<nettime> Mitchell Kapor Foundation

["David S. Bennahum" <davidsol@panix.com>]

[Of interest to all, I think -d]

June 1998

The Mitchell Kapor Foundation
Computing and Communications Program

Introduction

As information technology plays an increasingly significant role in our
lives, society faces formidable challenges. The Internet and other new
media are reshaping our communications landscape, as well as our systems of
commerce, work, politics, law, and social life. Technology is affecting our
minds and bodies, and the environment that surrounds us. Few areas of human
activity or thought will remain unaffected. There is, consequently, a vital
need for in-depth analysis of technology's impact, and for creative
strategies to make that impact as beneficial as possible.

The Mitchell Kapor Foundation's Computing and Communications Program will
seek to investigate these challenges in order to promote socially
responsible development, implementation, and use of information technology.
It is committed to critical thinking and novel modes of inquiry; to civil
liberties, democracy, and social justice; and to productivity and
innovation.

Once the Program completes its initial orienting activity, it will consider
a wide range of modes of action including research, public education,
activism, and development of new technologies. It will be open to both
traditional grant-making and new, entrepreneurial models of philanthropy.

The Mapping Project

The Computing and Communications Program's first project is a broad
agenda-setting research effort. The goal is to map the terrain of
technology and the public interest -- how it looks today and how it should
look tomorrow -- in order to determine how the Program can make the most
effective contribution in this area.

Focusing on issues related to personal computing and network technology
such as the Internet, the Mapping Project will establish a reliable sense
of which institutions and individuals are doing what, determine what needs
to be done in the future, and outline how the Mitchell Kapor Foundation can
be a catalyst for productive outcomes. In each case, the Mapping Project
will conceive of "maps of action" and "maps of ideas." The aim is to learn
not only what people are doing with regard to technology, but how they are
thinking about it.

The Mapping Project will include a rich array of inquiries involving
Program staff and a diverse range of individuals from academia, business,
government, and the nonprofit sector who will be called upon for their
ideas and expertise. The Program may bring these people together for
meetings or consult with them individually. The Program will seek a wide
set of perspectives by consulting with a number of younger leaders, as well
as people from a variety of experiential backgrounds.

The initial phase of the Mapping Project will continue through 1998. When
the Program is confident that it has succeeded in evaluating the field and
establishing an agenda, it will share its findings with the public and
embark upon a multifaceted plan of action.

To read the full description of the Project, visit http://www.kapor.org/ccp
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