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• On February 5 and 6, 2004,
the graduate student conference Transparencies: technology
and culture took place at the Texas Union (Asian Culture
Room). Several TIPI graduate students were a part of the
organization, such as Carolyn Cunningham, Holly Custard,
Chris Lucas, and Ana Boa-Ventura. Jen Peterson and Dana
ABram were also in the organization. The site is up at
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~transpar
and was designed by TIPI research associate Ana Boa-Ventura.
TIPI was a sponsor of the conference again this year,
as it was two years ago, for Transparencies: Technology,
Culture, Communication. Over 25 scholars were brought
together to present their work addressing historical or
emergent technologies from critical and cultural perspectives.
• Community
Network Evaluation: In June of 2002, TIPI embarked on
an 18-month evaluation of the first phase of the Texas
Telecommunications Infrastructure Board's Collaborative
Community Network Grant program. The 36 communities funded
under this first, or "CN1" phase, received grants
of up to $500,000 to identify and implement ways to utilize
information technologies to link community groups and
institutions and support their efforts to enhance education,
health care, public services and economic and social development.
The assessment began in June 2002 and should conclude
in mid-2003. TIPI's Jody Waters, a recent graduate of
the Ph.D. program in the Department of Radio-TV-Film,
directs the project. Dr. Sharon Strover, TIPI Director,
and Dr. Gary Chapman, TIPI Associate Director, are the
principal investigators. TIPI graduate research associates
Carolyn Cunningham, Holly Custard, and Chris Lucas also
are assisting.
In October, the project team wrapped up a report based
on a mail survey conducted throughout the summer and early
fall of this year. The survey focused on processes used
by CN1 grantees to develop and implement plans for their
community networks, and on preliminary evaluation as the
TIF funding drew to a close. Roughly 400 surveys were
sent to CN1 project personnel, with close to 200 responses
received.The survey shows that most CN1 projects had been
implemented at least to the extent anticipated by project
planners, while many had actually exceeded expectations.
Among those activities considered to have been implemented
successfully by CN1 projects, the creating access to new
public access sites, increasing access to existing public
access sites, connecting local groups and organizations,
and producing local content were most prominent. TIPI
researchers also learned that local independent school
districts, municipal governments, individuals and organizations
connected with the health care sector, chambers of commerce,
and community colleges, were identified as organizations
and sectors most heavily involved in both planning and
implementation of community networks, and that individual
residents of local communities also played a key role
in these processes. Many respondents linked the efficacy
of their community networks to the management and resources
offered by key institutions in communities, and to the
ability to manage tasks such as marketing and outreach
to targeted groups.
TIPI presented the full results of this report to TIF
and to the agency's Community Networking Working Group
in November. The report is now available at www.utexas.edu/research/tipi/.
• TIPI research associate
Carolyn Cunningham and Sharon Strover completed a report
titled A Report on the Status of Wireless Access to 211,
which will be submitted to the FCC. Only six communities
across the U.S. currently provide wireless access to 211.
The report argues that FCC involvement could significantly
increase the use of this number, similar to results obtained
with E911. Research also found a growing trend in the
adoption of cell phone service as a replacement for landline
service. As of September 2002, there are 34 call centers
in 17 states providing 211 access to 32 million people.
TIPI anticipates these numbers will increase when the
next report is released in early spring 2003.
• Sharon Strover, Patrick
Burkart and Holly Custard, are investigating the state
of competition in local loop and broadband telecommunication
services in Texas, Kansas, and Missouri. To what extent
are rural and traditionally underserved areas in these
states enjoying the benefits of telecom deregulation?
Since the landmark 1996 Telecommunications Act required
incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to interconnect
with would-be rivals and provide nondiscriminatory access
to their some of their facilities, incumbents and would-be
competitors have wrangled with state public utility commissions
and the FCC over the details. The TIPI competitiveness
study will identify the interconnection costs to competitive
carriers (CLECs) by scrutinizing the tariffs in each state
for unbundled network elements ("UNEs"). UNEs,
which include call switching and transmission, are required
for providing competitive local service. Wholesale tariffs
for competitive provision of xDSL will also be compared.
The final report will present retail pricing data for
local and broadband Internet for a sample of localities
in the three states. The competitiveness study will also
generate maps of existing telephone and cable network
infrastructures, including ILECs, CLECs, incumbent cable
operators, and over-builders. The network maps, together
with a cost and price comparison for services, will provide
a robust representation of the state of competition in
these three states.
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