News
New Publication by ARNIC Affiliate on Gatekeeping Practices in Mobile Environments
How do apps consolidate their market share and control over information flows? In this paper, ARNIC affiliate Juan Ortiz Freuler uses a walkthrough method to show how high the walls around different apps and operating systems have been risen. The analysis covers how Alphabet and iOS describe the process of changing the default browser and 27…
ARNIC at TPRC ‘23
The 51st Annual TPRC (The Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy) Conference took place on September 22-23, 2023. The conference brings together stakeholders of various sectors, including policymakers, academics, and representation from the corporate world as well as civil society. ARNIC-affiliated students had the chance to present their work in various divisions and venues, and…
ARNIC at ICA’23
The 73rd Annual ICA (International Communication Association) Conference starts this week, and ARNIC-affiliated faculty and students will be presenting their work in various divisions and venues. Special congratulations to our top paper awardees! See the table below for details on the presentations at ICA. We hope to see you there. Presenter Session Day/Time Paper Lichen…
Launch of The Benton Institute ACP Performance Tool
Interested in learning how ACP sign-ups are going? Check out The Benton Institute ACP Performance Tool developed jointly by Benton Senior Fellow John B. Horrigan, Oklahoma State University professor Brian Whitacre, and USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Professor Hernan Galperin. The tool shows 1) the number of households that have signed up for…
New Publication on ACP Awareness in the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
Associate professor Hernan Galperin and doctoral student Alex Alvarado from ARNIC coauthored a post with Brian Whitacre and John Horrigan based on survey data related to awareness of the ACP benefit amongst eligible households. Main findings include that half of all eligible households are not aware of the subsidy, but policymakers and community leaders can…
New Policy Brief on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in California (2014-2020)
ARNIC published a policy brief today on evaluating the impact of three affordable plans in California during 2014-20 to see whether these plans have contributed to narrowing the income gap in residential (fixed) broadband. To estimate impact, the study uses a difference-in-difference (DiD) strategy. Overall, the results indicate that these affordable plans have had little…
Meet our new visiting scholar – Dr. Matt Rafalow
This semester, we welcome Dr. Matt Rafalow, a sociologist (PhD, University of California-Irvine), social scientist at Google (YouTube), and Research Fellow at USC Annenberg. At Google he manages a research team studying new experiences on YouTube. Most of his research focuses on digital inequality in education and through creative production online. Learn more about his work in…
New Case Study on Digital Inclusion in Public Housing
ARNIC published a case study today on evaluating the digital equity efforts of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). Based on expert interviews and a review of public documents from HACLA, this report finds that housing authorities such as HACLA are uniquely positioned to offer connectivity solutions that match residents’ needs….
New Case Study Publication on Broadband Vouchers: Evaluating the Alabama Broadband Connectivity
ARNIC published a case study today on evaluating the Alabama Broadband Connectivity in connecting low-income families through broadband vouchers. estimating participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Key findings include:
New Policy Brief Estimating participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)
ARNIC published a policy brief today on estimating participation in the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Key findings include the fact that using income as the only eligibility criteria results in an undercount of about 14.3M households, or about 29% of the eligible households nationally. Furthermore, the undercount varies widely across states, and is larger in…