The Oxford Internet Institute will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Internet by holding lectures by two of the most influential scholars focused on society and the Internet: Manuel Castells and Duncan Watts.

Manuel Castells, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Oxford, and Research Professor at the Open University of Catalonia, will be speaking on Thursday, the 22nd of October 2009, from 16.30-18.00 at Oxford University Press, Walton Street. The title of his talk is ‘The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Towards a New Economic Order’. Manuel Castells is the foremost cited communications scholar in the world. He has authored 19 books, including his most recent book, entitled Communication and Power (Oxford University Press 2009).

Duncan Watts is Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research, and director of the Human Social Dynamics Group. He is also professor of sociology at Columbia University, and an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute. Duncan will speak on Friday, the 23rd of October, from 16.00-17.30 at the Said Business School, University of Oxford (Seminar Room A) on ‘Using the Web to do Social Science’. The talk is organized by the OII in collaboration with CABDyN and the Oxford e-Social Science (OeSS) project. Duncan Watts is the author of Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Norton 2003) and Small Worlds (Princeton 1999). 

We think there is no better way to recognize the anniversary of the Internet than to hear from some of the most influential scholars in the field. Please join us.

If you would like to attend either or both events, please email your name and affiliation, if any, to: events@oii.ox.ac.uk More information on both events can be found on the OII’s events Web page.