Notes

Lottery to be held for Harvard Conference on Internet & Society Registration Spaces

The Third International Harvard Conference on Internet & Society, to be held May 31-June 2, 2000, will explore the impact and implications of the Internet in transforming industry, government, and individual lives.

Harvard University will make 100 registration spaces available through a lottery to current Harvard faculty, students, and staff with a valid Harvard ID. Those selected from the lottery will have full access to the main conference, including meals and materials for a fee of $25. The lottery form will be available in early February and the deadline for submission of applications is March 17.

Chaired by Spiro N. Pollalis, professor of design technology & management (Design School) and Louise M. Ryan, professor of biostatistics (School of Public Health), Internet & Society 2000 will open with an introduction by President Neil L. Rudenstine. A welcoming address will given by Henry Louis Gates Jr., W.E.B. DuBois Professor of the Humanities and director of the DuBois Institute, on the transformational theme of the IS2k conference. Keynote speakers Candice Carpenter, co-chairperson, CEO, iVillage, The Women’s Network; Jerry Greenberg, co-chairman co-CEO, Sapient; Andrew S. Grove, chairman, Intel; Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corp.; and Dr. C. Everett Koop, chairman of drkoop.com, will offer their insights on the Internet’s unprecedented effect on society.

Internet and Society 2000 will explore the Internet’s potential for promoting societal changes and growth in the public spheres of commerce, technology, education, health, medicine, and governance as well as in the more personal spheres of individual ethics, behavior, and choices. New to this year’s conference is the addition of satellite conferences at the Kennedy School of Government, School of Public Health, and Harvard Medical School. These satellites promise additional in-depth opportunities for thoughtful interaction with preceptors and participants.

Visit the Internet & Society 2000 website for more information at www.is2k.harvard.edu .

DoHistory.org website to launch on Feb. 4

DoHistory.org, an ambitious new website for historians, teachers, and lay people interested in history and America’s past, will be launched by the Harvard Film Study Center on Feb. 4.

The site is an experimental, interactive case study that allows its users to experience the process of piecing together the life and world of an “ordinary” person in the past. At the site, users get to try to piece together the world of 18th century midwife and healer Martha Ballard, whose remarkable diary was the basis for the Pulitzer Prize- winning book and the PBS film A Midwife’s Tale. The DoHistory website takes its users into the process of doing history, and also provides them with a practical set of printable guides to help them launch history projects of their own.

DoHistory was developed at the Film Study Center at Harvard University. The principal investigator is Richard P. Rogers of the V.E.S. department. Professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich of the History Department was the adviser to the project.