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Lee Rainie

Former Director, Internet and Technology Research

Expertise:Internet and Technology

Lee Rainie is the former director of internet and technology research at Pew Research Center. Under his leadership, the Center has issued more than 800 reports based on its surveys and data-science analyses that examine people’s online activities and the internet’s role in their lives. The American Sociological Association gave Rainie its award for “excellence in the reporting on social issues” and described his work as the “most authoritative source of reliable data on the use and impact of the internet and mobile connectivity.”

Rainie is a co-author of Networked: The new social operating system and five books about the future of the internet that are drawn from the Center’s research. He regularly speaks to government officials, media outlets and leaders, scholars and students, technology executives, librarians, civic and nonprofit groups about the changing media ecosystem.

Prior to launching Pew Research Center’s technology research, Rainie was managing editor of U.S. News & World Report.

Publications

  • presentation

    How will the Internet of Things look by 2025?

    Lee Rainie will present findings from Pew Research Center’s report titled “The Internet of Things Will Thrive by 2025” to the American Bar Association Section of Science & Technology law on March 30, 2016.

  • presentation

    Technology Adoption by Baby Boomers (and everybody else)

    Innovation and technology go hand in hand in developing the vision and strategy for the business solutions these leaders employ to engage current and new customers (boomers and beyond), and to establish new business models. Lee Rainie and Andrew Perrin present what works and what doesn’t when innovating in large public and nonprofit organizations at the Boomer Summit in Washington.

  • presentation

    The Puzzles Librarians Need to Solve – VALA2016

    In order to thrive in the future, librarians will need to be great forecasters and innovators. Lee Rainie will describe how the Center’s research provides guideposts for librarians along three dimensions of library activity: the people, the place, and the platform, at the VALA2016 conference in Melbourne, Australia on Feb. 9, 2016

  • report

    Privacy and Information Sharing

    Many Americans say they might provide personal information in commercial settings, depending on the deal being offered and how much risk they face.

  • presentation

    How Libraries Fit into Community Education Ecosystems

    Lee Rainie presents new survey findings about how people use libraries, the kinds of services and programs people would like from libraries, and how libraries are connected to communication education and learning environments.

  • presentation

    The Next Digital Disruptions

    Lee Rainie discusses three technology revolutions of the past decade and how a fourth revolution is now underway at the State of the Net 2015 conference in Milan, Italy.

  • presentation

    Digital Divides 2015

    Lee Rainie details the digital divide that Americans face in accessing the internet.

  • report

    Americans’ Views on Mobile Etiquette

    For many Americans, cellphones are always present and rarely turned off. This creates new social challenges, as people believe that different public and social settings warrant different sensitivities for civil behavior.

  • report

    About the Survey

    The survey was conducted online with a random sample of 3,748 U.S.-based members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) from Sept. 11, 2014, to Oct. 13, 2014. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, and includes members from all scientific fields. Founded in 1848, AAAS publishes Science, one of the […]