*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** From: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/oii/ Friday 4 May 2001 e-Research: a First for Oxford [See also www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/oii/ for further information and video clips] Oxford University is creating the world's first truly multidisciplinary Internet Institute based in a major university. The Oxford Internet Institute (OII), with initial funding of £15 million, will carry out research and make policy recommendations about the effects on society of the Internet with the goal of putting Oxford, the UK and Europe at the centre of debates about how the Internet could and should develop. The Oxford Internet Institute has been made possible by a major donation from The Shirley Foundation of £10 million (partly to the University, of which the Institute will be a department within the Social Sciences Division, and partly to Balliol College, where it will be located) together with public funding totalling £5 million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which is supported by the Department for Education and Employment. The creation of the OII has been warmly welcomed by the Secretary of State for Education, David Blunkett, the European Commissioner for the Information Society, Erkki Liikanen, and the Cabinet Office e- envoy, Andrew Pinder, as well as by Derek Wyatt MP, an early proponent of the concept. "I congratulate Oxford University on establishing this innovative Institute," says David Blunkett. "The effects of the Internet are pervasive - through business, education and leisure. Britain needs a centre for top-class research on the difficult issues the Internet poses in cryptography, intellectual property rights, security and so on. In bringing together research across the country, I hope the Institute will become a world leader." The Vice-Chancellor, Colin Lucas, comments; "This is an area with huge commercial interests and there is a need for a voice that is independent, underpinned by first class research and recognised world- wide for its integrity. Oxford is well placed to provide this and the generous funding from The Shirley Foundation and the further support from HEFCE are an ideal beginning. Moreover, the enthusiasm for this project is so great that the planning, the fundraising and finding of a building have all been completed in a matter of months." Andrew Graham, Master-Elect of Balliol, who has been heading the group working on this initiative adds: "You can already shop, bank, vote, debate, argue, consult a doctor and get your degree over the Net - and do so all around the globe. However, there is also an enormous amount of rubbish out there and some material that is harmful. To understand what is happening and to formulate helpful policies you need people such as political scientists, lawyers, medics, economists and computing scientists working together. Building on the substantial strengths already in Oxford, this is what the OII will do. It is a great opportunity for the University and for Balliol." Dame Stephanie Shirley, founder of The Shirley Foundation, says: "For some time now I have been very interested in the social, ethical and other issues raised by the Internet. These are global concerns and I am delighted that my funding has provided the Oxford Internet Institute with the firm foundation required to attract public, and in due course further private, financial backing. I am confident that the Institute will enable Britain to play a leading and authoritative role in this important area." The Institute will attract the best people in the world both through permanent appointments and by offering senior visiting appointments (filled after open competition) for research staff seconded to Oxford. It will also act as a focus in Oxford for doctoral students and postdoctoral staff working in this area. "The attraction of this project", explains HEFCE's Chief Executive, Sir Brian Fender, "is the opportunity it presents for a world-leading collaboration which can foster a genuine UK Internet academic community, equipped to anticipate and facilitate rapid response to topical issues of public concern." The Oxford Internet Institute will raise further funds to support plans for expansion of its activities. For more information contact: University of Oxford Press Office 01865 280528 Notes to editors: More information about the Oxford Internet Institute - including interviews with those involved in the project - can be found at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/oii/ . Topics the Institute might investigate include: global law enforcement governance and regulation privacy and security confidentiality and trust the boundaries of the nation state (including the implications for taxation) participation in the information society e-Government and the delivery of public services e-democracy Internet-enabled healthcare innovation and knowledge creation effects on education (especially higher education) the digital divide problems and prospects for e-money impact on music and the creative arts community building and development defence and counter-terrorism. Within Oxford, there are already significant research programmes relating to the Internet and its impact. These include: the Saïd Business School's ESRC-funded national research programme "Virtual Society?", led by Professor Steve Woolgar (which considers whether fundamental shifts are taking place in the ways people behave, organise themselves and interact as a result of new technologies) interdisciplinary research on intellectual property and information technology conducted at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at St Peter's College the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy (considering the consequences of globalisation and digitalisation on governance, policy and law - often with an interdisciplinary base, co-operating with other academic areas including politics, economics and management) the Oxford-Intel Initiative supported by St Catherine's College and the University's Department of Educational Studies (a collaboration with one of the world's leading microprocessor manufacturers to produce new types of educational software) work on Internet-enabled health care at the Institute of Health Sciences developments within the Department of Continuing Education (where the Technology Assisted Lifelong Learning programme investigates and develops new ways of using technology to support lifelong learning and where the delivery of graduate level degrees as well as short courses is being developed in association with many other parts of the University) the Department of Chemistry which is running a massive "distributed screen saver" project in which people all over the world share the unused power on their computers to screen molecules for cancer fighting potential. In the first three weeks of its existence 250,000 people have signed up for what could be the world's biggest Internet computational project. under the Humanities Board and the major library, museum and publishing resources of the University, there are many Internet projects. These include work at the Ruskin School on creative art on the Internet as well as the electronic storage and retrieval of images of ancient manuscripts and artefacts The University of Oxford is also the UK partner, with Stanford, Princeton and Yale Universities, in a joint "distance learning" venture which will provide on line courses in the arts and sciences initially to their combined 500,000 alumni. The non-profit University Alliance for Life-Long Learning will offer non-credit courses, taking advantage of emerging technologies to give the alumni and others convenient access to their Universities' extraordinary resources. The Alliance will provide an innovative educational service that is likely to include on line courses and interactive seminars; multimedia programmes; topical Web sites that include links to research information; live and taped coverage of campus speakers, exhibitions, and other events; and lectures on tape. The member universities will control the content of the courses and other educational services offered, ensuring that they meet the highest standards. The Shirley Foundation was established in 1996 by "Steve" (now Dame Stephanie) Shirley, who endowed it with a substantial trust fund. The fund is used to support a wide range of projects, primarily in the fields of autism and IT. The Foundation has achieved national recognition for the importance and impact of its funding. Its mission is to support pioneering projects with the potential to have a strategic impact, especially those that could push out the boundaries of knowledge, understanding and good practice. It has so far dispensed over £25m, of which £15m has gone to establishing Prior's Court School for children with autism and £5m to The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists to provide it with its own base and the resources to initiate a variety of charitable activities. The Oxford Internet Institute will be headed by a Director, who will also hold a Professorial Chair at the University. The post will be filled through an open selection process and it is hoped that an appointment will be made this summer. An Advisory Board will be appointed to enable the Institute to draw on expertise from a range of sources within and outside Oxford. The Oxford Internet Institute will be based at 1 St. Giles - part of Balliol College. ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. 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