Comments for John's JISC CETIS blog

Comment on Open to opportunities? by Author not found

Author not found — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:47:46 +0000

[...] posted a while ago about my upcoming move to the USA and today is my last working day at CETIS. Later in the week I’ll be getting on a plane to [...]

Comment on considering OAI-PMH by JohnR

JohnR — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:55:21 +0000

Hi Roger,

I agree that many issues with aggregation are ultimately about underlying data quality. There are some issues with OAI-PMH in itself as it’s currently specified which are discussed in the above captured tweets - however, for all the problems which it may have, my colleague (Phil Barker ) was recently pointing out that one of the difficulties with OAI-PMH is that is it’s implemented by comparatively so few pieces of software that if you want to write a harvester or endpoint interface and address some of the underlying data quality issues you probably have to write everything yourself. Phil would contend that most feed technologies are so ubiquitous (Rss/ Atom) that there is a much greater chance the there are freely available software libraries addressing data quality issues that you can draw on to create your software.

in terms of going back in time … this is perhaps the greatest weakness of RSS/ATOM as it’s often implemented. The issue isn’t in the spec (as i understand it) but that it is often implemented as a (10 most recent items) newsfeed - the spec can be implemented to provide a complete listing of resources (for example listing everything or everything matching a particular criteria). If you have control over the resource providers you could use rss in this way quite effectively. however, if they’re already set up and supporting OAI-PMH, or using commercial software (which is likely to restrict how you can output the rss) - it may be more straightforward to keep using OAI-PMH (depsite the above limitations)

Comment on considering OAI-PMH by Roger Hyam

Roger Hyam — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:57:31 +0000

Hi,

I was wondering if you could name an aggregation protocol that is not ‘reviled’ by whoever has to use it. Aggregation is just like that!

I am wanting to suggest the use of OAI-PMH in up coming projects. I feel there must be an alternatives but have yet to find them. The main issue I have is that the main feed technologies don’t appear to allow you to go back in time. If you find out that your harvester has been unreliable for the last couple of weeks you can’t go back and say “give me everything that has changed since…” and page through to the present day. (I may be missing something in the ATOM spec but I don’t see it).

People seem to complain about OAI-PMH but as you point out that is usually to do with metadata standards not the protocol. Nobody actually proposes an alternative.

What am I missing…

Comment on OER Hackday: initial reflections by DevCSI OER Hack Day « Amplified Event Back Up Blog

DevCSI OER Hack Day « Amplified Event Back Up Blog — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:55:56 +0000

[...] OER Hackday: initial reflections On Thursday and Friday CETIS and UKOLN ran OERHack [...]

Comment on Open Educational Resources (OERs) by Lorna’s JISC CETIS blog » CETIS OER Visualisation Project

Lorna’s JISC CETIS blog » CETIS OER Visualisation Project — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:33:53 +0000

[...] projects. The primary data collection tool used for this purpose is the PROD database. An initial synthesis of this data has already been completed by R. John Robertson, however there is potential for [...]

Comment on Open Educational Resources (OERs) by 40 days to let you see the impact of the OER Programme #ukoer [day 1] – MASHe

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:51:53 +0000

[...] year. You can find out more about the programme on JISC or HEA pages. I would also highly recommend John Robertson’s (CETIS) collection of posts on OER which are a great lead-in to this project.So what is ‘this project’ about. Here’s a link to [...]

Comment on UKOER 2: Content management platforms by Digital Infrastructure to Support Open Content for Education : Digital Infrastructure Team

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:20:21 +0000

[...] to the wide range of platforms and content types used for OER, as described in JISC CETIS’ UKOER technical synthesis. Projects have explored SEO in several ways, for example, the SCOOTER project has produced guidance [...]

Comment on UKOER 2: Technical synthesis introduction by Digital Infrastructure to Support Open Content for Education : Digital Infrastructure Team

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:19:56 +0000

[...] the evaluation and synthesis, and the experiences of funded projects, and aided particularly by JISC CETIS’s technology synthesis work, JISC is developing a clearer understanding of the role of technologies and infrastructure in [...]

Comment on The Learning Registry: Rough Guide for Contributors by Ease-of-use and egoboo: library disrupters | Gavia Libraria

Ease-of-use and egoboo: library disrupters | Gavia Libraria — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:45:48 +0000

[...] this morning via an interface so obtuse as to seem deliberately obstructionist, she happened upon this announcement of a learning-object registry. The pattern connecting the two phenomena griped her like an eagle’s talons, so here she is [...]

Comment on UKOER 2: Technical synthesis introduction by Background to the Call « Open Educational Resources Rapid Innovation Call November 2011

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 17:16:40 +0000

[...] and the experiences of funded projects, and aided particularly by JISC CETIS’s technology synthesis work, JISC is developing a clearer understanding of the role of technologies and infrastructure in [...]