JISC CETIS Conference, Nottingham 2010

…Locate, Collate and Aggregate and what I’m doing at the moment

Rob Pearce, Loughborough Universityrob@engsc.ac.uk (rpearce247@yahoo.com)

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

© luf:151110:L0021)

OER Pilot release (Phase1) DOB codes Prototype Aggregated Search

2009/10 What was I doing?

2010/11 What am I doing?

OER lo-carbon collections (Phase 2)

Continuation of DOB code application

Multiple OER consultancy roles

Open Engineering Resources Pilot (OERP) Project 2009/10

http

://ww

w.e

ngsc.a

c.uk/o

er

Low Carbon Engineering OER Project (Phase 2): The Subject…

• This project will investigate and surface open educational resources currently in use over a range of engineering and related subjects supporting the crucial issue of sustaining a low carbon economy.

• technical and non-technical teaching

materials, energy efficiency, sustainable development, renewable energy technology, waste minimisation, human issues and social responsibility, product lifecycle, total cost of ownership and recycling, low carbon transition for business and education, ethics and embedding sustainability into the curriculum.

http

://ww

w.e

ngsc.a

c.uk/o

er/e

ngin

eeri

ng-a

-lo-ca

rbon-fu

ture

Low Carbon Engineering OER Project (Phase 2): The Philosophy…

• Stuff on the Internet isn’t described clearly enough and searchers don’t really know what it is they want – so let’s stop worrying about it.

• It’s my first search system with a ‘philosophy’ rather than a muscular search algorithm. It’s taken me 12 years to finally accept a little rectangular search box is too thin a passageway to transfer our complex aspirations to even the most sentient super-computer search engine.

• NARD – not another resource database – keep it distributed

Low Carbon Engineering OER Project (Phase 2): The Tech Bit…

• web site with a collection of linked, expert selected resources enhanced by a dynamic search system employing real-time data interchange aggregation of related resources from online services, ensuring the collection remains up-to-date and connected to the broader community of practice.

• NARD – not another resource database – keep it distributed

• Features- keep results sets to manageable sizes, “banking facilities” enhance serendipity , commenting facilities

• will provide re-syndication services such as remote embedding of search facilities using established technologies such as RSS to raise awareness.

…OER at the CentreWe are also working with :

• Business, Management, Accountancy & Finance (BMAF) Subject Centre - Open for business accredited courses

• Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism (HLST) Subject Centre & BMAF - 2012: Learning Legacies

• University College Falmouth. Accredited Course 30 credit, postgraduate module that introduces and builds awareness of IPR and copyright within course design and development.

Using DOB codes (Date Of Birth codes) system for Open Educational Resources

For the example image in Figure 1, above this Google search for the code, http://xrl.in/6fri returns the image on Flickr where it was originally posted, the second entry shows the image reused on another website.

•As well as drawing together material the collection will provide re-syndication services such as remote embedding of search facilities using established technologies such as RSS to raise awareness.

Fig. 1. An example image released via the project including a copyright tracking code. © rcp:140510:a0001

luf:020710:l0000

http

://icescu

lptu

re.w

ord

pre

ss.com

/ma

ke-e

volv

ed-o

er-d

iscovera

ble

/

Including a dob code in the copyright citation of an Open Educational Resource (OER) means potential re-users of an OER can discover similar works, or to see the 'family tree' of the resource, just by clicking a link, e.g:http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=140510:a0001

Re-users or creators of derivative works would benefit new users, themselves, and  ancestral authors by continuing this linkage as they evolve the material.

DOB codes…why?

© luf:240200:l0002 

Though not guaranteed, propagation of the code becomes a simple part of the legal obligation of the user or re-user of the material under all the Creative Commons (CC)  licenses, thus linking all works incorporating parts or all of the original work together.

Due to the penetration and ubiquity of Google’s search tool the need for a custom resolver service is dispensed with. (Particularly as Open Resources should be discoverable by normal means to be properly “open”)

By adding a Google search URL into the original OER where possible, perhaps on the legal disclaimer page or the introductory text in the case of documents e.g

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=240265:rh4xs

a click on that link will bring up all visible online linked and derivative works as well as metadata if the resource is cited in a open repository, for instance, JorumOPEN.

DOB codes…Advantages

… what problems I’m facing

• Crap metadata

• Wobbly APIs

• Lack of a shared goal with commercial providers

• Sustainability without curation from the Sub. Centre post-closedown

Serendipity can you/should you force it?

Tracking methodologies – DOB Codes? Cookies? Benign Viruses? Student spies? Departmental Audits? Penalties for not OERing?

… things to discuss

Provide services to improve metadata quality

Continue to make sure UK HE remains at the forefront of practice

Find ways to simplify and de-technify the work in order to engage with more people.

In lean times provide or finance innovative development work

… helping identify what JISC and CETIS can do to help

End of this presentation – epilog is more on DOB codes…

Its not terribly important the code evolves at all. It is sufficient that derived materials just cite any codes from other materials used because of the legal obligation of the re-user to do so.  Linking all works incorporating other works is then straightforward. The judgement on whether a derivative work is a significant departure from the original work(s) to be a new treatment cannot be policed once “out in the wild”, and any attempt to do so would soon “choke” this approach. However if this is decided the following happens:

Any major new work, whether it contains other original works, (and thus still incorporates the codes)  or is a new treatment or merely related to other works by subject, can be linked to another existing work (and thus its ancestors) by deriving a new code from one of the existing ones. To get a new code, make a new 3-letter name and date part of the code, keeping the unique code at the end and adding the whole new code to the copyright citation of the new work.

To support this idea the “legal page” of each resource resource could include: “It might help other users to find your work if you reference others. If the copyright of

related material contains a code, e.g. man:240205:rh4xs keep the last bit of the code, change the date part to your release date (dd/mm/yy), then choose your own 3-letter code at the start. Then add it to your copyright declaration.”

But the unique part of the code will ensure the linkage remains and can be discovered and this “folkhierarchy” can be presented as optional information by any service resolving this information.

DOB - Similar vs. new derivative works – how the code evolves

If an OER is new or the author doesn't wish to link a new work with any existing materials contained within, a new code should be created. Choose your own 3-letter code add the anticipated release date and search as below on Google with a plus sign prepended:

+tom:030504 if nothing comes back citing this code then create a

new 5-letter code of your choice, e.g; “a0000″ and append it to your resourse. If the search returns a positive result, either make up a new 5-letter code and check for that appended to the previous search, or start again.

How to generate a new unique DOB code for new OERs.

This isn’t a resource discovery method: there are plenty of ways of doing this already, : Google, Jorum, EngSC, Maths Centre. This is about linking and following usage of released OERs.

What DOBs aren’t

© luf:240200:l0002 

http://icesculpture.wordpress.com/make-evolved-oer-discoverable/

More details

© luf:060809:l0006