Research

The Washington State Broadband Office (WSBO) announced the opening of a public comment period for Washington’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program (BEAD) DRAFT Initial Proposal Volume I. The public comment period is open for 30 days, and will close on Nov. 10, 2023. Volume I contains information from four of 20 Initial Proposal requirements.

This paper investigates the association between relative mobile broadband penetration (i.e. mobile broadband connections in total mobile connections) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions globally. The study is based on 181 countries for the period 2002–2020. The results indicate an initial increase in CO₂ emissions for a country at an average emission level once mobile broadband is introduced. Possible explanations might be initial investment in network infrastructure and increased consumption of electricity.

Network neutrality mandates have been made out either as necessary to ensure a level playing field in online markets or, alternatively, as overly restrictive regulation preventing innovation and investment. However, there is little empirical research on the consequences of data throttling, which becomes legal without network neutrality regulations. We combine throughput levels measured for mobile internet service providers in the United States with usage data to explore how sensitive users are to such practices.

As government services, social and civic connections, financial services, educational resources, and workforce opportunities increasingly move online, suburban Cook County communities face a range of challenges. Those challenges include finding quality, affordable broadband internet service; obtaining usable, supported devices; and building the skills and confidence needed to navigate the internet safely and meaningfully. This action plan is organized around four digital equity cornerstones:

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are amplifying a crisis for human rights online. While AI technology offers exciting and beneficial uses for science, education, and society at large, its uptake has also increased the scale, speed, and efficiency of digital repression. Automated systems have enabled governments to conduct more precise and subtle forms of online censorship. Purveyors of disinformation are employing AI-generated images, audio, and text, making the truth easier to distort and harder to discern.

Rather than focusing exclusively on speed, we've expanded our ranking methodology and data sources to include a broader range of qualitative measurements, including the internet service providers' (ISPs) coverage area, prices, and customer satisfaction ratings. By combining all these data points, we're able to objectively pinpoint the Best ISPs in the US—not just the fastest ones. And we've broken down the winners into three separate categories: the Best Major ISPs, the Best All-Around ISPs, and the Best ISPs by Region of the US.

In Indiana, 9.1 percent of survey respondents only had smartphone devices, compared to 86.4 percent with smartphones and at least one other device. Less than 5 percent of respondents either did not have devices or had devices other than smartphones.

Using a multi-modal approach, Discovery Education—along with Comcast—sought to deepen understanding of remaining barriers to home internet adoption among students and their families by exploring the role schools (educators and administrators) are playing, with a particular focus on family involvement in bridging students’ abilities to connect to high-speed internet to support learning. The study found that:

This Reuters Institute report uses survey data from 20 countries and qualitative research from the United Kingdom (UK), US, and Germany to explore who is paying for news content online, which publications they pay for, how much they pay, and what motivations they have for subscribing or donating to news. The focus is  on how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting willingness to pay for online news. Key findings include that payment for online news is leveling off with high levels of cancellation strongly linked to the cost-of-living crisis.

Limited global research exists about girls’ and boys’ access to and use of mobile phones. For girls, access is much more diverse and colourful than simply whether they ‘have’ or ‘have not’ got a phone. Access is often transient, and diverse ownership, borrowership and sharing practices are flourishing. Boys are 1.5 times more likely to own a phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone. They're also more likely to use phones in more diverse and internet-enabled ways than girls. Girls are going to great lengths to gain access.