Forwarded:
Please join us on the evening of Wednesday, May 30th, for a
special event hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet &
Society, Harvard Law School Library, and the Harvard Book
Store. Professors John Palfrey (Director of the Berkman
Center) and Urs Gasser (Executive Director of the Berkman
Center) will launch their new book, Interop: The Promise
and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems, at 6PM at
the Harvard Law School. The book argues that interoperability
is a critical aspect of any successful system—and now it is
more important than ever.
More information about the event and the book is below. The
talk will be followed by a reception, which we would welcome
you to join. Please feel free to share the announcement below
with friends, colleagues, students, and others who may be
interested (and if you have recommendations for people or
groups to whom this may appeal, please feel free to share
their contact information with me).
Please don't hesitate to be in touch if you have any
questions. We hope to see you there!
= = =
Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected
Systems
John Palfrey and Urs Gasser
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2012/05/interop
Wednesday, May 30, 6:00PM
Harvard Law School, Wasserstein Hall, Milstein West AB (2nd
Floor, Map)
Free and Open to the Public
RSVP required for those attending in person via
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2012/05/interop
Co-sponsored by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society,
Harvard Law School Library, and the Harvard Book Store
Reception to follow
The practice of standardization has been facilitating
innovation and economic growth for centuries. The
standardization of the railroad gauge revolutionized the flow
of commodities, the standardization of money revolutionized
debt markets and simplified trade, and the standardization of
credit networks has allowed for the purchase of goods using
money deposited in a bank half a world away. These
advancements did not eradicate the different systems they
affected; instead, each system has been transformed so that it
can interoperate with systems all over the world, while still
preserving local diversity.
As Palfrey and Gasser show, interoperability is a critical
aspect of any successful system—and now it is more important
than ever. Today we are confronted with challenges that affect
us on a global scale: the financial crisis, the quest for
sustainable energy, and the need to reform health care systems
and improve global disaster response systems. The successful
flow of information across systems is crucial if we are to
solve these problems, but we must also learn to manage the
vast degree of interconnection inherent in each system
involved. Interoperability offers a number of solutions to
these global challenges, but Palfrey and Gasser also consider
its potential negative effects, especially with respect to
privacy, security, and co-dependence of states; indeed,
interoperability has already sparked debates about document
data formats, digital music, and how to create successful yet
safe cloud computing. Interop demonstrates that, in order to
get the most out of interoperability while minimizing its
risks, we will need to fundamentally revisit our understanding
of how it works, and how it can allow for improvements in each
of its constituent parts.
About John
John Palfrey is Henry N. Ess Professor of Law and Vice Dean
for Library and Information Resources at Harvard Law School.
He is the co-author of "Born Digital: Understanding the First
Generation of Digital Natives" (Basic Books, 2008) and "Access
Denied: The Practice and Politics of Internet Filtering" (MIT
Press, 2008). His research and teaching is focused on Internet
law, intellectual property, and international law.
About Urs
Urs Gasser is the Executive Director of the Berkman Center for
Internet & Society at Harvard University. Urs Gasser has
written several books, is the co author of “Born Digital:
Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives” (Basic
Books, 2008, with John Palfrey) that has been translated into
10 languages (including Chinese), and has published over 70
articles in professional journals.
About the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Interop-Promise-Perils-Interconnected-Systems/dp/0465021972
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