Roberta G. (Becky) Lentz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies, focusing in the area of media and public policy (media governance). Prof. Lentz earned her PhD in Communications in 2008 from the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Radio, TV, Film where she specialized in communication technology and policy. While still working on her doctorate, she was recruited by the Ford Foundation to serve as the foundation’s first program officer for media policy and technology between 2001 and 2007. Her work at Ford catalyzed several policy research and issue advocacy initiatives that have contributed to building the field of media justice and reform in the U.S. and the field of communication rights internationally.
She is currently working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation study of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s “Computer Inquiry” regulatory proceedings held between 1967 and 1989. Other projects include case study research on transnational consumer rights interventions in the global ‘access to knowledge (aka A2K)’ debate as well as case study research on movement-building projects in the field of media reform and justice in the U.S. and in Canada.
She is a member of Media@McGill a hub of research, scholarship, and public outreach on issues and controversies in media, technology, and culture. She is also a member of the McGill Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID), board member of the International Communication Association , and she serves on the international Editorial Advisory Board for Info: The journal of policy, regulation and strategy for telecommunications, information and media.
Research and teaching interests: globalization of media and technology policy; telecommunications and development; the role of third sector institutions (civil society, NGOs, social movements, and philanthropy) in policy issue advocacy; and discourse and policy change.
Current courses
Undergraduate: Media Governance, Advanced Issues in Media Governance (Internet Governance, Access to Knowledge, Network Neutrality, Privacy and Surveillance, etc.).
Graduate: Discourse Theory and Analysis (including interpretive policy analysis and critical discourse analysis).
Articles, Essays, Book Chapters, and Contributions to Reference Works
Lentz, Roberta; Straubhaar, Joseph; Dixon, Laura; Graber, Dean; Spence, Jeremiah; Letalien, Bethany; and LaPastina, Antonio. (in press, forthcoming 2012). Chapter 7. Structuring Access: The Role of Austin Public Access Centers in Digital Inclusion. In Straubhaar, Spence, Tufekci, and Lentz (Eds.). The Persistence of Inequity in the Technopolis. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press: 305-355.
Lentz, Becky. (in press; July 2011). Civil society in the digital age. In Edwards, Michael (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Civil Society. Oxford University Press.
Lentz, Becky. (April 2011). Chapter 27: Regulation as Linguistic Engineering. In Robin Mansell and Marc Raboy (Eds.). The Handbook of Global Media and Communication Policy. Blackwell: 432-448.
Lentz, Becky and Shade, Leslie. (Eds.). (March 2011). Editorial: Democratizing Communication Policy in the Americas: Why it Matters. The Canadian Journal of Communication 36(1): 3-9.
Lentz, Becky. (October 2010). Media Infrastructure Policy and Media Activism. In Downing, J.D. (Ed.) Sage Encyclopedia of Social Movement Media. Thousand Oaks: Sage: 323-326.
Mueller, M., & Lentz, R.G. (2004). Introduction: Social Determinants of Public Policy in the Information Age. The Information Society Journal 20(3).
Lentz, R.G. and Oden, M. (2001). Digital Divide or Digital Opportunity in the Mississippi Delta Region of the U.S. Telecommunications Policy, 25(5): 291–313.
Lentz, R.G. (August 2000). The e-volution of the Digital Divide in the U.S: A mayhem of competing metrics. Info 2(4), 355-377.
Edited Works
Straubhaar, Spence, Tufekci, and Lentz (Eds.) (in press, forthcoming 2012). The Persistence of Inequity in the Technopolis. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Lentz, Becky and Shade, Leslie. (Eds.). (March 2011). Special Issue: Democratizing Communication Policy in the Americas: Why it Matters. The Canadian Journal of Communication 36(1).
Mueller, M., & Lentz, R.G. (Eds.) (2004). Special Issue: Social Determinants of Public Policy in the Information Age. The Information Society Journal 20(3).
Commentary
Lentz, Becky. (November 2010). ‘Foreword’. In Aslama, M. and Napoli, P. (Eds.). In Communications Research in Action: Scholar-Activist Collaborations for a Democratic Public Sphere. Fordham University Press.
Lentz, Becky (January 9, 2010). Does ‘Deep Packet Inspection’ Turn You On? FlowTV 11(5).
Lentz, Becky. (October 30, 2009). Regulation is Boring. FlowTV. 11(1).
Lentz, Becky. (June 15, 2009): “Why Grantmaking on Media Policy Still Matters”, Philantopic: A blog of opinion and commentary from Philanthropy News Digest.
Lentz, R.G. (December 1998). Commentary: Corporations vs. Communities: the Evolution of Wireless Services in the U.S. and the Devolution of Local Control. Telecommunications Policy 22(10), 791-795.