Section 1. Resident Agent; Registered Office. The resident agent of this corporation shall be GKL Resident Agents/Filings, Inc. The registered office of this corporation in the State of Nevada shall be located at 1000 E. William Street, Suite 204, Carson City, Nevada, 89701. This corporation shall keep at its registered office, in written form, a copy of this corporation’s Articles of Incorporation and all amendments thereto, certified by the Nevada Secretary of State, and a copy of these Bylaws, and all amendments hereto, certified by an officer of this corporation.

Section 2. Principal Office. The principal office of this corporation shall be located in the county of Santa Cruz, California, or such other place as the Board of Directors may determine from time to time.

ARTICLE II -- MEMBERSHIP

This corporation shall have no members within the meaning of Section 82.031 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, but the Board of Directors may, by resolution, establish one or more classes of nonvoting affiliates and provide for eligibility requirements for affiliation and rights and duties of affiliates, including the obligation to pay dues. Any reference to such persons as “members” shall not constitute such persons as members of this corporation under the Nevada Revised Statutes.

ARTICLE III -- BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Section 1. Powers. This corporation shall have powers to the full extent allowed by law, within the limits of the purposes of this corporation as stated in the Articles of Incorporation. All powers and activities of this corporation shall be exercised and managed by the Board of Directors of this corporation directly or, if delegated, under the ultimate direction of the Board.

Section 2. Number of Directors. The number of directors shall be not less than 2 nor more than 9, with the exact authorized number of directors to be fixed from time to time by resolution of the Board of Directors. The initial authorized number of directors shall be the number of directors named in this corporation’s originally filed Articles of Incorporation, until changed by the Board as provided above.

Section 3. Election, Qualification, and Term of Office of Directors.

* A. Election; Term. The directors then in office shall elect their successors. Except as provided in Subsections 3.B, each director shall be elected for a term of three years, with such terms beginning on October 1. Unless a director resigns or is removed as provided in Section 5 below, each director shall hold office until the expiration of his or her term.

* B. Staggered Terms. Approximately one-third of the total authorized number of directors shall be elected each year at the annual meeting or as soon as practical thereafter. Whenever a new director position is authorized as provided in Article III, Section 2, the Board shall select an initial term for that position of up to four years less one day so that approximately one-third of directors’ terms shall expire on September 30 of each year. The terms of the initial directors named in this corporation’s Articles of Incorporation shall terminate on September 30, 2009.

* C. Qualification. All directors must be at least 18 years of age.

Section 4. Vacancies. A vacancy shall be deemed to exist on the Board in the event that the actual number of directors is less than the authorized number for any reason. Vacancies (including future vacancies which will occur upon the effective date of a director’s resignation) may be filled by the remaining directors for the unexpired portion of the term.

Section 5. Resignation and Removal. Resignations shall be effective upon receipt in writing by the President, the Chairman of the Board, or the Secretary of this corporation, unless a later effective date is specified in the resignation. A majority of directors then in office may remove any director at any time, with or without cause.

Section 6. Annual Meetings. A meeting of the Board of Directors shall be held at least once a year. Annual meetings shall be called by the President, the Chairman (if any), or any two directors, and noticed in accordance with Section 8.

Section 7. Other Meetings. Other meetings of the Board of Directors may be called by the President, the Chairman, or any two directors, and noticed in accordance with Section 8.

Section 8. Notice. Notice of the annual meeting and any special meetings of the Board of Directors shall be given to each director at least four days before any such meeting if given by first-class mail or forty-eight hours before any such meeting if given personally or by telephone, email, or facsimile transmission, and shall state the date, place, and time of the meeting.

Section 9. Place of Meetings. Meetings of the Board of Directors may be held at any place specified in an otherwise valid notice of any such meeting. Meetings may also be held via group teleconference.

Section 10. Waiver of Notice. The transactions of any meeting of the Board of Directors, however called and noticed or wherever held, shall be valid as though taken at a meeting duly held after regular call and notice if a quorum is present, and if, either before or after the meeting, all of the directors consent by:

* (a) Being present at the meeting and giving consent, provided that such consent is entered into the minutes of the meeting;

* (b) Signing a waiver of notice or written consent to the meeting, and delivering such consent to the secretary for filing with the minutes of the meeting; or

* (c) Taking part in the deliberations of the meeting without objection.

The waiver of notice or consent need not specify the purpose of the meeting; but if any director’s consent excepts any business, such business may not be transacted. All waivers and consents shall be filed with the corporate records or made a part of the minutes of the meeting.

Section 11. Quorum; Required Vote. A majority of the total number of directors then in office shall constitute a quorum. The act of a majority of the directors present at a meeting at which a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board of Directors, except as otherwise provided in Article III, Section 4 (filling Board vacancies) Article III, Section 12 (taking action without a meeting); Article VII, Section 2 (approving certain conflict of interest transactions); Article VIII, Section 4 (approving indemnification); and Article XI, Section 3 (amending bylaws) of these Bylaws or as otherwise provided in the Nevada Revised Statutes.

Section 12. Action without a Meeting. Any action required or permitted to be taken by the Board may be taken without a meeting if, before or after the action, a majority of the directors then in office (or such other portion as may be required given the nature of the action) sign written consents or transmit their consent via email to the action. Such written consents shall be filed by the Secretary with the minutes of the proceedings of the Board and shall have the same force and effect as a majority vote of such directors, provided that notice of any action taken by written consent must be given to all non-consenting directors within five working days after the required consents have been obtained.

Section 13. Telephone Meetings. Directors may participate in a meeting through use of conference telephones or similar communications equipment so long as all director participating in such meeting can hear one another. Participation in a meeting pursuant to this Section constitutes presence in person at such meeting.

Section 14. Inspection. Every director shall have the right, upon at least 5 days’ written demand and during normal business hours, in person or by agent or attorney, to inspect the books of account and all financial records of this corporation and, at such director’s own cost, to make copies of such records; provided, however, that this right may be denied to any director who refuses, upon the request of an officer of the corporation, to furnish the corporation with an affidavit that such inspection is not desired for any purpose not related to the director’s interest in the corporation.

Section 15. Compensation. The Board of Directors may fix, by resolution, the compensation of directors for services in any capacity. In addition, the Board of Directors may authorize the reimbursement to directors of reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as directors.

ARTICLE IV -- STANDARD OF CARE FOR DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

Directors and officers shall exercise their powers in good faith and with a view to the interests of this corporation.

In performing their respective duties, directors and officers shall be entitled to rely on information, opinions, reports, books of account, or statements, including financial statements and other financial data, that are prepared or presented by:

* (a) one or more directors, officers, or employees of this corporation reasonably believed to be reliable and competent as to the matters prepared or presented;

* (b) counsel, public accountants, or other persons as to matters reasonably believed to be within such person’s professional or expert competence; or

* (c) a committee upon which the person relying thereon does not serve, established in accordance with Article VI, Section 1, of these Bylaws, as to matters within the committee’s designated authority and on which the committee is reasonably believed to merit confidence;

but a director or officer is not entitled to rely on such information, opinions, reports, books of account, or statements if he or she has knowledge concerning the matter in question that would cause reliance thereon to be unwarranted.

ARTICLE V -- COMMITTEES

Section 1. Board Committees. The Board of Directors may, by resolution, create any number of Board Committees or dissolve such Board Committees. Members of Board Committees shall be appointed by resolution of the Board of Directors and shall serve at the pleasure of the Board. Each Board Committee shall have at least one director, but may include individuals who are not directors. To the extent provided in resolutions of the Board, Board Committees may exercise all the authority of the Board, except for the powers to:

* (a) amend, alter, or repeal these Bylaws;

* (b) elect, appoint, or remove any member of any such committee or any director or officers of this corporation;

* (c) amend or repeal the Articles of Incorporation of this corporation, or adopt a plan of merger or a plan of consolidation with another corporation;

* (d) authorize the sale, lease or exchange of all of the property and assets of the corporation;

* (e) authorize the voluntary dissolution of the corporation or revoke proceedings therefor;

* (f) adopt a plan for the distribution of the assets of this corporation; or

* (g) amend, alter or repeal any resolution of the Board of Directors unless it provides by its terms that it may be amended, altered or repealed by a committee.

Section 2. Advisory Committees. The Board of Directors may establish one or more Advisory Committees to the Board with the membership of such committees to be appointed by the President of the Digital Universe Foundation, the chair of the committee, or whomever the Board shall designate. Such advisory committees shall include boards or other groups. The members of any Advisory Committee may consist of directors or non-directors and may be appointed as the Board determines. Advisory committees may not exercise the authority of the Board to make decisions on behalf of this corporation, but shall be restricted to making recommendations to the Board or Board Committees, and implementing Board or Board Committee decisions and policies under the supervision and control of the Board or Board Committee.

Section 3. Meetings.

* A. Of Board Committees. Meetings and actions of Board Committees shall be governed by and held and taken in accordance with the provisions of Article III of these Bylaws concerning meetings and actions of the Board of Directors, with such changes in the content of those Bylaws as are necessary to substitute the Board Committee and its members for the Board of Directors and its members. Minutes shall be kept of each meeting of any Board Committee and shall be filed with the corporate records.

* B. Of Advisory Committees. Subject to the authority of the Board of Directors, Advisory Committees shall determine their own meeting rules and whether minutes shall be kept.

The Board of Directors may adopt rules for the governance of any Board or Advisory Committee not inconsistent with the provisions of these Bylaws.

ARTICLE VI -- OFFICERS

Section 1. Officers. The officers of this corporation shall be Chairman of the Board, a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. The corporation may also have, at the discretion of the directors, such other officers as may be appointed by the Board of Directors. Any number of offices may be held by the same person. The Chairman of the Board shall be elected from among the directors of the corporation.

Section 2. Election. The officers of this corporation shall be elected by of the Board, and each shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, subject to the rights, if any, of an officer under any contract of employment.

Section 3. Removal. Subject to the rights, if any, of an officer under any contract of employment, any officer may be removed, with or without cause, by the Board of Directors or by an officer on whom such power of removal may be conferred by the Board of Directors.

Section 4. Resignation. Any officer may resign at any time by giving written notice to this corporation. Any resignation shall take effect on receipt of that notice by an officer of this corporation, unless a later time specified by that notice and, unless otherwise specified in that notice, the acceptance of the resignation shall not be necessary to make it effective. Any resignation is without prejudice to the rights, if any, of this corporation under any contract to which the officer is a party.

Section 5. Vacancies. A vacancy in any office for any reason shall be filled in the same manner as these Bylaws provide for election to that office.

Section 6. Chairman of the Board. The Chairman of the Board shall preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors and shall have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Board or these Bylaws.

Section 7. President. The President shall be the Chief Executive Officer of this corporation and shall, subject to control of the Board, generally supervise, direct and control the business and other officers of this corporation. The President shall have the general powers and duties of management usually vested in the office of president of the corporation, and shall have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Board or these Bylaws.

Section 8. Secretary. The Secretary shall supervise the keeping of a full and complete record of the proceedings of the Board of Directors and its committees, shall supervise the giving of such notices as may be proper or necessary, shall supervise the keeping of the minute books of this corporation and such other corporate records as may be required by law, and shall have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Board or these Bylaws. The Secretary shall supervise the keeping of a copy of the Articles of Incorporation and a copy of these Bylaws at this corporation’s registered office as provided in Article I, Section 1, of these Bylaws.

Section 9. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall supervise the charge and custody of all funds of this corporation, the deposit of such funds in the manner prescribed by the Board of Directors, and the keeping and maintaining of adequate and correct accounts of this corporation’s properties and business transactions, shall render reports and accountings as required, and shall have such other powers and duties as may be prescribed by the Board or these Bylaws.

Section 10. The Treasurer or other appropriate DUF staff member shall have authority to disburse funds up to $10,000 under general guidelines provided by the Board. Disbursement of fund in excess of $10,000 shall require approval by the Board and the written approval of the Treasurer and the Secretary of the Board.

ARTICLE VII -- CONFLICT OF INTEREST TRANSACTIONS

Section 1. Transactions Involving Interested Directors or Officers. Except as provided in Section 2 below, the Board of Directors shall not approve, or permit this corporation to engage in, any transaction between this corporation and one or more of its directors or officers, or between this corporation and any corporation, firm, or association in which one or more of its directors or officers are directors or officers or are financially interested.

Section 2. Approval by Disinterested Directors. This corporation may engage in a transaction described in Section 1 if such transaction is authorized or approved by the Board or a Board Committee and the following requirements are met:

* (a) The fact of the common directorship, office, or financial interest is disclosed or known to the Board or Board Committee and is noted in the minutes of the Board or Board Committee meeting; and

* (b) The Board or Board Committee authorizes, approves, or ratifies the contract or transaction in good faith by a vote sufficient for the purpose without counting the vote or votes of the common or interested director or directors.

Section 3. Quorum for Approval. Common or interested directors may be counted in determining the presence of a quorum at a meeting of the Board or Board Committee which authorizes, approves, or ratifies a contract or transaction described in Section 1. If the votes of the common or interested directors are not counted at the meeting, then a majority of the disinterested directors may authorize, approve or ratify a contract or transaction described in Section 1.

ARTICLE VIII -- INDEMNIFICATION AND INSURANCE

Section 1. Indemnification: Third-Party Action, Suit, or Proceeding. This corporation may indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending, or completed action, suit, or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative, or investigative, except an action by or in the right of this corporation, by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee, or agent of this corporation, or is or was serving at the request of this corporation as a director, officer, employee, or enterprise, against expenses, including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the action, suit, or proceeding if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of this corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit, or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent, does not, of itself, create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of this corporation, or that, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, the person had reasonable cause to believe that his or her conduct was unlawful.

Section 2. Indemnification: Action or Suit by or in the Right of This Corporation. This corporation may indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending, or completed action or suit by or in the right of this corporation to procure a judgment in its favor by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director, officer, employee, or agent to this corporation, or is or was serving at the request of this corporation as a director, officer, employee, or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, or other enterprise against expenses, including amounts paid in settlement and attorneys’ fees actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with the defense or settlement of the action or suit if he or she acted in good faith and in a manner which he or she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of this corporation. Indemnification may not be made for any claim, issue, or matter as to which such a person has been adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction, after exhaustion of all appeals therefrom, to be liable to this corporation or for amounts paid in settlement to this corporation, unless and only to the extent that the court in which the action or suit was brought or other court of competent jurisdiction determines upon application that in view of all the circumstances of the case, the person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses as the court deems proper.

Section 3. When Indemnification Is Mandatory. To the extent that a director, officer, employee, or agent of this corporation has been successful on the merits or otherwise in defense of any action, suit, or proceeding referred to in Sections 1 and 2, or in defense of any claim, issue, or matter therein, he must be indemnified by the corporation against expenses, including attorneys’ fees, actually and reasonably incurred by him in connection with the defense.

Section 4. Indemnification Procedure. Any indemnification under Sections 1 and 2, unless ordered by a court or advanced pursuant to Section 5, must be made by this corporation only as authorized in the specific case upon a determination that indemnification of the director, officer, employee, or agent is proper in the circumstances. The determination must be made:

* (a) By the board of directors by majority vote of a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the act, suit, or proceeding; or

* (b) If a majority vote of a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the act, suit, or proceeding so orders, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion; or

* (c) If a quorum consisting of directors who were not parties to the act, suit, or proceeding cannot be obtained, by independent legal counsel in a written opinion.

Section 5. Advances. The Articles of Incorporation, the Bylaws, or an agreement made by this corporation may provide that the expenses of officers and directors incurred in defending a civil or criminal action, suit, or proceeding must be paid by this corporation as they are incurred and in advance of the final disposition of the action, suit, or proceeding, upon receipt of an undertaking by or on behalf of the affected director or officer to repay the amount if it is ultimately determined by a court of competent jurisdiction that he or she is not entitled to be indemnified by this corporation. Decisions on advances shall be made according to the procedures set forth in Section 4 of this Article VIII. The provisions of this Section do not affect any rights to advancement of expenses to which corporate personnel other than directors or officers may be entitled under any contract or otherwise by law.

Section 6. Extent of Indemnification and Advances. The indemnification and advancement of expenses authorized in or ordered by a court pursuant to this section:

* (a) Does not exclude any other rights to which a person seeking indemnification or advancement of expenses may be entitled under the Articles of Incorporation or any bylaw, agreement, vote of disinterested directors, or otherwise, for either an action in such person’s official capacity or an action in another capacity while holding such person’s office, except that indemnification, unless ordered by a court pursuant to Section 2 or for the advancement of expenses made pursuant to Section 5, may not be made to or on behalf of any director or officer if a final adjudication establishes that his or her acts or omissions involved intentional misconduct, fraud, or a knowing violation of the law and were material to the cause of action.

* (b) Continues for a person who has ceased to be a director, officer, employee, or agent and inures to the benefit of the heirs, executors, and administrators of such a person.

Section 7. Insurance. This corporation may purchase and maintain insurance or make other financial arrangements on behalf of any person who is or was a director, officer, employee, or agent of this corporation, or is or was serving at the request of this corporation as a director, officer, employee, or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, or other enterprise for any liability asserted against such person and liability and expenses incurred by such person in his or her capacity as a director, officer, employee, or agent, or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not this corporation has the authority to indemnify such person against such liability and expenses. The other financial arrangements made by the corporation pursuant to Section 7 may include the following:

* (a) The creation of a trust fund.

* (b) The establishment of a program of self-insurance.

* (c) The securing of its obligation of indemnification by granting a security interest or other lien on any assets of this corporation.

* (d) The establishment of a letter of credit, guaranty, or surety.

No financial arrangement made pursuant to this Section may provide protection for a person adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction, after exhaustion of all appeals therefrom, to be liable for intentional misconduct, fraud, or a knowing violation of law, except with respect to the advancement of expenses or indemnification ordered by a court.

In the absence of fraud, the decision of the Board of Directors as to the propriety of the terms and conditions of any insurance or other financial arrangements made pursuant to this Section and the choice of the person to provide the insurance or other financial arrangement is conclusive.

ARTICLE IX -- PRIVATE FOUNDATION RULES

Any provision of these Bylaws the contrary notwithstanding, if and for so long as this corporation is deemed to be a “private foundation” as defined in Section 509 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), this corporation:

* (a) shall distribute its income for each taxable year (and principal, if necessary) at such time and in such manner as not to subject this corporation to tax under Section 4942 of the Code;

* (b) shall not approve of, or engage in, any act of self-dealing as defined in subsection (d) of Section 4941 of the Code;

* (c) shall not retain any excess business holdings as defined in subsection (c) of Section 4943 of the Code;

* (d) shall not make any investments in such a manner as to subject this corporation to tax under Section 4944 of the Code; and

* (e) shall not make any taxable expenditure as defined in subsection (d) of Section 4945 of the Code.

ARTICLE X -- GRANTS ADMINISTRATION

Section 1. Purpose of Grants. This corporation shall have the power to make grants and contributions and to render other financial assistance for the purposes expressed in this corporation’s Articles of Incorporation.

Section 2. Board of Directors Oversight. The Board of Directors shall have ultimate control over grants, contributions, and other financial assistance provided by this corporation. The Board shall approve a process for reviewing and approving or declining all requests for funds made to this corporation. This review and approval process shall require such requests to specify the use to which the funds will be put, and shall include a mechanism for regular Board review of all grants made. The Board shall similarly approve a process for authorizing payment of duly approved grants to the approved grantee.

Section 3. Refusal; Withdrawal. The Board of Directors, in its absolute discretion, shall have the right to refuse to make any grants or contributions, or to render other financial assistance, for any or all of the purposes for which the funds are requested. In addition, the Board, in its absolute discretion, shall have the right to withdraw its approval of any grant at any time and use the funds for other purposes within the scope of the purposes expressed in this corporation’s Articles of Incorporation, subject to any legally binding restrictions on the use of funds imposed by the funding source.

Section 4. Accounting by Grantees. The Board of Directors may require that grantees furnish a periodic accounting to show that the funds granted by this corporation were expended for the purposes that were approved by the Board.

Section 5. Restrictions on Contributions. Unless otherwise determined by resolution of the Board of Directors in particular cases, this corporation shall retain complete control and discretion over the use of all contributions it receives, and all contributions received by the corporation from solicitations for specific grants shall be regarded as for the use of this corporation and not for any particular organization or individual mentioned in the solicitation. This corporation may accept contributions earmarked by the donor exclusively for allocation to one or more foreign organizations or individuals only if the Board of Directors of this corporation: (1) has determined that the specific charitable activity for which the donation was made furthers this corporation’s exempt purposes; (2) has approved in advance disbursements of funds to support such charitable activity; (3) retains discretion and control as to the use of the contributions received by this corporation, and (4) exercises appropriate supervision to ensure funds are actually spent for the intended purposes.

ARTICLE XI -- MISCELLANEOUS

Section 1. Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of this corporation shall end each year on December 31.

Section 2. Contracts, Notes, and Checks. All contracts entered into on behalf of this corporation must be authorized by the Board of Directors or persons on whom such power may be conferred by the Board from time to time, and, except as otherwise provided by law, every check, draft, promissory note, money order, or other evidence of indebtedness of this corporation shall be signed by the person or persons on whom such power may be conferred by the Board from time to time.

Section 3. Amendments. Proposed amendments to these Bylaws shall be submitted in writing to the directors at least one week in advance of the Board meeting at which they will be considered for adoption. The vote of a majority of directors then in office shall be required to adopt a bylaw amendment.

Section 4. Governing Law. In all matters not specified in these Bylaws, or in the event these Bylaws shall not comply with applicable law, Chapter 82 of the Nevada Revised Statutes as then in effect shall apply.

CERTIFICATE OF SECRETARY

I, the undersigned, certify that I am presently the duly elected and acting Secretary of Digital Universe Foundation, a Nevada nonprofit corporation for public benefit, and the above Bylaws consisting of eleven Articles are the Bylaws of this corporation as adopted by written consent of a majority of the Board of Directors on 6 January 2005, and revised by majority vote of the Board of Directors on February 15, 2006 and on July 2, 2008.

Bernard Haisch
Secretary

A: The Digital Universe is a new, free, online information resource, a Web application that lets users view an editorially defined subset of credible information. Call it a PBS of the Internet. The vision of the Digital Universe is to create a space in which it will be possible to organize the sum total of human knowledge and make it available to everyone. Running on a platform hosted by Trunity Networks, the Digital Universe lets users navigate through a visual taxonomy of nature and society. The taxonomy consists of expert-created portals (e.g. the Earth Portal, the Cosmos Portal, the Human Rights Portal). In any portal you will eventually find every type of information on that topic: websites, essays, encyclopedia articles, books, images, sounds, forums, etc., sorted by type. The Digital Universe is being built by a growing group of scholars, educators and experts of all sorts.

Q: What is the Digital Universe trying to achieve?

A: Our aim is to make the Digital Universe into the most reliable and largest information resource and content development community in history, and in time to combine an exhaustive Internet directory with a library, collaborative encyclopedia, and much more. In episode twelve of Carl Sagan's Cosmos series, the visionary astronomer borrows an idea from the writings of Isaac Asimov and proposes that someday there may exist an Encyclopedia Galactica: a compendium of knowledge based on the cumulative achievements of a galaxy-spanning civilization with thousands of years of history. Amazingly, a quarter century later the tools to initiate that are available in the World Wide Web. A global collaboration aiming to organize and make available, eventually, the sum total of human knowledge is beginning today. The technology is now available to start such an open-ended, generation-spanning project. All that is needed is a plan and a catalyst to set the gears in motion. That is the role and goal of the Digital Universe.

Q: What license are you using? Will the contents be free?

A: We are fully committed to creating a free information resource. The Digital Universe Foundation uses the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 license for most content.

Q: What particular projects are you developing?

A: The Digital Universe features two sorts of projects: vertical and horizontal. The "vertical" projects are divided up by subject; the "horizontal" projects are divided up by function or type of information. The vertical projects are portals, such as The Earth Portal, which is managed by the Environmental Information Coalition or the Cosmos Portal. Each portal becomes an exhaustive, logically-organized, expert-stewarded clearinghouse of information about the portal topic. We have recently initiated a Steward program, which engages experts from across all disciplines to begin work on other portals. The horizontal projects under active development are the Encyclopedia of Earth, taxonomy development, news, forums and links to vetted content elsewhere.

Q: Is the Digital Universe ready for contributors?

A: In some content areas, international coalitions of experts have already formed and many individuals and partner organizations from around the globe are supplying articles, news and other information. The Earth Portal which launched in April of 2007 has more than 800 active contributors. The Cosmos and Human Rights portals have editorial boards in place and are accepting contributions. Please contact these portal coalitions if you wish to contribute. If you are interested in contributing to other areas, you may apply to become a Steward.

Q: What is the relationship between the Digital Universe Foundation and Trunity Networks?

A: The Digital Universe Foundation (DUF) works closely with its technology partner, Trunity Networks, Inc. Trunity Networks is developing rich media authoring and presentation tools to convey knowledge in innovative and visually engaging ways. This Internet technology is called the Universal Portal Service (UPS) and it provides the technical basis, the platform, of the Digital Universe.

Q: What is the difference between a user and a subscriber?

A: See Types of Portals, Users and Subscribers. A subscriber to Trunity Networks is never exposed to external advertisement when viewing any portals, nor do ads appear on his/her portal(s) even when viewed by non-subscribers. On the other hand free users of the system will see ads on portals not belonging to subscribers, and ads will appear on his/her portal (which subscribers will not see). It is important to note that  that ALL Digital Universe portals – the expert-created portals -- are always advertisement free for everyone, no matter the subscription status of the viewer. An additional subscriber benefit is an email account..

Q: What's this I hear about revenue sharing?

A: Yes. One quarter of all net revenues to Trunity Networks from your subscription or other activities on the network supports Digital Universe portals. Up to an additional quarter of these net revenues will go to the portal network partner that is affiliated with your registration on the Trunity Network.

• wondering whether information that you find on the Internet (and elsewhere) is truly accurate?
• confronted by a piece of information but unable to understand how it fits into the bigger picture?
• confused by endless debates on important issues and
  want to better understand the underlying facts?
• frustrated by the seemingly pointless trivia pervading
  media today and want to explore and be inspired by
  things of greater substance and meaning?

...then you’ve come to the right place: the Digital Universe!         

The Digital Universe Directory is a collaboration between the Digital Universe Foundation and TRUNITY, which provides the technology platforms the powers the Digital Universe. The Digital Universe Directory comprises a network of subject-specific web sites organized by topic into "Portals" – such as the Earth Portal or the Cosmos Portal – with reliable information from trusted sources covering a wide range of subjects. The portal network is being built by hundreds of scientists, researchers, scholars and other experts — known as Stewards — from around the world.  These Stewards assemble the best and most reliable information available, organizing it for easy access to the general public. In addition to making sometimes arcane information easier to understand, the Digital Universe (with the help of the Digital Universe Navigator) creates links between related information and places this information into the overall context of human knowledge.

Guided by the non-profit Digital Universe Foundation, the Digital Universe is at its beginning: it's a multi-year — even multi-decade — project, with the eventual goal of covering no less than the sum total of human knowledge. Already, there are several major portals underway (in order of maturity):

1. Earth Portal — covering the Earth's environment and its resources
2. Cosmos Portal — covering astronomy, the Solar System and our place in the Cosmos
3. Oceans Portal — covering the the Earth's oceans and its life-forms
4. Human Rights Portal

To learn more about the Digital Universe, we direct you to the following destinations:

• Learn more about the Digital Universe Project
• Learn how to create and build your own Personal or Community Portal/Web Site and connect it into the Digital Universe Directory using the Trunity Web Service
• Learn how to become a Digital Universe Contributor and/or Steward

If you are an expert in a field and would like to become the Steward of an existing Digital Universe Website or start a new Digital Universe Website please go to the Steward Application page.

1. Each member of the Board of Directors.
2. The chairman of the board, president, chief executive officer, chief operating officer, treasurer and chief financial officer, or any person with the responsibilities of any of these positions (whether or not the person is an officer of the Foundation under the Foundation’s Bylaws or the Nevada Revised Statutes).
3. Such persons’ spouses, ancestors, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brothers, sisters, and the spouses of their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brothers, and sisters.
4. Any entity in which persons listed above hold more than 35 percent of the control.
5. Any other person who the Board, based on the facts and circumstances, determines to have substantial influence over the Foundation. Such persons may include a substantial contributor to the Foundation, a person with managerial authority over the Foundation, or a person with control over a significant portion of the Foundation’s budget.
6. Any person who met one of the above definitions at any time during the five years before the proposed transaction.

Interested person means any person with an interest in a proposed transaction or arrangement.

Interest means a financial interest or any other interest that may influence a person’s judgment. An objective test is applied to determine whether an interest is present: whether the stake of the person in the transaction is such that it reduces the likelihood that the person can render an impartial decision in the best interests of the Foundation.

A person has a financial interest if the person has, directly or indirectly, through business, investment, or family:

1. An ownership or investment interest in any entity with which the Foundation has, or proposes to enter into, a transaction or arrangement; or
2. A compensation arrangement with any person or entity with which the Foundation has, or proposes to enter into, a transaction or arrangement; or
3. A potential ownership or investment interest in, or compensation arrangement with, any entity or individual with which the Foundation has, or proposes to enter into, a transaction or arrangement.

Person means any individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company, or corporation.

ARTICLE III -- PROCEDURES

Duty to Disclose

Each employee who is not an insider shall disclose to the Foundation’s chief executive officer all material facts regarding his or her interest (including relevant affiliations) in any transaction being considered by the Board. The employee shall make that disclosure promptly upon learning of the proposed transaction. If there is a question as to whether the employee is an insider, the chief executive officer shall present this issue to the Board of Directors, and the Board shall resolve the matter.

Each insider shall disclose to the Board or relevant Board Committee all material facts regarding his or her interest (including relevant affiliations) in a transaction being considered by the Board or Board Committee. The insider shall make that disclosure promptly upon learning of the proposed transaction.

Determining Whether a Conflict of Interest Exists

With regard to an employee who is not an insider, the chief executive officer shall determine whether a conflict of interest exists.

With regard to an insider, the Board or relevant Board Committee shall determine if a conflict of interest exists. If the insider is a director, he or she shall not be present during the Board or Board Committee’s discussion or determination of whether a conflict of interest exists.

Procedures for Addressing a Conflict of Interest

With regard to an employee who is not an insider, the chief executive officer shall ascertain that all material facts regarding the transaction and the employee’s conflict of interest have been disclosed, and decide the appropriate response by the Foundation once a conflict of interest has been determined to exist.

With regard to an insider, the Board or a Board Committee shall follow the procedures set forth in Article IV in order to decide whether to enter into the transaction and, if so, to ensure that the terms of the transaction are reasonable. In the case of an insider who is a director, the direc¬tor shall not vote on any transaction in which the director has an interest, and shall not be present during the Board or Board Committee’s discussions or determination pursuant to Article IV.

ARTICLE IV -- REVIEW BY THE BOARD

The Board or Board Committee shall deliberate on the transaction in the absence of the interested person. The Board or Board Committee shall ascertain that all material facts regarding the transaction and the insider’s conflict of interest have been disclosed to the Board or Board Committee, and shall compile appropriate data to ascertain whether the proposed transaction is fair and reasonable to the Foundation.

If appropriate, the chairperson of the Board or Board Committee shall appoint a disinterested person or committee to investigate alternatives to the proposed transaction or arrangement, and to compile data regarding comparable transactions and arrangements.

After exercising due diligence, the Board or Board Committee shall determine whether the Foundation can obtain with reasonable efforts a more advantageous transaction or arrangement from a person or entity that would not give rise to a conflict of interest. If a more advantageous transaction or arrangement is not reasonably possible under circumstances not producing a conflict of interest, the Board or Board Committee shall determine whether the transaction or arrangement is in the Foundation’s best interest, for its own benefit, and whether it is fair and reasonable to the Foundation. The Board or Board Committee shall make these findings without the vote of any interested directors.

If the Board or Board Committee finds that the Foundation cannot obtain with reasonable efforts a more advantageous transaction or arrangement from a person or entity that would not give rise to a conflict of interest, and also finds that the transaction or arrangement is in the Foundation’s best interest, for its own benefit, and fair and reasonable to the Foundation, then the majority of disinterested directors then in office may approve the transaction. If the transaction does not involve an interested director, the transaction can also be approved by the Board or Board Committee by majority vote.

ARTICLE V -- RECORDS OF PROCEEDINGS

The minutes of any meeting of the Board and any Board Committee pursuant to this policy shall contain the name of each director or other insider who disclosed or was otherwise determined to have an interest in a proposed transaction or arrangement, and the nature of the interest; the members of the Board or Board Committee who were present during the debate on the transaction, those who voted on it, and to what extent interested directors were excluded from the deliberations; the comparability data obtained and relied upon by the Board or Board Committee and how the data was obtained; and the result of the vote, including, if applicable, the terms of the transaction that was approved and the date it was approved. The records must be prepared by the later of the next meeting of the Board or Board Committee or 60 days after the final action of the Board or Board Committee with respect to the transaction, and must be approved by the Board or Board Committee within a reasonable time afterwards.

ARTICLE VI -- STATEMENTS

Each director, officer, and employee shall sign a statement which affirms that the person has received a copy of this conflict of interest policy, has read and understood the policy, and has agreed to comply with the policy.

All such statements shall be filed with the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors.

ARTICLE VII -- VIOLATIONS

If the chief executive officer has reasonable cause to believe that an employee who is not an insider of the Foundation has failed to disclose actual or possible conflicts of interest, he or she shall inform such employee of the basis for this belief and afford the employee an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. If, after hearing the employee’s response and making further investigation as warranted by the circumstances, the chief executive officer determines that the employee has failed to disclose an actual or possible conflict of interest, the chief executive officer shall take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action.

If the Board has reasonable cause to believe that an insider of the Foundation has failed to disclose actual or possible conflicts of interest, it shall inform such insider of the basis for this belief and afford the insider an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. If, after hearing the insider’s response and making further investigation as warranted by the circumstances, the Board or a Board Committee determines that the insider has failed to disclose an actual or possible conflict of interest, the Board or Board Committee shall take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action.

ARTICLE VIII -- ANNUAL REVIEWS

To ensure that the Foundation operates in a manner consistent with its charitable purposes and its status as an organization exempt from federal income tax, the Board shall authorize and oversee an annual review of the administration of this conflict of interest policy. The review may be written or oral. The review shall consider the level of compliance with the policy, the continuing suitability of the policy, and whether the policy should be modified and improved.

ARTICLE IX -- LEGAL STANDARDS

The Foundation and its directors and officers shall adhere to fiduciary duty and conflict of interest rules imposed by law, including those contained in the Internal Revenue Code and the Nevada Revised Statutes.

CERTIFICATE OF SECRETARY

I, the undersigned, certify that I am presently the duly elected and acting Secretary of Digital Universe Foundation, a Nevada nonprofit corporation for public benefit, and the above Policy consisting of nine Articles is the Conflict of Interest Policy of this corporation as adopted by majority vote of the Board of Directors on February 15, 2006.

Bernard Haisch
Secretary

Types of Users

Affirmation of the Peer-Review Approach

In previous centuries, natural philosophers -- as scientists were once known -- might open new vistas by summarizing years of solitary research and contemplation in a single influential book, famous examples being Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Newton. But whereas Darwin followed this path with his publication of "The Origin of Species" in 1859, Maxwell published his theory of electrodynamics in three papers appearing between 1856 and 1864 (which were then compiled into the single "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism" in 1873). By the first decades of the twentieth century the scientific journal had become the collective repository of knowledge and seedbed of new ideas: Relativity and quantum mechanics were born in journal articles, not in books. Scholarly, peer-reviewed publication has been the highly successful engine of scientific advancement.

At first glance the wide-open Internet and the unrefereed www.arxiv.org preprint archive for physics, astrophysics and mathematics at Cornell Univ. appear to have changed all this, but that is not the case. High energy physics, for example, is full of papers submitted to the arxiv that never make it to the stage of journal submission, but in fact the community of researchers effectively exercises a kind of collective peer-review on submissions, and it is hard to identify any examples of Internet-only presentation that have thus far had any significant impact in science. Overall this is a good thing.

The downside of peer review is that new ideas face hurdles in direct proportion, and perhaps even to a higher power, to the degree to which they challenge the reigning orthodoxy. Sometimes minority opinions need to be acknowledged as well as the conventional wisdom; history teaches that unorthodox views occasionally win out in the long run, and that one cannot always predict accurately which of today's orthodoxies or heresies will be tomorrow's accepted paradigm.

A steward thus faces two challenges: (1) finding the best material in his or her domain, and (2) deciding which points of view are to be represented. In most cases, it is likely that the latter will be a more difficult task than the former. How and where to draw the line? It is the purpose of these guidelines to bring some rationality to such choices.

Desirability of Multiple Points of View

Bertrand Russell, arguably a peerless rationalist, stated:

The question is how to arrive at your opinions and not what your opinions are. The thing in which we believe is the supremacy of reason. If reason should lead you to orthodox conclusions, well and good; you are still a Rationalist. To my mind the essential thing is that one should base one's arguments upon the kind of grounds that are accepted in science, and one should not regard anything that one accepts as quite certain, but only as probable in a greater or a less degree. Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

Guidelines for Inclusivity

The criteria listed here are guidelines, not requirements. The more criteria a particular piece meets, the more likely it is to be a good fit with the Digital Universe, but it is understood that there will always be exceptions, and some room should be made for exceptions.

1. Does the quality of the presentation convey a serious and scholarly impression (what one would call the "look and feel" in web design parlance)?
2. Are the ideas of potential importance correct?
3. Does the author have respectable and relevant credentials?
4. Are arguments backed by references to work of others, and if so, what is the apparent quality of that work?
5. Have the ideas been published in any peer-reviewed or editorially-controlled venues or only on the Internet, conference proceedings or in non-professonal magazines?
6. Where do the ideas fall in the spectrum between conjecture and substantive theoretical development?
7. Is the work purely theoretical or is there data or evidence to back it up? How credible is the evidence?
8. Are the concepts potentially falsfiable or at least subject to rational counter-argument?
9. If significant objections have been made, has the author responded rationally?
10. Is the author alone in proposing such ideas or are there others who take a similar position?
11. Are the analysis tool and methods the same or similar to those used in the appropriate mainstream area?
12. Has the author carried out conventional research as well?
13. Does the author have institutional backing or is the author an active member of relevant professional organizations?
14. If a controversial area has been under discussion long enough, is there any evidence of progress in the debate?

Unfortunately the decision on whether or not to include a given concept or point of view cannot --- or at least should not --- be made by naively using the above as a checklist yielding a nominal pass or fail based on a single score. Every one of the above questions and criteria is itself an object of subjective interpretation. It is essential for a steward, no matter how expert in a given area, to maintain a level of humility with respect to his own certainty of how things must be, based on his own knowledge. Keep in mind the following:

• Just because something cannot be explained does not mean that it did not happen or does not exist.

• Contradiction to established knowledge does not prove incorrectness.

• Many of the most marvelous scientific achievements stood in contradiction to textbook science when first proposed and were ignored, resisted or reviled.

• Recent example: Ball Lightning went from ridicule to serious investigation in 2000.

A healthy skepticism must accompany the responsibility of stewardship. A healthy skepticism consists of practicing the method of suspended judgment, engaging in rational and dispassionate reasoning as exemplified by the scientific method, showing willingness to consider alternative explanations without prejudice based on prior beliefs, and seeking out evidence and carefully scrutinizing its validity. Healthy skepticism does not degenerate into scoffing.

Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless .... Bertrand Russell

The Digital Universe (DU) wishes to maintain high-quality standards for images used for stewarded portals. Images need to encapsulate the primary message and experience intended for DU users and need to be consistent with the DU visual identity. They should solicit a universal recognition and appeal that is cross-cultural and international. Photo-realistic, color images rather than cartoon-like illustrations are preferred whenever possible. Software programs that provide good platforms for quality graphic creation are: Photoshop, Image Ready, and Fireworks.

Specifics for Images used in the Digital Universe

Banners

The recommended banner width is 996 pixels and up to 150 pixels tall.  If the banner image is larger, it will be automatically resized; if the width is less than 996 pixels, the banner image will be horizontally tiled. 

Portal Logo

The recommended logo height is 55 pixels or less and up to 996 pixels wide -- if it is larger, it will be automatically resized with some loss in quality 

Thumbnails

Completed thumbnail images should have a size of 256 x 192 pixels, saved in a jpg format with a resolution of 72.  The thumbnails must solicit a universal recognition and appeal that is cross-cultural and international. Some images may be individual images such as a landscape (see the plants portal), while others may be well-done and tasteful compilations or montages (see the ecosystem portal). Keep in mind that images that work well in larger resolution often will not work well as thumbnails, because thumbnails need to be simpler due to their smaller display size. 

Optimizing and Sizing Images

It is important to understand what is acceptable for an image’s resolution. Each image is different and responds differently to the available processing tools. The human eye is the most sensitive tool there is, and a bit of training will enhance the ability to achieve the best balance of image quality and overall size. The optimization of an image with many colors, fine details or a combination of both requires expertise, so professional advice may be necessary. 

Image File Format for Stewards’ Sites and the DU Universal Browser 

Photo-realistic color images should be saved in jpg file format. With Photoshop use “save to web,” and make the image as small in KB without diminishing the quality of the image noticeably for display. Generally it is best to save to the high quality option. For instance, the target for a file size of 256 x 192 pixel image should be below about 20 -30 KB whenever possible for rapid loading. 

Sometimes a single large image for a Steward’s individual site could be split into several smaller images that could be used separately and therefore streamline on-line viewing. 

Although Adobe Photoshop is considered to be the best photo software program by many, other programs (commercial and shareware) may be purchased for significantly lower prices. Some of the other consumer level applications for photo processing are easier to use than Photoshop and have many standard filters and presets, such as sharpen, blur and color correction (to correct for indoor lighting, for instance).

Finalizing a Photoshop File 

With Photoshop, use the built in “Save-for-Web” option (under the “File” menu). Within the “save for web” dialogue box, split the view to “original” and “optimized.” One can use two or four window views, trying both methods and comparing with the original.

In the upper right corner of the dialogue box there is a dropdown with different format presets for different file types including jpg, png, gif, and original. Jpg has a few settings, low/med/high, but these may not work for the particular image. 

Try several of the different methods until the best quality compression is achieved. Experimentation will reveal the uniqueness of each image. Some images will optimize quite easily and others may be seriously degraded if excessively optimized.  The Jpeg is the preffered format for final uploading.

Artistic Design for All Images

It is important to consider some of the rules of good artistic composition in the selection of images. Some visual design aspects to consider are: the line, color, texture, shape (2-D), form (3-D), the effects of compositional structure such as balance, repetition, variety, unity, rhythm, and the impression of movement in the image (organizing principles). Images should appear in a size that looks good in its context. Crop images as necessary to highlight what is important. We encourage you to seek advice from or solicit review by experienced designers, artists or editors whenever possible. 

Tips for Improving Thumbnail Images 

Because of the resizing which occurs in the UniNav, thumbnails often need to be enhanced using some of the image correction recommendations listed below. The appropriate method of touch up should be determined once the thumbnail is placed in the UniNav, since it is not possible to determine the final appearance on a flat computer screen. Sometimes it is a matter of trial and error and each image has it’s own special set of conditions.

• try to focus on the most important part of a diorama and crop the image to emphasize
  this.
• simplify images — erase or clone over unnecessary details with a simple background.
• get rid of unnecessary lines
• saturate the colors to help the image stand out
• use the burn tool to emphasize edges of striking geometric patterns
• sharpen the images
  
• do color correction to bring out mid tones.
• Jagged edges can sometimes be improved with the blur tool.
• Cutouts on black backgrounds can be improved by:
  • advanced feathering can be done by first contracting 3–10 pixels and then feathering;
  • use an outer glow with the specifications of: red: 255; green: 255; blue: 255; spread: 2; 
  • blur.  This creates a nice white glow around the icon;
  • inner glow according to visual judgment is sometimes effective;
  • A gaussian blur of .3 pixels sometimes gives a nice overall smooth appearance.
  • feather the edges of the cutout between 3–15 pixels, depending on the image; 
• Use the contrast option layer>new adjustment layer>contrast. Play with the contrast and     lightness/brightness. A more advanced way of adjusting the contrast and brightness would be inside the image>adjustment>curves function. Adjust the mid-range in the RGB menu with 2 points, high and low.

How to Edit an Image in Photoshop 

It is generally best to make Photoshop enhancements using the Adjust Layers option “Layer | New Adjustment Layer | choice” and also to work with a duplicate layer of the original to preserve the original image’s integrity for archival purposes.  Pay attention to the following details, especially when editing an image taken by a digital camera: 

Cropping— Make sure the subjects of the photo are in the center, and that extraneous space is not wasted on background.

Brightness— Photos taken with a digital camera are often too dark. Adjust the levels menu in Photoshop (not the brightness option) accordingly. Choose "Image | Adjust | Levels," move the right-hand marker to the upper end of the level distribution, move the left-hand marker to the lower end of the level distribution, and adjust the center (gamma) control so the image appears nice and bright (but not washed out).

Color Balance— Especially under fluorescent light, images tend to have a yellow cast. Most importantly, adjust mid-tones and highlights to make flesh tones look correct. In Photoshop, choose "Image | Adjust | Color Balance" and play with the controls until the image color is balanced. It is also important to be sure that your monitor is properly calibrated for good color balance evaluation.

Saturation— In many cases, the colors may appear muted. Go to "Image | Adjust | Saturation" to add a little color, if necessary. Be careful to maintain a photo-realistic quality and avoid a cartoon-like brightness.

Glare— Often, the flash will cause unsightly glare, especially on people who wear eyeglasses. Use the Smudge Tool(the little finger) to darken these areas out. Be careful to select a brush that is of appropriate size.

Clutter— If an image is cluttered, you may use a combination of creative cropping and cloning to clean it all up. The Rubber Stamp Toolcan replicate areas of the image, and allows one to remove clutter (like the arm of a person otherwise cropped from the photo).

Selecting Areas— Often, adjustments should not be applied uniformly to the entire image. To brighten a subject's face, but not the whole image, select just the face with the lasso tool or by using a mask. If a cold day is making a subject's face too red around the nose and cheeks, select just those areas to decrease the reds.

Feathering— To avoid unusual transitions when you apply changes in colors or levels to a selected area, use the Featheroption ("Select | Feather...") to blend these changes in gradually around the edges of the selections.

Focus— Images may be out of focus. Use the Unsharp mask to correct for this as much as possible. Choose "Filter | Sharpen | Unsharp Mask..." and adjust the radius and threshold to sharpen images. Be careful not to overuse this function. Experiment by turning the preview on and off to see how the image looks.

Size— As the last step, save the edited image separately from the original file, of which all layers should be kept intact, in the event that future editing work is needed. Then reduce it in size to the specifications noted above. Make sure that the cropping is consistent with the desired size (more complex photos may need a larger final size). Save the reduced image as a separate file, so you can continue to make adjustments to the original.

Recheck— After shrinking the image, recheck the levels; losing pixels almost always makes the image get darker as the brightest pixels are blended with darker ones. 

Web Images 

Many images that can be found on the web are too small or copyrighted and illegal for use. U.S. government websites have some larger useful images that can be used without fees, but this is not the rule. Some government sites have images loaned to them and are not for free use. In all cases, look for the details of the image rights on the site and if there is no disclaimer or rights information, remember, it does not necessarily mean they are free to use. 

Scanning Photographs

An image may need to be scanned with a flatbed scanner. It should be scanned in as large of a size as is practical. Be sure to archive the original and keep image information. NOTE: To “archive” is to keep the original as-is and make a copy that can be sized and optimized. 

For a small original, a higher resolution scan is recommended. There are many rules for good scanning. For example, a postage stamp scanned at 1200dpi will not work because that resolution is beyond the resolution of the printing process that created the stamp. When enlarged to this size, the dot or halftone from the press process can be seen. Therefore try to select larger original images.

Images from digital cameras look good if they are larger than 2 megapixels (because 2 megapixels is a good match for the DU image format. A smaller size will yield the same as scanning a print at too low of a resolution. You will not have as much control over the color and detail as you would with a 3, 4 or 5 megapixels camera where there is much more overall size, detail and color information to play with. Be sure to plan for cropping. The best policy is to shoot images at a higher resolution and decrease the size with the methods listed here. 

Stock Photography 

The best sources are images purchased from “off the shelf” image collections or stock image houses like Corbis, PictureQuest , etc. The cost is based on the resolution of the image. Sometimes an image can be used that might scale up with acceptable quality and therefore save money. Be sure to only choose "rights free" images or it is possible that the same fee must be paid for each additional year of use. There are not as many choices with rights-free images, but the image can be used as long as desired. Some "rights managed" images have limitations for use that are difficult to track over time. Explore image providers’ legal pages to understand more about how images are sold and rights are managed. 

Copyright Guidelines 

Images that are not owned by the DU or the Steward cannot be used without the prior, written consent of the copyright holder. These images include, but are not limited to, images that appear in published print material and images that appear on other web sites. To obtain a copyright release, contact the copyright holder and explain its intended use and get permission in writing for use on the portals. Obviously, it is preferable to use copyright-free images, but in some cases, images will have to be paid for either in a purchased collection or on a case-by-case basis. 

For people shots, it is important to obtain a signed model release. Marsha Sims, marsha@trunity.com, has official DU  forms for this. 

It is important to keep records on copyright information and author credits for every image used. Copyright tracking will be internal to producers and partners.  

DU is also a visual experiment in convergence. Media vary greatly in their on-line forms. Starting with the latest working standards, the DU will develop, support or convert to make visual, audio and other media available to all users. Because technologies are always advancing, an on-going internal awareness to make as much media available to all, as can be practically offered, is a DU policy.

• Organizing expert-reviewed information into a web of related Internet portals (websites) and subportals.
• Providing simple but powerful tools for scholars and educators to author and publish original, multi-media content online.
• Nurturing online communities around Digital Universe topics that will engage the public for educational and social networking purposes.  The content creation and website building tools mentioned above will be made available free to the public to support communities of interest and action in the “neighborhood” of Digital Universe portals. As an example, amateur astronomers and astronomy clubs can homestead around the expert-created Cosmos Portal.

The Digital Universe Foundation and its partnering organizations are catalyzing a world-wide effort to organize the most reliable information on the Internet into a Digital Universe that will be a public-service oriented subset of the Web — a PBS of the Web, or, perhaps eventually, a powerful information resource akin to the Encyclopedia Galactica envisioned by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov.

Such an ambitious, multi-decadal project is possible because:

• The Digital Universe will serve as a nucleus for the world’s scholars, experts and educators, providing an online home, powerful tools and an audience for their efforts.
• The Digital Universe will be non-profit, non-commercial and open-source, thereby attracting volunteer efforts to create new presentation tools, topic collections, and communities.
• An innovative partnership with the Trunity network – the service provider of the Web platform – allows the Digital Universe to share in the revenues from subscribers to private website building services. This is an innovative way to let private web services support a free, no-advertising public information source in perpetuity.

The flagship portal of the Digital Universe is the Earth Portal.  In less than one year from its April 2007 launch, the Earth Portal exceeded 300,000 unique visitors per month, maintaining a growth rate of 10 percent per month with relatively little marketing. An impressive alliance of leading figures in environmental science, including more than 900 contributors in 60-plus countries and more than 40 institutional partners, have joined the Earth Portal project to date. The Cosmos Portal was launched in 2008. Also underway is the Oceans Portal and the Human Rights Portal.

The Digital Universe Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, was chartered in 2004 to develop the Digital Universe in collaboration with universities, scholars, foundations and non-profit organizations around the world.  To date, seed funding has been provided by the Hemingway Foundation, ManyOne Networks, the National Science Foundation, and the Project’s associated University and non-profit partners.

Any very large group of people gathered on the Internet to work together toward some common purpose will resemble a polity, and, as such, the Digital Universe can benefit from this Charter, which defines the aims, processes, governance, and the rights of participants of the polity that will be the Digital Universe community. As the Digital Universe is a radically new and ambitious project, the general public has the right to expect the governing Boards of the Digital Universe to exercise the virtues of honesty, humility, creativity, and responsiveness to the many problems that will inevitably arise. This Charter is established to set the character and direction of the Digital Universe project, to help the project run more smoothly, and to encourage participation by those members of the public who support these goals and fundamental principles.

Article One. Statement of Principle and Aims of the Digital Universe.

Section I. Statement of Principle.

The Digital Universe is established for the benefit of all mankind, which means it is not established to profit some limited group of individuals, nor to promote some particular political ideology, nor to buttress any particular religion, nor to serve any particular nation. These aims shall be regarded as constraining for purposes of policy formulation and enforcement. The end to which the following aims are directed is the well-being of life on Earth and the health of the planet.

Section II. Aims.

The Digital Universe shall aim:

1. to organize the world’s largest repository and directory of information;
2. to develop new content collaboratively, and to guarantee the free availability of this new content, both for access and for further development, to all in perpetuity;
3. to be of the highest possible quality, and to this end to be managed by scholars and scientists acting as stewards;
4. to be exhaustive, continually-updated, and of broad interest to the public, and to this end to welcome public contribution and representation;
5. to be fair and inclusive;
6. to be well-organized, categorized, and easily searchable; and
7. to be written and managed in many languages after an initial launch in English. 

Article Two. Governance.

Section I. Board of Directors.

1. The Board of Directors of the Digital Universe Foundation shall operate according to the Bylaws of the Digital Universe Foundation, which Bylaws shall supersede any rules contained in this Charter.
2. The Board shall be empowered to make final decisions regarding the Digital Universe, but shall delegate dispute resolution, hiring, funding, and other issues to its adminstrators or to the appropriate boards and committees.
3. The Board shall initially be established by the Founding Directors.
4. Board members shall have three-year terms.
5. The establishment of new project-wide initiatives, such as a directory or an encyclopedia, are to be approved by the Board.

Section II. Coalitions.

1. Very broad areas of the taxonomy, numbering not more than a few dozen, shall be managed by Coalitions of organizations and individuals who are expert in those areas.
2. Coalitions shall act autonomously with regard to their internal affairs and subject-specific issues, but shall also be constrained by the provisions of this Charter and by decisions of the Board of Stewards or the Judicial Board.
3. All coalitions shall be neutral, that is, they shall be so constituted that, if they concern areas of partisan or sectarian dispute, they shall not be dominated by any particular concern, but representative of interests in the general population, or in the population of experts on the subject.
4. New coalitions shall be established by the Board of Directors at the recommendation of the Board of Stewards.

 Section III. Board of Stewards.

1. The Board of Stewards shall be appointed by the Board of Directors.
2. The Board of Stewards shall be comprised of one or more representatives from each of the Coalitions, plus such other members as may be appointed by the Board of Directors.
3. The general function of the Board of Stewards is to establish policy for the Digital Universe as a whole, both as regards content and as regard procedures.
4. Specific functions of the Board of Stewards shall include: the setting of project-wide editorial policy; approval of new project-wide processes; cultivation of new Coalitions; determination of grant distribution; and mediating disputes between Coalitions.
5. The Board of Stewards shall be empowered to oversee software development and other necessary cross-Coalition efforts that shall provide uniform service to the entire Digital Universe.
6. Committees of the Board of Stewards shall be established to recommend policy in a wide variety of areas, such as Technology or Recruitment, to be established by the Board of Stewards or by the Board of Directors. The decisions of committees shall be subject to approval by the entire Board of Stewards.
7. Coalitions are to be responsible for their own special policy matters. 

Section IV. Judicial Board.

1. The Judicial Board shall be appointed by the Board of Directors.
2. The general function of the Judicial Board is to decide particular disputes according to established policies.
3. The Judicial Board shall have jurisdiction over disputes between individuals and between individuals and any Boards or Administrators. It shall not have jurisdiction in disputes among Coalitions.
4. There shall initially be five Judicial Board members, including four regular members and a Chair. As the need arises, the Judicial Board may expand in membership at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
5. The proceedings of the Judicial Board shall be made public, unless a participant in the proceedings requests otherwise; and then only at the discretion of the Board.
6. Decisions made by the Judicial Board may be appealed to the Board of Directors, at the discretion of the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors may opt not to hear an appeal.
7. The Judicial Board may invalidate policies determined by the Board of Stewards that are inconsistent with this Charter. 

Section V. Administrators.

1. The Digital Universe Foundation, including various governing boards of the project, shall appoint Administrators who will be tasked with certain well defined management aspects of the project; that is, a person acting in his or her capacity as an Administrator shall have carefully-circumscribed powers to carry out or enforce policy.
2. Some Administrators, working at the pleasure of the Judicial Board, shall be responsible for the day-to-day enforcement of project policy among the general public. Members of the general public or Stewards may, having been approved by the Judicial Board, be elected or selected to serve in this capacity.
3. Some Administrators, working at the pleasure of the Board of Directors, shall be responsible for organizing research and scholarly discussion of the issues surrounding the prosecution of the project.
4. Other Administrators, such as the leaders of Cross-Coalition Projects, shall act on behalf of the Board that employs their services, and shall be answerable to that Board.

Section VI. Board of Advisors.

1. A Board of Advisors shall be appointed by the Board of Directors.
2. Terms of appointment shall be three years.
3. The Board will convene yearly.
4. The Board shall be empowered to issue public and private statements and recommendations.
5. The Board members shall determine the procedures of the Board.
6. The Board shall have a chairman, appointed by the Board of Directors.

Article Three. Policy on Fairness, Inclusion and Exclusion.

In the interests of encouraging the broadest participation, of assisting free peoples in making up their own minds about controversial issues, and of increasing the likelihood of articulating the whole truth about all subjects, the Digital Universe adopts the following policy regarding neutrality and fairness.

Section I. Fairness and Inclusion.

Content that is specifically approved by the Digital Universe shall, when touching upon any issue of controversy, be fair and insofar as possible neutral.

• When touching upon an issue of controversy, every different view on a subject that attracts a significant portion of adherents and which is reasonable and consistent with the Digital Universe statement of principle shall be represented, with each such view and its arguments or evidence being expressed as fairly and sympathetically as possible.
• Where there is a need to apportion limited space, space on areas of disagreement shall be apportioned roughly in proportion to their representation among experts or the persons involved in relevant disputes.

In view of the facts both that building a taxonomy inherently requires taking stands on controversial issues, and that there are few well-informed opinions about the task of taxonomy, there is no neutrality requirement with regard to building the taxonomy. The taxonomy shall be built according to the best-informed expert opinion.

Section II. Exclusion.

1. As access to the broadest array of knowledge has many salutary effects, the Digital Universe shall be strongly disposed to include rather than exclude content.
2. When some content both has no discernible and unique benefit to the advancement of knowledge, and has significant potential to harm the health or moral character of individuals, of human society at large, or of the environment, it may be excluded.
3. To be grounds for exclusion, the harmful nature of some content must be affirmed, or likely to be affirmed, by the majority of the world’s educated population, regardless of political or religious views. The Digital Universe shall be both non-partisan and non-sectarian.
4. Paradigm examples of excluded content are bomb-making instructions, pornography and Holocaust denial.

 Article Four. Content Creation and Organization.

Section I. Stewarded and Public Processes.

1. Duly appointed representatives of Coalitions, who possess some special qualification, shall be called Stewards, and Stewards shall in general have two functions: the creation of new content, and the approval of content originally created elsewhere. Stewards may be either individuals or organizations.
2. Only content that has been approved by Stewards shall be represented as officially approved by the Digital Universe.
3. Processes shall be established whereby members of the general public, who do not offer any special qualifications, may contribute.
4. All contributors to the Digital Universe must contribute under their own real names.
5. Free content that is created or imported to the project from outside of the Digital Universe shall be ensured to meet a minimum level of quality, as a condition of its development by the community.
6. Those Stewards who wish to do so may oversee the day-to-day operations of contributions made by the general public. Rules and processes whereby this oversight takes place shall be established by or with the approval of the Board of Stewards.
7. The Digital Universe shall conduct a copyediting project open to competent public participation, as well as other special projects that may serve the project as a whole. 

Section II. Participation and Recruitment. 

1. As project participation must be maximized, every reasonable effort shall be made to recruit both expert contributors and the general public.
2. Strategic use shall be made of various avenues of recruitment. 

Section III. Taxonomy.

1. Content organized by the Digital Universe shall be placed into a taxonomy of topics.
2. The building of the taxonomy shall be managed by Stewards, with input from the general public, and approved by Coalitions, and with general oversight by the Board of Stewards.

Section IV. System Design.

1. The processes whereby content is created and viewed shall be as easy to use as is consistent with the aims of the Digital Universe.
2. The software that runs the Digital Universe shall be free to use and copy, its source code shall be open to view and to develop further, and the Digital Universe shall establish a software development project open to competent public participation.
3. The system shall be designed so that there is a similar look and feel across different parts of the Digital Universe.

Article Five. A Bill of Rights.

This Charter is necessarily brief and leaves much up to the discretion of Coalitions and the various Boards. There are certain rights, however, which the Digital Universe shall respect, which include, but are not limited to, the following.

1. Everyone who is able to contribute positively and competently according to the policy of the Digital Universe, and who has not be removed from the project, has a right to do so. No one should be prevented from participation on grounds of sex, race, color, religion, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
2. Participants have the right to participate without abuse, that is, without harrassment or interference contrary to project policy; moreover, participants may expect that abuse will be remedied in a timely fashion.
3. In a free, publicly-owned project, no person or Coalition may be removed from the project without due process; moreover, penalties are to be justly proportional to the severity of the offense.
4. A person who disagrees with the decision of an Administrator or of a lesser tribunal may appeal the decision to a higher tribunal.
5. In the interests of maintaining an efficient and effective system, decisions made by Administrators and lesser tribunals that are under appeal may be carried out.
6. Duly appointed Stewards shall have the right to participate in the project in their areas of expertise without consulting the general public, except as provided for in this Charter.

The Digital Universe is organized into four governing boards that provide checks and balances on each other:

• The Board of Directors
• The Board of Stewards
• The Board of Arbitration
• The Board of Advisors

Presently, only the Board of Directors is active. The Board of Directors constitutes the executive branch of the Digital Universe. It is bound by the Bylaws of the Digital Universe Foundation, and is the only agency with authority to amend those bylaws. The Board of Stewards will constitute the legislative branch of the Digital Universe. Its membership will be drawn from the coalitions of stewards. It will have responsibility for editorial policy, as well as establishing and managing policies for managing the day to day activities within the Digital Universe portals.

Judicial functions will be handled by the Board of Arbitration, which will convene to resolve disputes between coalitions and to hear appeals from stewards concerned about governance decisions by the Board of Stewards.

The Board of Advisors consists of select scholars, experts, and luminaries from the topic areas covered by the Digital Universe portals. Its function is to advise at the request of the Board of Directors to assure that portals, coalitions, and stewards properly represent available expertise in those topic areas, and that portals within the Digital Universe cover the issues most vital in science, history, and society.

Quality through Expert, global collaboration

The Digital Universe is building a massive collaborative partnership between experts and the general public. Topic area experts, under the auspices of the Digital Universe's Stewardship Program, point to the most objective and authoritative information. These stewards also guide public involvement, both educational programs as well as public contribution. This is an open-ended, decades long collaboration that is now gearing up.

Our vision is to support the development of an unprecedented knowledge experience that is free. The non-profit Digital Universe Foundation holds in public trust Digital Universe content, which is kept in a public commons.

The ultimate vision is of a central clearinghouse of everything we know about nature and humanity, available online with massive amounts of vetted resources available for free. In short, the Digital Universe aims to be the definitive repository of human knowledge online. It will be a virtual reality encyclopedia, up-to-the minute newspaper, digital library, platform for discussion, and global community, held as a public trust in perpetuity.

Digital Universe Technology

The Digital Universe's technology partner, Trunity Networks, has designed a Web application that reconceives how we might interact with the Web. Information is sorted by subjects into portals, navigable through a hierarchical taxonomy. This approach has several benefits including increased stability in how information is organized and accessible over time. The platform provides structural support for a central clearinghouse for links to information, people and organizations related to these topics. It is a center for the public, researchers, and teachers to network and take action in these topic areas. It will provide a repository for lesson plans.

Advances in visual resolution, interactivity, and virtual reality will make it possible to put a joystick of exploration in the hands of anyone with access to a computer--to open the galaxies, the Earth, the body, the cell, the atom for personal reconnaissance. The Digital Universe and Trunity Networks will be among the prime catalysts of this exploration.

Stewardship

The Digital Universe's portal editors are called "stewards." The project will evolve in partnership with thousands, eventually tens of thousands, of stewards who act to find, filter and judge the quality of informational resources on the Web in an assigned domain as well as to provide original material based upon their own expertise. The Stewardship Program is the means by which the majority of the content of the Digital Universe will be populated.

The stewards provide the authority to give the Digital Universe credence, but stewards are selected both for their topic area expertise and for their expertise as educators. The mission of the stewards is as much outreach and engagement as it is content creation; public involvement and public contributions are fundamental to what is being stewarded.

The Digital Universe Foundation will not directly oversee the work of stewards. Instead, the Foundation will enter into relationships with a full complement of international "information coalitions" covering every subject. The first of these coalitions are the Environmental Information Coalition and the Human Experience Coalition. While these coalitions are being organized, the Foundation has started a program for stewarding work that takes place independently of coalitions, called the Independent Stewardship Program.

The Power of Community

Unshackled from the constraints of time and distance, people have seized upon the Internet as an amazing community-building vehicle. Online collaborative communities have accomplished remarkable feats. From audience-driven news and discussion sites like Slashdot to collective information organizing projects like Wikipedia to the open source software development model that has brought us the Apache Web server, the Mozilla Web browser, and the Linux operating system, we are witnessing a new era of volunteerism and productivity when people gather online to form communities of like-minded peers.

Under the guidance of its stewardship program, the Digital Universe seeks to harness this volunteerism to create an unprecedented public good, one that combines the dynamism of collaborative communities with the expertise and care of traditional information creation.

The community will develop its own unique dynamic. Given the challenges of managing a large, exciting community, it will have to be guided according to a Digital Universe Charter.

Governance

The Digital Universe is organized into four governing boards that provide checks and balances on each other:

• The Board of Directors
• The Board of Stewards
• The Board of Arbitration
• The Board of Advisors

Presently, only the Board of Directors is active. The Board of Directors constitutes the executive branch of the Digital Universe. It is bound by the Bylaws of the Digital Universe Foundation, and is the only agency with authority to amend those bylaws.

The Board of Stewards will constitute the legislative branch of the Digital Universe. Its membership will be drawn from the coalitions of stewards. It will have responsibility for editorial policy, as well as establishing and managing policies for the day to day activities within the Digital Universe portals.

Judicial functions will be handled by the Board of Arbitration, which will convene to resolve disputes between coalitions and to hear appeals from stewards concerned about governance decisions by the Board of Stewards.

The Board of Advisors consists of select scholars, experts, and luminaries from the topic areas covered by the Digital Universe portals. Its function is to provide advice at the request of the Board of Directors to assure that portals, coalitions, and stewards properly represent available expertise in those topic areas, and that portals within the Digital Universe cover the issues most vital in science, history, and society.