Presentation by Sarah CurrierJLeRN Project Lead, Mimas22 February 2012

CETIS Conference 2012 Learning Registry Session:

Capturing Conversations About Learning Resources

Amplifying

• Please use hashtags: #jlern #learningreg• The JLeRN blog is here:

http://jlernexperiment.wordpress.com/• Contact me at: s

arah.currier@manchester.ac.uk • Get involved via Learning Registry lists:

Updates; Collaborate; Developers

Project overview

• JISC gave Mimas the job of setting up and running an experimental learning registry node (November-ish 2011)

• I started as Project Lead (0.25FTE) 5/12/11• Nick Syrotiuk (0.2FTE) and Bharti Gupta

(0.25FTE) started as Project Developers, Dec. 2011 & Jan. 2012.

• Project funded to 31 July 2012.• Working closely with JISC CETIS, The Learning

Registry and an informal Task Group.

JISC said …

“JISC will be participating in the Learning Registry project by setting up an experimental node in the UK with a focus on content from the higher education and cultural sectors. Utilising the expertise and content available to JISC, the project will explore contributing data and analysing it. JISC hopes to collaborate with the Learning Registry in exploring the infrastructure considerations and to help specify and support useful applications.”

– Learning Registry website:

http://www.learningregistry.org/community/jisc

JISC said …

“JISC will be participating in the Learning Registry project by setting up an experimental node in the UK with a focus on content from the higher education and cultural sectors. Utilising the expertise and content available to JISC, the project will explore contributing data and analysing it. JISC hopes to collaborate with the Learning Registry in exploring the infrastructure considerations and to help specify and support useful applications.”

– Learning Registry website:

http://www.learningregistry.org/community/jisc

JISC said …

“JISC will be participating in the Learning Registry project by setting up an experimental node in the UK with a focus on content from the higher education and cultural sectors. Utilising the expertise and content available to JISC, the project will explore contributing data and analysing it. JISC hopes to collaborate with the Learning Registry in exploring the infrastructure considerations and to help specify and support useful applications.”

– Learning Registry website:

http://www.learningregistry.org/community/jisc

JISC said …

“JISC will be participating in the Learning Registry project by setting up an experimental node in the UK with a focus on content from the higher education and cultural sectors. Utilising the expertise and content available to JISC, the project will explore contributing data and analysing it. JISC hopes to collaborate with the Learning Registry in exploring the infrastructure considerations and to help specify and support useful applications.”

– Learning Registry website:

http://www.learningregistry.org/community/jisc

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

• What do we mean by “node”?

• What options are there for Learning Registry nodes?

• Where do they fit in the Learning Registry model?

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

There are three levels of togetherness in the Learning Registry:

• Nodes

• Networks

• Communities

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

We can:(1) share data with others via a single node;(2) widen our sharing to a network of nodes with shared policies about access etc.;(3) widen our sharing even further within communities of networks.

Learning Registry Network Model

From: Learning Registry Resource Distribution Network Model: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1msnZC6RU9N72Omau0F4FNBO5YCU6hZrG1kKRs_z42Mc/edit?hl=en_GB

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

Nodes are the building blocks of the Learning Registry. They enable decentralised networks for sharing data about learning resources and their use. • Anyone can set up a node wherever they like by installing the node code

and making it available to whomever they like.• They can also restrict access to the node if they choose.• Others can publish their data to the node, or extract anyone's data from

the node.• A completely open node allows literally anyone to publish or access data. There are two kinds of node: common nodes and gateway nodes. Each kind of node supports distinct activities.

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

There are two kinds of node: common nodes and gateway nodes. Each kind of node supports distinct activities. • A common node can support all the different specific services

you need to push, pull, distribute and process resource data with any number of external sources, and within a given network of nodes.

• A gateway node allows different networks to connect with each other to share data. It provides a data distribution connection between one network and another, because nodes cannot belong to more than one network, and a clearly defined pipeline is needed, for security and other policy reasons.

Learning Registry Network Model

From: Learning Registry Resource Distribution Network Model: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1msnZC6RU9N72Omau0F4FNBO5YCU6hZrG1kKRs_z42Mc/edit?hl=en_GB

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

The JLeRN team have implemented a common node, without requiring signatures to push and pull data out of the node.

(In fact we’ve now implemented two common nodes: more later from Nick and Bharti).

Until the JLeRN Team has some pressing use case or strong steer for testing a gateway node, we're working with a common node for now.

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UKWhat can a common node do? Common nodes can offer five kinds of service:

• Publish Services allow data to be published to the node from external sources. We can choose which publishing APIs we will support (e.g. SWORD), but we have to (and we do) support the Basic Publish Service. We’ve also responded to community use cases by developing OAI-PMH feed publish (more later from Nick).

• Access Services allow data to be pulled, or accessed from the node or the distribution network the node is part of. Again, different APIs (e.g. OAI-PMH) can be, but don't have to be, supported.

• Distribution Services allow data to be replicated and transferred between nodes. We’re looking at replication between our two nodes.

• Broker Services allow us to "augment, transform or process resource data held at that node to produce new or updated resource data for access or distribution". Interesting!

• Administrative Services, which "are used to query a node to obtain its status or to trigger node administrative actions."

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UKWhat can a common node do? Common nodes can offer five kinds of service:

• Publish Services allow data to be published to the node from external sources. We can choose which publishing APIs we will support (e.g. SWORD), but we have to (and we do) support the Basic Publish Service. We’ve also responded to community use cases by developing OAI-PMH feed publish (more later from Nick).

• Access Services allow data to be pulled, or accessed from the node or the distribution network the node is part of. Again, different APIs (e.g. OAI-PMH) can be, but don't have to be, supported.

• Distribution Services allow data to be replicated and transferred between nodes. We’re looking at replication between our two nodes.

• Broker Services allow us to "augment, transform or process resource data held at that node to produce new or updated resource data for access or distribution". Interesting!

• Administrative Services, which "are used to query a node to obtain its status or to trigger node administrative actions."

Learning Registry Network Model

From: Learning Registry Resource Distribution Network Model: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1msnZC6RU9N72Omau0F4FNBO5YCU6hZrG1kKRs_z42Mc/edit?hl=en_GB

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

What about Networks and Communities?

"A resource distribution network is a group of one or more connected nodes, with each node providing node services. All nodes in a resource distribution network operate under the same policies. Multiple resource distribution networks MAY be established."

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

What about Networks and Communities?

"A resource distribution network is a group of one or more connected nodes, with each node providing node services. All nodes in a resource distribution network operate under the same policies. Multiple resource distribution networks MAY be established."

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UKImportant things about networks are:

• Common nodes can be part of networks.• Networks can be connected via gateway nodes.• When networks are connected, this is called a network

community.• A node can only be part of one network, and is subject to

the policies of that network. A gateway node is needed for a common node to connect to a different network.

• Network policies include such things as security requirements for sharing data via nodes in the network, e.g. whether signatures are required, data deletion, etc.

• A network can be part of only one community (so if you want your node to interface with other communities, you'll need to set up and connect via a gateway node).

1. Setting up an experimental node in the UK

What about communities?

"A network community is a collection of interconnected resource distribution networks. A community MAY contain one or more resource distribution networks. A resource network SHALL be a member of only one community.”

Open communities, or social communities, and closed communities are both allowed.

JLeRN’s nodes are not currently part of any network or community

2. Exploring contributing data and analysing it

• Jorum metadata via standard, openly available OAI-PMH feed of >15K resources.– Required code development by JLeRN.– Same use case from Open University (and likely

from others).– Jorum also exploring framework for capturing

paradata about resources.• Hackday tests (Scott Wilson from CETIS and

Andrew Green from Liverpool University).– Exposed bug in Learning Registry code, now fixed.

• More please!

3. Exploring the infrastructure considerations and helping specify and support useful applications

Ideas -- > Use Cases -- > Useful services, tools, apps …

• Hackday ideas:– Educational widget store ideas (Scott Wilson)– Accessibility and learning resources (Terry McAndrew)– Dynamic Learning Maps: complex and rich paradata?

(Suzanne Hardy)– Tools for capturing paradata (Richard Goddard and

Julian Tenney).

• Dev8D ideas:– JLeRN Paradata Developers’ Challenge: please enter!

• Entries due midday 24 Feb: ideas / use cases welcome.

3. Exploring the infrastructure considerations and helping specify and support useful applications

Ideas -- > Use Cases -- > Useful services, tools, apps …

• Today’s ideas:– ??

Where to next?

• With 5 months to go, what should JLeRN do?– Use cases? Services? Tools? Additional nodes?

Networks and Communities? Dissemination activities?

• What recommendations should we make to JISC and the wider community?– Ongoing funding for a test node? A node service?

Funding for any of the above activities?

Let’s return to this at the end of the session!

Thank you! Over to Nick and Bharti …