http://lionshare.its.psu.edu/main/

The LionShare P2P project is an innovative effort to facilitate legitimate file-sharing among individuals and educational institutions around the world. By using Peer to Peer (P2P) technology and incorporating features such as authentication, directory servers, and owner controlled sharing of files, LionShare promises secure file-sharing capabilities for the easy exchange of image collections, video archives, large data collections, and other types of academic information. In addition to authenticated file-sharing capabilities, LionShare will also provide users with resources for organizing, storing, and retrieving digital files.

Currently, many academic digital collections remain "hidden" or difficult to access on the Internet. Through the use of LionShare, users will be able to find and access these information reservoirs in a more timely and direct manner -- employing one rather than multiple searches. LionShare will also provide users with tools to catalog and organize personal files for easier retrievals and enhanced sharing capabilities.

The LionShare project began as an experimental software development project at Penn State University to assist faculty with digital file management. The project has now grown to be a collaborative effort between Penn State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Open Knowledge Initiative, researchers at Simon Fraser University, and the Internet2 P2P Working Group. A generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will be used to fund the first two years of the project.