Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Encyclopedia
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is a research center at Harvard University
that focuses on the study of cyberspace
. Founded at Harvard Law School
, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, the Center was elevated to an interfaculty initiative of Harvard University as a whole. It is named after the Berkman family, who owned the communications company The Associated Group (later sold to Liberty Media
).
Sister centers started or inspired by Berkman founders include the Stanford Center for Internet and Society
and the Oxford Internet Institute
. Partner institutions, such as the NEXA Center for Internet and Society
at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, and the Bangalore Centre for Internet & Society, have also been founded since the launch of the Berkman Center.
and Charlie Nesson. Since then it has grown from a small project within Harvard Law School to a major interdisciplinary center at Harvard University. The Berkman Center seeks to understand how the development of Internet-related technologies is inspired by the social context in which they are embedded and how the use of those technologies affects society in turn. It seeks to use the lessons drawn from this research to inform the design of Internet-related law and pioneer the development of the Internet itself. The Berkman Center sponsors Internet-related events and conferences, and hosts numerous visiting lecturers and research fellows.
Members of the center teach, write books, scientific articles, weblogs with RSS 2.0
feeds (for which the Center holds the specification), and podcasts (of which the first series took place at the Berkman Center). Its newsletter, "The Filter," is on the Web and available by e-mail, and it hosts a blog community of Harvard faculty, students, and Berkman Center affiliates.
The Berkman Center faculty and staff have also conducted major public policy reviews of pressing issues. In 2008, John Palfrey
led a review of child safety online called the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. In 2009, Yochai Benkler
led a review of United States broadband policy. In 2010, Urs Gasser, along with Palfrey and others, led a review of Internet governance body ICANN
, focusing on transparency, accountability, and public participation.
The CMLP's latest endeavor is Online Media Legal Network, a free legal consultation service connecting online journalist and media ventures with volunteer lawyers.
The goal of this work is to support the rights of citizens to access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both civil society and government. These subjects will be examined through a series of case studies in which new technologies and online resources have influenced democracy and civic engagement. The project will include original research and the identification and development of innovative web-based tools that support the goals of the project. The team, led by Project Director Bruce Etling, will draw on communities from around the world, with a focus on the Middle East."
is a project aimed at making a large-scale digital public library accessible to all.
, John Clippinger, Benjamin Mako Hill
, Rebecca MacKinnon
, James F. Moore
, Doc Searls
, Wendy Seltzer
, Peter Suber
, Jimmy Wales
, David Weinberger
, Dave Winer
, Mayo Fuster Morell and Ethan Zuckerman
.
Faculty include Yochai Benkler
, William "Terry" Fisher
, Urs Gasser, Lawrence Lessig
, Charles Nesson
and Jonathan Zittrain
.
The center also has active groups of affiliates and alumni who host and participate in their projects each year.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
that focuses on the study of cyberspace
Cyberspace
Cyberspace is the electronic medium of computer networks, in which online communication takes place.The term "cyberspace" was first used by the cyberpunk science fiction author William Gibson, though the concept was described somewhat earlier, for example in the Vernor Vinge short story "True...
. Founded at Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, the center traditionally focused on internet-related legal issues. On May 15, 2008, the Center was elevated to an interfaculty initiative of Harvard University as a whole. It is named after the Berkman family, who owned the communications company The Associated Group (later sold to Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....
).
Sister centers started or inspired by Berkman founders include the Stanford Center for Internet and Society
Stanford Center for Internet and Society
The Center for Internet and Society is a public interest technology law and policy program founded in 2000 by Lawrence Lessig at Stanford Law School and a part of Law, Science and Technology Program at Stanford Law School...
and the Oxford Internet Institute
Oxford Internet Institute
The Oxford Internet Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute based at the University of Oxford, England, and housed in buildings owned by Balliol College, Oxford. It is devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, with the aim of shaping research, policy and practice in...
. Partner institutions, such as the NEXA Center for Internet and Society
NEXA Center for Internet and Society
The NEXA Center for Internet & Society is a research center founded at the Polytechnic University of Turin.It is an academic research center which studies the Internet with a multidisciplinary approach: technical, juridical and economical....
at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, and the Bangalore Centre for Internet & Society, have also been founded since the launch of the Berkman Center.
History and mission
The Berkman Center was founded in 1998 by professors Jonathan ZittrainJonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain is a US professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society...
and Charlie Nesson. Since then it has grown from a small project within Harvard Law School to a major interdisciplinary center at Harvard University. The Berkman Center seeks to understand how the development of Internet-related technologies is inspired by the social context in which they are embedded and how the use of those technologies affects society in turn. It seeks to use the lessons drawn from this research to inform the design of Internet-related law and pioneer the development of the Internet itself. The Berkman Center sponsors Internet-related events and conferences, and hosts numerous visiting lecturers and research fellows.
Members of the center teach, write books, scientific articles, weblogs with RSS 2.0
RSS (file format)
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format...
feeds (for which the Center holds the specification), and podcasts (of which the first series took place at the Berkman Center). Its newsletter, "The Filter," is on the Web and available by e-mail, and it hosts a blog community of Harvard faculty, students, and Berkman Center affiliates.
The Berkman Center faculty and staff have also conducted major public policy reviews of pressing issues. In 2008, John Palfrey
John Palfrey
John Palfrey is a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, vice dean for library and information resources, and the Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He led a reorganization of the Harvard Law School Library in 2009...
led a review of child safety online called the Internet Safety Technical Task Force. In 2009, Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...
led a review of United States broadband policy. In 2010, Urs Gasser, along with Palfrey and others, led a review of Internet governance body ICANN
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, United States, that was created on September 18, 1998, and incorporated on September 30, 1998 to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly...
, focusing on transparency, accountability, and public participation.
Citizen Media Law Project
The Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP) is a project hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. The purposes of the CMLP are:- To provide assistance and resources to individuals and groups involved in online and citizen media.
- To facilitate the participation of citizens in online media.
- To protect the freedom of speech on the Internet.
The CMLP's latest endeavor is Online Media Legal Network, a free legal consultation service connecting online journalist and media ventures with volunteer lawyers.
Internet and Democracy Project
The Berkman Center operated the now-completed Internet and Democracy Project, a self-described "initiative that will examine how the Internet influences democratic norms and modes, including its impact on civil society, citizen media, government transparency, and the rule of law, with a focus on the Middle East. Through a grant of $1.5 million from the US Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative, the Berkman Center will undertake the study over the next two years in collaboration with its extended community and institutional partners. As with all its projects, the Berkman Center retains complete independence in its research and other efforts under this grant.The goal of this work is to support the rights of citizens to access, develop and share independent sources of information, to advocate responsibly, to strengthen online networks, and to debate ideas freely with both civil society and government. These subjects will be examined through a series of case studies in which new technologies and online resources have influenced democracy and civic engagement. The project will include original research and the identification and development of innovative web-based tools that support the goals of the project. The team, led by Project Director Bruce Etling, will draw on communities from around the world, with a focus on the Middle East."
StopBadware
In 2006, the Berkman Center established the non-profit organization StopBadware, which aims to stop viruses, spyware, and other threats to the open Internet. In 2010, StopBadware became an independent entity supported by Google, PayPal, Mozilla, and Nominum.Digital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of AmericaDigital Public Library of America
The Digital Public Library of America is a project aimed at bringing about a large-scale digital public library open to all. It was launched by Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society in 2010, with major support from the Alfred P...
is a project aimed at making a large-scale digital public library accessible to all.
Members
Fellows include or have included John Perry BarlowJohn Perry Barlow
John Perry Barlow is an American poet and essayist, a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, and a cyberlibertarian political activist who has been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He is also a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead and a founding member of the Electronic...
, John Clippinger, Benjamin Mako Hill
Benjamin Mako Hill
Benjamin Mako Hill is a Debian hacker, intellectual property researcher, activist and author. He is a contributor and free software developer as part of the Debian and Ubuntu projects as well as the author of two best-selling technical books on the subject, Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 Bible and The...
, Rebecca MacKinnon
Rebecca MacKinnon
Rebecca MacKinnon is a former CNN journalist who headed the CNN bureaus in Beijing and later in Tokyo, before leaving television to become a blogger and co-founder of Global Voices Online. She is on the Board of Directors of the Global Network Initiative and the Committee to Protect Journalists,...
, James F. Moore
James F. Moore
James F. Moore studies co-evolution in social and economic systems. His recent work has focused on understanding the "economics of peace."Moore was a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society from 2000 to 2004...
, Doc Searls
Doc Searls
David "Doc" Searls , co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto, is an American journalist, columnist, author and a widely-read blogger, a fellow at the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a fellow alumnus of the Berkman Center for Internet &...
, Wendy Seltzer
Wendy Seltzer
Wendy Seltzer is an American lawyer and currently a fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. She was previously with Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy...
, Peter Suber
Peter Suber
Peter Suber is the creator of the game Nomic and a leading voice in the open access movement. He is a senior research professor of philosophy at Earlham College, the open access project director at Public Knowledge, a senior researcher at SPARC , and a Fellow at Harvard's and...
, Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
, David Weinberger
David Weinberger
David Weinberger is an American technologist, professional speaker, and commentator, probably best known as co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto David Weinberger (born 1950 in New York) is an American technologist, professional speaker, and commentator, probably best known as co-author of the...
, Dave Winer
Dave Winer
Dave Winer is an American software developer, entrepreneur and writer in New York City. Winer is noted for his contributions to outliners, scripting, content management, and web services, as well as blogging and podcasting...
, Mayo Fuster Morell and Ethan Zuckerman
Ethan Zuckerman
Ethan Zuckerman is the director of the MIT Center for Civic Media, officially starting in September 2011.Zuckerman was one of the first staff members of Tripod.com, one of the first successful "dot com" enterprises, and later founder of Geekcorps and Global Voices Online...
.
Faculty include Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler
Yochai Benkler is an Israeli-American professor of Law and author. Since 2007, he has been the Berkman Professor of Entrepreneurial Legal Studies at Harvard Law School. He is also a faculty co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.- Biography :In 1984, Benkler...
, William "Terry" Fisher
William W. Fisher
William "Terry" W. Fisher III is the WilmerHale Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Harvard Law School and faculty director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society...
, Urs Gasser, Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence Lessig
Lawrence "Larry" Lessig is an American academic and political activist. He is best known as a proponent of reduced legal restrictions on copyright, trademark, and radio frequency spectrum, particularly in technology applications, and he has called for state-based activism to promote substantive...
, Charles Nesson
Charles Nesson
Charles Rothwell Nesson is the William F. Weld Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and the founder of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and of the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society. He is author of Evidence, with Murray and Green, and has participated in several cases before the...
and Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan Zittrain
Jonathan L. Zittrain is a US professor of Internet law at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School, a professor of computer science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a faculty co-director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society...
.
The center also has active groups of affiliates and alumni who host and participate in their projects each year.
See also
- Yale Information Society Project at Yale Law SchoolYale Law SchoolYale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...
- Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at Boalt Hall
- Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford Law SchoolStanford Law SchoolStanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...
- Information Law Institute at New York University School of LawNew York University School of LawThe New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
- Oxford Internet InstituteOxford Internet InstituteThe Oxford Internet Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute based at the University of Oxford, England, and housed in buildings owned by Balliol College, Oxford. It is devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, with the aim of shaping research, policy and practice in...
- Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest ClinicCanadian Internet Policy and Public Interest ClinicCanadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic is a legal clinic at the University of Ottawa focused on maintaining fair and balanced policy making in Canada related to technology...
at University of Ottawa Faculty of Law - NEXA Center for Internet and SocietyNEXA Center for Internet and SocietyThe NEXA Center for Internet & Society is a research center founded at the Polytechnic University of Turin.It is an academic research center which studies the Internet with a multidisciplinary approach: technical, juridical and economical....
at the Polytechnic University of Turin - Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin
External links
- Berkman Center homepage
- The Filter homepage
- Blog community
- H2O Playlists Beta