In the fall of 2000, Elon University and the Pew Internet & American Life project formed a partnership, giving students and faculty the opportunity to do research about the Internet and share their findings with a wider audience.

The first project, completed in February 2001, was called One Neighborhood, One Week on the Internet. It chronicled Internet usage by 24 families during a one-week period. Journalism students wrote feature stories about each of the families, and also studied the data collected during the week in family diaries. Janna Q. Anderson, assistant professor of communications and director of Internet projects in the Elon School of Communications, directed the project.

The second project, completed in 2004, was the "Imagining the Internet Predictions Database. It cataloged predictions about the Internet during 1990-95, included a 2004 survey of Internet experts and allowed visitors to the site to submit their own predictions about the future of the Internet.

About The Pew Internet & American Life Project

Directed by Harrison "Lee" Rainie, The Pew Internet and American Life Project creates and funds original, academic-quality research that explores the impact of the Internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life. The Project aims to be an authoritative source for timely information on the Internet's growth and societal impact, through research that is scrupulously impartial.

The basic work-product of the center includes phone and online surveys; data-gathering efforts that often involve classic shoe-leather reporting from government agencies, academics, and other experts; fly-on-the-wall observations of what people do when they are online; and other efforts that try to examine individual and group behavior. The Project intends to release 15-20 pieces of research a year, varying in size, scope, and ambition.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a non-profit initiative of the Pew Research Center for People and the Press. Andrew Kohut, the head of the Pew Research Center, serves as an advisor to the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the chair of its board. Support for the project is provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Tides Center in San Francisco administers the Project's grant from Pew.

About Elon University

Elon is recognized by the National Survey of Student Engagement as one of the most effective universities in the nation in actively engaging students in learning. They are challenged intellectually and supported as they develop an understanding of their roles as global citizens and put their knowledge into practice.

Professors are mentors in a student-centered environment that blends academic and co-curricular activities, especially in flagship programs known as the Elon Experiences. Seventy-five percent of students complete an internship (more than twice the national average), 88 percent participate in volunteer service projects, 32 percent hold leadership positions in 150 student organizations, and 63 percent study abroad, distinguishing Elon as the nation's top master's-level university in the percentage of undergraduates studying internationally.

A 4-1-4 academic calendar allows students to devote January to global study and innovative courses such as the One Neighborhood, One Week on the Internet course. Each April, students present their research findings at the Student Undergraduate Research Forum. Among the recent presentations were the two projects conducted in partnership with the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Elon has one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. Recent additions include the Academic Village, Carol Grotnes Belk Library, Dalton McMichael Sr. Science Center and Rhodes Stadium, home of the NCAA Division I-AA Phoenix football team. The newly renovated School of Communications building features the latest digital communications technologies and two television studios. With an enrollment of about 4,400, Elon is the ideal size, with the resources of a university in a close-knit community atmosphere.