Program Schedule
Master Program Schedule
| Important Program Information |
|
Please note that the iLaw 2011 Program is a Harvard Law School class that is closed to the public. Attendance is restricted to registered students and invited guests. |
| KEY | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pillar Theme Sessions | Cross-Sectional Theme Sessions | Case Studies |
| Monday - Sept. 5 | Tuesday - Sept. 6 | Wednesday - Sept. 7 | Thursday - Sept. 8 | Friday - Sept. 9 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 | Welcoming Remarks
9:00 to 9:15 |
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| 9:30 | The History of the Internet
9:15 to 11:15 |
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| 10:00 | The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity
10:00 to 11:30 |
*Mid-Point Check-in*
Part 2 |
Minds for Sale
10:00 to 11:00 | ||
| 10:30 | Digital Humanities
10:20 to 12:00 | ||||
| 11:00 | 15-minute Break
11:15 to 11:30 |
30-minute Break | |||
| 11:30 | Open Systems/Access
11:30 to 1:00 |
30-minute break | Interoperability
11:30 to 1:00 | ||
| 12:00 | Intellectual Property
12:00 to 1:30 |
30-minute break | |||
| 12:30 | Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries
12:30 to 1:30 | ||||
| 1:00 | Lunch
1:00 to 2:00 |
Lunch
1:00 to 2:00 | |||
| 1:30 | Lunch
1:30 to 2:30 |
Lunch
1:30 to 2:30 | |||
| 2:00 | Online Liberty and FOE
2:00 to 3:30 |
Student Questions and Reactions for Faculty-Leads
2:00 to 3:30 | |||
| 2:30 | User Innovation
2:30 to 3:30 |
The Global Internet
2:30 to 3:30 | |||
| 3:00 | |||||
| 3:30 | 15-minute break
3:30 to 3:45 |
30-minute break | Cooperation
3:30 to 4:30 |
30-minute break | |
| 4:00 | Exploring the Arab Spring
3:45 to 4:45 |
Privacy
4:00 to 5:30 |
The Future of the Internet
4:00 to 5:00 | ||
| 4:30 | 30-minute break | ||||
| 5:00 | Mutual Aid
5:00 to 6:00 |
Final BBQ
5:00 to 7:00 | |||
| 5:30 | The Study of the Internet: New Methods for New Technologies
5:30 to 6:30 | ||||
| 6:00 | Drinks at John Harvard's Brew House
6:00 to 8:00 |
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| 6:30 | Berkman Center Open House
6:30 to 8:30 |
*Mid-Point Check-in*
Part 1 |
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| 7:00 | metaLAB (at) Harvard Event
7:00 to 9:00 |
Evening with Berkman Faculty
7:00 to 9:00 |
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| 7:30 | |||||
| 8:00 | |||||
| 8:30 | |||||
| 9:00 |
iLaw 2011 Program Overview
| Important Program Information |
|
Please note that the iLaw 2011 Program is a Harvard Law School class that is closed to the public. Attendance is restricted to registered students and invited guests. |
Since the last iLaw conference was held nearly five years ago, the debates at the intersection of technology, law, and policy have continued to evolve. The introduction of new technologies – and new uses of old technologies – raise a broad range of problems to explore. To name a few examples, the intervening years have seen the growth of social networking tools; Facebook has gained more than 750 million users worldwide and has found itself at the center of privacy debates. Information technologies have played an unprecedented role in recent protests in the Middle East and North Africa, at times in tension with US foreign policy and export controls. In the US, government regulators and major ISPs continue to struggle with finding the right balance points for network governance and regulatory authority.
Growing Internet usage trends, disruptive technologies, increased efforts by governments and private entities to control the online space continue to reshape the cyber landscape. These issues, alongside the actors who provide the technologies and the users who engage with them, are at the center of many global policy debates. iLaw 2011 will be a unique opportunity to reexamine these areas of inquiry and core questions while engaging with the new and emerging issues and thorny debates that are constantly reshaping the field.
The 2011 iLaw Program is designed to take participants through the evolution of information technologies and the Internet, including their past, present, and future. Each module will provide a bridge to the past, beginning with a brief sketch of how a particular issue has evolved over the course of recent decades, both from an intellectual history perspective and via changes in policy, practice, and technology. Faculty and selected guests will use this foundation to explore how technical, social, legal, economic, and policy trends and debates have evolved over time, and identify the primary questions and issues that currently define the online space.
A Note on Format and Mode
Deep dialogue, hard questions and genuine interactivity are fundamental to the success and mode of iLaw. Participants will be invited to engage with sessions in diverse ways throughout the program–from the wiki to the question tool, open Q&A, structured interposals, open space, and invited conversation. Although we expect close to 200 participants, we are committed to genuine interactivity throughout the event; we encourage active engagement from all participants.
Driving Questions from Faculty
The questions posed below by Berkman Faculty members reflect the fundamental inquiries for participants to consider during the 2011 iLaw Program:
Yochai Benkler
- How do we systematize cooperative human systems design, now that we all know that online collaboration is a critical component of the networked information economy?
- How do we integrate power into our understanding of networked society? What are the limits of public action, and what are the limits of decentralized action, given power in the market, the state, real-world society and the network?
William Fisher
- To what extent, if any, is legal protection for creative works necessary either to stimulate creativity or to ensure that creators are treated fairly?
Charlie Nesson
- Suppose it were to be agreed among us that when the founders wrote the Progress clause of our constitution, the exclusive right they were granting to publishers of creative works was the legal right to stop other publishers from selling copies of their works. Can you tell a coherent legal story about how we got from there to here?
- Viewed from the vantage of equal citizens in a public domain of common (totally usable) knowledge, when did We the People surrender the liberty of privately copying works of any kind? That is to say, when was this liberty taken from us?
Jonathan Zittrain
- How do we reconcile welcome contributions from all corners with poisoned apples?
- What is the Internet doing to us?
Driving Questions from Participants and Students
What questions and concerns are you grappling with in the this field? Where does the future take us? Please add your own driving questions here: Driving Questions. As this page is populated, questions will be added below. Alternatively, add your driving questions to The Question Tool.
- How should a legal system often preoccupied with places - such as the home, the street, the square, or the battlefield - adapt to technologies that increasingly are placeless? Do physical boundaries still have meaning in a digital age? --Sonia 15:14, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
Monday, September 5, 2011
Drinks at John Harvard's Brew House
Monday, 6:00 to 8:00
See main page on Drinks at John Harvard's
All participants are invited to join us at John Harvard's Brew House in Harvard Square for an optional, informal gathering and cash bar with Berkman Community members and fellow participants.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
After introductions led by Terry Fisher and Jonathan Zittrain, the day will begin with The History of the Internet, during which Jonathan Zittrain will introduce and discuss the “generative framework” of the Net, outlining the unique characteristics of Internet architecture that were critical to its success and continued evolution. Yochai Benkler will pick up related themes of openness, access, and distribution and their implications for user choice and online freedom in “Open Systems/Access,” during which WikiLeaks will be featured as a case to examine related issues.
After lunch, John Palfrey will lead “Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression,” which will take a focused look at the issues surrounding online freedom and the different types of control deployed by governments, users, companies, and other actors through a series of illustrative examples presented by audience members. Following this, a moderated discussion featuring selected faculty and guests will focus on the role of new technologies during recent protests in the Middle East and North Africa.
In the evening, all participant and audience members are invited to attend the Berkman Center’s Open House.
The History of the Internet
See main page on The History of the Internet
Tuesday, 9:15 to 11:15
Leads: Jonathan Zittrain with Larry Lessig
The day will begin with a brief history of the Net and an introduction to the theory of generativity as a framework to understand the Internet’s disruptive power. Jonathan Zittrain’s opening lecture will focus on the Internet’s technical evolution and underlying architecture; the values that informed its early development, including principles related to consensus, openness, and non-discrimination; and the range of players, from users to computer scientists, governments and other bodies, and corporations, who engaged in the various activities, controls, and other arrangements that formed the initial distributed digital governance of the online space. What characteristics make the evolution of the Internet so unique? What are the issues and organizations that characterize online governance and policy-making today?
Open Systems/Access
See main page on Open Systems/Access
Tuesday, 11:30 to 1:00
Lead: Yochai Benkler
This session will discuss the enormous benefits of open systems and address the ways in which openness at all layers of the networked environment can be achieved. Yochai Benkler will present a set of examples in which physical access, social production of content, and other forms of user creation and collaboration play a powerful role in supporting freedom and new forms of innovation. Skype will provide an illustrative usecase through which to explore these topics. From these examples, he will draw out how proprietary networks and standards (like mobile networks) differ from open ones (like TCP/IP, competitive infrastructure, free software, open standards, and free culture/content-based models). The case of WikiLeaks will provide a lens through which to view questions related to openness, access, and content distribution at different layers of the network.
Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression
See main page on Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression
Tuesday, 2:00 to 3:30
Lead: John Palfrey
Led by John Palfrey, this session will focus on online liberty and freedom of express and expand on some of the core themes introduced in the preceding sessions by providing an overview of the different phases of content regulation on the Internet. It will engage the audience with questions regarding the ways in which different political contexts shape different methods of and motivations for government control, and how various approaches in different countries inform each other. Respondents will be invited to reflect on key issues, including different forms of government controls and online speech regulation: China (a mix of “traditional” technical filtering with legal and informal regulatory mechanisms); the Arab Spring (just-in-time filtering combined with the arrest and intimidation of bloggers and digital activists); Russia (mostly non-technical, second and third generation controls rather than technical filtering); and US/Western Europe (mostly focused on child pornography and the illegal spread of copyrighted content). They will also grapple with hard questions related the role of intermediaries in response to government requests for user information, content removal or account deactivation and the implications of the current phase of control for free expression and privacy worldwide.
Exploring the Arab Spring
See main page on Exploring the Arab Spring
Tuesday, 3:45 to 4:45
Moderator: John Palfrey
Featuring: Yochai Benkler, Bruce Etling, Charlie Nesson, Nagla Rizk, and Ethan Zuckerman (tentative)
What has become known as the “Arab Spring” will serve as a synthesizing case study that will help to weave together the core themes outlined in both the Open Systems/Access and the Online Liberty and Freedom of Expression sessions, with a particular focus on the use of social media and the rise of information control and counter-control activities during recent protests and uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. In this highly interactive sessions commentators will not only analyze the role of social media, but also consider the different roles and actors that influenced the events, including governments, activists, citizens, and companies.
Evening Event: Berkman Center Open House
Monday, 6:30 to 8:30
See this page for event details
All participants will be invited to share in an evening at the Berkman Center, where they will be introduced to projects, staff, fellows, and key research themes and activities.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The second day of iLaw will begin with a session focusing on the “The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity.” Building upon the previous day’s discussions, it will discuss the forces at play that may put values such as openness, autonomy, and diversity at risk.
“Intellectual Property,” a conversation led by Terry Fisher and featuring Charlie Nesson, will provide an introduction to another highly contested area of cyberlaw and policy, outlining some of the central IP issues and debates, including copyright, free and fair use, and the public domain. Emerging technological trends such as cloud computing will be explored in the context of IP theory and practice. The afternoon starts with a session on “User Innovation,” led by Eric von Hippel, who will explore innovation through the lens of user creativity and networked models of production and expression.
The pillar session on “Privacy,” led by Phil Malone, and featuring Herbert Burkert and John Palfrey will start with a brief history of privacy, discussing the emergence of data protection law in Europe. Against this backdrop, recent global privacy developments and current online controversies – including behavioral targeting, persistent cookies and Do Not Track legislation; the right to be forgotten/ le droit à l’oubli; location privacy; facial recognition; contextual privacy; Google’s Street View service, and Google’s Buzz rollout – will be explored to gain a deeper understanding of the current the state of privacy law and norms– and their possible future.
The day will wrap up with a cross-sectional session that discusses the different approaches to the study of the Internet – including qualitative and quantitative methods – and their respective merits as well as limitations. More fundamentally, the session will explore as to what extent the Internet has led to methodological challenges – for instance in the context of the analysis of large data sets – and innovations, what types of best practices have developed over time, and what the open questions are.
The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity
See main page on The Changing Internet: Cybersecurity
Wednesday, 10:00 to 11:30
Lead:Jonathan Zittrain
This module will draw on central themes from the previous day regarding the unique qualities of the Internet, and the culture and architecture of openness – of protocols, interfaces, and values – that make it a generative space. What are the threats to this generativity? How do forces like consumerism, corporate interest, government and other controls, and cybersecurity put the open Net at risk? Concepts such as cyberwar will be surfaced via case examples, including phenomena such as Stuxnet and Ghostnet; the role of hackers such as AntiSec, LulzSec, and Anonymous will also be considered. This session will conclude with Q&A with the audience.
Intellectual Property
See main page on Intellectual Property
Wednesday, 12:00 to 1:30
Leads: William Fisher and Charlie Nesson
Led by William Fisher, this pillar will begin with a brief history of key theories and issues related copyright in the Internet space. By examining some of the hard problems and cases that have defined this field over the last decade, this session will explore some of the central questions that characterize current debates, including the wide spectrum of licensing options, the uncertainty about permissible uses associated with creative works, and the implications of cloud computing. Charlie Nesson will highlight questions regarding the public domain, free and fair use, and the need for digital copyright and public domain registries. This foundational pillar will lay the groundwork for two relevant use cases on User Innovation and Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries (which will take place on Thursday morning).
User Innovation
See main page on User Innovation
Wednesday, 2:30 to 3:30
Leads:Eric von Hippel and William Fisher
This case study build upon the IP session and will explore the creation of unique works, free and fair use, and other related issues through the prism of user innovation. Eric von Hippel will begin the discussion with an overview of new forms of user creativity and production in the online space, facilitated by the proliferation of freely available information online, the ease with which people can communicate digitally, and advances in innovating technology. This overview will segue into a discussion moderated by William Fisher, which will engage von Hippel and others in exploring models that exemplify the benefits of cheap and easy production while also examining the challenges such as copyright issues surrounding the reappropriation and alteration of original sources that may inhibit users’ capacity to innovate.
Privacy
Wednesday, 4:00 to 5:30
Leads: Phil Malone with Herbert Burkert and John Palfrey
This pillar topic, led by Phil Malone and featuring Herbert Burkert and John Palfrey, will cover a mixture of privacy history, theory, black letter law, regulatory developments and current controversies. Herbert Burkert will offer a multinational perspective of privacy law and policy, outlining the emergence of data protection law in Europe. Against this backdrop, recent global privacy developments, comparative EU vs. US approaches and current online controversies – including behavioral targeting, persistent cookies and Do Not Track legislation; the right to be forgotten/ le droit à l’oubli; location privacy; facial recognition; contextual privacy; Google’s Street View service, and Google’s Buzz rollout – will be explored to gain a deeper understanding of the current the state of privacy law and norms and possible ways forward. Participants Urs Gasser, and Charlie Nesson will add their perspectives on these issues throughout this session.
The Study of the Internet: New Methods for New Technologies
See main page on The Study of the Internet: New Methods for New Technologies
Wednesday, 5:30 to 6:30
Moderator: John Palfrey
What is the range of tools, disciplines, and research approaches that we can bring to bear on the study of the Internet and the study of the impact of new technologies on social, political, economic, legal, and other processes in both the online and offline spaces? This session will explore methods of studying the Internet’s societal implications, including empirical analysis, legal frameworks, policy perspectives, sociological surveys, and other methodologies. It will also surface and explore some of the challenges faced by researchers working with big data sets, with a particular focus on issues related to privacy, data security, and other considerations.
Mid-Point Check-in
See main page on Mid-point Check-in
Wednesday, 6:30 to 6:45
Lead: Charlie Nesson
The day will end with a mid-point check in with the audience, led by Charlie Nesson. Charlie will solicit comments from audience members and ask for thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations for program improvements.
Evening Event: openLAB_03 (Produced by metaLAB (at) Harvard)
See main page on metaLAB (at) Harvard Event
Wednesday, 7:00 to 9:00
The metaLAB has invited us to come to their current residence, Art@29 Garden, to share in an evening exhibition to introduce their new digital art project called Augmented Harvard. It will be a demo debut – sort of a pop-up show of the public installation – that will set the stage for the Digital Humanities pillar on Thursday morning.
About Augmented Harvard:
With the support of the Provostial Funds for Arts and Humanities, the metaLab is in the early stages of developing a multi-year, University-wide installation that is composed of a network of physical artifacts that unlock site-specific experiences. These artifacts, or HUBS, might consist of such devices as thermal receipt printers, hacked Kinects, speakers or programmable LEDs. Participants in the project encounter these HUBs across the campus or through an open-source iPhone/iPad application. Augmented Harvard allows faculty, students, curators and the public to link Harvard exhibitions to other spaces and objects across the University, and to see otherwise invisible features of the campus landscape such as long-ago demolished structures, alternative architectural plans, and inaccessible archives as they rove the campus core. The initial release is planned in conjunction with the fall 2011 exhibitions GSD’s 75+ and Cold War in the Classroom, co-curated by History of Science PhD students Jeremy Blatter and Christopher Phillips, and to be staged at the Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, with additional materials borrowed from the Harvard Film Archive and the Graduate School of Education’s Monroe C. Gutman Library.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Day three of iLaw will begin with a follow-up discussion regarding Tuesday’s “Mid-point Check-in,” during which Charlie Nesson will respond to and solicit participant input regarding program improvements. Next, Jeffrey Schnapp and Jesse Shapins will lead a pillar session on “Digital Humanities,” in which they will consider how digital tools and media have affected how knowledge is produced and disseminated. Expert participants will present a selection of lightening talks on innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches to design on the web, presenting projects that draw on the social sciences, knowledge in the arts, storytelling, and cultural and historical memory. This will lead into moderated discussion led by Charlie Nesson on “Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries.” Mary Lee Kennedy, John Palfrey, Terry Fisher, Jeffrey Schnapp and others will discuss the promise and challenge associated with creating and maintaining digital libraries and archives; rights registries and the contours of copyright, public domain, free and fair use will also be examined.
Following a 30-minute break, Charlie Nesson will provide an introduction to “Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries.” Mary Lee Kennedy, John Palfrey, and others will then highlight the challenges associated with creating and maintaining digital libraries and archives. During the session, a number of US and European models will be explored, including the Berkman Center’s contributions to the Digital Public Library of American project. Charlie Nesson will tack on to this a discussion about rights registries and the contours of copyright, public domain, free and fair use.
After lunch, Urs Gasser and Herbert Burkert explore “The Global Internet.” This Cross-sectional session looks at the legal challenges that underlie global e-commerce, international dispute resolution, governance, and jurisdiction and the ways in which private entities, policymakers, and individuals have approached these challenges. Urs and Herbert will explore many of these issues through a series of mini-case studies.
Next, Yochai Benkler will lead a lecture, followed by a moderated discussion, on “Cooperation.” This will focus on how new technologies are being used to harness and fuel collaboration. In particular, Yochai and several Berkman fellows will highlight emerging collaborative models and their impact on business processes, “smarter” technology, economic reform, and volunteer contributions to research. Jonathan Zittrain will conclude the day with interactive discussion about “Mutual Aid,” in which he will describe a defense model to make the Internet more redundant and robust by “mirroring as you link.”
Mid-point Check-in, Part 2
Thursday, 10:00 to 10:20
Lead: Charlie Nesson
See main page on Mid-point Check-in
Charlie Nesson will lead this session and bridge his previous session, “suggestion for improvement” by sharing and commenting on the comments and suggestions obtained from audience.
Digital Humanities
See main page on Digital Humanities
Thursday, 10:20 to 12:00
Leads: Jeffery Schnapp and Jesse Shapins
This pillar session will address the current state of digital humanities, an umbrella term for new modes of scholarship that emphasize collaborative, trans-disciplinary, computationally-engaged research, teaching, and dissemination. Digital Humanities is less a unified field than an array of convergent practices that explore a universe in which print is no longer the normative medium in which knowledge is produced and disseminated; digital tools, techniques, and media have expanded traditional concepts of knowledge in the arts, human and social sciences. The session will address fundamental questions such as: How can traditional humanities skills be reshaped in multimedia terms? How and by whom will the contours of cultural and historical memory be defined in the digital era? How might practices of digital storytelling coincide or diverge from oral or print-based storytelling? What is the place of humanites in a networked world?
Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries
See main page on Digital Libraries, Archives, and Rights Registries
Thursday, 12:30 to 1:30
Lead: Charlie Nesson
A discussion moderated by Charlie Nesson will focus on opportunities and challenges regarding the creation and use of digital registries, archives, and libraries. Practical use cases such as the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) in addition to other efforts to create registries for public domain works will be discussed, building upon and further illustrating previous thematic areas and pillar sessions, including copyright, user innovation, and free and fair use. Central considerations and driving questions regarding underlying technical architecture, legal challenges, legal support, and liability will inform the conversation.
The Global Internet
See main page on The Global Internet
Thursday, 2:30 to 3:30
Leads: Urs Gasser and Herbert Burkert
In the global online space, traditional legal frameworks, such as public international law and international private law, come together with new developments, such as evolving Internet law (focused on new regulations addressing international Internet issues), to create different models for, and forms of, digital governance. Processes and structures, such as online dispute resolution systems, Terms of Use policies, and other mechanisms also shape user activity and permissible behavior. Actions and interventions by private actors, NGOs, and international organizations, also exert control, by defining use and activity, permitting or denying access, and facilitating policy-making – all with varying degrees of harmonization, conflict, and evolution. Through a series of case studies, the attributes, influence, and evolution of these mechanisms will be explored in the context of e-commerce, media and free expression, technical and organizational infrastructure, and other values.
Cooperation
Wednesday, 3:30 to 4:30
Lead: Yochai Benkler
This session will center on the ways in which new technologies harness and fuel new forms of cooperation by lowering costs and enabling collaboration that can be transformative for business, government, and society at large. Yochai Benkler will lead a discussion on emerging cooperative models and their impact on business processes, smarter technology, economic reform, volunteer contributions to research, and other benefits. This session will engage several Berkman Fellows who are conducting observational and experimental research on the underlying social, psychological, and evolutionary mechanisms that affect cooperation, collaboration, dispute resolution, trust, and social and economic exchange. Wikipedia will provide an example through which to gain a deeper sense of the breadth and depth of the phenomenon of online cooperation, as well as illuminating the offline cooperation which forms the foundation of our societies.
Mutual Aid
Thursday, 5:00 to 6:00
Lead: Jonathan Zittrain
Building upon key themes related to cybersecurity and the role of the private sector in ensuring persistent, secure, and consistently available content on the web, this session will focus on possible responses to the current state of computer and network security. Drawing conceptually from mutual aid treaties among states in the real world, Jonathan Zittrain will outline a defense scheme that would seek to make the current decentralized Web a more robust one. His" mirror as you link" system of assistance reimagines the technological relationships between sites and services on the Web, and envisions a new socially- and technologically-based system of redundancy and security. "Today, if one clicks on a link to an external site and that site is unavailable – perhaps attacked with a classic denial-of-service – there is no alternative to accessing it. Mirror-as-you-link would change that. Participating Web server administrators could make it so that for some or all of the links to external sites that they offer on their pages, the contents of the faraway sites would be saved (“cached”). They would do this only for sites that wish it to be done, and then only for sites that also perform such mirroring themselves. Then, when one site goes down, a Web surfer clicking on a link to get there can return to the referring site and ask for a copy of whatever he or she is missing since the destination site is down."
Potential Evening Event(s)
See main page on Evening Events for more information and Sign-up Sheet
We will be offering a selection of activities led by Berkman Directors, fellows and other interested community members. Participants are invited to pitch ideas and to sign up on the wiki for Food for Thought dinners, Poker with Charlie Nesson, and other activities at area restaurants or at the Berkman Center. Please see the Wiki for additional details.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Minds for Sale
See main page on Minds for Sale
Friday, 10:00-11:00
Lead: Jonathan Zittrain
In this presentation, Jonathan Zittrain will outline his current work on the concepts of ubiquitous human computing and distributed work. Encompassing phenomena from gamification, CAPCHAs and Mechanical Turk to the X Prize, he will examine the consequences of crowdsourcing, economically, legally and socially, review the development and present state of the practice, and invite the audience to think ahead to its possible futures.
Interoperability
See main page on Interoperability
Friday, 11:30 – 1:00
Lead: Urs Gasser, with John Palfrey
This synthesizing session will examine interoperability and its role in driving innovation in the ICT environment. Urs Gasser and John Palfrey -- who recently completed a book on the topic (slated for release in February 2012) -- will outline a conceptual framework for thinking about interoperability, its driving forces and inhibitors, how it can best be achieved, and why. They will touch on a number of current usecases where interoperability plays a decisive role, including, cloud computing, the Smart Grid, and electronic health records. How do we define interoperability and prioritize it as an important policy goal? What do consumers, companies, and governments stand to gain (or lose) from interoperability or lack thereof? How do concerns related to lack of diversity, or diminished privacy and security interact with interoperability? How are optimal levels of interoperability achieved through law, policy, technology, and innovations in the marketplace?
Student Presentations/Reaction Statements/Proposals
See "Option C" on the main page for Student Projects
Friday, 2:00-3:30
Lead: Charlie Nesson
This module will be designed by students and lightly moderated by Charlie Nesson. 5-10 minute reflections might be a take on the “Future of the Internet” discussion, offer central issues for consideration or faculty response, or provide a reaction statement on key elements of the program. Other options include providing a deeper dive into a particular module or interesting case for further study, etc. The focus here would be on developing a short presentation, to be followed by brief Q&A with audience members.
The Future of the Internet
See main page on The Future of the Internet
Friday, 4:00 to 5:00
Lead: Jonathan Zittrain
In a moderated discussion hosted by Jonathan Zittrain, Berkman Directors and Faculty Leads will be invited to reflect on the central themes emerging from the previous days, with a particular focus on the Internet’s future. Participants will engage one another regarding the next “big thing” – anticipated developments, opportunities, emerging issues, and risks within their particular area of research or interest. Foundational to the discussion will be the future of the Internet's generativity, including innovative and creative outputs and participatory input (the opportunity to connect with other people, work with them, and express oneself). Concerns regarding security, invasions of privacy, and other emerging issues may threaten that generative infrastructure; what are the potential costs? What are the visionary solutions?