SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- ManyOne Networks ( http://manyone.net/ ) today released the pilot version of the Digital Universe ( http://digitaluniverse.net/ ). Over the next several years, the Digital Universe will transform the experience of Web portals from advertising-ridden pages of text and pictures into an advertising-free, real-time multimedia universe of authoritative information. It is to be administered by a non-profit foundation in alliance with thousands of institutions and experts around the world.

Experts will guide the selection and creation of subject-specific "portals" -- Web sites with new features such as 3D navigation, multimedia education resources, IPTV and audio. Portals will be interconnected into a visual navigation system, which will over time tie together thousands of ad-free portals and millions of the Web's best links. Portals will be organized according to a scientifically-designed, visual representation of the society we live in, the Earth and the Universe. The result will be a simple, intuitive Web navigation interface that takes users far beyond the text-based directories of the Web today.

"The Digital Universe represents a watershed transformation of the Web experience," said Dr. Robert Corell, Chairman of the Digital Universe Foundation, Senior Fellow of the American Meteorological Association and Chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment. "Imagine flying over an accurate, photorealistic virtual Earth to explore the contours of the Grand Canyon, swim with the fish of the Great Barrier Reef and soar through the canopy with the birds of the Amazon Rainforest. Imagine traveling through the human body to learn how your heart works, or to the eye to find out how we see, with the Web's best links available at each stop in your voyage. The Digital Universe -- from stars to Earth to humans and everything in between -- will be built and edited by some of the most trusted experts and organizations in the world, with content contributions from the public. The result will be an information resource unlike any created before."

The Digital Universe will be more than a new kind of user experience and source of trustworthy content. It will be a public service that provides all kinds of organizations with a low-risk way to support their programs. Organizations can offer ad-free Internet services to their audiences, complete with rich-media content, dialup and DSL Internet access, secure and private e-mail and other forthcoming news, educational and entertainment information services, all provided in turnkey fashion and operated by ManyOne Networks. Subscriber revenues are shared equally between ManyOne and partnering organizations.

The Digital Universe is being built by a growing alliance of major institutions and experts, and will also enable contributions from the public (see separate release, "Renowned Experts and Institutions Join Forces With Silicon Valley Leaders to Launch PBS of the Web").

To access Digital Universe, users must presently download the ManyOne browser, although the Digital Universe will soon be accessible through all major browsers.

A New User Interface to Explore the Web

The Digital Universe will offer a new way to explore, communicate, watch and read on the Web. It introduces a new concept in user interface design that distinguishes "portals" from "activities" much as nouns are distinguished from verbs. When users travel to a portal (a noun), they can then engage a specific activity (a verb). For example, if a user travels to the Oceans Portal (noun), they can then "Explore" (verb) general and little known facts by visiting educational websites about the Earth's oceans, "Communicate" directly with others in the worldwide community who share their interests and passions, eventually even "Watch" Internet-delivered television programs and "Read" the best books about oceans. These same activities are automatically shared by all portals -- existing and future -- in the Digital Universe, making the Web much easier to use and more powerful at the same time.

"The Digital Universe will place a real-time window on our planet and all its societies into the hands of every citizen; a window revealing commercial- free information about our changing climate, conflicts, social challenges and visions of the future, created by leading experts, universities, research organizations and appropriate government agencies," said General Wesley Clark, who serves as an advisor to ManyOne. "The technology is vibrant and engaging. It really does what many thought Netscape would do -- it creates relevant linkages to provide real Internet exploration for knowledge."

Roadmap for Digital Universe

The pilot release of the Digital Universe is merely the kickoff of a multiyear project. The pilot release is about letting people literally "pilot" and get a feel for the way the Digital Universe portals will be discovered and used. It reveals the UniNav visual navigation system to explore existing and upcoming portals, and it previews the content and activities that will emerge month by month for years to come. One such content resource will be the Digital Universe Encyclopedia, being led by Dr. Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia. A distributed editorial system is built into the ManyOne platform enabling expert and public contributions to portals simultaneously, while ensuring the kind of workflow needed to maintain the highest possible standards of content.

"This project has the potential to aggregate enormous intellectual power and unleash it for the good of mankind," said Dr. Sanger. "This will make not only the finest expert-led, collaborative encyclopedia possible, but much else, such 3D models of the world's great heritage sites, a directory of the most authoritative Web sites on every topic, and reliable editions of the classics. You will also be able to blog as part of a giant knowledge-oriented community, and chat in a safe, responsible, friendly environment. This vision will take time to realize, but it is so compelling that it must happen. The Digital Universe and ManyOne are structured to make it happen in a feasible and responsible way. That's why I felt compelled to join this team."

About Digital Universe

The Digital Universe is a network of advertising-free portals having many different kinds of information resources and services, ultimately on all subjects. It pioneers new 3D presentation capabilities, and organizes the portals into an easy-to-navigate visual classification system that immediately shows the relationships among topics, thereby encouraging exploration. Filling the Digital Universe with content will be the work of a worldwide network of stewards -- researchers, scholars and educators with expertise and a desire to disseminate knowledge -- with content contributions from the public. Constructing the Digital Universe is a years-long, open-ended project that will evolve over decades into what will ultimately become the "PBS of the Web." The project was inspired by the "Encyclopedia Galactica" envisioned by Isaac Asimov and Carl Sagan.

The stewardship program and other Digital Universe activities are the responsibility of the non-profit Digital Universe Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.digitaluniverse.net/.

About ManyOne Networks

ManyOne is a vehicle for people and organizations to collaborate in the creation of a new, socially responsible information medium. ManyOne and its partners are pioneering new ways for people to learn about our world and universe, communicate, work and trade with each other and experience each others' talents. ManyOne's vision is to fulfill the original potential of the Internet as an open, democratic medium that inspires creativity, communication, collaboration and education. The organization is working with a growing alliance of partners worldwide to evolve a dazzling new kind of Web experience.

ManyOne embodies a new standard of social responsibility in governance, objectives and conduct for for-profit companies, and will become wholly owned by the ManyOne Foundation in 2006. For more information about ManyOne Networks, visit http://www.manyone.net/.

NOTE: ManyOne, Digital Universe and Digital Universe Foundation are trademarks of ManyOne. All other registered or unregistered trademarks are the sole property of their respective owners.

Press Contact: Gary Byrd FortyThree, Inc. ManyOne@fortythreepr.com 831-621-3773

CONTACT: Gary Byrd of FortyThree, Inc., +1-831-621-3773, or
ManyOne@fortythreepr.com, for ManyOne Networks

Web site: http://digitaluniverse.net/

Web site: http://manyone.net/