info: Volume 9 Issue 2/3

Making public‐service telecommunications: past and present challenges for networked information infrastructures

To lay out the basis for the special symposium on public service telecommunications.

The public interest and the global, future telecommunications landscape

Taking a forward looking and global perspective, the paper seeks to address the issue of whether the concept of public service telecommunications has any relevance to the future.

The hidden history of US public service telecommunications, 1919‐1956

The aim of this article is to show that US public‐service telecommunications, developing through a complex historical process, both engendered and depended on policies that…

Regulatory economics and its discontents: some theoretical and historical observations

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the impulse to dismantle the US regulatory apparatus in major industries, including telecommunications, had less to do with…

Democracy of, in and through communication: struggles around public service in Canada in the first half of the twentieth century

In reviewing the application of public service principles in the press, telecommunication and radio historically, the paper aims to identify struggles to develop alternatives that…

The labouring of the public service principle: union convergence and worker movements in the North American communication industries

The paper aims to expand the public service principle to cover labour and worker organizations in the communication industry. It also aims to demonstrate the value of labour…

Constructing closed‐captioning in the public interest: from minority media accessibility to mainstream educational technology

To explore the historical construction of the US broadcast television closed‐captioning system as a case study of debates over “public service broadcasting” during the late…

Searching for universal access: the public interest, the FCC and the regulation of international telecommunications

The purpose of this paper is to look at the way in which the “public interest” concept that was part of the US 1934 Communications Act has been defined and redefined in terms of…

Telecom musings: public service issues in India

In assessing the contribution made by telecommunications in India by the state and civil society to public service, this article aims to identify the state's initial reluctance to…

“Universal service” and China's telecommunications miracle: discourses, practices, and post‐WTO accession challenges

To examine “universal service” as a policy objective in post‐WTO accession Chinese telecommunications and analyze the challenges of the Chinese telecommunications system in…

The letter of the law: telecommunications and the corporate person

This paper provides a brief historical sketch of cable and telephone regulation in the USA, the purpose of which is to demonstrate the legacy that precedes contemporary debates…

Network neutrality is the new common carriage

This article considers internet system development with reference to what is currently termed the “network neutrality” debate; its aim is to develop improved ways of reasoning…

International Telecommunications Society