【C1】______ are the missions of a learned society in an era of digital networks?【C2】______ the American Council of Learned Societies, we believe the【C3】______ of digital networks will plow up and replant the worlds of scholarship and education. We believe these technologies can【C4】______ us well if we take care in making the transition to using them. But we also believe【C5】______ may do great damage if we are inattentive or timid or simply dazzled by the technologies.【C6】______ to make the transition to digital networks in the humanities and social sciences is one of our main【C7】______ at the ACLS. For a gathering in November 1996, we asked the executive directors of the 56 learned societies that then belonged to the ACLS【C8】______ brief essays on 【C9】______ they perceived to be the mission of their learned society in an【C10】______ age. My remarks are informed by this collection of【C11】______ and our subsequent discussion of them, but the views expressed are my【C12】______ In due【C13】______ I will argue the following. The new technology will allow long-standing missions of learned societies to be performed in new ways, but the missions of learned societies are also likely to be【C14】______ . 【C15】______ are significant changes afoot in the world of scholarship and higher education【C16】______ internationalization, interdisciplinarity, and interactive learning. Learned【C17】______ are unusually【C18】______to use the new technology to contribute to these changes. The【C19】______ of learned societies today are best seen by【C20】______ them with what preceded modern learned societies. 【C1】