Skip to Main Content
You are now in the main content area
Catherine Middleton

Catherine Middleton

Technology in Practice
DepartmentInformation Technology Management (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Areas of ExpertiseAge, Ageism, and Technology; Communication Policy & Technology; Digital Divide; Digital Technologies; ICTs, Big Data, and Society; Media Materialities and Infrastructure Studies; Media, Cultural and ICT Policy, Law, and Regulation; Telecommunications
https://www.torontomu.ca/information-technology-management/faculty-research/catherine-middleton/ne-middleton/

Dr Middleton’s research focuses on advancing digital inclusion to ensure equitable access to digital society and enable full participation in the digital economy. She examines the ways in which markets and regulation impact the rollout and use of fixed and wireless broadband networks in Canada and internationally, investigates the causes and impacts of digital exclusion, and identifies policies and actions to advance meaningful adoption of digital technologies and reduce digital divides.

Recent publications

Hegarty, K., Wilken, R., Meese, J., & Middleton, C. (2025). Shaping Infrastructural Futures: The International Telecommunication Union’s Visions for Mobile Communications and the Anticipatory Politics of 5G Standardization. Mobile Media & Communication, 13(1), 171-191. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/20501579241269653. doi:10.1177/20501579241269653

Meese, J., Hegarty, K., Wilken, R., Yang, F., & Middleton, C. (2024). 5G and Urban Amenity: Regulatory Trends and Local Government Responses around Small Cell Deployment. Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, 26(6), 601-616. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/DPRG-10-2023-0150

Meese, J., Middleton, C., Yang, F., Hegarty, K., & Wilken, R. (2024). Introduction: Telecommunications Revolution? Enduring Problems and Possible Futures. Media International Australia, 190(1), 3-6. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1329878X231202271. doi:10.1177/1329878x231202271

Council of Canadian Academies. (2021). Waiting to Connect. The Expert Panel on High-Throughput Networks for Rural and Remote Communities in Canada, Council of Canadian Academies. (Panelists: Barnes, K., Coates, K., Halseth, G., Middleton, C.,Pavlović, M., Redfern, M., Williams, D., & Yanikomeroglu, H.) https://cca-reports.ca/reports/high-throughput-networks-for-rural-and-remote-communities/

Middleton, C. (2021). Digital Infrastructure for the Post-Pandemic World. Toronto: Public Policy Forum, Diversity Institute, Future Skills Centre. https://ppforum.ca/publications/digital-infrastructure-for-the-post-pandemic-world/

Sample of supervised ComCult projects:

2020 - Lianrui Jia; PhD Thesis: Cooptation, Collusion and Contestations: Development, Regulation and Globalization of the Internet in China

2020 - Kevin Hudes; MRP: Competition in the Telecommunications Industry: Past, present and potential ways forward

2017 - Steven James May; PhD Thesis: The End(s) of Analogue: Access to CBC/Radio-Canada Television Programming in an Era of Digital Delivery

2016 - Kris Bertram; MRP: Decolonizing the Digital: Radio Spectrum in an Age of Neocolonialism

2016 - Paul Goodrick; MRP: Spectrum Regime Governance: A Critical Exploration of the Canadian 700 MHz Mobile Broadband Spectrum Auction

ComCult Teaching Activities

  • CC8902: Research Methods Workshop
  • CC8903: Seminar in Communication Research & Practice
  • CC8941: Issues in Communication & Cultural Policy
  • CC8950: Current Issues in Telecommunications
  • CC8849: Selected Topics in Politics and Policy: Communication Policies for a Digital Society
  • CC8987: Selected Topics in Technology in Practice: Broadband and Mobile Communication Technologies