I would like to announce that as of Monday, August 9, 2004, the .LRN Consortium was formally incorporated as a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation. As such, the Consortium can now raise money from a variety of sources to support its mission, which remains the development and promotion of .LRN as a leading platform for learning and research communities worldwide.
The initial Founding Members are MIT, University of Heidelberg, and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (as coordinator of the ELANE Project).
The initial Board of Directors include Al Essa (MIT), Michael Hebgen (University of Heidelberg), Carlos Delgado Kloos (U3CM, Project ELANE), Rafael Calvos (Univ. of Sydney), Carl Blesius, and Cesar Brea. Additional members to the Board will be named in the coming weeks and months.
Carl Blesius will serve as the first President and lead the .LRN project under the guidance of the Board of Directors.
Our first step will be to secure seed funding in the form of charter memberships from major institutions participating in the .LRN project to date. With this we can make a small investment in publicity, and more importantly, demonstrate commitment of our users as we try to raise money from foundations and other grant agencies. It will also help demonstrate credibility as we approach other major corporate sponsors.
You may direct any questions regarding the .LRN consortium to me, Carl, or other members of the Board.
