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, but as of 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.
History and mission
The Berkman Center was founded in 1998 by professors
Jonathan Zittrain and
Charlie Nesson. The Berkman Center seeks to understand how the development of internet related technologies is inspired by the social context in which they are imbedded and how the use of those technologies then retroacts on society. It seeks to use the lessons drawn from this research to inform the design of internet related laws and pioneer the development of the internet itself. The Berkman Center sponsors internet related events and conferences along with a wide network of 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 and its practices as to transparency, accountability, and public participation.
Projects and initiatives
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.
The Internet and Democracy Project is a concluded project that was operated through the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
Harvard University. The project's is self-described as "an 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 is a non-profit organization, which was established in 2006 by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Later, in 2010, it became an independent entity with the support of Google, PayPal, Mozilla, and Nominum. The aim of StopBadware is to stop badware - viruses, spyware, and any other threat to the open Internet.
Members
Fellows have included
David Weinberger;
Ethan Zuckerman;
Dave Winer;
Jimmy Wales;
Rebecca MacKinnon;
John Perry Barlow;
Wendy Seltzer;
James F. Moore;
John Clippinger;
Doc Searls and
Peter Suber.
Faculty have included Charles Nesson, Lawrence Lessig, Jonathan Zittrain, William "Terry" Fisher, John Palfrey, and Yochai Benkler.
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 School
Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at Boalt Hall
Center for Internet and Society (CIS) at Stanford Law School
Information Law Institute at New York University School of Law
Oxford Internet Institute
Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at University of Ottawa Faculty of Law
NEXA Center for Internet and Society at the Polytechnic University of Turin
References
External links
Berkman Center homepage
The Filter homepage
Blog community
H2O Playlists Beta
Category:Computer law
Category:Harvard University
Category:Harvard Law School
Category:Technology in society
Category:Information society
Category:Internet activism
![Ethan Zuckerman from Berkman Center at Harvard University [TEK.GADG Interview]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110823045931im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-eQu0LgTSjI/0.jpg "Ethan Zuckerman from Berkman Center at Harvard University [TEK.GADG Interview]")
