NMIS Final Report ©1997

NMIS Project Final Report 1993 - 1997

1.3 Collaborators

[ToC]

The National Information Infrastructure (NII) vision included enhanced national competitiveness through the accelerated transfer of innovative ideas and technologies from U.S. universities and laboratories into world-class commercial products. To achieve this benefit, interdisciplinary initiatives joined service developers with academic and industrial researchers from the networking, multimedia, standards and policy fields. NMIS also provided opportunities for the early deployment of key Internet and multimedia technologies in an "open and constructive" environment. This provided interoperability and performance testing before general release of technologies or products for NMIS use. The following are brief descriptions of each of the participating organizations.

Performing Academic Organizations

Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
http://www-ceci.mit.edu/

The Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI) was created in March 1991 to advance the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice use of computation and communication technologies for learning and teaching. Projects at CECI focus on enabling technologies for educational applications, including authoring systems, toolkits or libraries of computer code that make the creation of effective computer applications easier and less expensive. In addition, the center also undertakes authoring of new educational applications using available and pre-competitive technologies, and finally CECI evaluates how computer technology affects education, particularly the extent to which innovations in computer applications improve the quality of education. In September, 1995 CECI became a formal part of a newly reorganizaed CAES with an MIT-wide scope.

Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
http://www-caes.mit.edu/

The MIT Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) was founded in 1963 to provide lifelong opportunities for learning in engineering, science and technical management, thus enabling professionals to acquire and maintain the advanced skills required to exert technological leadership. Through its varied programs, the Center creates vital communication links among industry, government and the academic/research community of MIT and plays a pivotal role in transferring science and technology to industry and government agencies. CAES facilities include a fully equipped broadcast studio and a complete pre- and post-production edit suite with broadcast quality Beta-SP capability and satellite and cable links. There are fiber facilities for data and video connectivity provided by Continental Cablevision and high speed copper connectivity from NYNEX. Excellent connectivity exists to the worldwide broadcast quality video distribution "grid" and the Internet which provides outstanding opportunities to accelerate the convergence of these two significant information distribution worlds.

Interactive Media Laboratory (IML)
Dartmouth Medical School (DMS)
http://iml.dartmouth.edu/

The Interactive Media Laboratory at Dartmouth Medical School is dedicated to crafting powerful learning experiences through the use of computer, media, and communication technologies. The Dartmouth Interactive Media Laboratory (IML) and its Director, Dr. Joseph Henderson, have been producing interactive media programs for over eight years. They have specialized in medical simulation, with the goal of providing users with a sense of having had a life-experience. Learning occurs at an essential level and a fundamental change in attitudes and behavior results. To help accomplish this goal, IML designers and programmers work hard to create realities that are: rich in concepts, realistic in content and in their portrayal of physical and social environments, and interesting and entertaining to use. The Laboratory takes pride in producing effective programs with excellent pedagogy and high production quality.

Research Program on Communication Policy (RPCP)
Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development (CTPID)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
http://rpcp.mit.edu/

CTPID conducts interdisciplinary research and education on major technical and policy issues, such as communications, energy, environment, and transportation. RPCP works with companies, government, and academic leaders to understand and help set the direction for major shifts in the structure of the imaging, television, video, publishing, audio, communication, and computer industries.

Currently, RPCP supports a number of activities. RPCP program researchers work in concert with other private and public organizations to assess alternative innovative approaches to interoperability, scalability, and extensibility for high performance computing and communication systems, high data rate networked applications, and new policy models, such as an "open communications infrastructure." In addition, faculty and staff affiliated with the program organize workshops to promote information sharing across congressional committee staff, executive branch agencies, professional trade associations, the broadcast, cable, computer, telecommunications and transportation industries, education and health care professionals, and academics.

As part of the NMIS project, RPCP addressed the following issues:
(1) Local Access Infrastructure
(2) Networked Multimedia Services
(3) Core Telecommunications Infrastructure
(4) Security and Access Control Services
(5) Multimedia Standards, Economics, and Policy
(6) Global Information Infrastructure

Also, RPCP has supported a number of workshops, such as theWorkshop on Internet Economics, from which the volume Internet Economics (MIT Press, 1997) was inspired, and co-sponsored a workshop entitled, Technology Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment with Harvard University's Kenedy School of Government, the Interactive Multimedia Association, and the Coalition for Networked Information.

Information Networking Institute (INI)
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
http://www.ini.cmu.edu/NETBILL/

The Carnegie Mellon University Information Networking Institute (CMU/INI) focuses on networking technology and related strategy and policy issues. The INI was established in 1989 by Carnegie Mellon University as the nation's first research and education center devoted to Information Networking. The Institute is concerned with the movement of information over public and private networks, to enable end users to conduct business and communicate interactively in multiple media -- voice, data, text, image and video.

In Cooperation with...
Informedia Digital Video Library Project
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)
http://www.informedia.cs.cmu.edu

The Informedia Digital Video Library is a research initiative at Carnegie Mellon University funded by the NSF, DARPA, NASA and others that studies how multimedia digital libraries can be established and used. Informedia is building a multimedia library that will consist of over one thousand hours of digital video, audio, images, text and other related materials. Informedia is one of six Digital Libraries Initiative projects.

Industry Sponsors

To support this effort, partners from industry provided multimedia servers, video editing systems and post production equipment and multimedia content contributions without charge. Sponsors also participated in an interactive fashion which also included providing valuable expertise on occasion. These resources were made accessible nationwide via the Internet and emerging NII.

International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM)
http://www.ibm.com

Turner Educational Services, Inc. (TESI)
http://learning.turner.com/

Sponsoring Government Agencies

National Science Foundation (NSF - NCR-9307548 and Cooperative Agreement IRI 9411299)
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA- A0-B231)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion U.S. Public Health Service (ODPHP-USPHS)

Performing Academic Organizations
Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) http://www-ceci.mit.edu/
The Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI) was created in March 1991 to advance the state-of-the-art and state-of-the-practice use of computation and communication technologies for learning and teaching. Projects at CECI focus on enabling technologies for educational applications, including authoring systems, toolkits or libraries of computer code that make the creation of effective computer applications easier and less expensive. In addition, the center also undertakes authoring of new educational applications using available and pre-competitive technologies, and finally CECI evaluates how computer technology affects education, particularly the extent to which innovations in computer applications improve the quality of education. In September, 1995 CECI became a formal part of a newly reorganizaed CAES with an MIT-wide scope.
Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) http://www-caes.mit.edu/
The MIT Center for Advanced Educational Services (CAES) was founded in 1963 to provide lifelong opportunities for learning in engineering, science and technical management, thus enabling professionals to acquire and maintain the advanced skills required to exert technological leadership. Through its varied programs, the Center creates vital communication links among industry, government and the academic/research community of MIT and plays a pivotal role in transferring science and technology to industry and government agencies. CAES facilities include a fully equipped broadcast studio and a complete pre- and post-production edit suite with broadcast quality Beta-SP capability and satellite and cable links. There are fiber facilities for data and video connectivity provided by Continental Cablevision and high speed copper connectivity from NYNEX. Excellent connectivity exists to the worldwide broadcast quality video distribution "grid" and the Internet which provides outstanding opportunities to accelerate the convergence of these two significant information distribution worlds.
Interactive Media Laboratory (IML) Dartmouth Medical School (DMS) http://iml.dartmouth.edu/
The Interactive Media Laboratory at Dartmouth Medical School is dedicated to crafting powerful learning experiences through the use of computer, media, and communication technologies. The Dartmouth Interactive Media Laboratory (IML) and its Director, Dr. Joseph Henderson, have been producing interactive media programs for over eight years. They have specialized in medical simulation, with the goal of providing users with a sense of having had a life-experience. Learning occurs at an essential level and a fundamental change in attitudes and behavior results. To help accomplish this goal, IML designers and programmers work hard to create realities that are: rich in concepts, realistic in content and in their portrayal of physical and social environments, and interesting and entertaining to use. The Laboratory takes pride in producing effective programs with excellent pedagogy and high production quality.
Research Program on Communication Policy (RPCP) Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development (CTPID) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) http://rpcp.mit.edu/
CTPID conducts interdisciplinary research and education on major technical and policy issues, such as communications, energy, environment, and transportation. RPCP works with companies, government, and academic leaders to understand and help set the direction for major shifts in the structure of the imaging, television, video, publishing, audio, communication, and computer industries. Currently, RPCP supports a number of activities. RPCP program researchers work in concert with other private and public organizations to assess alternative innovative approaches to interoperability, scalability, and extensibility for high performance computing and communication systems, high data rate networked applications, and new policy models, such as an "open communications infrastructure." In addition, faculty and staff affiliated with the program organize workshops to promote information sharing across congressional committee staff, executive branch agencies, professional trade associations, the broadcast, cable, computer, telecommunications and transportation industries, education and health care professionals, and academics. As part of the NMIS project, RPCP addressed the following issues: (1) Local Access Infrastructure (2) Networked Multimedia Services (3) Core Telecommunications Infrastructure (4) Security and Access Control Services (5) Multimedia Standards, Economics, and Policy (6) Global Information Infrastructure Also, RPCP has supported a number of workshops, such as theWorkshop on Internet Economics, from which the volume Internet Economics (MIT Press, 1997) was inspired, and co-sponsored a workshop entitled, Technology Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment with Harvard University's Kenedy School of Government, the Interactive Multimedia Association, and the Coalition for Networked Information.
Information Networking Institute (INI) Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) http://www.ini.cmu.edu/NETBILL/
The Carnegie Mellon University Information Networking Institute (CMU/INI) focuses on networking technology and related strategy and policy issues. The INI was established in 1989 by Carnegie Mellon University as the nation's first research and education center devoted to Information Networking. The Institute is concerned with the movement of information over public and private networks, to enable end users to conduct business and communicate interactively in multiple media -- voice, data, text, image and video.
*In Cooperation with...* Informedia Digital Video Library Project Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) http://www.informedia.cs.cmu.edu
The Informedia Digital Video Library is a research initiative at Carnegie Mellon University funded by the NSF, DARPA, NASA and others that studies how multimedia digital libraries can be established and used. Informedia is building a multimedia library that will consist of over one thousand hours of digital video, audio, images, text and other related materials. Informedia is one of six Digital Libraries Initiative projects.
Industry Sponsors
To support this effort, partners from industry provided multimedia servers, video editing systems and post production equipment and multimedia content contributions without charge. Sponsors also participated in an interactive fashion which also included providing valuable expertise on occasion. These resources were made accessible nationwide via the Internet and emerging NII.
International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM) http://www.ibm.com
Turner Educational Services, Inc. (TESI) http://learning.turner.com/
Sponsoring Government Agencies
National Science Foundation (NSF - NCR-9307548 and Cooperative Agreement IRI 9411299) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA- A0-B231) The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion U.S. Public Health Service (ODPHP-USPHS)