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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.^[1]

Sister centers started by Berkman founders include the Stanford Center for Internet and Society^[2] and the Oxford Internet Institute.

History and mission

The Berkman Center was founded in 1997 by professors Jonathan Zittrain and Charlie Nesson. Since then it has grown from a small project within Harvard Law School to an interdisciplinary center of its own. It sponsors conferences, visiting lecturers, and residential and non-residential fellows.

Members of the center research, teach, and write books, 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.

Projects and initiatives

• OpenLaw (providing funding)
• OpenNet Initiative (co-founder)
• Global Voices Online
• StopBadware
• Internet and Democracy Project [1]
• Digital Natives research project [2]
• Herdict
• Citizen Media Law Project

Members

Fellows have included David Weinberger; Ethan Zuckerman; Dave Winer; Jimmy Wales^[3]; Rebecca MacKinnon; John Perry Barlow; Wendy Seltzer; James F. Moore; John Clippinger and Doc Searls.

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.^[4]

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

References

External links

• Berkman Center homepage
• The Filter homepage
• Blog community
• H2O Playlists Beta
• JamaicaExpress

Coordinates: 42°22′46″N 71°07′10″W / 42.37955°N 71.11957°W / 42.37955; -71.11957