It seems like a minor thing, but the functionality it provides is quite important. Until now, the “Add Object” form in CAREO assumed the media was already web-accessible somewhere. If it wasn’t, you were expected to get it onto the web somehow (FTP to your own server, iDisk, whatever…).
I just added a feature (at the request of our MedCIS folks) that allows users to upload media to our server, and return the URL of the published resource into the correct field in the metadata entry form. Seems like a little thing, but this takes out the FTP, verification of URL, etc… Easy Peasy.
I just added an RSS 2.0 feed to this weblog. If you’re a purist, or just want the extra Dublin Core-y goodness that it provides, it’s located here (and in the sidebar).
Instructions, and RSS 2.0 template, were found here.
This was brought to my attention by Scott Leslie (thanks, Scott!).
Ryan Eby has an interesting post about the differences between Trackback and Pingback, and how they might be used in the context of learning object repositories. Ryan is commenting on a post by Phil Ringnalda.
From Ryan’s post:
For example, if I find a learning object such as MLX #467 on Atomic Structure and decide I want to write a review of it or something similar, then I would want to send it a trackback so that others can find my post on it, if they are browsing the objects. However, if I actually use the flash animation in some sort of online setting (as part of a lesson, etc.) then it would probably be wiser for me to send a pingback as just a way of showing I’m using it. Pingback is structured so you can ping any file and so it probably a more sensible thing for when I’m just using an image or something for a site I made.
We’re working with our Faculty of Medicine to help them in their Curriculum Information System project. It’s a cool way for them to track their enormous and dynamic (i.e., changing) curriculum, as well as the resources that support it.
CAREO is being used as a content management component for the MedCIS project. Their portal is built in SunONE Portal, so it’s quite different technology. How to integrate?
The integration is primarily being done via the RSS feeds exposed by CAREO.
I took some time to clean up the Object Summary Page in CAREO. I was only addressing functionality. It should be a little more useful now, since I dropped the redundant “Summary” and “Details” section, and merged them into a single, real “Summary”.
I also added a “Discussions” tab, so you can easily see what’s being said about an object. It directly displays CAREO discussion posts, and has a link to display Trackbacks (posts from other websites such as weblogs).
There is some debate over the behaviour of the RSS element. Should it point to the metadata for the learning object? Should it point to a “more info” page in the host repository?
As an example, would you rather have the link for a a learning object point to this location, or this one?
My personal take on the issue is this. If I’m syndicating a list of learning objects, say for use in an online course or something equivalent, I would need the link to point to the resource itself - the thing that is used for learning - the metadata or “more info” page would be useless to me in that context. If someone can talk me out of that, I would be grateful.
Just added a full blogroll to the right sidebar of my weblog. It’s a massaged dump of my NetNewsWire subscriptions (all 102 of them). I may also add a link to an OPML export of the subscriptions, if anyone wants it.
Please don’t read any relevance into the order of subscribed items… I haven’t prioritized them or anything - they usually stay where they fall in the NNW subscriptions pane.
UPDATE: I posted the OPML file for the subscriptions here (also linked in the title of the Blogroll).
Trying out NetNewsWire Pro as a weblog managing app. I use NNWLite as my aggregator, but thought it would be cool to combine the tools. I currently use KungLog as my weblog manager (post editor, etc…)
If you can read this, then NNWPro has been able to publish an entry to my weblog…
One thing I just noticed: There’s no apparent place for TrackBack URLs… How do I trackback other weblog posts? Is that handled transparently by MovableType?
Rumour has it that BlackBoard6 speaks (or at least understands) RSS natively. I’ll be damned if I can find any documentation on it, though… Anyone stumbled across the “official” way to use RSS in BlackBoard? I’ve got the javascript widget filling the gap, but would rather harness the power of a native tool if it’s available…
Just added a widget that will let you subscribe to any Simple Search query in CAREO. On the Search Results page, there is a link to the RSS feed for that query. Copy. Paste. There is no step 3.
This will make it much easier to syndicate any search query for use elsewhere. Just run the search, and grab the link from the results page.
Just took some time to play around with the standalone trackback tool from Ben Trott. Works like a charm (once I upgraded my Perl installation).
Now, objects in CAREO have an associated URL for receiving trackback pings, as well as one for retrieving all trackbacks (if any) for that object.
Log into CAREO, and hit the button for any learning object. At the bottom of that screen will be a trackback URL, as well as a link to the existing trackback items.
button for any learning object. At the bottom of that screen will be a trackback URL, as well as a link to the existing trackback items.