Borrowing Berlo: Singapore’s Evolving Approach to Online Harms with Han Ei Chew
2025-09-02 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Detroit) | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 191, 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
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 191, 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
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 191, 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
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.

Translucent Atmospherics: Media as Utility in China with Dr. Angela Xiao Wu, New York University
2026-01-30 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom
Translucent Atmospherics: Media as Utility in China
a talk with Angela Xiao Wu, New York University
Join us on January 30, 2026, from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET for what is sure to be a fascinating exchange!
Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/2fv9xjka

Utilities provide essential services such as water, electricity, railroads, and communication, which societies strive to make affordable and widely accessible. As legacy media lose advertising revenue and “news deserts” proliferate, proposals to treat journalism as a public utility have reemerged. While liberal capitalist societies approach this idea through fragmented evidence and speculative hypotheticals, China has long treated news as a state-supplied, nonproprietary good, akin to earthquake alerts. Since 1978, amid shifting social, economic, and technological landscapes, the state’s stubborn commitment to this utility model has produced surprising configurations of public finance, intellectual property, distribution politics, journalistic forms, and popular culture.
In this talk, Dr Wu will introduce her book-length research tracing the evolution of China’s administration of the socialist press into its regulation of private digital platforms. Reframing media history as utility history, she disaggregates the Chinese state into its lesser-studied roles—as lawmaker, owner, investor, licensor, thinly stretched administrator, and purported guarantor of collective welfare—beyond propaganda and censorship. This perspective sheds new light on post-reform Chinese governance and offers the utility system as a broader framework for thinking about our digital present: What happens to public culture when it is governed through unified computing regimes?
Angela Xiao Wu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. Her research sits at the intersection of media and communication studies and science and technology studies (STS), with broader interests in the politics and infrastructures of knowledge production. Her work spans critical data studies, platform studies, the political economy of media, political cultures, and post/socialism studies. Her book project has received support from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Henry Luce Foundation, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, among others.

Digital Equity Ecosystems with Colin Rhinesmith, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
2026-02-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Via Zoom, Via Zoom
Digital Equity Ecosystems:
How Community Coalitions Reduce Inequality and Strengthen Democracy
a talk with Colin Rhinesmith, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Join us on February 18, 2026, from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET for a stimulating talk!
Use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/47ukftct

Digital Equity Ecosystems introduces readers to the groundswell of community coalitions that work to alleviate technological inequity and social injustice. Through a comprehensive review of theories and concepts across the fields of information, communication, technology, and public health studies, Colin Rhinesmith reveals how the digital equity ecosystems framework is essential for addressing urgent digital inequalities. Investigating five original case studies of digital equity ecosystems across the United States, Rhinesmith shows how community coalitions serve as vital infrastructure to tackle digital inequality and strengthen democracy. By focusing on these ecosystems as sites for community engagement, civic participation, and social justice organizing, this book helps us make sense of the current moment, arguing that it is crucial to bridge both the digital divide and other social divides more broadly at a time when democracies are in decline worldwide.
Colin Rhinesmith is Associate Professor and Director of the Digital Equity Action Research (DEAR) Lab in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is also a Research Fellow with the Quello Center at Michigan State University and Co-Editor-In-Chief of The Journal of Community Informatics.
Rhinesmith’s research is focused on the social, technical, and policy contexts that shape people’s access to and use of information and communication technologies in local communities. His research contributes to the fields of community informatics, engaged scholarship, and information policy. Rhinesmith has worked with civil society organizations, government agencies, and philanthropic organizations to advance digital equity through community-engaged and participatory research projects.
Previously, Rhinesmith was Founder and Director of the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. He has been a Google Policy Fellow and an Adjunct Research Fellow with New America’s Open Technology Institute, Senior Advisor with the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, Senior Fellow with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and Faculty Associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
Rhinesmith received his Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was a U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services Information in Society Fellow, a Researcher with the Center for People and Infrastructures, and a Research Scholar with the Center for Digital Inclusion.

Misattribution, Confounds, and Meaninglessness in Social Media and Mental Health Research - Keith Hampton
2026-03-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Quello Center, 404 Wilson Rd, Room 191, East Lansing, MI, 48824, United States
Misattribution, Confounds, and Meaninglessness
in Social Media and Mental Health Research
a talk with Keith Hampton, Quello Center at Michigan State University
Join us in person or online on March 18, 2026, from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET for a stimulating talk!
See you in CAS 191 or use the link here to register for the Zoom webinar: https://tinyurl.com/47ukftct

More information to come!
