A team of researchers led by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications prepared for the FCC a review of the literature regarding the critical information needs of the American Public. The report concluded that: (1) There is an identifiable set of basic information needs that individuals need met to navigate everyday life, and that communities need to have met in order to thrive; (2) Low-income and some minority and marginalized communities within metropolitan and rural areas and areas that are “lower-information” areas are likely to be systematically disadvantaged in both personal and community opportunities when information needs lag or go unmet; and (3) Information goods are public goods; the failure to provide them is, in part, a market failure.” The FCC’s Office of Communications Business Opportunities commissioned the report as the first step in meeting its obligations under Section 257 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, requiring the FCC to “identify and work to eliminate barriers to market entry.” A full copy of the report and its associated annotated bibliography are available below.
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