“The University of the People combines two important ideas. The first is that digital networks and social software platforms allow people to produce valuable information goods at increasingly low cost. The second is that affordable education is a crucial ingredient for human development and human freedom. Harnessing new technologies to deliver low cost education to people around the world is a daring venture. It is the kind of experiment that everyone should want to succeed.”
Professor Jack M. Balkin is Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School, the founder and director of Yale’s Information Society Project and the co-director of Yale’s Law and Media Program.
Under his leadership, the Yale Information Society Project- an interdisciplinary center that studies law and the new information technologies- has promoted the goals of democratic culture and access to knowledge.
Professor Balkin’s work ranges over many different fields, including constitutional theory, Internet law, media policy, reproductive rights, freedom of speech, legal rhetoric, jurisprudence, and the theory of ideology. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and writes political and legal commentary at Balkinization (http://balkin.blogspot.com/). His books include The Constitution in 2020 (with Reva Siegel), Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment (with James Grimmelmann et al), The State of Play: Law, Games, and Virtual Worlds (with Beth Noveck) and Cultural Software: A Theory of Ideology.