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Internet 2K-20 InitiativeMAGPIResources: The ResearchChan-nel and The Library of Congress

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Internet2 is one of those new, emerg-ing technologies that works almost

like the Internet you have come to know and... get used to. The dif-ference between Internet2 and the “regular” Internet is simple. Internet2 is faster and it’s better. Imagine being able to download a 200 megabyte file (that’s pretty big) in a matter of sec-onds or minutes. To make a compari-son, a file of this size could take the better half of an hour using the regu-lar, commodity internet. Being able to download large files quickly is not the only benefit of Internet2. Being able to transfer data at a high speed makes video-conferencing easier and better than ever. Imagine a music instructor at a well-known, prestigious Univer-sity being able to listen to students playing their instruments in real-time from other parts of the world. This is what is happening right now. In almost any discipline you can imagine, Internet2 is being used to connect people from all over the world and the quality is superior. With remarkable

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Internet2 It’s Better... It’s Faster... and It Is Here @ DSU!Author: Colleen Horan

www.internet2.edu for more information on Internet 2

Have a question about I2? Ask the Instructional Technology Department by contacting Colleen at colleen.horan@desales.edu or Dean at dean.shaffer@desales.edu

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video and audio quality, there is no dif-ference than if they were in the same room. The ability to reach audiences with exceptional quality does not stop there. For example, students in one lo-cation can rotate and dissect a human structure at another location via a high bandwidth connection… that is what Internet2 is capable of.

Who has access to this other, better Internet? You do, along with over

205 Universities, 70 private companies and 50 international organizations. Only educational institutions, and certain industry and government orga-nizations, are permitted to connect to Internet2. In other words, an individual can not connect to I2 (Internet2) from their home. Connecting is easy. There are no buttons that say “Click here for Internet2”, or special web site ad-dresses needed to log on. In order to use Internet2, you simply have to con-nect to another I2 site. For example, The Research Channel is an I2 part-ner, therefore, when you go to www.researchchannel.org from campus, you are connecting through the use of I2. Likewise, if you go to the CNN web site, even if connecting from campus, you are using the regular, commodity Inter-net, as CNN is not an I2 member. For a list of I2 members or other information, Please go to www.internet2.edu.

Issue �May 2006 Word of MousePublished by the Instructional Technology Department of DeSales University

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Internet2 K-20 Initiative Connecting Students of All Ages to the World

My K-20

http://k20.internet2.edu/index.php

The Internet2 K-20 Initiative brings together Internet2 institutions

(DeSales is one of those institutions) with primary and secondary schools, other colleges and universities, libraries, and museums to make use of new technologies, applications, and content. The K-20 Initiative includes regional, national, and international participants.

One of the goals of the K-20 Initiative is to “enhance teaching

and learning by facilitating projects that explore the ways in which advanced network applications, services, tools, and digital content can extend access to education and educational resources.”

Creating an Internet2 K20 Community Member Account

is easy. Once you’re registered, you can begin to explore collaborative opportunities with like-minded individuals worldwide. For a short and interesting overview of the K20 Initiative, visit their Video Tour at http://k20.internet2.edu/about/k20_tour.php .

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eFaster than it already is? Yes, I2 could become faster.

Hopes are that by Fall 2007, I2 will have the ability to conduct even more amazing applications for education and research!

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More than 46,000 K-12 schools, community colleges, universities, libraries, and museums in 35 U.S. states are now connected to the Internet2 backbone network according to the results of a bi-annual survey.

Students and teachers across the country can join the journey through virtual field trips and web-based learning experiences linking them to activities and interdisciplinary curriculum.

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our case, the high-speed nationwide network called the Abilene Network http://abilene.internet2.edu/ ). MAGPI is located at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Other than providing a resource for an infinite number of technical

networking terms, what else can MAGPI do for you? Their services include two very important features. First, there are the two “applications” people available at MAGPI to assist you in setting up collaboration opportunities with other I2 organizations. Jennifer Oxenford (jmacdoug@magpi.net), the Associate Director of MAGPI, and Heather Weisse (hweisse@magpi.net), Applications Coordinator, are available to facilitate educational and research collaborations.

The second resource you may find useful is a database they

are creating that will contain a list of all of the regional collaboration opportunities.

For more information, check their website or contact Jennifer or

Heather directly.

MAGPI – Your Local Resource for Internet2 Programs http://www.magpi.net/

I suppose your first question is – “What is MAGPI?” No, it’s not a crow-like bird. And it’s not a children’s television

show from the sixties. MAGPI is our regional GigaPoP. (I suppose you’re now asking, “What’s a GigaPoP?) Well, in Internet2 parlance, a GigaPoP is a gigabit-point-of-presence. (Don’t ask.) MAGPI provides our local access point to Internet2. MAGPI serves as a regional hub to connect all the local Internet2 members to the Internet2 “backbone” (in

Look for upcoming issues of the Word of Mouse Newsletter for news about new software, workshops and the latest from the Instructional Technology Department

Advanced Networking for Leading-edgeResearch and EducationAuthor: Dean Shaffer

New circuits provide Abilene participants leading-edge networking capability. This quadruples the capacity to more than 15,000 times faster than a typical home broadband connection.

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Resources you just have to check out...You’ll wonder how you got by without them!

ResearchChannel www.researchchannel.org

If you haven’t explored the resources available through the ResearchChannel, you’re missing a world of research, discoveries, and thoughts. The ResearchChannel is part of a consortium of universities

and research institutions. Their mission is to make the work of researchers and educators available to the public through cable, satellite, online and video-on-demand distribution.

What this means for you is that these high-quality resources are now available for use in the classroom. Since we can connect to the ResearchChannel over Internet2, you can take

advantage of streaming and broadband to view live webstream programs and an extensive video-on-demand library. The library houses thousands of full-length programs that are available 24 hours a day.

As video technology advances and high bandwidth communications become available, the ResearchChannel is working with a host of partners to develop and demonstrate innovations in

high-quality communications (such as high-definition video) and distribution of digital media.

The Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/index.html

The Library of Congress is connected to Internet2, so digitized resources are readily available. The library is working to “facilitate wide-scale digital preservation projects, to enhance the development

of an Internet-based database of U.S. newspapers, and to assist with its educational outreach programs.” Here are just some of the resources available from the Library using Internet2.

The National Digital Newspaper Program (http://www.loc.gov/ndnp/ ) seeks to create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published

between 1836 and 1922.

The Library is also working on its National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program ( www.digitalpreservation.gov ). The Library is undertaking a broad-scale digital preservation

program to preserve the increasing amounts historically significant digital content before it is altered or lost.

In addition to their digitizing projects, the Library has a wide collection of Webcasts at http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/index.php . You’ll also find their American Memory collection (http://memory.

loc.gov/learn/ ) which provides a digital record of American history and creativity though written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience.

And you’ll want to check out the Motion Picture, Broadcast, and Recorded Sound Division (http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/ ) which contains the largest collection of movies, videos, and television

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