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

该奖项全部或部分根据2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。这项研究将制定方法，用以设计和评价信息和通信技术（信通技术）的衡量工作，以便部署工作能够对它们打算服务的公民负责。虽然有几个联邦的努力，以增加部署宽带基础设施在美国各地，许多社区似乎一直被排除在这些部署工作的影响。量化移动的宽带技术的这些不平等可能尤其具有挑战性。目前，政府补贴的宽带部署工作依赖于提供商生成的覆盖地图，该地图使用无线电传播模型来展示移动的宽带在空间中的可用位置。对这些地图的特别调查显示，传播模型大大夸大了信通技术基础设施的渗透率，并指出需要对信通技术基础设施进行广泛的测量，以更好地评估覆盖的真实范围。 随着ICT基础设施对教育、医疗、银行和公民参与等基本服务的需求越来越大，对ICT基础设施可访问性的准确评估变得至关重要。为了大规模地衡量信通技术基础设施，并以揭示不公平现象的方式，必须依靠众包的信通技术基础设施衡量方法。本研究旨在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获取，以及应如何设计信通技术计量众包平台，以确保众包信通技术计量工作产生有代表性的数据？研究活动将从三个连续的方面寻求答案：（1）围绕信通技术计量和绘图的概念化进行人种学调查;（2）设计和实施创新的计量平台;（3）部署和评估计量平台。对每一研究领域收集的数据进行元分析，最终将得出一个可转让的包容性众包信通技术计量设计理论。此外，教育活动将与研究协同工作，通过包容性的基于问题的课程设计和指导学生通过混合方法的社会技术研究approaches.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.