Aspen Institute Publications
Aspen Institute publications are listed below. Many are available for purchase through Google Checkout, a secure system for handling credit card transaction online. For assistance with ordering publications, please contact our Publications office by email or by phone at (410) 820.5433. Please note: Orders are shipped two times a week from our warehouse in Queenstown, MD, on the Eastern Shore.
Connecting the Edges
The 2012 Roundtable on Institutional Innovation convened leaders to explore how organizations can stay atop today’s constant technological advancement. In the current economic environment, growth and underemployment are two outstanding national, indeed international, problems. While technological advances and globalization are often cited as instigators of the current plight, they are also beacons of hope for the future. Connecting the Edges concludes that by integrating the core of an organization with the edge, where innovation is more likely to happen, we can create dynamic, learning networks.
Integrating Diplomacy and Social Media: A Report of the First Annual Aspen Institute Dialogue on Diplomacy and Technology
Advances in social media and the wave of citizen involvement in both internal and external state affairs has heightened the need to take a closer look at how communications technologies can advance national interests. The digital disruption has come to many arenas. Diplomacy is just the latest to engage it. Integrating Diplomacy and Social Media: A Report of the First Annual Aspen Institute Dialogue on Diplomacy and Technology highlights how private citizens have utilized information tools to transform the landscape of international affairs. It also delves into the increasing use of new media by working diplomats.
Road to Government 2.0: Technological Problems and Solutions for Transparency, Efficiency and Participation
The 2012 FOCAS convened 38 leaders and developers from government, media and communications enterprises, localities, consumer/user groups and academia to define the problems of open and innovative governance and develop solutions. Road to Government 2.0: Technological Problems and Solutions for Transparency, Efficiency and Participation, summarizes the insights, initiatives and recommendations emanating from the Forum. The report, written by Forum rapporteur Greg Ferenstein, describes the origins of the open government movement, provides a discussion of the meaningful open governance efforts around the world and then addresses a number of serious shortcomings and subsequent solutions in open government. The recommendations include measures to enhance public awareness and media engagement, modifications to the government procurement process and an emphasis on useful participatory government to help improve information flow, communication and citizen interactions.
Spectrum as a Resource for Enabling Innovation Policy
The 2012 Aspen Institute Roundtable on Spectrum Policy (AIRS) convened shortly after the presidential election to consider ways that spectrum policy could improve the economy through innovation. The 32 leading communications policy experts in attendance focused on how spectrum policies could help create an environment that makes it easier to use spectrum as a resource for innovative new goods and services. The participants first identified problems facing new entry and innovation today, and then recommended solutions, looking specifically at the interstices between licensed and unlicensed approaches, spectrum sharing and flexibility, and new institutional arrangements to manage these solutions. The report, written by British spectrum expert William Webb, sets forth eleven recommendations that he gleaned from the conference dialogue to guide future spectrum policy development with regard to facilitating innovation.
Rethinking Communications Regulation
As the Internet and other information and communications technologies grow exponentially, and as a new ecosystem is emerging that could conflate previously distinct methods of communication into a single digital medium, questions arise as to whether the traditional silos of regulation are still appropriate. The report resulting from the 27th Annual Aspen Institute Communications Policy Conference addresses the overarching concern as to whether the Communications Act needs a radical revision. Written by rapporteur Richard Adler, the report considers the key goals of a new communications regime and offers regulatory and non-regulatory approaches for achieving these goals in a digitally connected world.
Power-Curve Society: The Future of Innovation, Opportunity and Social Equity in the Emerging Networked Economy
This report examines how technological innovation is restructuring productivity and the social and economic impact resulting from these changes. It addresses the growing concern about the technological displacement of jobs, stagnant middle class income, and wealth disparities in an emerging "winner-take-all" economy. It also examines cutting-edge innovations in personal data ecosystems that could potentially unlock a revolutionary wave of individual economic empowerment. "Power-Curve Society" is the Report of the Twenty-First Annual Roundtable on Information Technology, a dialogue convened by the Communications and Society Program.
Freedom and Connectivity: Advancing the Freedom to Communicate in the Americas
This report addresses critical deficits in connectivity and the freedom to communicate in the Western Hemisphere. The report highlights connectivity, competition, censorship and protection of journalists as key areas for action and calls on government leaders to move communications issues to the top of national agendas and partner with other societal stakeholders to develop digital infrastructure, tools and human capacity. The report cites specific opportunities for action in Mexico, where a new government will be sworn in on December 1, 2012. It highlights the need for markets, regulatory and policy structures, and attitudes to "change to align with the new realities of a global digital age."
Libertad y Conectividad: Fomento a la libertad para comunicar en las Américas
Libertad y Conectividad: Fomento a la libertad para comunicar en las Américas se refiere a los déficits críticos en la conectividad y la libertad de comunicarse en el hemisferio occidental. El informe muestra la conectividad, la competencia, la censura y la protección de los periodistas como los temas claves para la acción y pide a los líderes del gobierno para trasladar los asuntos de comunicaciones a la cima de las agendas nacionales y asociarse con otros actores sociales para desarrollar la infraestructura digital, las herramientas y la capacidad humana. El informe cita oportunidades específicas para la acción en México, donde se realizará un nuevo gobierno el 1 de diciembre de 2012. Se destaca la necesidad de mercados, estructuras regulatorias y políticas, y las actitudes de "cambiar para alinearse con las nuevas realidades de la era digital y global." El lunes 08 de octubre se presentaron el informe y sus conclusiones a Aurelio Nuño, Coordinador de educación de la Transición Gubernamental del Presidente Electo de México, Enrique Peña Nieto, y una audiencia de invitados, en un evento especial en Ciudad de México. Descargar (español).
The Reallocation Imperative: A New Vision for Spectrum Policy
The Reallocation Imperative: A New Vision for Spectrum Policy, the report of the 2011 Aspen Institute Roundtable on Spectrum Policy (AIRS), addresses new ways of allocating, clearing, using and/or sharing spectrum controlled by private parties and government agencies. Written by rapporteur Preston Marshall, the report attempts to step back and establish a broad vision for reallocating spectrum in the United States in the public interest, discussing new approaches that will facilitate more effective and efficient spectrum use. A number of recommendations are laid forth to guide future spectrum policy development, Congressional actions, and technology explorations.
Institutional Innovation: Oxymoron or Imperative?
Institutional Innovation: Oxymoron or Imperative?, the Report of the 2011 Roundtable on Institutional Development, explores the consequences of the growing disconnect between the fundamental design of most firms and the capabilities of the business infrastructure in which they operate. The Report captures the insights of the participants with a focus on identifying conditions that are favorable to institutional innovation and maximizing the effectiveness of institutional leadership.
