***As the original query was posted to the list, the response should be as well.
I hope this clarifies things considerably.
***


Bram,

Thanks for your response. We're an academic department of Oxford University with a mandate from both our funders and our governing body (which is comprised of government and non-government representatives) to conduct this inquiry. We expect that, given the MPs that this mandate came from, our work will be used to inform policy in the UK.

All the best,

A. R. Ross

-----Original Message-----
From: Bram Dov Abramson [mailto:bda@bazu.org]
Sent: 04 July 2002 17:19
To: air-l@aoir.org
Cc: andrew.ross@new.oxford.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Oxford Internet Institute's Public Broadband Inquiry


andrew.ross@new.oxford.ac.uk:

>***Open Invitation to Submit Evidence (New Deadline-- 30 July 2002)
(...)
>As its first major initiative, the OII is to establish a committee of 
>inquiry into the public policy issues concerning broadband Internet access 
>in the UK.  The costs and benefits of broadband is a complex and pressing 
>issue, complicated by the considerable debate regarding its development 
>and application.
>
>The aim of the inquiry is to comprehensively survey the political, social, 
>legal and economic environment in which broadband operates, both in the UK 
>and abroad, and to develop practical policy recommendations for government.

"Committee of inquiry" usually connotes a government or similarly 
institutionally-tied official process -- particularly with "invitation to 
submit evidence", which usually connotes the workings of an administrative 
tribunal such as, say, a regulatory body.

Just to understand, is this a government-tied inquiry -- or does the 
titling reflect a nomenclature choice aimed at infusing a university-run 
research project with an explicit political-process vocabulary?

thanks
Bram