One of the prevalent causes of late twentieth century frustration with technology is that so many technological tools often allow for little human choice. Janus-like, digital technology can be programmed as a tightly controlled, closed environment, or one that is more expansive, flexible, and susceptible, and genuinely interactive. The Two Ravens Project will attempt to influence the evolving digital environement as a source for and means of imaginative invention. A second assumption follows upon the realization that any technology can either reflect the status quo or enhance the prevailing order, perhaps recast it into something new and more compelling. The degree of determinism of any technology rests not so much upon the complexity or mechanical intricacy of the technology, but the degree of sophistication with which we conceptualize and evaluate it.
Technical wizardry is of little value if the evaluative tools are rudimentary or poorly articulated.
The term 'institute' is used in more than one sense. It implies an ongoing series of short, intensive workshops devoted to one or more of the thematic issues noted below. Institute' also can be construed as a related set of themes that a number of existing institutes in the humanities and sciences would address over time, as well as referring to a virtual organization whose discussions, publications, recommendations, and projects are facilitated largely through digital networks. The Two Ravens Institute is jointly administered through the libraries at Rice University and the Townsend Center for the Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley. Project retreats will be held at facilities under the auspices of the University of California and Rice, as well as other venues, including the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton and Glasgow University in Scotland, to encourage broad engagement with the project's themes.