In July 2007, the FCC released 10 commissioned studies on media ownership, in support of its current round of inquiry into ownership regulations. 

Part of Philip Napoli's literature review on public interest media and communications activism and advocacy within the U.S. and abroad.

ICTs have the potential to improve teaching and learning by providing innovative forms of education at a cost that is constantly decreasing. The introduction of ICTs in schools in developing countries enables the sharing of resources between students and teachers in different locations and can foster dialogue and creativity, improve the quality of learning, and build critical skills for students in underserved areas.

ICT Enables Distance Learning (World Bank)

Increasingly, governments are providing content and services via ICTs, digitizing information repositories and implementing infrastructure at the local level for access to these systems. National e-government policies, such as the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in India and the e-Sri Lanka Development Project, have decreased the costs of bringing information to rural areas, while making government processes more transparent and accountable.  E-governance initiatives foster public participation through interactive interfaces that enable the airing of grievances and strengthen accountability through public access to information. As trust is reinforced between government and citizens, new participation mechanisms have emerged.

eGov at Work: Improving Service Delivery in Ghana (World Bank)

eGhana is a partnership between the World Bank and the Government of Ghana to support public-private partnerships (PPPs) that improve efficiency and transparency through selected e-Government applications. The eGhana project builds on the Government's earlier experience with a customs modernization programme that drastically reduced processing times and increased government revenue by more than fifty percent within the first eighteen months of implementation. Capacity building and effective "change management" are key challenges moving forward.

The infrastructure and human resource needs of health facilities across the developing world are colossal. To bring these services via conventional means can be costly, often taking decades to build adequate clinics and hospitals. ICTs have the capacity to connect underserved areas with medical institutions and professionals, bringing content and knowledge in a timely, cost-effective way.

The use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) reflects an alternative strategy for managing information flows. Governments, organizations and individuals all over the world are moving toward FOSS in order to reduce the costs associated with proprietary licensing and updates, to cut their dependency on software companies, and to be able to adapt software to their specific needs, thus increasing its efficiency and effectiveness.

The culture of collaboration behind FOSS has proved effective in ICT4D projects, not only by reducing software costs, but also by addressing localization problems – the need to adapt to local languages, cultures and preferences – and by offering friendly end-user interfaces tailored to indigenous populations. Through FOSS, software innovations can be produced in developing countries, empowering local technology users to create their own set of tools.

Codebreakers (BBC Documentary) 

The Codebreakers (2006) is a global documentary that investigates how developing countries are using FOSS applications to address problems in sectors such as agriculture, education, health care, nature conservation, and disaster management. Case studies have come from Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe.

The film features FOSS users and advocates and several key persons in the ICT sector -- founders of the free software movement, as well as managers of leading IT companies producing proprietary software. In talking to individuals and organizations across the IT and development spectrum, the filmmakers probe the ways in which the adoption of FOSS presents opportunities for industry and capacity development, software piracy reduction, and localization and customization for diverse cultural and development needs.

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A wide range of public, private, and civil society organizations and transnational NGOs have strong investments in the ICT4D framework. International development agencies and multilateral institutions work to build ICT4D efforts worldwide, with local organizations and national governments in developing countries working as partners in these broader initiatives.

The MacArthur Foundation launched its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to developing educational and other social institutions that can meet the needs of this and future generations. The initiative is both marshaling what is already known about the field and seeding innovation for continued growth.

Core projects have mobilized over 50 researchers and practitioners, including those below.

A series of field analysis and needs assessments on research/advocacy collaboration, produced in the course of planning the Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere program

SSRC Collaborative Grants in Media and Communications are awarded through a competitive process by an independent selection committee that brings together researchers, activists, and advocates in the media and communications field.  

The committee has had five members, serving 1-year terms.  This list includes past and current committee members.  For the current committee, see: http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants/large-grants

Access to knowledge about the public sphere is crucial for communications research and policymaking.   This includes not just access to aggregated data on services, industry structure, programming, and audiences--the core inputs to FCC policymaking--but also access to audiovisual content, which is often the target of policymaking.

Limitations on access to data and content have begun to receive more attention in the past several years.  This list provides a primer on a range of access to data and access to content concerns.

Recipients of Research Bounties

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

In 2004, the Digital Cultural Institutions Project supported research on institutions involved in aggregating digital cultural resources and developing models of access to them. It promoted the integration of knowledge on a range of providers and mediators of digital cultural goods and services-from digital libraries and online museums to commercial online vendors of music and books, search engines and portals, open and collaborative knowledge archives, and file-sharing networks, among others.  Seven fellows received grants to pursue projects in this area.  For more information, http://programs.ssrc.org/ccit/dcip/ 

Recipients of $30,000 Large Collaborative Grants (Summer 2008, 2nd Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $30,000 Large Collaborative Grants (Fall 2007, 1st Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of Other Collaborative Grants (Spring/Summer 2006)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $7,500 Small Collaborative Grants (Fall 2008, 5th Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $7,500 Small Collaborative Grants (Winter 2007, 4th Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $7,500 Small Collaborative Grants (Spring 2007, 3rd Round) 

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $7,500 Small Collaborative Grants (Winter 2006, 2nd Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations:

Recipients of $7,500 Small Collaborative Grants (Fall 2006, 1st Round)

Researchers & activist/advocacy organizations: