DEMRI Announces New Array of Web-based Resources Supporting Black Communities Worldwide

Redlands, CA (PRWEB) June 12, 2006

The goal is to support the growth, development, and advancement of people of African descent through the provision of knowledge, information and open access to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) resources.

The name DEMRI stands for Development Establishment Maintenance and Refinement Institute. The DEMRI is a publicly supported entity working to develop, collect, and publish the best information and resources on education, culture, community development, policy, practice and research. The DEMRI site is a user-driven, international community where Collaboration and Open Knowledge Sharing are core concepts…

The organization is striving to offer thousands of online documents to its users. The DEMRI will maintain an ever-growing collection of summarized, and full-text, online documents selected from more than 2,200 different publishers. All documents will be available free of charge!

Resource Guides:

Subject-focused guides will offer quick access to key documents, organizations, research themes, discussions and other key resources.

Newsletters:

DEMRI email news services will bring the latest findings, developments and research to your e-mail-inbox on over (20) topics.

Newsfeeds:

The DEMRI site collects news from newsfeeds around the world, including meaningful Blog and Forum output. Users will soon be able to access relative news on issues facing black communities. If you use an RSS news reader, you can add the DEMRI site aggregated newsfeed to your website or desktop news reader for the latest site information on over (20) topics.

User Profiles -

Registered users have access to full-featured user profiles:

•      DEMRI users can control Forum settings, submit news, event information, content articles, and create public and personal blogs.
•      Start a forum discussion on any Blog article in the forums with one click!
•      Make connections and network with other users with similar interests (don't mistake this for another singles site this is a serious environment for agents of change).
•      Track all content, blog, and forum submissions right from your profile.
•      Enable a photo in profiles
•      Download important resource documents and files from the download area.
•      Submit web site links so other users can find important resources.

Users will soon be able to create custom, high quality slideshows to present important messages and media content.

Registered users submitting quality content, news and event information will get top exposure because the DEMRI stands alone in its category through the use of the latest Open Source Content Management System(s).

The main DEMRI: ( http://www.demri.org/ ) site is the parent site in a family of three (3) web-based resources developed to support the growth and advancement of black communities. The DEMRI family of sites collectively provides a comprehensive array of knowledge services. There is and “Open Call” page to learn how you can contribute to the richness of the project…

The DEMRI manages the new DEMRI Learning Gateway: ( http://www.demri.org/moodle/ ), based on the internationally adopted (Moodle) platform. Moodle is an open source PHP application for producing Internet-based educational courses and Web sites on any major platform (Linux, Unix, Windows and Mac OS X). Courses are easily built up using modules such as forums, chats, journals, quizzes, surveys, assignments, workshops, resources, choices and more. Moodle supports localization (translation), and has so far been translated into 34 languages. Moodle has been designed to support modern pedagogies based on social constructionism, and focuses on providing an environment to support collaboration, connected knowing and a meaningful exchange of ideas.

The DEMRI Portal - http://opencourse.org/Collaboratories/demriportal/ is a complete collaborative development environment designed to support the design, development, and publishing of Reusable Learning Assets (RLA’s). The DEMRI Portal features a complete array of tools and resources, including communications facilities for co-development (collaboration) and incorporates Wiki technology into the mix also. Learning Assets created through the portal are ready to export into other Learning Content Management Systems, such as Moodle, BlackBoard, WebCT and a host of other mainstream teaching and learning environments. The DEMRI Portal project is currently hosted by Open Course, which is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and others… The portal is also home for the new Maximum Cultural Development (MCD) concept.

They also maintain a new, and separate discussion forum from the one here at our parent site - the DEMRI Forum: http://www.demri.org/smf/. This is a newly established communications resource (forum) where interested parties can express themselves and voice their opinions. The DEMRI Forum is a full-featured communications resource, as with all DEMRI assets. "We know that our people have much to express and articulate, so we're making sure all the tools are in place", the Director stated.

"We are a new resource, and everyone is invited to visit, and join us as we evolve into one of the Hub institutions for web-based resources supporting black communities. We are dedicated to remaining true to our mission and purpose and will not become over-commercialized. Our maintenance and content management procedures totally eliminate the potential disease of Link-Rot, which has become an epidemic among some black resource sites were links take you to dead ends…" the DEMRI Communications Manager also added.

"You can e-mail any page on our site with just (2) clicks! All of our content pages can also be transformed into PDF format, and are printer friendly."

Metro InfoDesign: the web design firm responsible for developing and maintaining the resources stated they fully support the projects and have even more functionality and integration planned in the coming weeks, (http://www.metro-infodesign.net/).

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