I’m working on an installer for the CAREO application, its supporting framework and other bits of data and documents. I’m using the Apple PackageMaker, which does all of the fancy installers for the iApps etc…
It’s looking like it will be brain-dead easy to install (and upgrade) a CAREO installation, once I figure out how to write the scripts to automate database population. Very cool.
At least on MacOSX, it will be REALLY easy to set up an instance of CAREO. I should be able to reproduce much of this using plain-old shell scripts for lesser platforms.
A quick reminder for myself. There is more to metadata than can be described in XML syntax. XML is just text. Text isn’t always the best way of describing something.
Metadata != XML
Metadata > XML
I’m hoping in the next version of the software-formerly-known-as-CAREO that we can get away from this “XML Metadata is the centre of the universe” philosophy. King has demonstrated some freaking amazing things he’s planning to do with metadata/searching/discovery, some of which have nothing to do with text. Hence, they have nothing to do with XML…
Here’s a quick link to a discussion of PHP vs. Java. Sure, that’s much like a discussion of Coke vs. Pepsi, or Mr. T vs. Hulk Hogan, but some interesting points are raised. Note, though, that Raible is a hard-core Java guy, but many of the comments come from hard-core PHP folks.
David Wiley talks about something called the “Reusability Paradox” of learning objects. It’s one of the fundamental issues in dealing with learning objects, and basically boils down to this (grossly oversimplified Coles Notes version of Wiley’s paper):
“If a learning object is useful in a particular context, by definition it is not reusable in a different context. If a learning object is reusable in many contexts, it isn’t particularly useful in any.”
I just whipped up a brain-dead simple bookmarklet to check Technorati’s link cosmos for the currently viewed web page. Just drag the link below into your bookmarks or toolbar or whatever, and whenever you click it, you should get the Technorati report on who’s linking to that page.
Well, you’re probably not, but if you know someone who is, they might be thankful for this page, containing what appears to be a pretty comprehensive list of RSS readers for a whole lotta platforms.
From the Intranet Journal: a handy tip list for how/who to best generate and manage a requirements specification for a project.
Perhaps the most important piece of any application development project is requirements gathering. After all, if you’re not clear on where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? So why do most intranet teams spend so little time focusing on developing the skills necessary to do this piece well?
Just a reminder to anyone who is interested in teaching/learning in a higher-ed setting, that the Teaching Reflections 2003 Conference is taking place August 20-21 here at the University of Calgary (conducted by the Learning Commons, no less!)
I’ve been using MacJournal for some time now, and have been quite happy using it as my outboard brain (for accounts, registrations, code snippets…) but it started barfing on me over the last couple of weeks - new entries not saved, etc… I know… MacJournal is open source (well, the source is available, anyway), so why don’t I just fix it myself? I’ve got enough of my own code to manage without taking on an unrelated project. That, and I’m getting lazy in my approaching middle age.
I’ve updated my blogroll using the Blogroll plugin for Movabletype. It now renders directly from the .opml output from NetNewsWire… It includes a link to the .opml source.