Well, that sounds very sensible, yet at the same time completely fails to
answer the question - why are we exchanging a specific set of descriptive
information about learning objects? What is this information intended to be
used for?
Without an understanding of purpose, it is difficult to determine what a
"reductive" profile should look like; the definition below mentions purpose
in a general sense, but does not enumerate any purposes in particular:
"mandatory elements specify the minimum elements that should be use for
effective communication"
But what is the nature and purpose of the communication? And how is that
communication determined to be "effective"?
Perhaps the "purpose" of UK LOM Core is so obvious to the metadata wizards
that it doesn't need any explanation for mere mortals...
- S
On 18/8/04 9:44 pm, "Charles Duncan" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Following the discussion at yesterday's UK LOM Core meeting I couldn't
> resist the temptation to try to define what it is for. This required a
> bit on what is LOM for. Here, for general criticism, is my shot at it....
>
> Charles Duncan
>
> What is LOM for?
> It is for describing learning objects. Strictly speaking it is for
> exchanging descriptive information on learning objects. However, LOM is
> designed to be "expansive" - it aims to include a very wide range of
> descriptive elements. Not every project will use every element. Some
> projects use the LOM as a means of defining the data elements they
> should store internally about learning objects. While this usefully
> builds on the knowledge and experience of others, it is not the primary
> purpose of the LOM. Projects can decide to store either more or less
> material than the full LOM element set to describe their learning
> objects. Since the purpose of the LOM is to define the syntactic
> structure for exchanging information it is only at the stage of
> importing or exporting metadata that the LOM becomes significant. On
> importing, if an internal system stores less than the full LOM then
> there is a risk of losing information in imported metadata. On
> exporting, there are no serious consequences of using less than the full
> LOM. The benefits of choosing to use LOM are that the work of defining
> which data elements to use and their syntax is already defined, and
> established as an international standard, so exchange with others is
> simplified.
>
> What is the UK LOM Core for?
> The UK LOM Core aims to enhance the value of the LOM for a specific
> community, the UK educational community (HE, FE, primary, secondary,
> pre-school, community and lifelong education). Since no community is
> expected to use every LOM data element the UK LOM Core identifies the
> elements of greatest value to this community and proposes that some
> elements are of such importance that they should be considered
> "mandatory". Other elements, of lesser importance, are still
> "recommended". In addition communication is greatest when a community
> shares a common vocabulary so UK LOM Core offers a vocabulary specific
> to UK education. The benefit of choosing to use the UK LOM Core is that
> metadata exchange with others in the UK education community works at
> the semantic level as well as the syntactic level: a common language (UK
> LOM COre) is used based on a common grammar(LOM). Note that where LOM is
> "expansive" and attempts to cover a very wide range of purposes, UK LOM
> Core is "reductive" in that its mandatory elements specify the minimum
> elements that should be use for effective communication.
>
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