Internet2 is a non-profit membership organization of 208 universities working in conjunction with government and industry to operate a private national Internet Protocol (IP) network reserved for the exclusive use of the US research and education (R&E) community. The Internet2 network is an advanced, high-performance network that supports advanced or complex applications that do not work on the commercial Internet or do not work well. As the national R&E backbone, the Internet2 Network provides connectivity between institutions and connectivity to international research and education networks thereby providing access to the global research and education community.

What’s the role of Zoos, Aquaria, and Science Centers in Internet2?

As of April 2007, there were 48 zoos, aquaria, science centers, planetariums and observatories connected to Internet2 across the country and this number is only growing.

Most science centers exist in service to a mission that includes a commitment to conserving, interpreting, and exhibiting artifacts associated with the history of science and technology. For generations, those activities happened by necessity behind closed doors and within glass cases. In many ways, the general practice directly conflicted with the mission it served.

Over the past decade, science centers have benefited immensely from the proliferation of network infrastructure—first, mainstream access to the Internet and, more recently, the surge in K-20 participation in Internet2. Through network infrastructure, museums found an unprecedented opportunity to overcome the inherent conflict between conservation and exhibition. The result has been a transformation in the science center community as online access to artifacts and educational programs has become normal mission-driven practice.

In particular, Internet2 provides the capacity for science centers to invite audiences to participate in the kinds of activities that normally happen in curatorial areas that are typically inaccessible to the general public. As a function of mission, science centers desire to engage the largest possible audience with its artifacts of culture. But, how many people can a science center realistically hope to reach? In real space, thousands of visitors observing the conservation of a rare artifact is logistically impossible due to limitations of space and the need for atmospheric integrity. Through Internet2, thousands of visitors observing the same activity in real-time at extremely high-resolution becomes a safe, rich, practical reality.

While the emergence of the commodity Internet was a monumental milestone for science centers in their quest to engage audiences with their collections and programs, Internet2 is the mile marker that truly opens the doors and breaks through the glass cases. Science centers routinely compromised between resolution and speed when making design decisions for commodity Internet sites. Why present high-definition scans of artifacts if users in schools and homes didn’t have the bandwidth to access them anyway? The common compromise has been to reduce pixel size in order to gain a corresponding reduction in file size. With high-speed, high-performance network infrastructure like Internet2, that compromise is no longer necessary.

When a science center decides to establish an Internet2 presence the immediate effect can be invisible and virtually undetected. In some ways, the new connection can feel anti-climactic. All existing Internet functions can and should continue without interruption. Because Internet2 connectivity is essentially a network router function, it is possible that staff might not even notice a difference—at first.

Staff soon detect that they can now access other Internet2 sites—universities, research laboratories, the Library of Congress, etc.—much more quickly than before. While there is no need to change existing Internet resources, the opportunity to enhance databases and exhibitions now presents itself. Likewise, Internet2 invites museums to conceive and create new content that features high-resolution images.

With such easy access to the professional science infrastructure, science centers can bring outside resources into its exhibits and programs. With real-time, high-definition access to science datasets and professional science research laboratories, science centers can overcome the challenge of keeping current with new discoveries.

Perhaps most importantly, when a science center connects to Internet2 it joins a community of practice. Interaction with like-minded institutions can and will cause science centers to imagine new possibilities and programs that support their core missions.

What are other organizations doing with Internet2?

If you are a zoo, aquaria, or science center educator or staff and still aren’t sure what Internet2 can do for you, check out some of these featured science center projects to the right. The only limit to what’s possible is your imagination so get inspired - find your “muse” to do something truly great on your campus today.