile Era and I’d Blush If I Could — one of the first international publications to highlight gender biases in AI voice assistants.
Han-Ei holds a PhD in Media and Information Studies from Michigan State University and is especially pleased to return to his alma mater as a Visiting Fellow. At the Quello Center, his work focuses on the evolving concept of digital trust — exploring how confidence in digital systems is built or eroded, and what this means for public policy, governance, and user behaviour.
He also writes The Chart Doctor Has Issues, a Substack that critiques how data is visualized and communicated in the public sphere — part of his broader interest in making policy-relevant research accessible and communicated with clarity.

Declaring Independence in Cyberspace: Internet Self-Governance and the End of US Control of ICANN
2025-09-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Declaring Independence in Cyberspace: Internet Self-Governance and the End of US Control of ICANN
a conversation with
Milton L. Mueller, Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology
Marília Maciel, Digital Policy Senior Researcher at Diplo Foundation
Bob Cannon, Internet Policy Analyst
Join us on September 3, 2025, from 10:00 – 11:00 am EDT for what is sure to be a riveting discussion! Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/yh9m8wh8

Originally, ICANN was a bold institutional innovation based on a vision of Internet governance that was thoroughly globalized and independent of nation-states. The recent MIT Press book by Milton Mueller, Declaring Independence in Cyberspace, explains where this vision came from, the problems posed by its implementation, and the organization’s near-self destruction in its first five years. Contradicting that vision, the US government refused to let go of ICANN for 15 years, triggering geopolitical conflicts over sovereignty and US power.
Mueller details why that happened, what prompted its change of heart, and how independence of ICANN sparked a political battle in Washington. The book gets to the very heart of current debates over digital governance. Can there be popular sovereignty in cyberspace? Are state sovereignty and global Internet compatible? How feasible is it to set up new global governance institutions not based on territorial states? We will critically discuss these issues with the author and two internet policy experts.

Milton Mueller is Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy. One of the founders of the Internet Governance Project, Mueller has played a leading role in organizing and mobilizing civil society in ICANN and OECD. His research focuses on the political economy of the Internet, including property rights, institutions and global governance in the communication and information industries. He is the author of seven books and the co-founder of ICANN’s Noncommercial Users Constituency.

Marília Maciel, Director of Digital Trade and Economic Security, Diplo. Brazilian-born Marília Maciel is currently based in Strasbourg, France. Prior to joining Diplo, Ms Marília Maciel was a researcher and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV) in Rio de Janeiro

Robert Cannon, Internet Policy Analyst. Bob has worked for the Office of Policy Analysis and Development (OPAD) at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. He also worked as Senior Counsel for Internet Law in the Federal Communication Commission’s Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.

Book information: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262552585/declaring-independence-in-cyberspace/

Measuring Digital Trust: A Framework for Smart Societies with Han Ei Chew
2025-09-16 12:00 - 13:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Measuring Digital Trust: A Framework for Smart Societies
a conversation with
Dr Han-Ei CHEW, Visiting Fellow, Quello Center, Michigan State University.
Tuesday September 16, 2025, 12-1 PM EDT
In-Person (CAS 191) and Via Zoom (Register Here)

Trust undergirds digital life — essential, yet often vaguely defined and rarely measured with rigor. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, global trust in the tech industry has declined even as digital systems have become more deeply embedded in everyday life. This raises a fundamental question: what exactly is this trust that is being lost, and how should we understand its erosion?
This talk explores the imperative to measure digital trust as both a public good and a strategic asset. Drawing on conceptual insights from the World Economic Forum and recent academic work, Dr Chew introduces a multi-dimensional framework that accounts for the interplay between system attributes, individual dispositions, and lived outcomes in shaping digital trust.
He shares early findings from a pilot study conducted in Singapore that aimed to develop and validate a survey instrument capable of capturing how trust varies across user groups and institutional settings. Real-world examples such as public reactions to major digital infrastructure rollouts illustrate what happens when system design falls out of step with public expectations.
The session aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on how to make sense of digital trust: how to define it, how to measure it, and how to identify the conditions under which it is either strengthened or eroded.
Dr Han-Ei CHEW leads the Governance & Economy cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Singapore, where he oversees the Institute’s longest-standing research unit. His work centers on quantitative policy research, with a strong interest in online harms, digital trust, and the societal dimensions of technology adoption. He has led multiple national and international studies and works closely with public agencies to translate research into policy outcomes.
Outside of IPS, Han-Ei serves on the board of SG Her Empowerment (SHE), a non-profit dedicated to advancing gender equality and supporting those affected by online harms. He is also a pro bono Research Consultant to UNESCO, where he co-authored reports including Reading in the Mobile Era and I’d Blush If I Could — one of the first international publications to highlight gender biases in AI voice assistants.
Han-Ei holds a PhD in Media and Information Studies from Michigan State University and is especially pleased to return to his alma mater as a Visiting Fellow. At the Quello Center, his work focuses on the evolving concept of digital trust — exploring how confidence in digital systems is built or eroded, and what this means for public policy, governance, and user behaviour.
He also writes The Chart Doctor Has Issues, a Substack that critiques how data is visualized and communicated in the public sphere — part of his broader interest in making policy-relevant research accessible and communicated with clarity.

The Digital Usage Divide: Evidence and New Measures from 40 Million Windows Devices
2025-09-25 14:00 - 15:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
The Digital Usage Divide: Evidence and New Measures from 40 Million Windows Devices
a talk with Shane Greenstein, Harvard Business School
Join us on September 25, 2025, from 2:00-3:00 pm EDT for what is sure to be a fascinating exchange! Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/4wzk5mm7
A Joint event brought to you by the Quello Center and the Broadband Access Initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts

Access to digital infrastructure is crucial for economic opportunities, social inclusion, and civic participation. However, the use of digital technologies may be unevenly distributed, leaving some communities unable to fully benefit from new technologies. Current measurements often rely on basic indicators, such as computer ownership and broadband adoption, which do not adequately capture the depth and variety of digital usage. We build and analyze new measures of digital usage that leverage telemetry data collected by Microsoft during operating system updates across 40 million Windows devices in U.S. households. These measures of U.S. household digital usage are significantly more comprehensive than those provided by any existing commercial or government survey. We construct representations of devices in ZIP codes and find evidence of significant variation in usage reflecting an urban-rural divide. We also show the existence of substantial disparities in usage even within narrowly defined Metropolitan Statistical Areas. Income and education correlate with these observed differences. These effects are large and suggest digital usage gaps that extend beyond the availability of essential IT infrastructure at the local level. These findings call for interventions beyond the traditional focus on infrastructure access and address usage and skills development. The indices are made publicly available to support future research.
Shane Greenstein is the Martin Marshall Professor of Business Administration. He teaches in the Technology, Operations and Management Unit.
Encompassing a wide array of questions about computing, communication, and Internet markets, Professor Greenstein’s research extends from economic measurement and analysis to broader issues. His most recent book focuses on the development of the commercial Internet in the United States. He also publishes commentary on his blog, Digitopoly, and his work has been covered by media outlets ranging from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal to Fast Company and PC World.
Professor Greenstein previously taught at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, and at the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. He received his PhD from Stanford University in 1989 and his BA from University of California at Berkeley in 1983, both in economics. He continues to receive a daily education in life from his wife and children.

The full paper by Mayana Pereira, Shane Greenstein, Raffaella Sadun, Prasanna Tambe, Lucia Ronchi Darre, Tammy Glazer, Allen Kim, Rahul Dodhia, Juan Lavista Ferres is available upon request.
An earlier conference paper version is available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5374618

A Theory of the One Percent with Chris Adami
2025-10-22 12:00 - 13:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 405, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
A Brownbag Lunch with
Dr Chris Adami, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics & Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University.
Wednesday October 22, 2025, 12-1 PM EDT
In-Person CAS 405 and on Zoom
Please Register HERE
Light refreshments will be provided.

Chris Adami has done innovative work in applying evolutionary methods and game theory to complex phenomena, social issues, cognitive issues, and artificial life. He often writes in non-technical ways for broader audiences, and his contributions regularly appear in Nature. The brownbag lunch talk explores the systemic nature of inequality in a highly abstract framework to isolate critical factors that drive inequality but are often not considered in the public discourse. Chris will translate these concepts into non-formal intuitive language in his talk. The short paper a is work in progress and its underlying ideas will allow ample time for discussion.
Dr Adami is a computational biologist with a focus on theoretical, experimental and computational Darwinian evolution, studying how biological systems evolve from the simplest molecules to the most complex structures such as the human brain.
He is professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics as well as Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University, he uses mathematics and computation to understand how simple rules can give rise to the most complex systems and behaviors.
Chris has pioneered the application of methods from information theory to the study of evolution, and spearheaded the development of Avida, an Artificial Life simulator that uses mutating and adapting computer viruses as a tool for investigating evolutionary biology.

Data-Driven Broadband Policymaking: Bridging the Data Gaps for Effective Policymaking with BQT
2025-12-11 14:00 - 15:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom, Please Click Image for a Full Event Description and to Register
Co-sponsored talk by the PEW Broadband Access Initiative & the Quello Center
with Laasya Koduru, PhD Student at UC Santa Barbra
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 2-3 PM EST
Via Zoom | Please Register HERE

Effective broadband policy depends on accurate, granular data on service availability, speeds, and prices—yet existing datasets are often self-reported, inconsistent, and insufficient for evaluating affordability or targeting public investments. This talk will introduce the Broadband-Plan Querying Tool (BQT), which independently collects advertised broadband plans directly from ISP websites at street-address resolution to provide a more reliable evidence base. It will show how BQT enabled audits of the FCC’s Connect America Fund (CAF), revealing significant gaps in serviceability and compliance, and how the enhanced code-free BQT+ now supports over 50 ISPs to power statewide assessments such as the Pew and JCOTS studies on affordability, competition, and BEAD readiness. The talk will conclude with a roadmap for BQT+ as a sustainable data resource—supporting challenge processes, monitoring affordability over time, and equipping states with the independent data needed to design effective, equitable broadband interventions.
Laasya Koduru is a Computer Science Ph.D. student at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), co-advised by Professor Arpit Gupta and Professor Elizabeth Belding. Their research is focused on enabling data-driven policymaking to achieve universal access to high-quality and affordable broadband networks. This involves addressing the disparities in internet access and digital equity, which inform policy actions like subsidy programs, rate regulations, and infrastructure funding. However, a significant gap exists between the broadband data currently used for policy decisions and the precise data needed. Often, these datasets are sparse, noisy, or based on unreliable self-reported information, leading to potentially flawed funding decisions that disproportionately affect underserved areas. To address this, there is an urgent need to develop a sustainable, open digital infrastructure to bridge this data gap and provide accurate data for effective policymaking.
The broadband plan querying tool (BQT) automates interaction with an ISP’s web interface to obtain the set of Internet access plans (prices and speeds) available at a street-level residential address. BQT captures the Broadband nutrition label, which includes data for all available plans such as the maximum upload speeds, download speeds, and corresponding prices in US dollars. It also captures any ISP discounts advertised to users. In its current version (BQT+), BQT+ offers improved robustness and scalability over its predecessor. New ISPs can be more easily and quickly added, and modifications to existing ISP web interfaces are more easily accommodated. BQT+ can handle drop-down address selection and other features commonly incorporated into web pages that require user interaction. BQT and BQT+ have been applied to a variety of projects, including in partnership with multiple government and non-profit entities.
