Quello Center research has spanned a wide range of issues with relevance to policy and practice. Some of the more illustrative projects include:
Regulation
A focus of research has been on regulation and policy. For example, a 2008 project entitled ‘Benchmarking the Network Society’, provided a framework and empirical tools for the assessment of regulatory policy and the development of improved forms of governance for next-generation networks and services.
Another regulatory project, entitled ‘Achieving Innovative and Reliable Services in Unlicensed Spectrum’, involved a three-year collaborative project with the WINLAB at Rutgers University and Eric J. Friedman at Cornell University. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the research team conducted studies of voluntary and mandatory governance mechanisms for unlicensed spectrum. A more recent 2008 project, ‘Broadband: Benefits and Policy Challenges’, was funded by MERIT and critically reviewed the claims as to the benefits of broadband and developed a framework for the design of public policies towards broadband.
Governance
Governance has been a major topic. A 2005 project focused on ‘Making U.S. Telecommunications Policy’ Who Participates and Who is Heard’. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the project studied the role of research and concepts in shaping U.S. telecommunications policy with the goal of mapping who influences (and who is ignored) in public policy making.
The governance of large technical systems has been a focus of researchers, including Johannes Bauer, who collaborated with Professor Volker Schneider at the University of Konstanz, Germany, on the dynamics of complex communication systems (2006-09). This three year project was funded in 2006 by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany. A related project, entitled ‘Modeling Dynamic Communication Systems’, explored the application of complex evolutionary systems theory to problems of ICT management and governance.
Social Media Policy and Practice
Research on Social Media, included a project entitled ‘Advocacy 2.0, which included a large survey analysis of individuals currently working with advocacy organizations in the United States.
Cybersecurity and Cybercrime
Several new Quello projects deal with cybersecurity. Early research in this area included one entitled ‘The Economics of Malware’ (2006-08), in which Professor Michel van Eeten, John Groenewegen, and Walter Lemstra at the Technical University of Delft, the Netherlands, examined the economic incentives of players in the information and communication dynamics of malware.
Serious Games for Policy and Practice
Work on Meaningful Games, such as focused on educational goals. For example, from 2010-11, colleagues worked on a game entitled ‘Tanzanian Trader’, designed for students in Tanzania, Africa. The game helps students prepare for the standardized national exam students must take to receive their primary school certificate. Another game developed was ‘Kitchen Disasters’, where players take on the role of an aspiring restaurant manager trying to advance from a small sandwich shop up to a 5-star gourmet restaurant while dealing with several food safety challenges that stand in your path. Another game, ‘Crossroads Village’ was a persuasive real time strategy game. The game allowed the player to take on the role of a relief organization in dealing with world hunger and other third world crises. In the game, the player manages the relief effort.
