The Joined up Web - Newcastle University, a case study

Dr Tony McDonald Faculty of Medicine Computing Centre (FMCC) Medical School University of Newcastle upon Tyne

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Background

• Networked Learning Environments (NLE) project (TLTP 3-86) • Four Consortium partners Newcastle University Medical Programme scalability issues led to development of curriculum database Nottingham University Medical Programme Durham University Biomedical Sciences Northumbria University Subjects Allied to Medicine ‘non-funded’ partner - Sheffield University Medical School • Scalable Systems - eg no individual web pages written - extract from Database and output to other formats (HTML, RTF, PDF, XML-RPC, SOAP, etc)

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Development Software/Hardware systems

• Core System - Zope – Object orientated web delivery system • Rapid development of systems (Sheffield site created in < 1 week).

• Excellent database connectivity / very rich permissions structure. Plug in ‘products’, separation of code/content • Extensive use of ‘open-source’ / free software – Zope, Python, PHP, MySQL, Omnimark – UNIX servers / Solaris – Important for moving to other sites

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Choice of Content Management System

• Project start - July 1998 • System requirements: – Low cost, scalable, easy to use • System chosen - Zope – Freedom from file ‘tyranny’ (.php3, .pl, .html etc.) – Excellent permissions system – Extensive database connectivity – Novel features - ‘undo’, ‘versions’

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Integration MIS

• Pivotal to a

scalable

system – Eg module codes, works for 10, works for 10,000 • Possible users/Simultaneous users distinction • Data Dumps - preferable to ‘live’ systems – Data warehousing – Student & staff info.

• Leads to authentication systems • DON’T – Write single pages for a course, derive from database

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Integration Other ‘MLEs’

• Data dumps from MIS • Need

primary key

– eg Module code, student UCAS number • Reuse existing management material – eg module -> exam info, student-> course taken – Don’t reenter student data – Don’t reenter module, course data

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Working with other sites

• Scalability – Entering data a ‘no-no’ – Data source of staff/student/module information is

essential

– Zope allows editing site wherever a browser is available – Data Ownership (hosting

our

data at Newcastle? - no chance!) – Different Data structures not a problem

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NLE in action

• All sites hosted at Newcastle – Designed for portability in mind • Notts bought server to run their NLE • UNIX backend, MySQL, Zope, Python, PHP3 • Consortium sites have great autonomy • Can use ZEO to distribute load over other servers

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Successes

• Newcastle using NLE technologies extensively – MOFS (6200 modules, authenticated editing, resource upload and PDF output) • Nottingham purchased server • Addition of non-funded partner - Sheffield University • Generally high regard from staff/students • Remote Admins taking to Zope quite well

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Problems

• NIH?

– Not generally a problem • Data Ownership – Reluctance to share data, eg staff ‘pet’ projects – Not always evident

who

owns the data • Resistance to change – Senior mgmt might agree, but at ground zero… • F2F communication - Invaluable

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The ‘NLE’ way

• Scalability • One source of data, ideally one data owner • Repurpose existing data • Create conduits (eg editing/uploading screens), not terminii (eg “I’ll upload that for you”)

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Summary

• Obstacles (data ownership, data structures) can be formidable, but committed people at the sharp end make a real difference • Open source systems help greatly – Easy to move to other sites, open data structures, lower cost • Need bottom-up and top-down driving – Staff/student & Dean/PVC • Hosting many sites at one location – No big deal (disk, processor and OS permitting)

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Information Sources

• Zope - Object Orientated Web Delivery Platform – http://www.zope.org/ • MySQL - Open Source RDBMS – http://www.mysql.com/ • Python - Scripting Language – http://www.python.org/ • Omnimark - Text Processing Language – http://www.omnimark.com

• Roxen - Graphically Rich Web Server – http://www.roxen.com

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