I am delighted to introduce this special Berkeleyan section on CyberSemester. We hope the topics covered in these four pages will pique your interest not only in CyberSemester, but also in the issues surrounding technology and our society. Technology is reshaping our world, especially at colleges and universities where many new technological applications have been introduced. Berkeley has been a pioneer in this area from the formation of the Electrical Engineering Department in 1953 to today's digital libraries project -- in which technology is making books and research materials from around the world available through the Internet. We are using the CyberSemester theme to promote ways in which technology can be used in our curriculum to enhance learning and better instruction. A leader of technological trends in research and teaching, Cal has also been at the forefront of discussions about how these new developments impact our lives. CyberSemester offers many events and discussions on these themes. If universities were ever ivory towers, they are no longer. The Internet has created seamless avenues between our campus community and people around the world. We invite you to visit Cal's new home page on the World Wide Web and perhaps discover areas of our campus through cyberspace that you never before knew existed. This is an exciting moment in history, especially at campuses like ours. We are proud to be on the technological frontier. And we are eager to share the wonders and worries of this new age with the campus community through this unique semester-long event called CyberSemester. Chang Lin Tien |
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