When historians reflect upon the crucial events of our century, which ones will stand out? One of the most noticeable changes in daily life has been the development and growth of the Internet, but what effect does computer technology have on society?
These questions were the focus of the Marshall Symposium: The Information Revolution in Midstream. The symposium was held on campus last Friday and Saturday, and attracted several hundred participants. The symposium, which commemorated the 45th anniversary of the Marshall Scholarship program, brought together leaders from diverse quarters of society - business, academia, journalism, law and government - to discuss the past, present and future of the information revolution.
The keynote speakers were Vinton Cerf, MCI vice president of Internet Architecture and Engineering, and Douglas Van Houweling, who is on leave from his professorship in the University School of Information. Cerf is widely known as the "Father of the Internet," and Van Houweling is president and CEO of "Internet 2," a consortium of universities, researchers and businesses which is investigating methods of adding new specialty "lanes" to the clogged information superhighway.
Cerf's address surveyed the brief history of the Internet, which began as a military project in 1973 and had no commercial services until 1990. Cerf also spoke about personal impacts of technology -- his wifeĠs cochlear implant allowed her to hear for the first time in almost 50 years.
Van Houweling looked to the future, predicting that new technologies will go beyond mere delivery of information.
"The Internet weĠre talking about in the future ... will support human collaboration," Van Houweling said. He gave the example of "collaboratories," which would allow research scientists who are thousands of miles apart to work together on experiments.
Speakers at the symposium stressed that the primary function of the Internet is to foster communication.
"I always get asked, 'Who's in charge of the Internet?' and I always answer 'No one,'" Van Houweling said. He drew a comparison between the collaborative nature of the Internet and the Marshall Scholarship program and used his comparison to illustrate the importance of higher education in the information revolution.
"Although no one is in charge of the international higher education system, it is still possible to mount programs to bring people together," Van Houweling said. "Only universities understand that truly wonderful things can happen even when there's no one in charge."
The panel discussions on Saturday focused on specific aspects of the revolution: the exchange of information in the academic community, legal regulation of the Internet, the impact on print journalism and the future of business in an economy based on information.
Executive Editor for the St. Petersburg Times Paul Tash said not every change wrought by technology is beneficial.
"The technological change offers as much opportunity for improvement ... as it does a threat to the way we do business today," Tash said.
Jeff McAllister, the White House Correspondent for Time magazine, spoke about the difficulties of counteracting all the negative messages available over the Internet. He added that print magazines will continue to be important and not rendered obsolete by Internet advancement.
06-01-98
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