What is the promise, the challenge, and the opportunity presented by the convergence of the Internet, digital media, and information technology in the academic environment? The Harvard Conference on Internet & Society will investigate this complex question as we gather to explore Harvard's digital identity. This community experiment is open to all Harvard faculty, administrators, students, staff, and alumni.

Explore

The conference is structured so that the first day focuses inward, exploring Harvard's identity and mission. What does it mean to be a member of the Harvard community when technology breaks down traditional barriers? What kinds of technology are we using within the Harvard system—and how is it changing the way we teach, learn, and connect?

The second day looks outward, asking what this identity means in the context of the Internet's global arena. If the University's mission is to bring knowledge to the world, should we be making course materials and other educational resources globally available? What role should we play in filtering the material we share? How should Harvard respond to the explosive controversies surrounding the ownership of digital content?

Experiment

With the Internet in its adolescence, much remains to be discovered as to how it will develop. Our conference is a part of this larger experiment in the globally networked world—and we invite you to participate in the same spirit of experimentation and discovery.

What are your questions? How do you envision Harvard's future? We encourage you, the participants, to guide our conversation through your questions, responses, and ideas. Our Forum will provide you with the opportunity to:

• Listen to our audio interviews with campus leaders, then join us for an online conversation that will be regularly seeded with fresh questions on conference topics.


• Make your voice heard by responding to our weekly poll—and find out how your fellow participants feel.


• Discover the issues raised by other Harvard community members—and submit questions of your own, to be addressed both leading up to and during the conference itself.

Innovate

Our aim is move together toward greater clarity about Harvard's digital identity, defining the issues that we care about as a community, identifying those that divide us, and determining what values should drive the decisions we will make in the future. How do we get from experimentation to innovation? Is it possible to develop a shared digital agenda—one that will reflect the University's core values and support further advances in teaching, scholarship, and community building?

To answer these questions requires that we get beyond isolated conversations. The Internet was built collaboratively and reflects the strength of diverse contributions. Together, we can take the conversation to the next level. The Internet and Society Conference on Harvard's digital identity is just the first step.