Image by Casey David via Flickr As long as I’ve been interested in [Wordpress](http://wordpress.org “WordPress”) for Education, [CUNY Commons](http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/ “CUNY Commons”) has stood as the example of what’s possible when you mash up Wordpress, [WPMU](http://mu.wordpress.org/ “WordPress MU”), [BuddyPress](http://buddypress.org/ “BuddyPress”), and [MediaWiki](http://www.mediawiki.org/ “MediaWiki”) with some special, custom goodness. Built on [open source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source “Open source”) tools, it has enabled the dedicated team at CUNY to build it into exactly the tool their community needs.
I have been trying with very limited success to create a similar tool at InterLearn.us, but now I might not have to.…
The project has [announced](http://commons.gc.cuny.edu/) that they will be offering Commons in a Box, a version of CUNY’s customized [social network](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_network “Social network”) that can be freely installed at any educational institution to provide a social network of blogs, wikis, and collaboration tools.
This is exciting news for those of us who want to free our users to collaborate at a higher level using open tools. What I don’t fully cogitate is how the Box’d version will differ from a Buddypress install with [the full list of CUNY’s custom plugins](http://dev.commons.gc.cuny.edu/tag/wordpress/) and MediaWiki integrated.
I’m waiting with barely‐contained excitement for “**Step Two– Put Your School in the Box**”. Are you? How does your school facilitate online collaboration?
###### Related articles
– [I develop free software because of CUNY and Blackboard](http://teleogistic.net/2011/09/i‑develop-free-software-because-of-cuny-and-blackboard/) (teleogistic.net)
– [Why “Commons in a Box” Matters](http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/11/28/why-commons-in-a-box-matters/) (hackeducation.com)
– [New BuddyPress plugin: BP Better Directories](http://teleogistic.net/2011/11/new-buddypress-plugin-bp-better-directories/) (teleogistic.net)
– [Creating New Academic Networks With ‘Commons in a Box’](http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/creating-new-academic-networks-with-commons-in-a-box/34453) (chronicle.com)
