Events

Communication Seminar Series: Communication Networks, Asymmetries,and Public Policy

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Date:

22 Mar 2017

Time:

11:30am – 1:00pm

Venue:

NAH313 (C-Centre)

Speaker(s):

Prof. Sharon Strover, Philip G. Warner Regents Professor of Communication, Moody College of Communication, University of Texas

Biography of Speaker:

Sharon Strover is a Professor in Communication and former Chair of the Radio-TV-Film Department at the University of Texas where she now directs the Technology and Information Policy Institute. Her current work examines policy responses to the digital divide internationally and domestically; the economic benefits of broadband, particularly in rural areas; and the role of libraries in local information environments. Dr. Strover has worked with several international, national and regional government agencies and nonprofits including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Center for Rural Strategies, the Center for Rural Strategies, and the European Union.

Enquiries:

manlokchan@cuhk.edu.hk

Event Details:

The structure of the Internet has many internal layers and geographies. One consequential element from a user perspective has to do with where networks are located, and their capabilities in those locations. Several studies examining the geographies and user behaviors in rural areas of the U.S. illustrate that the Internet is very bumpy medium, subject to highly uneven capabilities depending on its location, the structure of the companies providing service in various regions and the public policies they exploit or challenge. This study examines some of the paradoxes between public policy goals for communication networks and how network capabilities and availabilities actually take shape and are used by local populations. Most of the data for this work are drawn from the U.S., with some comparative research from Sweden.