A World's Fair for the Global Village [With A Unique Assemblage and Concert in the Park]

The great world's fairs of the 19th and 20th centuries heralded the advances of the industrial age, from postcards to electric light. Last year, the Internet 1996 World Exposition added a new chapter to the history of fairs, in an exuberant celebration of cyberspace that attracted some five million visitors. Malamud, professor of Internet research at Keio University, visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab and founder of Internet Multicasting Service, launched the project, so this breezy, unpretentious account of its political and technical ups and downs comes straight from the horse's mouth. Quickly, sometimes chaotically, the infrastructure went up: pavilions (World Wide Web sites), the Internet Railroad (high-speed international links), and Central Park (a set of large computers situated across the globe). Live events included the chess competition between Gary Kasparov and IBM Big Blue; ""a Brain Opera"" at Lincoln Center; and a computer-aided shopping spree in Harajuku, Japan. In India, the Durga Puja holiday got online coverage; in the U.S., schools joined the Global Schoolhouse and government did some of its reinventing online. The Dalai Lama's foreword reminds us of how small our global village is; and the profuse illustrations provide happy browsing through its digitized diversity. An accompanying audio CD features music written for the fair, and a CD-ROM shows fair highlights (neither seen by PW). Author tour. (Sept.) FYI: You can still visit Internet 1996 World Exposition at http://park.org/