Communications and Society Program

What's New

Community Information Needs And Access To Be Studied By New Commission From The Knight Foundation And The Aspen Institute. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute today announced the launch of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy. Read more.

Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS). This year's annual Forum on the theme of Media and Democracy will be held at the Aspen Institute Aspen Meadows Campus in Aspen, Colorado, August 10-12, 2008. The sessions will be held in conjunction with the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy exploring how the new technological and behavioral environments are changing the way that media—old and new—will serve citizenry in a democracy. More.

A Framework for a National Broadband Policy. While the importance of broadband access to functioning modern society is now clear, millions of Americans remain unconnected, and Washington has not yet presented any clear plan for fixing the problem. Condensing discussions from the 2008 Conference on Communications Policy and Aspen Institute Roundtable on Spectrum Policy (AIRS) into a single report, Professor Philip Weiser of the University of Colorado at Boulder offers a series of specific and concrete policy recommendations for expanding access, affordability, and adoption of broadband in the United States. Download PDF.

Dr. Montek Singh
Ahluwahlia receives
recommendations
(full image)

Recommendations from the Joint Conference on Communications Policy. In February 2008, industry executives from the US, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka met with government officials, researchers and other policy-makers in the third annual Joint Conference on Communications Policy between Aspen India and the Institute’s Communications and Society Program. Read about the recommendations, including those for m-governance.

Mobile Media and Civic Engagement. Mobile media have been building a burgeoning presence in the communications landscape for several years. Can communities harness this promising new force in communications to strengthen their residents’ engagement in civic life? How can the use of these media improve information flows to citizens, encourage civic participation, and strengthen local community groups? Read more from conference participant J.D. Lasica in his blog. One of the recommendations at the meeting for journalists' use of the new mobile media was the creation of a reporter's "twitter posse" as explained in another blog.

The overall goal of the Communications and Society Program is to promote integrated, thoughtful, values-based decision making in the fields of communications, media, and information policy.

The Communications and Society Program accomplishes this goal through two main types of activities. The program convenes leaders in the areas of information and communication for roundtable discussions to explore the political, economic, and societal impact of communications and information infrastructures. It also promotes research and distributes conference reports. Read the complete program description.

Programs

Journalism
Communications Policy
Commerce and Technology
Culture and Technology
Global Projects
Sounding Board

Recent Reports and Conferences

A Framework for a National Broadband Policy. Condensing discussions from the 2008 Conference on Communications Policy and Aspen Institute Roundtable on Spectrum Policy (AIRS) into a single report, Professor Philip Weiser of the University of Colorado at Boulder offers a series of specific and concrete policy recommendations for expanding access, affordability, and adoption of broadband in the United States.

The Rise Of Collective Intelligence: Decentralized Co-Creation of Value as a New Paradigm of Commerce and Culture describes how collective intelligence affects business value creation and passion-based collaborative learning resulting in new user generated business and media models. The Report includes an account of "The Cloud” or utility computing.

Media, Creativity and the Public Good examines both the problems facing today's media, from indecency and violence to under-representation of marginalized groups, and proposes potential solutions to combat these issues.

Minds on Fire: Enhancing India’s Knowledge Workforce promotes Learning 2.0 in India or open source learning made possible by the web. The report contains a proposal for Knowledge Learning Centers within Special Economic Zones in India.

Next-Generation Media: The Global Shift
examines the growth of the Internet and its effect on a rapidly changing topic: the impact of new media on politics, business, society, culture, and governments the world over. The report also sheds light on how traditional media will need to adapt to face the competition of the next generation media.

The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level
touches on some existing cultural norms and predicts future trends forecasted by roundtable participants as a result of mobile technologies.

The Future of Video: New Approaches to Communications Regulation
Outlines a series of important issues related to the emergence of a new video marketplace based on the promise of Internet technology.

Unmassing America: Ethnic Media and the New Advertising Marketplace
Examines two key trends—the changing paradigm for advertising and the emerging multicultural media—with strategies to promote greater cooperation between advertisers and ethnic media.

First Informers in the Disaster Zone: The Lessons of Katrina
Hurricane Katrina revealed how the traditional top-down paradigm of crisis communication is being replaced by a more dynamic flow of information that empowers citizens and creates ad hoc distributive information networks.

Clearing the Air: Convergence and the Safety Enterprise
Outlines the problems now plaguing the safety enterprise and offers recommendations for integrating a communications network among its members.