Learning Technology Standards Observatory Luis Anido-Rifón Grupo de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos (GIST) University of Vigo

Contents Introduction Timeline Current State & demo Decisions from Paris Open Questions Next steps

Introduction The output of this work will be A dynamic Observatory for Learning Technology Standards A set of administration tools to manage the entire web site. Different lingual versions of the observatory may be provided as a result of this work. Further population will be based on administration tools with restricted permissions over the observatory data.

Timeline (i) Key dates (year 2003): March/april (Q1 meeting) July (Q2 meeting) October (Q3 meeting) December (Q4 meeting)

Timeline (ii) By Q1 meeting: First prototype of the administration tool for the general administrator. First prototype of the observatory (English UI version). This objectives were met and presented in Paris

Timeline (iii) By Q2 meeting: Fully functional version of administration tools for: General administrator Observatory administrator Local administrator Second version of the observatory (fully functional version of the dynamic contents/structure and 50% of additional functionalities (forum, news, etc.) completed. First draft of CWA Filling the repository (English content) Establisment of contact with standardization bodies

Current State and Demo By Q2 meeting: Fully functional version of administration tools for: General administrator Observatory administrator Local administrator Done: Administration of observatory and local administratros from the general administration tool. Observatory and local administrator tools completed.

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Current State and Demo By Q2 meeting: Second version of the observatory (fully functional version of the dynamic contents/structure and 50% of additional functionalities (forum, news, etc.) completed. Done: News Events Events Calendar News and Event search LTSO Newsletter Search Engine for contents

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Current State and Demo By Q2 meeting: First draft of CWA Done: The deliverable will be the user’s guide for administrators to help them in the future maintenance of the observatory. The first draft is available for discussion and approval of this as deliverable is requested from the WS.

Documentation INTRODUCTION BASIC CONCEPTS Along this chapter we describe basic concepts and terms of paramount importance for the correct management of LTSO. Preliminaries Multilingual Support Structure Contents Content and Structure Binding Administration Scope

Documentation FUNCTIONALITY DESCRIPTION This chapter discusses all operations available to manage LTSO. Operations are organized into functional groups to facilitate their description. Administrator Management Content Management Structure Management News and Events Management Other Content-related Operations

Documentation ROADMAP This chapter shows how to use the available management resources to create and populate a working version of LTSC. We follow a step-by-step approach.

Documentation STYLE GUIDE This chapter provides guidelines and recommendations on best practices concerning LTSO management. Terms of Use When defining terms of use, make explicit the conditions and limitations on the use of the provided information. Terms of use are not intended to serve as a description or abstract of the corresponding page. You should write up terms of use carefully. CEN/ISSS WS-LT position with respect to the related contents should be clearly established. For example, you should indicate if contents reflect the official position of CEN/ISSS WS-LT, if contents reflect personal opinions, if approval is pending, etc.

Documentation Topics and Keywords When creating contents (pages, news, events), you should select carefully the related topics and keywords. Topics and keywords will be used as metadata (i.e. indexing information) to support a search service on contents. When lists of topics or keywords are provided, select those items more appropriate for the contents.

Documentation Recommendations on Contents Standards: The first level groups general subjects (e.g. Metadata, EML, etc.). The page bound to first level should collect general information on each subject. Second-level are for concrete specs/standars (e.g. LOM, OUN’s EML, etc.). Second level page should give a general overview for the spec/standard. Third level categories proposed: summary, current version, previous versions, relations, furture work, conformance, news and meetings).

Documentation Recommendations on Contents Institutions The first level groups standardization-related institutions. The page bound to it should clarify each institution’s role and an initial classification. Second level nodes contains particular institutions (e.g. LTSC) with general info on them. Third level nodes recommended are: working groups, liaisons, meetings, news, future activities.

Documentation General Recommendations When creating contents for LTSO, it is recommended to apply the guidelines below: Include links providing direct access to information whenever possible. Avoid links directing to or pointing beyond a further registration procedure. Try to maintain a uniform aspect across the system. When applicable, clearly identify the sources of the information and contents included in LTSO. For unstable or rapidly changing information, provide the most general URL possible, to facilitate users access to the last version available.

Documentation Elements When creating elements, an administrator should be careful about images included in elements, URLs and follow W3C recommendations concerning WAI content generation.

Documentation OPERATIONS REFERENCE This chapter provides a comprehensive list of operations available to LTSO administrators.

Current State and Demo By Q2 meeting: Filling the repository (English content) Partially done: The sections for “Metadata”, “Learner Information” and “Content Aggregation” are being completed. Once these sections were reviewed and approved by the WS the PT will complete the remaining ones.

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Current State and Demo By Q2 meeting: Establisment of contact with standardization bodies Not yet The PT proposes to wait till the observatory is finished (October 2003) and the documentation available for distribution. Who should contact external bodies (LTSC, ADL, IMS)? WS secretariat? WS chair? The PT?

Contents Introduction Timeline Current State & Demo Decisions from Paris Open Questions Next steps

Decisions from Paris (i) No acronyms in the first level nodes (main menu) DONE

Decisions from Paris (ii) DNS for the LTSO: http://www.cen-ltso.net http://www.cen-ltso.org http://www.cen-ltso.com And http://www.cen-ltso.net/Administration/ http://www.cen-ltso.org/Administration/ http://www.cen-ltso.com/Administration/

Decisions from Paris (iii) Who can become a local administrator? Local administrators are proposed by the General/Observatory administrators or any WS member and they must be approved by the WS chairperson (option H.3) who would inform the WS electronically. Administrators should use the “terms of use” to provide additional information on the data source used to create contents and its rights.

Decisions from Paris (iv) The current structure for the contents has been accepted. Due to the dynamic character of the observatory this structure may change at any moment in the future.

Decisions from Paris (v) Updating data in the different lingual versions of the observatory: The general administrator should be reported whenever any update is made on any lingual version. Then, the general administrator should report observatory administrators for the rest of the lingual versions.

Decisions from Paris (vi) The PT should study the use of RSS as the means to allow external portals to access news published at the LTSO (see Open Questions)

Open Questions (1) The PT proposes to use specification "Standards Metadata Element Set, v3.0" as the basis to describe standards in the LTSO. This conceptual model will be bound to XML to support standards descriptions exchange with external sites.

Open Questions(1) “Standards Metadata Element Set” may be used as a metadata model to describe a wide range of standards.

Open Questions(1) “Standards Metadata Element Set” defines the following elements: Designation: A unambiguous identifier for the standard. Title: Name by which the standard is formally know. Description: An account of the content of the standard. Identifier: An unambiguous reference to the standard within a given context. Name of Standards Developing Organization: Name of the standards developing organization primarily responsible for developing the content of the standard. SDO Commitee: Name of committee (and subcommittee and working group, if applicable)

Open Questions(1) SDO Information: Additional information about SDO (contact names, addresses, phone, e-mail, etc.) Subject: The topic of the content of the document Current Status: Current document development status. Date of most Recent Action: Date that document achieved the development stage shown in Current Status element. Referenced standards: Normative references from/in this standard. Replaces: Standard(s) most recently replaced by this standard. Related resources: Other informative (non-normative) related resources, such as endorsements/ adoptions, regulations, etc. Format: The physical or digital manifestation of the document. Language:A language of the intellectual content of the standard. Rights Management: Information about rights held in and over the standard.

Open Questions (2) As suggested in the Paris Meeting, the PT had to study the use of RSS for the distribution of LTSO news. This will be done in the near future. Also the PT is considering the inclusion of information about LTSO events in the RSS files. Although RSS is designed for news distribution it could be used to distribute information about events. Do you think event data should be included in the LTSO RSS files?

Open Questions (3) The WS needs to decide on a procedure to publish contents on the observatory. According to the decisions adopted in Paris, contents published by administrators are supposed to be backed by the WS (although a disclaimer may be needed in the "Terms of Use"). Because of this, contents coming from external sources may need to be reviewed and edited before an administrator publishes them. The WS needs to decide on a concrete mechanisms in a future meeting.

Open Questions (4) For contents coming from the Web sites of other standardization institutions, the WS may need to set up a formal contact for this to be possible. So far the PT is using public information on standardization institutions Web sites and including in the terms of use where this data have been taken from.

Open Questions (5) There will be 11 different language versions of the observatory. The WS needs to decide who will be responsible for the contents maintenance after 2003. The PT proposes to, at least, update regularly the English version of the LTSO.

Next Steps By Q3 meeting: Fully functional version of the observatory. Transfer to a commercial ISP. Second version of the documentation (manuals for General, Observatory and local administrators) Request for comments/suggestions. Request for additional language versions (translations of labels for the UI to be provided by the WS)

For the future The WS may want to consider a new work item on the content maintenance of the observatory (after 2003). The PT strong supports this, at least for the English version. The WS may want to consider a new work item to add new functionalities in the LTSO (after 2003). The PT proposes the development of an XML binding of the contents and its structure in the LTSO to let those allowed external sites to use this data. Also, a pdf “Current state of Learning Technology Standards” could be developed as part of this action.

Thanks Please send your comments to lanido@det.uvigo.es http://www.gist.uvigo.es/~lanido/LTSO VIGO