The Pickering Institute in Missouri is pimping out its edu domain names. The Institute, which falls under my definition of a "questionable institution," is clearly not what we expect when we hear the .edu domain. Its home page consists of a standard blog template and two short front page entries, the oldest of which is from March 2008. PI's ethos is no better established by its two-paragraph long "About us" page. The second of its whopping two whole paragraphs describes in vague terms its educational role:

Internship Programs are offered that combine "job training" and "distance learning" as models for growth in many parts of the country. Pickering Institute offers a unique and fresh approach to specialized studies which represents the foundation of the programs. Traditional programs typically require students to complete their general education first and then courses in their major. In our program, courses in the field of interest may be the first subjects taken. It is possible that major courses are completed prior to fulfilling general studies requirements.

And its "Mission and Values" are described in similarly brief fashion:

Pickering Institute's "Vision" consists of the continued development of leaders by educationally empowering them to make a difference in the world in which we live. Pickering Institute's "Mission" is to encourage personal and professional growth; serve the continuing education needs of world communities; promote environmental stewardship, ethics, and values; provide exemplary educational opportunities for non-traditional students through degree credit programs. Pickering Institute provides an education which is an integral part of our society forming the foundation of democracy, equal opportunity, and the wise use of our precious natural resources.

A further review of the site shows that, while the Institute was established in 1994, all of the site entries are dated from March 2008. The sketchy information and lack of alumni information make it a poor front for an educational institution. Frankly, it's embarassing. If they're going to pull a con, they could at least make a little effort.

Ian Lurie breaks the story on his blog Conversation Marketing with ZDNet's Christopher Dawson following up. The Chronicle of Higher Education provides further information, including a statement from Educause, which manages the distribution of .edu domains. As far as I can tell, no legal action has been taken and, given that the Pickering Institute is accredited by the Association of Christian Schools and Colleges.

The separate site (which uses the symbol for pi instead of its initials) for the PI Blog Community offers the following description:

The PI Blog Community exists to give a voice to our membership that would otherwise be lost in the clutter of the Internet. Our blog program gives webmasters a very unique opportunity to educate visitors about their field of expertise. Our mission is to create and offer membership in a high quality EDU blog community in ways that recognize the unique circumstances of webmasters worldwide.

Their mission seems to have a serious flaw--they don't seem to have monitored the content of their blogs with names such as "vegasdeals." John Lessnau, a Linkadage official, comments on all of the "Buzz" (his word choice) on Lurie's blog. His major argument:

People are being naive if they don’t know that many of the top universities have 100% commercial blogs and blog posts for sale by students and faculty alike. Many major universities also have entire sections of their domain for sale to those willing to pay the price. I guess they are under the radar because their size and the search engines have trouble sorting the wheat from the chafe. From what I seen, people that own these underground EDU pages seem to be getting a nice rankings boost.

Apparantly, "if everyone else is doing it" is their justification for exploitating their institutional status. Of course, Lessnau doesn't provide any specific examples of these "for profit" .edu blogs. I couldn't find them. Can you? If anyone knows of any, please post them here.

This poses an interesting dilemma for us as academics and educators. While these blogs are clearly specious, other groups, more talented at subterfuge could use these to disseminate inaccurate information and promote hate speech (to name a few). Major institutions at least monitor the content of their student sites to the extent that they keep out hate speech and similar. We teach our students that .edu domains, while not certain to be valid sources of information, have at least a measure of ethos based on association. (Not that every university member (student or faculty) with a .edu domain delivers quality content on their site.) Perhaps there are more questionable .edu sites out there than I am aware of, but I don't think that's a good reason to allow this.

Another thing to consider--what about people who really do want to educate in the spirit of Open Access? What about people who genuinely care about education and want to share their knowledge with others? Given my belief in letting information be free, I feel a bit hypocritical if I claim that only people who can afford (or choose) university affiliation are valid sources of education. From what I've seen of the pi.edu blogs, this isn't an issue, but if this takes off, it certainly could be in the future.