Explaining Internet Connectivity

This article provides a framework by which rival firms' incentives for interconnection in unregulated telecommunications markets may be analyzed and argues that the widespread voluntary interconnection observed among Internet service providers (ISPs) is anomalous when compared with examples of other similar markets from U.S. industrial history. However, the fact that it is anomalous provides an opportunity to test common explanations and to explore new explanations for the remarkable connectivity observed among ISPs through a comparative analysis. The comparative analysis reveals that (1) network effects and competitive forces in telecommunications markets will not necessarily drive firms to interconnect their networks voluntarily as there are other options to them, and (2) government actions played an important role in shaping the interconnection behavior competing firms in telecommunications markets. The article then explores some of the implications of these findings for telecommunications policy, and interconnection regulation in particular.     

New Media/Internet Research Topics of the Association of Internet Researchers

This study summarizes prior reviews of new media and Internet research, and the growth of the term Internet in academic publications and online newsgroups. It then uses semantic network analysis to summarize the interests and concepts of an interdisciplinary group of Internet researchers, as represented by session titles and paper titles and abstracts from the 2003 and 2004 Association of Internet Researchers conferences. In both years, the most frequent words appearing in the paper abstracts included Internet, online, community, social, technology, and research. The 2003 papers emphasized topics such as the social analysis/research of online/Internet communication, community, and information, with particular coverage of access, individuals, groups, digital media, culture; role and process in e-organizations; and world development. The 2004 papers emphasized topics such as access; news and social issues; the role of individuals in communities; user-based studies; usage data; and blogs, women, and search policy, among others.     

The Internet Defends Itself: The Network Neutrality Debate on the Web

This study examines the network neutrality debate, as represented online. The research begins by conducting network analysis to identify key websites, followed by retrieving the relevant documents and using content analysis. Results demonstrate that the online version of the debate skews heavily toward the pro-network neutrality side. The web debate also includes much higher proportions of voices from nonprofit sectors, especially nongovernmental organizations. Telecommunications companies and trade groups, which anchor the anti-network neutrality coalition, are relatively quiet online. These findings show groups that are less powerful making heavy use of online communication and, in light of the political history of the issue, they also suggest online mobilizing may help reshape the dynamics of issue advocacy.