About this Issue

About this issue...

It is a pleasure (during a period when, for Americans, pleasures have been few) to bring out this second issue of the Journal of the Berglund Center for Internet Studies, The Journal of Education, Community, and Values: Interface on the Internet. Our inaugural issue has been well received. Our traffic immediately exceeded one hundred guests per day and it continues to rise exponentially because, we think, we have been able to post content of wide interest and immediate relevance. In addition, we have received a range of congratulatory electronic communications as well as many inquiries.

It has, of course, been a very eventful month for not only Americans in particular, but the world in general. We believe that the events of September 11, now appropriately known as "911" (pronounced "nine one one") mark a new stage in the development of the Internet. For many, in this period the Internet became not only their main source of news, but more importantly perhaps, of an unprecedentedly broad spectrum of news.

In addition to the electronic sites of The New York Times, The Washington Post or The Los Angeles Times, many people now routinely go perhaps to London's The Guardian or even The Dawn, Pakistan's noted English-language daily. For those so fortunate as to have achieved comfort in a language other than English, there are, of course, an even wider range of choices, such as Le Monde with its Gallic flair and cynicism. (See RESOURCES below with live links to the sites mentioned above.) Today's Internet reader is more informed, or at least potentially more informed, than any consumer of information in history.

In this issue of Interface we discuss some of these developments, as well as present a wide range of interesting uses of the Internet. Sarah Left, an editor of The Guardian discusses the impact of 911 on electronic news sites in her piece, "The Impact of 9-11 on the Internet ". But Berglund Fellow Professor Michael Steele believes that the incident has shown us some of the inherent dangers of the Internet and discusses these in his article, "September 11, the Holocaust, and the Internet ". And I add to my analysis of 911 as an example of "Netwar" in another editorial, "Netwar and Cyberwar."

Among pieces dealing with happier topics, Professor Jan Shields discusses a very interesting blend of painting and computer technology in reporting on a project done for the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C. Steven Burt, a high school teacher in Amity, Oregon, discusses his use of the Internet in the classroom in "Brain-based Learning and the Internet in the High School Classroom." Steven Boone, the Director of the Berglund Center, discusses the future of the Center in his editorial, "the Berglund Mission".

In addition, we present a new feature, "Tech Corner" in which two of our editors, Jesse Snyder and Matt Ernst, will alternately present introductions to technical applications that we have found useful, and which many readers may find of interest. And we continue to present the book reviews done by our editor Drew Harrington, and information on K-12 resources presented by editor and Berglund Fellow Dr. Mark Szymansky.

The Journal welcomes all communications. We are interested in the impact of the Internet upon society and individuals, including business and education. To inquire as to our interests in publishing particular pieces, please see our Call for Submissions. We pay for pieces published as "articles."

We are also interested in working with editors who might be responsible for features to be published on a regular basis in Interface. To inquire as to our interests, please contact <barlowj@pacificu.edu>.

We hope that you find The Journal of Education, Community, and Values: Interface on the Internet useful to your work and a complement to your own interests in the impact of the Internet.

Jeffrey Barlow
Editor
The Journal of Education, Community, and Values: Interface on the Internet.

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