The annual Harvard Digital Video and Multimedia Fair takes place this year on May 8 from 8:45 to 3 p.m. in the Kennedy School of Government's Taubman Building.

Over the past four years, the fair has drawn together faculty, staff, and students from all of Harvard's Schools to share the triumphs and tribulations of working on the cutting edge of new technology. The fair, organized by the University's ABCD Committee -- an informal association of faculty, administrators, researchers, and students -- features a panorama of new media currently used in Harvard's classrooms, labs, and offices.

The fair's keynote speaker, Robert Doyle, associate editor of New Media Magazine, explores this year's theme, "Multimedia on the Internet," by discussing the latest advances in digital video. Presentations by members of the Harvard community will include virtual explorations of a South African neighborhood, a medical clinic, a courtroom, and the mind of a 19th century composer.

The fair also provides those interested in multimedia an opportunity to view work from more than a dozen student, faculty, and staff developers of multimedia from around the University. Demonstration booths will fill the ground floor and fifth floor of the Taubman Building.

To synthesize the fair's morning activities, this year's fair offers participants and visitors an afternoon forum, "Reflections on Practice: Multimedia in Education at Harvard." The afternoon panel is designed to provoke thoughtful discussion about effective practice and to help highlight essential concerns for those who develop and use multimedia at Harvard.

The moderator of the panel is Karen C. Cohen, editor of the Journal of Science Education and Technology and an associate of the Graduate School of Education. Joining her will be Lynne Bolduc, a multimedia developer whose experience spans Harvard, MIT, and publisher Addison-Wesley; Judah L. Schwartz, professor of Education and co-director of the Educational Technology Center at the Graduate School of Education; and Harvard junior Eric Silberstein, undergraduate representative to the FAS Information Technology Committee.

Demonstration booths are open from 8:45 to 10:45 a.m. and from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The keynote speech begins at 11 a.m. in the Taubman Building's Weiner Auditorium, with presentations lasting until 12:30 p.m. The panel, also in Weiner, runs from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

The fair is free and open to all members of the Harvard community. Due to limited seating in Weiner, pre-registration is encouraged through the Fair web site at http://www.harvard.edu/multimedia_fair/, which also carries more details about this year's program. For further information, contact Bijoy Misra, bmisra@fas.harvard.edu.