About the Institute
The core mission of InSITeS is to generate and support multidisciplinary programs of teaching, research and public outreach with regard to information technology policy and the social, economic, political, legal and cultural impacts of information technology. Such initiatives, we believe, are critical to constructive social change in the Information Age and to a broader, more intense, and better informed citizen dialogue on public policy related to information technology and its use.
Because of the particular strengths and intellectual interests shared by Carnegie Mellon faculty and students, and because the following subjects are critical to the public interest, broadly conceived, InSITeS focuses its energies around six core areas, as well as a general category of "IT and Society Studies":E-Governance and Civic Engagement
Cybersecurity Policy
IT and Social and Economic Development
E-Commerce
Privacy and Information Policy
Telecommunications, Law, and Policy
In performing this mission, InSITeS aspires to bring together technologists and non-technologists, both locally and globally, to promote a quality of analysis adequate to the challenges and opportunities posed by the ongoing IT revolution. It further seeks to help galvanize and to serve a new "multidisciplinary discipline" - IT and Society - and the intellectual community that is engaged in that discipline. Learn more about the history of the institute and our achievements here.
Status
In August, 2006, the Heinz School decided to pull back from the sponsorship of new InSITeS' projects, pending further exploration of the potential role of InSITeS in fostering the overall research and teaching missions of the school. Through the Office of the Dean, and with the continued assistance of Ron and Peter, InSITeS currently functions chiefly as an organizational sponsor of I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, published in collaboration with Ohio State University, and as a virtual network for the experts who worked on its programs and members of the public interested in subscribing to its occasional e-mail postings with regard to conferences and publications. If you wish to join the InSITeS mailing list, please contact us.
This web site provides information about the InSITeS expert network from 2001-2006, plus a library of material resulting from its workshops, lectures and conferences.