Apologies for x-posting --

The JA-SIG Board of Directors extends an open invitation to participate in
the evolution of the next generation uPortal.
 
Enterprise portals have quickly become the de facto gateway to online campus
services.  uPortal is one of the most widely deployed open source enterprise
portal frameworks, having been developed by and for higher education and
adopted by hundreds of institutions and the eResearch community in over
twenty countries.  It is also the core of several commercial enterprise
portal products, reaching colleges and universities in a variety of
deployment options and support models.
 
The uPortal project has reached new levels of maturity as adoption continues
to grow and a new wave of institutions search for campus portal technology.
Thanks to on-going contributions from institutional developers and
commercial partners, the project has successfully transitioned from
primarily grant funded to a self-sustaining open source project. In addition
to maintaining the current production versions and working on future
releases, the community has recently formalized development plans and a
release strategy.  
 
JA-SIG seeks to expand community guidance for both near-term enhancements
and longer-term vision for uPortal.  Specifically, input is sought in three
areas:  1) Tell us your vision of the ideal higher education enterprise
portal; or 2) List requirements, features, standards, or specifications that
are important to you; and, optionally, 3) Describe detailed scenarios or use
cases illustrating the requirements.
 
More information about how to participate can be found at
http://www.uportal.org/participate.html The culmination of this effort will
be available on the JA-SIG wiki and presented at the June 4-6 JA-SIG
Conference during Community Source Week in Vancouver, British Columbia.
 
We welcome your participation in evolving uPortal to continue to meet the
needs of higher education and we look forward to working with you.
 
On behalf of the JA-SIG Board,
 
William G. Thompson, Jr., Rutgers University, JA-SIG uPortal Board Liaison
Jonathan Markow, JA-SIG Board Chair
Ian Dolphin, University of Hull, JA-SIG Board Vice Chair



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