CANS is a notification system for online communities that is designed around the importance of a user’s social context and personal notification preferences. It was built using the principles of Fitzpatrick’s Locales Framework, Dourish’s concept of embodied interaction, and a review of existing collaborative environments (Fitzpatrick, 1998; Dourish, 2001; Amelung, 2005).

CANS is designed to work with any network-based application capable of generating or receiving XML. It is currently being used with the online Learning and Collaboration environment called Sakai at the University of Missouri in 10 online courses with approximately 250 students.

CANS is licensed under the Educational Community License (1.0) version of the open-source license.

CANS was developed under a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education. However, views on cansaware.com does not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.