Project DIANE is a virtual community net - Tennessee State University's Diversified Information and Assistance NEtwork

Digital phones and multimedia PCs serve as a platform for cooperative community services and programs in Tennessee. The initial plan for Project DIANE (Diversified Information and Assistance Network) was drawn up by Tennessee State University's Office of Applied Research, a research unit of its College of Business.

The main idea behind DIANE is to leverage information and telecomm technologies to bring service organizations together to electronically share and distribute resources directly to the community.

Current on-line sites in Nashville and Memphis and Huntsville, Ala., include university campuses, Nashville's metro public library, a medical school, science museum, zoo, small-business counseling centers and two neighborhood community centers.

Since network startup, DIANE organizations have worked together to create a diverse portfolio of cooperative education and community service programs. A sample of DIANE-based programs and applications includes an adopt-a-grandparent mentor program, a library storytelling hour, senior citizen health advisory workshops, small-business counseling and training, science and nature lectures, business and medical library assistance, expert faculty consultations, computer software training and other community-focused applications.

In addition to regularly scheduled activities, groups also use the network for various special events ranging from a Chamber of Commerce-hosted business expo to a community workshop on racial awareness.

Because all videoconferencing in the project is based on international standards, DIANE organizations can collaborate with groups in other parts of the country and abroad. DIANE has also launched an international teleconference series involving high school students in Nashville's sister city (Caen, France) and business assistance groups in London.

Using a customized version of PictureTel PCS-100 desktop conferencing product, Project DIANE members can engage in high-quality voice communication, have a full screen two-way video conference, draw pictures and type words to one another in real time, or collaborate with each other by remotely sharing DOS or Windows software. Learning software, word processing and spreadsheet analysis are common shared applications.

One may find two persons holding an interactive audio/video teleconference with two data software programs going at the same time. Some DIANE terminals can also access and search an on-line database containing hyperlinked multimedia information on local topics in education, business assistance and the community.

Project DIANE also has its own FTP Internet Server which allows its members the option of posting information about themselves and sharing it with others.

One university participant has a large educational videotape library made available to DIANE members. They connected a VCR into the back of their terminal to play VHS tapes, by request, to project members. This practical and cost-efficient arrangement proved to be a popular educational service. It is also possible to have discussions and ad hoc commentary about the videos among remote viewers even as the tape is being played.

DIANE'S science museum participant conducts regularly scheduled nature and science workshops to kids at other DIANE sites. To make the sessions more educational, the museum inputs information into its communication terminal from various electronic data sources, including, for example, a video microscope, an in-building coaxial camera network (to show real-time images of its various science exhibits), a laser disc player, etc. The museum has even mounted a digital camera on top of a roving robot to give remote viewers a robot's-eye view of robot movements and mechanical arm actions.

Other terminal-attached devices used by member organizations to enhance their various learning and service activities include camcorders (used for zoom-ins and events with lots of movement), slide projectors, wireless microphones and TV monitors. Project members have also on occasion used local and long-distance public video bridges for group conferencing.

There have been surprisingly few major problems in setting up the network service locations or in training DIANE participants on how to use the technologies. Each network location has a technical coordinator to help a novice user. Training the technical coordinator is typically accomplished by having the technology instructor visit the coordinator one time for physical instruction, with follow-up training done through person-to-person videoconferences and instructional remote control of the coordinator's terminal.

For those involved in the project, DIANE is a good example of community-oriented distance learning and assistance.

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