Fathom poised to redefine scope of online learning

Fathom will include some free content and a large amount of fee-based material
"We are creating a vibrant 'main street' for knowledge and education
Examples of Fathom content currently in development include:

Six of the world's most renowned educational and cultural institutions -- including libraries, museums and universities -- have joined together with a for-profit online venture, Fathom, billed as "the premier site for knowledge and education on the Internet."

The initial Fathom partners are the British Library, Cambridge University Press, Columbia University in New York, the London School of Economics and Political Science, the New York Public Library and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Fathom will include some free content and a large amount of fee-based material

Fathom will include some free content and a large amount of fee-based material, including its own college-level courses and other materials. This is in contrast to the recent $100 million pledge by Michael Saylor, founder and president of MicroStrategy, who wants to provide a free, "Ivy League-quality" education to anyone in the world with an Internet connection.

One of the Internet's primary drawbacks is the lack of authentication for much existing online material, according to a statement from Columbia University officials. All the material on Fathom will be attributed to specific institutions and their faculty or staff, and will be overseen by a panel of senior faculty and curators.

The site will feature a directory of online courses offered by universities and cultural institutions, textbooks and related academic materials, periodicals, articles and other publications, CD-ROMs, and learning resources. While users will register for the online courses through Fathom, tuition, accreditation, and admissions will be set by the individual member organizations.

Given the wide variety of material that will be presented -- much of which hasn't previously been available outside the specific schools, libraries and museums -- the site will be "far more than another distance learning site," said Fathom President and CEO Ann Kirschner, Ph.D.

"We are creating a vibrant 'main street' for knowledge and education

"We are creating a vibrant 'main street' for knowledge and education. We intend to go beyond the current limits of information sites scattered across the web and also go beyond online initiatives from individual schools," Kirschner said. Initial Fathom offerings will include: an oral history research project from Columbia University that includes 7,000 interviews conducted over 50 years with such diverse people as Nikita Khrushchev, Dorothy Parker, Jimmy Stewart and Frank Lloyd Wright; an overview of the new astrobiology field presented by Cambridge University Press that features the search for extraterrestrial life, planetary science and molecular life sciences; a discussion of "The Weightless Economy" by London School of Economics and Political Science Professor Danny Quah; the British Library's multimedia presentation of objects including the Magna Carta and the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Wide Range of Subjects and Tools for Learning

Central to Fathom will be a wealth of free content usually only available on university campuses and at leading museums and libraries. This content will include multimedia lectures, seminars, databases, publications, and performances. Working directly with the prominent faculty and curators of these institutions, Fathom will cover a wide range of subjects such as business, law, economics, social sciences, medicine, computer science and technology, the arts, journalism, and physics. Fathom users will explore topics of interest to them professionally and personally. They will have the opportunity to interact and collaborate with the leading experts in their field. Fathom's unique architecture will provide a powerful "search and explore capability" that will allow users to follow their interests, independently or with expert guidance, across the widest possible range of subjects.

Extensive Content, Highest Standards

"Fathom reaffirms the founding principles of the Internet," said Dr. Kirschner. "By providing global access to these resources, Fathom holds the promise of knowledge without boundaries and offers a new medium for the exchange of ideas. It points ahead to a future where the acquisition and application of knowledge can be independent of economic status, time constraints, and geographic location. Fathom and its partners are committed to creating a dynamic home for knowledge." All Fathom original content will be authenticated, meaning that the knowledge will be attributed to the appropriate educational or cultural institution and its faculty or professional staff. Fathom's standards of academic and editorial integrity will be monitored by the Fathom Academic Council, a panel of selected senior faculty and curators from participating institutions, which will be chaired by Jonathan Cole, Ph.D., Provost and Dean of Faculties, Columbia University.

Strong Business Model To Create Category Leader

Developed by top universities, Fathom will be the leading online destination for high-quality knowledge and education, a rapidly growing marketplace. Significant growth in online education is expected over the next few years. According to IDC, the size of the U.S. market for distance learning is already $2 billion and is projected to be $6 billion in 2002 and $9 billion by 2003, a growing component of the $750 billion higher education market in the U.S. alone. Enrollment in online programs is expected to increase at an annual rate of 30-35 percent.

"The fit between the Fathom business model, the vast intellectual capital of the founding partners, and the talented management team in place at Fathom is exactly what you want to see when forging a vibrant new space on the Internet," said Michael M. Crow, Ph.D., Columbia University Executive Vice Provost. "We see an enormous need developing for this new interactive knowledge category. Fathom will meet that need with a combination of the technology we have developed and the best possible content provided by our distinguished partners."

In addition to Dr. Crow and Dr. Kirschner, Fathom's international board of directors will include former chairman of Goldman Sachs Stephen Friedman, commissioner of the National Basketball Association David Stern, chairman of Enterprise LSE and former director of Shell International Keith Mackrell, and chairman and CEO of MBNA Corporation Alfred Lerner.

Examples of Fathom content currently in development include:

An oral history research project that includes 7,000 in-depth personal interviews, conducted over 50 years, with leaders from business, politics, and the arts, including, Frank Lloyd Wright, Dorothy Parker, Nikita Khrushchev, and Jimmy Stewart (from Columbia University);

Excerpts from the field journals of a preeminent anthropologist of the 20th century, William Duncan Strong (1899-1962) (from the Smithsonian Institution's National Anthropological Archives at the National Museum of Natural History);

An overview of the provocative new science of astrobiology, which brings together molecular life sciences, space exploration, planetary science and the search for extraterrestrials, by astronomer and editor Dr. Simon Mitton (from Cambridge University Press);

A talk on "The Weightless Economy," the shift from a world of manufacturing to a world of weightless services, by economist Professor Danny Quah (from the London School of Economics and Political Science);

Multimedia presentations that bring to life treasured objects, from the Magna Carta to the Lindisfarne Gospels (from the British Library);

A collection of over 54,000 photographic views of New York City that mark the development of the city, its architectural achievements, transportation system, and ethnic and cultural diversity (from The New York Public Library).

By: Linsey Wood

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