The James and Mary Quello Center at Michigan State University seeks to conduct high-quality research that informs debates on media, communication, and information policy issues in the digital age. The Center was established in 1998 and maintains independence through an endowment. Its research team, which includes faculty from various departments, examines topics such as internet governance, net neutrality, digital inequality, and innovations in areas like mobile technology and the internet of things. The Center disseminates its research through publications, reports, online platforms, and events. It aims to stimulate discussion and increase its grant-funded research on both local and global communication policy topics.

1. The James and Mary Quello Center
Department of
Media & Information
Michigan State University

2. Mission
The James and Mary Quello Center
seeks to conduct high-quality research
that will stimulate and inform debate on
media, communication and information
policy for our digital age.

3. Continuity of a Pioneering Center:
• Arguably the First Endowed Center of its Kind (1998)
• ‘Center for Telecommunication Management and Law’
• Founding Director, Prof Steve Wildman (1999-2014),
FCC Chief Economist (2013)
Maintaining Key Strategic Advantages:
• FCC Commissioner James H. Quello’s Legacy (24 yrs)
• Independence of Endowment via 200 Donors ($5M)
• Exceptionally Strong Advisory Board
• Ties to Department and College of ComArts & Sciences

4. Evolving Directions, Topics and Team
• New Internet and Digital Age Focus
• Even More Multi- and Inter-disciplinary
• New Director, Bill Dutton, 2014
• New Researchers (Reisdorf, Shapiro &
Yankelevich, 2015)
• Additions to Advisory Board
• Strategic Use of Internet and Social Media
@QuelloCenter

5. Research Team
Central Core of Researchers
• Bill Dutton, Internet Studies, Politics & Policy
• Bianca Reisdorf, Sociologist, Digital Inequalities
• Mitch Shapiro, Communication Strategy
• Aleksandr Yankelevich, Economist, Competition & Policy
MSU Associates and Faculty, including:
• Johannes Bauer, Economist, Media & Information
• Adam Candeub, Center for IP and Communication Law
• Thomas Jeitschko, Economics Department
• Tongtong Li, Electrical Engineering
• R. V. Rikard, Trifecta, Media & Information
Colleagues Across US and Worldwide

6. Media and Information Policy Issues
Problems (Privacy,
Freedom of Expression,
Inequalities)
Political-Social-
Institutional Contexts
(Development, Cities,
Households, Gov’t)
Policies (Net Neutrality,
Communication Act,
Internet Governance)
Innovations (IoTs,
Wearables)

7. Illustrative Research at the Quello Center
Innovation-led
• The Future of Mobile
• Wireless and Last Mile Access
Context-driven
• ICT4Detroit and Digital Inequalities in Michigan
• WKAR Post Spectrum Auction
Policy-based
• Net Neutrality
• Specialized Services & Competition
Problem-based
• The Rise of Internet Policy and the Fifth Estate
• Multi-Stakeholder v Multi-Lateral Governance of the Internet

8. Innovative Approaches, including:
Theoretical Perspectives:
• The Fifth Estate Conception of Power Shifts
• New Institutionalism Perspectives on Policy Processes
• Zooming in on Inequalities (Urban (Detroit), Rural, Prisons)
Empirically Anchored Approaches:
• Multimodal Survey Designs for Detroit
• National Broadband Availability Dataset
• Case Study & Quasi-Experimental Insights on Network
Neutrality
• Going ‘Local’ such as Michigan Divides, Detroit & WKAR

9. MSU and WKAR 2016
FCC Spectrum Auction
MSU Auction WKAR TV ($206M)
MSU Keeps Spectrum, Partners with
Detroit Public Broadcasting, Creates
Opportunities for Innovative Research

10. Illustrative Reports and Publications
Bauer, J. M. and Dutton, W. H. (2015), ‘The New Cyber Security Agenda’,
for World Bank Development Report.
Dutton, W.H. and Graham, M. (2014), Society and the Internet (Oxford
University Press).
Dutton, W. H. (2015), ‘Multistakeholder Governance?’, for World Bank
Development Report
Reisdorf, B. C., & Groselj, D. (2015). ‘Internet (non-) Use Types and
Motivational Access: Implications for Digital Inequalities Research’,
New Media & Society, Online First.
Reisdorf, B. C., & Jewkes, Y. (2016). ‘(B)Locked Sites: Cases of Internet Use
in Three British Prisons’, Information, Communication & Society, 1-16.
UNESCO (2015), Keystones to Foster Inclusive Knowledge Societies. Paris:
UNESCO.

11. Internet and Social Media Outreach
Quello Blog http://quello.msu.edu
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/QuelloCenter/
Twitter @QuelloCenter
Paper Series at SSRN, Publications, and Videos at Vimeo
News Via Constant Contact
Quello Lectures, Seminars, and Speaking Engagements

12. Envisioning the Quello Center’s Future
Stimulate &
Inform Local
& Global
Debates
Increase Scale of
High-Quality,
Grant-Supported
Research
Local-Global
Research
Addressing
Global Issues
Collaborative
Hub for
Communication
Policy Research
Question Taken-
for-Granted
Assumptions