MIDnet, Inc.: Projects

In the summer of 1986, the NSF funded the proposal for the creation of MIDnet, a regional network to connect researchers in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Since that time, MIDnet has gone through many changes, but has never strayed from its roots in regional research and education networking initiatives.

One of the current initiatives is documenting the value of research and education networks to the research and education community. The plan is interview researchers and other end users to identify the ways in which the network or the organization impacts their work. More information will be available after the completion of a pilot project.

In addition, MIDnet continues to work with The Quilt on projects to promote understanding of the country's research and education networks and the vital roles they play in a state and/or region. The current projects involve documenting activities and success stories of the networks and developing an understanding of how the networking organizations build communities.

Activities and success stories of the research and education networks have been documented and published in The Quilt Circle, 1st Edition and The Quilt Circle, 2nd Edition. Each edition is filled with stories of activities and achievements from the research and education networking community. Printed versions are available upon request through our Contacts page.

In a previous project (see below), research and education networking organizations discussed the importance of community building to their overall success. The Quilt and MIDnet have collected information on community building strategies and have hosted two panel discussions on this topic at a national conference. In 2010, the panel discussion, Research and Education Networks: Building Communities, was held at the Internet2 Fall Member Meeting. The follow up discussion, More Than the Network: Research and Education Networks Building Communities, was held at the 2011 Internet2 Spring Member Meeting. While the steps networking organizations used to build communities varies from organization to organizations, the key foundation for all organizations is trust. Building communities is not unlike building and managing personal relationships.

Past projects include documenting business models of the research and education optical networks (RONs). For more information on this project, see The Case Study Project.