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The Internet may have had its origins in the United States, but the rapid international growth of H-Net demonstrates that it is a thoroughly international medium. Our subscriber base is still mostly from North America, but 17,000 of our subscriptions come from outside the USA, and the H-Net executive committee has included members from Australia, Italy and Japan. H-Net is a truly international community of scholars who use the Internet to speed communication.

H-Net's Partners Abroad

In a sense, H-Net works with every university in which our subscribers are found. However, we also have working partnerships with several overseas institutions, such as the Kansai Center for Asian and Pacific Studies at Osaka Gaidai University in Osaka and with the West African Research Center in Dakar, Sengal.

H-Net International Training Projects

Over the last two years H-Net has been the recipient of two major grants with an international focus. The United States Information Agency has funded a major initiative to train West African scholars at Michigan State University; we are now in the second year of this grant, which will include the establishment of Internet servers and infrastructure in Dakar. The Agency solicited an application from us for a similar project in South Africa; that application is pending for this yearŐs funding cycle. In addition to African projects we are also involved in European outreach. Our Project Manager has recently returned from a visit to Poland, undertaken as part of a USIS-funded project to use the Web as a medium for the delivery of materials and curricula for civic education. This project will be ongoing through the next fiscal year and will involve the preparation of Polish-language materials online and training sessions delivered in-country in Polish. This project may develop beyond the scope of the original grant application to include cooperative classes offered jointly by the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and Michigan State University. As use of the Internet becomes an increasingly important part of academic life and as more quality information is available online, we anticipate that the opportunities for such projects will only increase.

The Future

There are real challenges involved in the delivery of high-quality material and services online on an international scale. Barriers of language, culture, and differences both in preferred technologies and in technological development make this a very difficult area in which to work. However, the rewards of working internationally are potentially very large indeed. It is possible to image cooperative classes of the kind H-Net is currently developing in Poland as a useful preparation for study abroad. By describing their own situation online and by learning from others, students will have a chance to prepare for their semester or year abroad in interactive ways that more traditional technologies do not make possible. H-Net has already pioneered the scholarly use of the Internet, and it is a natural extension for us to bring that experience and technological know-how to the world of international study as well.

H-Net Lists

Africa:

H-AfrAts	African Expressive Culture
H-Africa	African History
H-AfrLitCine	Teaching and Study of African Literature and Cinema
H-AfrTeach	Teaching African history and studies
H-SAfrica	South African History

Europe and the Middle East:

H-Albion	British and Irish History
H-Antisemitism	Antisemitism
H-Bahai	Culture and history of the Baha'i faith
H-Cervantes	Life, Times, and Work of Cervantes
H-France	French History and Culture
H-German	German History
H-Holocaust	Holocaust Studies
H-Islamart	History of Islamic Art and Architecture
H-Italy	Italian History and Culture
H-Judaic	Judaica, Jewish History
H-Russia	Russian History
H-SAE	Society for the Anthropology of Europe
H-Skand	Scandinavian History
H-Soz-u-Kult	Methoden, Theorie und Ergebnisse neuerer Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte
H-Tur	Turkish Studies
HABSBURG	Culture and History of the central European Habsburg Monarchy and its successor states, 1500 - present

Asia:

H-ANZAU	History of Aotearoa / New Zealand and Australia
H-Asia	Asian Studies and History
H-Japan	Japanese History and Culture

North and South America (non-US):

H-Canada	Canadian History and Studies
H-LatAm	Latin American History
H-Mexico	Mexican History and Mexican Studies

International:

H-Demog	Demographic History
H-Diplo	Diplomatic History and International Affairs
H-Ethnic	Ethnic and Immigration History
H-Ideas	Intellectual History
H-Labor	Labor History
H-Law	Legal and Constitutional History
H-USA	International study of the USA
H-W-Civ	Teaching Western Civilization Courses
H-War	Military History
H-World	World History

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