I'm always happy to hear from Erica George at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, but the email that received from her on Friday was especially surprising and delightful.

Erica invited me on behalf of the Berkman Center to be one of the bloggers who will receive a "press scholarship" to attend the center's internet law seminar later this month.*

As I have previously pointed out, I am not a lawyer, but I'm very pleased to have an opportunity to learn about the legal issues that pertain to the internet from some well-regarded experts:  Yochai Benkler , William Fisher III, Lawrence Lessig, Charles Nesson, and Jonathan Zittrain.

Meanwhile, I find myself thinking "only in the blogosphere!"  Of course I am not a lawyer - but ever so much more so, I am not a professional journalist.  And yet I'm delighted to accept a "press scholarship" to attend this seminar, and to report back to my colleagues in the nonprofit sector (via this blog) about what I've learned.  As those of us who work for nonprofit organizations have taken our work online, we've joined the ranks of citizen journalists, and behooves us to understand the legal ramifications of what we do.

*  It so happens that I have a previous commitment and can't attend the third day of the three-day program, so I've asked the Berkman Center to allow my esteemed colleague Beth Kanter to make use of the "press scholarship" on that day.