I just came from lunch with Vint Cerf, who as much as anyone can be considered the father of the Internet. (Don't believe me: as they would say on the new version of Laugh-In, "Look it up in your Wikipedia"). I apologize to the list, but I didn't have the guts to ask him to define the Internet, even though we have been hotly debating it. Part of the reason is that the lunch (with 4 other computer scientists) didn't go in that direction. Vint was deeply interested in the kind of work that AoIR social scientists have been doing, and in particular (although this may be politeness) in our NetLab's stuff on network size and the dearth of online-only ties. What a day! Vint Cerf for lunch, and seeing Barbra Streisand in concert tonight! It hasn't been as good as this since the Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993 (and I got to see Devon White's triple play)! Barry Wellman PS: A free cappucino at an AoIR conference if you can tell me (in private) which social scientist dated Streisand in high school (Not me, alas). _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________