CAREER: A Community-based Approach to Empowered Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Measurement

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。这项研究将制定设计和评价信息和通信技术(信通技术)衡量工作的方法，使部署工作能够对其打算服务的公民负责。虽然联邦政府已经做出了几项努力来增加全美宽带基础设施的部署，但许多社区似乎一直被排除在这些部署努力的影响之外。量化移动宽带技术的这些不平等可能特别具有挑战性。目前，政府补贴的宽带部署工作依赖于提供商生成的覆盖图，该图使用无线电传播模型来展示整个空间中哪里有移动宽带可用。对这些地图的特别调查表明，传播模型大大夸大了信通技术基础设施的渗透率，并指出有必要对信通技术基础设施进行广泛测量，以更好地评估覆盖范围的真实程度。随着教育、医疗、银行和公民参与等基本服务越来越需要信息和通信技术基础设施，对信息和通信技术基础设施可获得性的准确评估变得至关重要。为了衡量信通技术基础设施的规模，并以揭示不平等的方式衡量，有必要依赖对信通技术基础设施的众包衡量。这项研究试图回答推动信通技术基础设施决策和部署的两个基本问题：我们如何知道信通技术基础设施部署工作实际上正在改善信通技术基础设施的使用情况；应该如何设计信通技术测量的众包平台，以确保众包信通技术测量工作产生具有代表性的数据？研究活动将从三个方面寻求答案：(1)关于信通技术测量和绘图概念的民族志调查；(2)创新测量平台的设计和实施；(3)测量平台的部署和评价。对在每一项研究中收集的数据进行荟萃分析，最终将形成一种可转让的信息和通信技术包容性众包测量的设计理论。此外，教育活动将与研究协同工作，通过包容性以问题为基础的课程设计扩大对计算的参与，并通过混合方法社会技术研究方法指导学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The research will develop methods by which to design and evaluate information and communication technology (ICT) measurement efforts such that deployment efforts can be held accountable to the citizens they are intended to serve. While there have been several federal efforts to increase the deployment of broadband infrastructure across the United States, many communities seem to be persistently excluded from the impacts of these deployment efforts. It can be especially challenging to quantify these inequities for mobile broadband technologies. Currently, government subsidized broadband deployment efforts rely on provider-generated coverage maps, which use radio propagation models to demonstrate where mobile broadband is available across space. Ad hoc investigations of these maps have revealed that propagation models substantially overstate the penetration of ICT infrastructure and point to a need for widespread measurements of ICT infrastructure to better assess the true extent of coverage. As ICT infrastructure becomes increasingly necessary for essential services such as education, healthcare, banking, and civic participation, accurate assessment of ICT infrastructure accessibility becomes essential. To measure ICT infrastructure at scale and in a manner that illuminates inequities, it is necessary to rely on crowdsourced measurements of ICT infrastructure. This research seeks to answer two fundamental questions that drive ICT infrastructure policymaking and deployments: How do we know that ICT infrastructure deployment efforts are actually improving access to ICT infrastructure and how should crowdsourcing platforms for ICT measurements be designed in order to ensure that representative data are generated by crowdsourced ICT measurement efforts? Research activities will seek answers in three successive strands: (1) an ethnographic investigation of conceptualizations around ICT measurement and mapping; (2) the design and implementation of an innovative measurement platform; and, (3) the deployment and evaluation of the measurement platform. Meta-analysis of data collected in each of these research strands will culminate in a transferable theory of design for inclusive crowdsourced ICT measurements. Moreover, education activities will work synergistically with the research to broaden participation in computing through inclusive problem-based curricular design and mentoring students through mixed-methods sociotechnical research approaches.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.