There are very few strictly national areas of media and communications policy. Policymaking is increasingly shaped and constrained by international factors, from the growth of global governance bodies, to the import and export of regulatory models, to the transnational reach of media companies and the Internet itself.  Advocacy and activism at the international level is also growing. 

Comparative and multi-site research is very challenging and generally underprovisioned in a field still largely organized on national lines. The Necessary Knowledge program has funded several international projects where it has seen particularly strong proposals and opportunities. More work, and a stronger infrastructure for learning across these divides, is needed. Collaborative Grants in this area are complemented by the larger, global field-mapping project hosted on the Media Research Hub.

---

International Collaborative Grants

• Assessing the Commons: Social Metrics for the New Media Landscape

  Developing new metrics for understanding the impact of Creative Commons and other open licensing models

  Primary Investigator: Giorgos Cheliotis, National University of Singapore
  Partnering Organization: Creative Commons (CC)




• A Development-based Critique of Telecentre Deployment in India

  An analysis of the Telecentre model and policy framework for expanding access to the internet rural Indian communities

  Primary Investigator: Rahul De', Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India
  Partnering Organization: IT for Change




• Building a Democratic Regulatory Framework for Community Radios in Thailand

  An effort to collaboratively develop a regulatory model and code of practices that will help strengthen community broadcasting in Thailand

  Primary Investigator: Pirongrong Ramasoota, Chulalongkorn University
  Partnering Organizations: Thai Media Policy Advocacy Center (Thai-MPAC); Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR); Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA); the Center for Global Communication Studies (CGCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania




• The Case for "Open Access" in Africa: Mauritius Case Study

  An analysis of the emerging competitive landscape in telecom services in Mauritius following the end of the SAFE undersea cable monopoly on Internet connectivity

  Primary Investigators: Abiodun Jagun, University of Strathclyde; Russell Southwood, APC
  Partnering Organization: Association for Progressive Communications (APC)




• From the Digital Divide to Digital Excellence: Global Best Practices for Community Wireless Networks

  A comparative analysis and search for best practices in international community wireless projects

  Primary Investigators: Sascha Meinrath, New America Foundation; Laura Forlano, Columbia University
  Partnering Organization: New America Foundation




• Mapping Media Advocacy in South Asia

  A research and training agenda for strengthening the media advocacy sector

  Primary Investigator: Vibodh Parthasarathi, Centre for Culture, Media & Governance (CCMG), Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 
  Partnering Organization: Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) 
  




• Net Neutrality: The Convergence of Telecommunications and Consumers Rights in Brazil

  As Internet use in Brazil increases, IDEC examines the need for, and viability of, explicit net neutrality provisions in Brazilian law.

  Primary Investigators: Pedro Paranaguá, Getulio Vargas Foundation; Estela Waksberg Guerrini and Diogo Moisés Rodrigues, IDEC
  Partnering Organization: Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC)