MTSU and Project DIANE
Liz Johnson
Dr. Stephen P. Shao, Jr.

• Abstract
• Part I
• Part II
• Authors

PART I

The first part of this session describes Project DIANE, its members and its requirements. Session participants will view Project DIANE’s web site located at www.diane.org Most of the information in Part I is used by permission of the site’s constructor and Project DIANE director, Dr. Stephen Shao.

What is Project DIANE?

Project DIANE, Diversified Information and Assistance Network, is a non-profit teleconferencing consortium for educational and community service organizations. It uses inexpensive desktop videoconferencing technology to share audio, video, and sometimes data in order to benefit research, education,and business. Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) joined Project DIANE in 1997.

The Purpose of Project DIANE

DIANE members collaborate with one another to develop and supportinteractive video and multimedia teleconference-based education, community service, and economic development programs. The projects primary objectives are:

1. to develop a successful electronic community service network that can be expanded and /or replicated by all interested members of the community,
2. to bring educational institutions, business development agencies, and community service organizations closer together for cooperative sharing of scarce public and private resources
3. to provide needy individuals and groups with free, or low cost, digital access to useful information, assistance and professional expertise.

The Procedures of Membership

Prospective new members should write a letter to the project director requesting to join Project DIANE. This letter should include 1) an agreement to abide by the general procedures and conditions 2) a description of the types of programs in which the organization intends to participate or offer as resources.

Member organizations of DIANE are required to:

1. reference Project DIANE in all public or private promotions of DIANE activities
2. recognize and support DIANE's public service mission by sharing resources with other project members.
3. designate and provide the names of an on-site DIANE coordinator who will serve as the organization's primary point of contact with other DIANE members and serve as program coordinator and Planning Committee member for all joint cooperative activities conducted on the network.
4. to provide a representative who will regularly attend DIANE Planning Committee meetings which take place approximately every 6 to 9 weeks if
   the organization is located within Nashville/Davidson County or a contiguous surrounding county. The place where these meetings are held is rotated among member locations (e.g. to give members an opportunity to see how others have designed their workspace, custom configured their equipment with peripherals, etc.)
5. maintain an event diary which records the dates and descriptions of significant DIANE related events or programs in which it is involved. Each member's diary log (or log summary) and related information will periodically be requested and collected by Project DIANE's Planning Committee in order to compile data needed for directory update purposes, activity and statistical analysis, newsletter or web server publishing, etc. This collected information is available to all members of Project DIANE.

Benefits of Membership

Project DIANE members

1. share resources, including knowledge, experience, and programming.
2. share a directory of members' programming
3. gain experience in a new and growing technology
4. create a collective influence on vendors and service providers to reduce costs
5. in-kind donations or discounts on products and services
6. receive technical assistance and cost information for grant applications
7. use DIANE’s internet web server
8. are included on profile pages on DIANE’s web server
9. use DIANE’s teleconference terminal for testing purposes 24-hours a day Monday through Friday.
10. receive contact names and numbers of other DIANE members
11. receive information on grant opportunities may participate in group grant opportunities.
12. receive examples of programs offered by and accessed by other DIANE members sites
13. have the opportunity to participate in highly visible technology collaborations, and special events i.e. the Governor’s Economic Summit
14. receive on-site and group training opportunities

     

Equipment Procurement

An organization can acquire equipment under three different scenarios:

1. The organization has compatible technologies already in place.
   
2. The organization plans to construct its own terminal configuration
   
3. The organization arranges for DIANE Services to construct its network node configuration

Upon request, DIANE Services can provide new member organizations with a complete turnkey network construction. Under a standard contract of agreement, DIANE Services will order all necessary equipment components, build the system, set up local and long distance digital telecommunications circuits, train personnel, and provide a minimum of six months helpdesk technical support. DIANE Services duties are currently carried out by Tennessee State University Office of Applied Research.

Costs

The cost to a new organization of contracting with the OAR to construct an initial DIANE teleconference network node at its premises depends partly on the applicant's circumstances. For service agencies or for educational institutions who join DIANE under a third party grant proposal, budget items to cover assigned overhead cost and technical support may be required. Technical support includes equipment purchases, system construction and upgrades, training, documentation, database maintenance and help desk duties. Interested nonprofit organizations should note, however, that in keeping with the DIANE precept that no one should be barred

DIANE Programs at MTSU

MTSU is new to Project DIANE, but it has already participated in several DIANE related activities listed below:

1. Austin Peay State University Technology Day participant-talked with high school students visiting Austin Peay and seeing demonstrations of technology.
    
2. Business Expo, Nashville Convention Center-talked to business people at the Expo about our upcoming satellite conference Future Day.
    
3. Centennial High School, Franklin-MTSU’s Division of Continuing Studies set up a videoconferencing system in a classroom at Centennial High School for the primary purpose of delivering distance learning classes during the evening hours as part of Centennial Community Education Program. During daytime hours Centennial students are permitted to use the equipment for Project DIANE programs at no cost for local calls and for the cost of the toll for long distance calls.
    
4. Department of Geography-Dr. Tom Nolan’s class in Urban Geography calls into a fellow DIANE site at the Nashville Chamber of Commerce to talk with Realtors, businessmen and others.
    
5. Admissions-MTSU admissions representative talked with students at Page High School in Franklin to discuss qualifications for college admissions.
    
6. Placement-MTSU Placement interviews can be conducted between students and alumni seeking employment or between MTSU and potential faculty. 

PART II

The remainder of the session consists of videoconference calls between Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference participants and three different DIANE member sites. Each call lasts about fifteen minutes.

Tennessee State Library and Archives
Gayla Cassidy uses DIANE to train faculty in K-12 schools on what resources are available at the State Library. She arranges speakers or section heads to describe the libraries holdings and to show documents to students. She prepares students before they visit the library.

Nashville Public Library, Looby Branch
Verlone Malone uses DIANE to hold storytelling and puppet shows with students in schools too far away to visit the library. Librarians also answer inquiries about materials. DIANE has been used in the Edgehill Adopt-a-Grandparent program and to receive programs for visiting students from the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) and the Nashville Zoo.

Page High School
Pat Jones has been participating in DIANE for three years. Her classes have visited "virtually" with a doctor at Vanderbilt Medical Center who is doing clinical trials for AIDS. They average one call a month to programs presented by the Oakridge Laboratory, the Cumberland Science Museum and the Small Business Resources Center. One of their most successful experiences was the pre-visit preparation offered by TPAC once a week for a month before the students saw Miss Saigon. Actor’s, designers and a representative of Veteran’s Affairs discussed the play’s cultural and historical setting comparing it with Madama Butterfly. Page High School has also requested a conference with an admissions councilor from MTSU.

DIANE’s Significance

Project DIANE is an ongoing and growing technology-based initiative which proves that videoconferencing is more than the latest techno-fad. Many uses for this technology are developing which simply could not be done any other way. Although videoconferencing will not completely replace field trips, it can add a great many more enrichment experiences to classrooms on a regular basis at very reasonable cost. Schools that are too far away for a day trip to Nashville can enjoy resources they simply have had to do without. Students with physical or emotional handicaps can visit places they couldn’t before. The zoo can enlist classes for an overnight virtual "zoo watch" at their school observing, from a safe respectful distance, as animals give birth. In-service development for teachers can be more convenient, more diversified, less expensive and, consequently, more frequent. As DIANE grows, many new uses will be discovered for this elegant new tool which is just beginning to enrich and expand the learning experience.

Authors

Liz Johnson, Coordinator Division of Continuing Studies
Middle Tennessee State University
1301 E. Main St., Cope 113
Murfreesboro, TN 37132
voice: 615/898-5374 fax: 615/898-4100 ljohnson@a1.mtsu.edu

Dr. Stephen P. Shao, Jr., Director Project DIANE
Tennessee State University Suite K, 330, Tenth Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37203 voice: 615/ 963-7171 fax:615/963-7173 Shao01@harpo.tnstate.edu

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