Transcript Talking Systems - University of Bath

Talking Systems
Janice Sim
Technical Services Manager
University of Wales College, Newport
31 Aug 2003
Talking Systems
• One of the JISC funded DiVLE projects
• Linking Digital Libraries with VLEs
• October 2002 – July 2003
31 Aug 2003
Talking Systems
• To investigate the setting up of links
between the VLE - Lotus Learning Space
and the Sirsi Unicorn Library Management
System
31 Aug 2003
Dan Noyes - Project Manager
Centre for Learning Development
Project website:
www.newport.ac.uk/talkingsystems
31 Aug 2003
Partners
• Sirsi UK
• IBM – Lotus Software
• Percussion Software UK
• Lancaster University, Library and Information
Systems
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Aims
To create SCORM learning objects and
transfer metadata from these objects to a
Bath Profile compliant Z39.50 server
31 Aug 2003
Why?
• To find content across multiple Virtual Learning
Environments e.g. Lotus Learning Space,
Blackboard, WebCT
• To standardise search behaviour across disparate
e-learning resource bases
• To open access to learning content metadata
beyond our institution
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SCORM
• Shareable Content Object Reference Model
• Funded by the US Department of Defense.
• Emerging specification combining a number
of existing standards
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SCORM
• Specifies a standard way to describe
sequenced content that is to be used by a
single learner
– The learner can identify a specific learning
requirement and have a bespoke tutorial created
from distributed content to answer this
requirement
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SCO
• SCOs represent a collection of one or more
shareable resources that include a specific
launchable asset that uses the SCORM runtime environment to communicate with a
learning management system.
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SCORM learning objects
• The SCORM had not previously been used
at UWCN
• Stored using a Windows 2000 development
server running an IBM Lotus Domino
platform.
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SCORM learning objects
• Data is stored in Domino in forms and a
single form was created for SCO input to
automate the production of metadata
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SCO Form
Three sections:
1. The basic metadata provided by the content author
2.The SCO content itself
3. Automatically created metadata matched to
MARC fields using the Dublin Core crosswalk on
the Library of Congress website
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Source data
• A Lotus Domino database of 500 pieces of
mainly HTML formatted text each of about
300 words making up a fledgling study
skills database.
• This was copied to the mini VLE on the
development server
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SCORM content
Next steps:
• Stringing the individual documents together
to make SCOs and content structure
• Macromedia Authorware used to aggregate
and sequence the elements making up
tutorials
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Percussion Notrix
Originally planned to use ODBC scripting to
push data to the Unicorn server but this was
not supported.
The live Unicorn library system was used in
this project, not a test server.
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Unicorn Library System
• Importing records
• Linking to the VLE (s)
• Searching
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Unicorn – Importing records
• ODBC scripting not supported
• Bibload
– Perfectly successful and capable of being
automated using FTP and reports
– Definitely not new
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Unicorn – Linking to the VLE
• Searching the catalogue to find items
• Using the 856 field to link to objects in the
VLE
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Unicorn - Searching
Using the Webcat or a Z39.50 client
to find a MARC record with a URL pointing
to a Domino document or an Authorware
tutorial
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What Is Z39.50
• A search and retrieval protocol which
enables clients and servers from different
vendors to communicate with each other
• Searches are mapped from Z39.50 to the
local search protocol and can be run against
more than one target at a time
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Z39.50
Not the easiest feature of Unicorn to use
Not understood by network staff
- Frequently firewall issues
When access is achieved
- Often error messages
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Z39.50 search
Should have 6 attributes each given a numerical value e.g.
• Use
- such as title, author or ISSN
• Relation - equal, greater than, less than
• Position - any position in field, first
• Structure - word, word list or phrase
• Truncation
- right hand truncation or do not truncate
• Completeness - complete field, incomplete subfield
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Unicorn Bath Z Server Behaviour
FIND TITLE KEYWORD = “FISH”
Attribute
use
relation
position
structure
truncation
completeness
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Value
4
3
3
2
100
1
Name
title (keyword indexing policy)
equal
any position in field (keyword)
word
do not truncate
incomplete subfield
Where does it go wrong?
• Most vendors do not document their Z39.50
servers capabilities
• Some vendor documentation is inaccurate
• Many exhibit default behaviour when they
receive attribute combinations they don’t
support giving unreliable search results
• All six attributes are not compulsory
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Current State Of Z Implementations
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Current State Of Z Implementations
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Z Answers
• A recent development in Sirsi is the delivery
of preconfigured search name maps for each
vendor’s server
• U2003 clients can send all 6 attribute values
for a Z search
• Use the Bath profile to fully define searches
and make Z39.50 work
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Bath Profile
• Bath profile defines which of the
combinations of attributes a Bath compliant
server should be able to handle and the
nature of the response. A core set of
requirements.
• University of North Texas is able to test a
Z39.50 server for compliance
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Z39.50 and Talking Systems
• To meet our aim of searching across
disparate sources standardisation was
needed.
• For this reason it was decided that our
server should be made Bath profile
compliant.
• A consultant was needed!
31 Aug 2003
Our consultant
• Slavko Manojlovich
• Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Sirsi’s Z39.50 guru!
31 Aug 2003
Changes to Unicorn
• A new format for Dublin Core records
• A new Library policy (ELECTRONIC! A
godsend for E-books, journals and
databases and the best bit of the whole
project)
• New keyword indexes, name, title, subject
and number for each format
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Keyword Indexes
• The changes to the keyword indexes for each
MARC field took about 4 days work, following
the specification from Texas.
• The result was a Bath Profile compliant server,
one of the first if not the first in the UK.
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The end of the project
• Work will continue to make links between
the systems
• The project showed that the SCORM
approach is complex and difficult to apply
across the institution
• Bath profile provides a good basis for elearning content discovery.
31 Aug 2003
Slavko Manojlovich
Z39.50 clients and servers : the current state
of affairs.
http://nofish.library.mun.ca/stlouisu2003.ppt
Peter Gethin
Why the Bath profile makes Z39.50 work
Liber Quarterly 11(4), pp. 372- 381
31 Aug 2003
Useful links
Dr Ed’s SCORM course
www.jcasolutions.com/SC12/index.html
Paul Miller
Z39.50 for all
www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/z3950/intro.html
31 Aug 2003