While telecommunications is affecting ever-expanding realms of society, the policy discourse has become increasingly specialized and narrow.  This project addresses a set of fundamental questions that must be asked and answered if we are to understand the processes by which telecommunications policy is set in the United States and the set of issues (among many) that receive the attention of policy makers.  How do ideas influence policy?  How do policy advocates influence policy, and how do they use research in doing so?  What are the sources of ideas on policy and what determines their differential impact?  What policy visions and groups are marginalized?

While a matter of scholarly interest in its own right, an understanding of this topic and questions that must be answered to address it is essential to effective policy advocacy and the changes that might be instituted to make the communications policy process more broadly inclusive.  To our knowledge, to date there has been no systematic attempt at stock-taking of this nature.  This lack is particularly striking when there is an opportunity to fund public policy interventions.  The following proposal represents a first step to redress this gap.  All project work will be documented and communicated to the research, policy-making, and advocacy communities via an Internet gateway to be established for the project.