Iāve had 6 video conferences today, using iChatAV and iSight. Coolest thing ever.
When I got the iSight, I honestly didnāt think Iād actually use it - I figured āHey, cool toy. Sure is shiny!ā and assumed it would sit on a shelf somewhere.
Now, I find myself plugging in the camera right after the keyboard, mouse, and power when I get into my office in the morning. The thing Just Works. It works amazingly well. And being able to see the people youāre working with is pretty cool (as long as they remember to shower and get dressed firstā¦ ahem).
I just tested installation, configuration and operation of CAREO on an unnamed, still-in-beta operating system.
With the installer, it took me all of 5 minutes to get all the bits in place, running a new instance of CAREO and ALOHA Server.
This included copying the disk image over from my TiBook, running the installer, and hand-configuring the WebObjects app (since I havenāt gotten around to getting the installer to do that automagically yet).
Any sufficiently monolithic technology is indistinguishable from spaghetti.
Once a large technology is made from sufficiently intertwined parts, there is no way to order an exposition of it such that strongly-connected ideas are always close together.
Spaghetti doesn’t want to be free.
The current version of the-software-that-runs-CAREO has suffered pretty severely from this spaghetti syndrome. We’re planning the next version, which is a complete rewrite, to be much more modular. Using smaller bits of functionality, hopefully nothing reaches the spaghetti critical mass.
Quite good, actually, giving nice clear descriptions of the architecture and design of a WebObjects app, and how that differs from other typical web applications.
Interesting piece on OSOpinons.com on the difference between Open Source and open standards. People often get caught up with the promise of open standards, and confuse that with the purpose of Open Source.
To me, the real goal isn’t Open Source. That’s a means to an end, often enabling and facilitating adoption of open standards. The real goal is the creation, adoption, and implementation of open standards, which don’t tie anyone to any particular piece of software or data.
I’ve just posted a document I’m working on, proposing a solution to storing thumbnail references, as well as various other formats of the same learning object, within a single LOM metadata record/document.
The Coles’ Notes version is this: We need a place to store locations for thumbnail images for a learning object, as well as various formats (QuickTime, Real, Windows Media, etc…) without having to duplicate the LOM. The current solution would be to create separate LOMs for each format, or create a content package. Neither solution really addresses the problem.
Norm Friesen just sent an email to the ICAAP Standards list, pointing out the newly revamped CanCore Metadata Guidelines, including a searchable utility (which looks quite useful, but barfed all over some of my queries…)
I just took a quick look at their interpretation of the Technical element, and it still seems to have some issues…
For instance, it still doesn’t address multiplicity. Is it best to have 3 technical elements, one for each format of a resource (a GIF, a JPG, a TIF, each with their own sizes and locations - this is my personal preference), or mashing them all into one technical element (with multiple formats, locations, etc… which one points to which?).
I moved offices almost 2 weeks ago. A whopping 10 feet west of where I was before. I then took a week off, and fully expected my phone line to be moved (among other things) when I got back.
Long story short, it wasnāt. I just borrowed a phone to plug into my old pod and found a whole whack of voicemail messages waiting for me. The phone on my desk sits dumbly, having no idea that itās supposed to be working for me.
Itās coming along nicelyā¦ I now have an installer that copies over the WebObjects application and supporting resources, creates the FrontBase database and populates it, and almost creates the MySQL metadata repository databaseā¦ I have the MySQL stuff working as shell scripts, but it doesnāt want to play nicely when embedded in the installer.
After I wrestle the MySQL script into submission, I get to turn my gaze onto the WebObjects application configuration - ideally it should set up the app, start it, and have it automatically restart if the box is kicked over.
Solution #2: IMS Vocabulary Definition Exchange. A new project (I hadnāt heard of it until today, thanks to the CETIS article) that is aimed at defining a way of describing vocabularies to do just thisā¦ Poodle is a Dog is an Animal is Carbon Basedā¦
Hierarchical bits of related, structured vocabulary data. This could be quite useful. The ALOHA team had to roll their own solution to this a while back. Maybe the next version will be standards based?
Isn’t that sort of what software like CAREO is supposed to do for the learning object realm? That’s my perception of the reason for CAREO even existing - let The People create and publish their stuff as learning objects, and let The People find/use/share/discuss them via the software…
Iāve had 6 video conferences today, using iChatAV and iSight. Coolest thing ever.