The Schools Interoperability Framework (SIF), a division of The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), announced a new group of Showcase Sites at this week’s National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, TX.
The sites will implement SIF-enabled software programs in their schools to improve various administrative and reporting functions, according to SIF representatives.
SIF is an initiative driven by K-12 education technology providers and users “to revolutionize the management and accessibility of data within schools and school districts.” It will enable diverse applications to interact and share data efficiently, reliably and securely regardless of the platform hosting the applications, according to company reps.
The SIF specification is a technical blueprint that lets schools share data more efficiently by providing universal data standards that enable multiple programs to share information within a school or district, across different software and hardware platforms, according to Tim Magner, SIF Director. The Connect-a-thon is a follow up to last November’s SIF Developer’s Camp.
It was at the 2000 NECC (National Education Computer Conference) that Advantage Learning Systems and Apple had the fist-ever demo of SIF — dubbed “SIF in Action.” It was the first time anyone was able to actually see SIF technology in action. See our July 5, 2000 report for details.