Greetings from AoIR 2.0 at the University of Minnesota! I will try to provide a daily report...call it an AoIRblog if you will...but given the various demands on my time I can't promise much depth to them or even that they'll be daily and regular. In any event, it's my great pleasure to say that the conference has begun without a hitch (or at least without one that I've seen!). John Logie and his colleagues at the university have done a splendid job of organizing things (including coordinating with Apple Computer for a technology room and for a wireless network). And the program looks terrific, due to Leslie Shade's hard work and the work of the program committee. I'm very glad to see that attendance has remained strong and the program has remained diverse and interesting. As was the case last year it is difficult to choose among so many promising sessions! As I said in my opening remarks this morning, this is the first academic conference that I have been to since September 11. I had never appreciated an academic conference quite so much, and I am more grateful than ever for the colleagues, students, and friends who I see. As my colleague and director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project said in a USA TOday story published today (in which Kirsten Foot, AoIR member and co-presenter at yesterday's well-attended pre-conference workshop, was also quoted), "The Internet was all about community and sharing" after the attacks last month. I think we all know that the obverse is true as well -- community is not only on the Internet. One of the greatest gifts we can give one another is to simply be together, and I feel extraordinarily grateful that we have been given that gift here at this conference, and via the medium of air-l. I will hope that we can continue to meet year after year and that all will have an opportunity to attend what has, after a scant two years, become a terrific annual event. Prof. Anita Allen's keynote speech started the conference by encouraging us to think about the Internet in relation to law and policy, the first round of concurrent sessions is under way, and there is much more to come. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend sessions in the way that I would were I not president of the association, so it is for selfish reasons as well as unselfish ones that I hope I can encourage other attendees to post their impressions and observations on air-l or on the member web site as they have time. My thanks again to our hosts at the University of Minnesota. Ski-U-Mah! Yours, Steve Jones Sjj