"In the past year, public awareness of both the Internet and President Carter's work has increased enormously," said Carrie Harmon, director of public information at The Carter Center. "Through this site, we can now provide both the press and public with up-to-the-minute information about President and Mrs. Carter's projects and travels, and about The Carter Center's ongoing work to alleviate suffering and promote democracy around the world."
A very important part of the internet is its multimedia portion, better known as the World Wide Web (WWW). The web is the fastest growing part of the Internet, giving users access to a vast array of integrated text, graphics, video and sound on countless topics ranging from economics to comics, physics to fashion.
Divided into several categories, The Carter Center web site takes users inside a hypertext collection of more than 100 documents and nearly 70 photographs, including:
* an introduction to the center and its mission
* a photographic tour of the grounds
* a guide to the 13 core programs the center coordinates in more than 30 countries
* brief biographies of fellows and directors
* an order form for Carter Center publications
* a growing selection of reports available on-line
* a library of links to dozens of related sites
The Carter Center site is currently accessed more than 25,000 times monthly. Additionally, at least 50 electronic mail (e-mail) inquiries worldwide are received each month.
To get a good idea of what's in the site, check out the home page, which is basically a site's table of contents. In addition to the above listing, the site offers access to:
* biographies of the Carters
* all Carter Center press releases
* newsletters highlighting both The Carter Center and The Atlanta Project
* selected reports and papers
* information about Carter Center internships
* conference and event information
The web is an exciting and compelling way to continually provide updated information about The Carter Center to those who are unable to visit the facility. For instance, in a search program, a student could type "Bosnia" and be led to The Carter Center site without even knowing what connection there might be between the two. And because of The Carter Center's affiliation with Emory, all information about the center is cross-indexed to the University and is included on the Emory server.
"The internet, and the World Wide Web in particular, offer exciting ways to share information and learn about the world around us," said Harmon. "In providing this resource, we hope to help raise awareness of not only the many challenges that face us, but also of the innovative solutions that are being explored by so many groups every day."
The address for the Carter Center's home page is: http://www.emory.edu/CARTER_CENTER
Paul Kaplan is a consultant to The Carter Center.