Elgg

Wired magazine discussed Elgg, open-source social networking software developed at the University of Brighton, has been designed specifically with academic uses in mind. It described Blackboard as an "aging" traditional educational delivery system. It's interesting how effective and forceful a word such as "aging" is even for software. Schools after several years of ineffectively trying to block MySpace and Facebook are now offered a free alternative that recognizes the inevitability of incorporating the social aspects provided by these alternatives to combat top down teaching.