Captured in brief below are some of the common themes identified in these papers.

SWOT papers submitted by Zent, Knight, and Offerman highlighted their affiliation with a major research institution as a strength being brought to a digital partnership. Offerman elaborated on this university "brand-name" affiliation by indicating it was found useful in attracting external funding and new faculty. Knight raises an interesting caveat about brand-name affiliation, pointing out that quality control measures must be implemented for new programming initiatives in order to protect that brand name.

Strong support in terms of administrative leadership or technological infrastructure was cited as a strength in virtually all SWOT papers. Miller noted the availability of good external foundation support for startup programs, thus strengthening the entrepreneurial approach to program development. The SWOT paper for Penn State Public Broadcasting cited a related strength in programming initiatives, saying they have the ability to tailor programming efforts to fit available funding models.

A commitment to distance education was cited as a strength in several SWOT papers from Zent (KAMU-TV), Miller (Penn State Distance Education/World Campus), and Lau (SDSU). University of Wisconsin's Learning Innovations director, Mike Offerman cited Wisconsin's rich heritage in distance education, dating back to the late 1800's.

Treacy Lau, Manager of Distributed Learning at SDSU, also described commitment to distance education at San Diego State University in her description of the very nature of San Diego. She describes San Diego as being committed to becoming a 'wired' community, with full support "from the Mayor's office down". Lau believes this commitment will help foster innovative digital learning projects to connect San Diego with close neighbors across the Mexican border.

SWOT papers revealed strong existing technical infrastructure as strengths being brought to the Reforging the Links project. In terms of infrastructure, Lau points out that San Diego is the second most cabled city in the United States. She also notes that San Diego State University is one of the universities selected to take part in Internet-II national project. Zent highlights KAMU-TV by saying that while it is a small station in the PBS network, it is one of the largest entities in terms of education. He details their radio and television facilities, a video network reaching 106 sites in Texas, videoconferencing site in Mexico City, and dial-up bridging capacity that enables programming in many areas of the world.

Virtually all SWOT papers highlighted the expertise and skill which staff brings to distance education programming or PTV production processes. Thus the core of this project, the process of "reforging the links" will have no lack of talent on which to draw when facilitating a cooperative relationship between the worlds of public television and university CE/DE units.

The breadth of talent described in SWOT papers is compelling. Reilly cites the successful fundraising efforts of universities and public television stations alike. Hauser detailed the strengths of Learning Innovations as including expertise in web design, instructional design, server management, marketing, and state-of-the art hardware and software. WHA-TV's Digital Innovations Unit (part of Wisconsin Public Television) provides UW-LI with years of experience in the creation of award-winning video.

This talent is reflected in a comment Kevin Reilly. He states that "Partnerships between American universities and their public television stations bring together two of the most highly regarded sets of brands in the world."

The above factors were cited as contributing positively to the development of a closer working relationship between public television stations and university distance/continuing education departments. But the SWOT papers also highlighted some concerns that could impact the creation of a positive working relationship between these two entities. A lack of agility and flexibility as an institution was often cited. Offerman states that the model for conducting business is often characterized as bureaucratic rather than entrepreneurial. Miller's SWOT paper on Penn State Public Broadcasting cites the inability to compete locally due to university policy. Zent points out another element of competition. He notes the concern that KAMU is in competition with other production entities on the Texas A&M Campus that are nearly self-funded, and have the luxury of being able to sell services at a lower rate than KAMU can offer. Bromberg, the University of Wisconsin System Vice President of Finance, references the need for agility as well. She notes that "the business structures necessary to ensure a competitive presence in this digital marketplace, will require a high degree of flexibility and risk tolerance."

Critical capital issues were commonly discussed in SWOT papers. Comments included the limited availability of risk capital for new programming efforts, for scaling up of existing programs, and the fragility of state funding. Miller notes in his Penn State World Campus SWOT that the cost of program development and delivery remains high enough such that earning revenue is greatly delayed, making it a less attractive venture for academic units. Mike Offerman of UW-Learning Innovations describe human resource and capital goods acquisition as being subject to slow and cumbersome processes. According to Bromberg, capital acquisition is a key variable along with equipment acquisition and working capital.

Themes related to the "cultural challenges" in re-forging collaborative relationships were raised in the SWOT papers. Lau commented that San Diego State University and KPBS had not developed programs together for a long time. Zent (KAMU) mentioned the difficulty of convincing PTV staff that distance education is as important as broadcast programs. A possible impact of the unwillingness to take entrepreneurial risks was offered by Offerman: that this will allow other entities, both non-commercial and, more likely, for-profit organizations, to take the lead in educational product and program development in the digital marketplace.

Sensitive faculty issues come to light in this new programming endeavor. Included here are factors such as faculty availability, curriculum control, intellect property rights, courseloads, and release time.

In terms of "Reforging the Links" between public television stations and distance/continuing education units, it is clear that project participants and their institutions bring critical strengths to the project - administrative support, talented staff, existing technical and production processes. It is also interesting to note that concerns expressed in SWOT papers were sometimes identical as expressed by a public television station or a university distance/continuing education unit. Perhaps this similarity represents a platform on which shared communication can begin. Erstling's SWOT paper seems to support this when he says that the earliest of communications in this partnership must strive to understand the values of each partner and how they complement, or conflict with each other.