NETWORKS
Internet2 K20 Initiative Launches Social Networking Site
Site to Help Facilitate More Rapid Adoption of Next Generation Technology by K20 Community: The Internet2 K20 Initiative today announced that it has launched a brand new social networking site called Muse which seeks to significantly enhance collaboration, information-sharing and technology opportunities for the over 50,000 K-12 schools, community colleges, libraries and museums in 38 U.S. states that are now connected to the Internet2 backbone network. The site is also expected to provide a better bridge between the U.S. K20 community and its international counterparts worldwide. Within the short time since launching, the new site has already experienced significant uptake within the community. 
"The Internet2 K20 community has traditionally embraced advanced technology to facilitate new opportunities for students at all levels to experience a richer environment for teaching and learning. The development of a social networking web resource is a natural progression for our community which has long sought more efficient ways to share experiences, ideas, resources, projects and collaborations across geographic boundaries," said Louis Fox, Director, Internet2 K20 Initiative and Associate Vice President, University of Washington. "We have experienced strong use since the site has gone live and expect its adoption to continue especially as functionality enabling deeper collaboration is added. In the future, we see Muse as a potentially helpful resource for the greater Internet2 community to enhance project collaborations on a global scale and facilitate cross-disciplinary engagement." Muse was developed by University of Washington student web programmers under the leadership of James Werle, Associate Director, Internet2 K20 Initiative, University of Washington, and Jennifer Oxenford, Associate Director, MAGPI. The site expands upon the core code of Drupal, an open source content management platform, and provides many of the Web 2.0 features found in popular social networking sites. Practitioners from the broad K20 community can set up individual and institutional profiles, describe projects, share resources, and create direct connections with their peers both regionally, nationally and internationally. The site also allows online communities to be created and scoped to a specific geographic area. This feature is geared for groups of organizations looking to share resources just within their immediate region while still participating in the global Muse community. Currently, five regional Muse sites have been established including the MAGPI region of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. MAGPI, co-founder and co-developer of the Muse system, has already seen tremendous adoption among its regional community. Jennifer Oxenford, Associate Director of MAGPI, believes that by developing this integrated regional capability within the global Muse system, there is finally a successful method for bridging regional, national and international advanced networking communities. Oxenford commented, "Through Muse, there is now a way of providing members across our broad K20 regional communities access to a one-stop shop for the regional, national and international collaboration opportunities they're seeking." Since its launch, additional regional Muse sites have been created in Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin with others expected to join in the months to come. Kathy Kraemer, TIES Education Technology Consultant and District Technology Integration Coordinator for Fridley Public School in Minnesota, agrees that Muse is already greatly assisting their efforts regionally and expects adoption to grow. "In Minnesota, there are many groups working on a variety of Internet2 applications. With Muse, we've become more aware of other schools and organizations working on similar projects and are finding better ways to work together," said Kraemer. "It does an amazing job of cross promoting organizations, projects and people. Beyond our state, when interested people ask me where to go for more information on Internet2, I point them to Muse to find a whole array of people and organizations." While the site continues to rapidly expand in use, Muse plans to introduce the ability for users to create topically-based communities, chat in real time about projects and interests, receive email "Museletters" tailored to those specific interests and provide RSS feeds to broadcast information on new users, projects and organizations as the site grows. In doing so, the site intends to provide the community the ability to develop stronger, more comprehensive collaboration groups and to promote the more rapid adoption of advanced networking applications among this unique set of Internet2 users. Muse builds on the success of the nationwide Internet2 K20 Initiative in bringing together Internet2 member institutions and innovators from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, libraries and museums to extend new technologies, applications and advanced content to all educational sectors across the country. Through the Initiative, K20 students now have access to world-class learning experiences like master music classes taught by world-renowned musicians using DVD-quality videoconferencing or science experiments with advanced electron microscopes found at research labs using remote imaging instruments. Students also participate in programs, like Megaconference Jr., a project that brings together thousands of students in elementary and secondary schools from around the world using advanced multi-point video-conferencing. Internet2 members and partners attending the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting in Arlington, VA are encouraged to attend the Internet2 K20 Initiative Meeting on Monday, April 21, 2008 to learn more about the initiative, its resources and to participate in discussions about how to expand or participate in the program. Session details can be found at its Web site.
"The Internet2 K20 community has traditionally embraced advanced technology to facilitate new opportunities for students at all levels to experience a richer environment for teaching and learning. The development of a social networking web resource is a natural progression for our community which has long sought more efficient ways to share experiences, ideas, resources, projects and collaborations across geographic boundaries," said Louis Fox, Director, Internet2 K20 Initiative and Associate Vice President, University of Washington. "We have experienced strong use since the site has gone live and expect its adoption to continue especially as functionality enabling deeper collaboration is added. In the future, we see Muse as a potentially helpful resource for the greater Internet2 community to enhance project collaborations on a global scale and facilitate cross-disciplinary engagement." Muse was developed by University of Washington student web programmers under the leadership of James Werle, Associate Director, Internet2 K20 Initiative, University of Washington, and Jennifer Oxenford, Associate Director, MAGPI. The site expands upon the core code of Drupal, an open source content management platform, and provides many of the Web 2.0 features found in popular social networking sites. Practitioners from the broad K20 community can set up individual and institutional profiles, describe projects, share resources, and create direct connections with their peers both regionally, nationally and internationally. The site also allows online communities to be created and scoped to a specific geographic area. This feature is geared for groups of organizations looking to share resources just within their immediate region while still participating in the global Muse community. Currently, five regional Muse sites have been established including the MAGPI region of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. MAGPI, co-founder and co-developer of the Muse system, has already seen tremendous adoption among its regional community. Jennifer Oxenford, Associate Director of MAGPI, believes that by developing this integrated regional capability within the global Muse system, there is finally a successful method for bridging regional, national and international advanced networking communities. Oxenford commented, "Through Muse, there is now a way of providing members across our broad K20 regional communities access to a one-stop shop for the regional, national and international collaboration opportunities they're seeking." Since its launch, additional regional Muse sites have been created in Minnesota, North Carolina and Wisconsin with others expected to join in the months to come. Kathy Kraemer, TIES Education Technology Consultant and District Technology Integration Coordinator for Fridley Public School in Minnesota, agrees that Muse is already greatly assisting their efforts regionally and expects adoption to grow. "In Minnesota, there are many groups working on a variety of Internet2 applications. With Muse, we've become more aware of other schools and organizations working on similar projects and are finding better ways to work together," said Kraemer. "It does an amazing job of cross promoting organizations, projects and people. Beyond our state, when interested people ask me where to go for more information on Internet2, I point them to Muse to find a whole array of people and organizations." While the site continues to rapidly expand in use, Muse plans to introduce the ability for users to create topically-based communities, chat in real time about projects and interests, receive email "Museletters" tailored to those specific interests and provide RSS feeds to broadcast information on new users, projects and organizations as the site grows. In doing so, the site intends to provide the community the ability to develop stronger, more comprehensive collaboration groups and to promote the more rapid adoption of advanced networking applications among this unique set of Internet2 users. Muse builds on the success of the nationwide Internet2 K20 Initiative in bringing together Internet2 member institutions and innovators from primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities, libraries and museums to extend new technologies, applications and advanced content to all educational sectors across the country. Through the Initiative, K20 students now have access to world-class learning experiences like master music classes taught by world-renowned musicians using DVD-quality videoconferencing or science experiments with advanced electron microscopes found at research labs using remote imaging instruments. Students also participate in programs, like Megaconference Jr., a project that brings together thousands of students in elementary and secondary schools from around the world using advanced multi-point video-conferencing. Internet2 members and partners attending the Internet2 Spring Member Meeting in Arlington, VA are encouraged to attend the Internet2 K20 Initiative Meeting on Monday, April 21, 2008 to learn more about the initiative, its resources and to participate in discussions about how to expand or participate in the program. Session details can be found at its Web site.